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//This is a graduate school project, which will be graded. Please refrain from editing our content. However, please fell free to comment. Thanks!//
 * //Project Coordinators: Amy, Lisa & Maria //**



=Podcasting for Education =

Project Overview


__Description__
The Diffusion of Innovation Podcasting Project has two components. The first and obvious component is to train our educators about podcasting technology and how to use it for educational purposes. The second less obvious component is the process by which innovation can flourish, which is called diffusion. The diffusion process is sensitive to environmental factors, personal values and attitudes, and the relationship between internal and external factors. This wiki documents the component of training with the component of diffusion. Our references for understanding diffusion and management, the foundation on which this project is built, come from the resources listed below.

Reference:

Barbara Wejnert's //Integrating Models of Diffusion of Innovations: A Conceptual Framework,// from Annual Review of Sociology; 2002, Vol. 28 Issue 1, p297 - 326, 30 p.

Graeme Martin's //Managing People and Organizations in Changing Contexts//, from Butterworth-Heinemann; 2006.

__Vision Statement__
 The Mission Statement of the School District 685, a fictitious community based educational partnership for children, is to assure academic success for every student in its elementary and secondary programs based on respect and dignity of others, an appreciation of our diverse democratic society, and the mastery of communication, technological, scientific, rational, creative and social skills, through a challenging personalized, interactive and multi-cultural environment. We believe it necessary to implement technology in order to help students become academically competitive, globally knowledgeable and motivated learners. 

__Description of Problem__
School District 685, fictitiously located in New Town, PA, has decided that this technologically advanced age calls for an improvement of teachers' computer skills. Today's youth, called **digital natives** because they are raised with technology, require a technological spin on education in order to become engaged in learning (from [|Marc Prensky]). It is no longer enough for schools to provide access to online resources; teachers should be able to harness digital tools for conveying information and for assessing learners' comprehension of subject matter. To show our commitment towards making learning more engaging and proactive, this district has applied for and received $9,000 in funding to train teachers and provide them with the necessary equipment to make educational podcasting possible.

__Goals__

 * Our students will be actively engaged in the learning process.
 * Our students will be encouraged to use critical thinking strategies
 * Our students will collaborate with others in real world problem-solving situations
 * Our students will utilize technology to enhance the learning process.

__Strategy__

 * Our teachers and staff will encourage students as facilitators in the learning process by themselves utilizing and challenging students to use new technologies (eg. podcasting, vodcasting, and multimedia presentations)
 * Our teachers across the district will adopt podcasting for student learning within a year's time.
 * Adoptive teachers will create one podcast to use as part of a lesson (choice of subject) and present or make available for students.
 * Students within the adoptive classrooms will work in cooperative learning groups to create an interview style podcast (subject teachers choice) and present to peers for grade. Rubric will be provided.

__Beneficiaries__
3,000 Students and 152 Educators across District 685
 * One High School
 * Two Middle Schools
 * Four Elementary Schools