BRING THE CERTIFICATE PROGRAM TO YOUR DISTRICT
Please review the information below. If you would like to, you may suggest a location, either your own school or somewhere else.
Key Considerations
A key factor in the success of this program has been offering it through local school districts. When hosting this program in your district, please consider the following:
- School districts should recruit 20 teachers for CEP 810 (teachers are not required to take all three courses);
- If 20 teachers are not available from one district, we encourage the school to invite teachers from other districts to participate (MSU will help in promoting the program to other districts);
- The school district will need to provide a PC computer lab with at least 20 stations;
- The computer lab should meet the following requirements (however, we can review any upgrades the lab may need);
Student Computers
- 256 meg RAM at a minimum (512 recommended)
- CD or DVD drive
- Sound capability with headphones and microphones as well as speakers (4 students per speaker)
- Windows XP or newer
- Microsoft Office 2000 or newer (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and WordArt installed)
- Netscape Communicator or Internet Explorer, Versions 4.0 or better, or FireFox on all machines
- Roughly 50 meg of free hard disk space, either locally or on a network server, per student
- User security systems, if installed, must be disabled or must allow use of Windows Explorer, printing, other programs, and allow students to gain access to floppy disk drive, CD-ROM, and hard drive
- Permission for temporary MSU-licensed installation of NVU if it isn't already installed, or access to Dreamweaver or FrontPage
- Permission to access Web 2.0 sites such as Edublogs.org, Netvibes.com and Wikispaces.com
Instructor Station
- Equivalent to student computers but with 512 meg RAM required as a minimum and a DVD drive
- 1 gig hard drive minimum
- Computer projector with video projection capabilities (MSU can provide if one is not available)
- VCR
Network
- Direct Internet access (i.e., not dial up and no guardian software) with FTP access enabled
- Ability to use a FTP program such as Filezilla to upload files to MSU AFS space
- Passwords and login directions as needed to access the desktop
Printing
- Printing available from student and instructor computers
Questions to consider when brining the Certificate Program to your district
- How will the MSU Educational Technology Certificate Program fit into your existing and future plans for professional development?
- Will graduates of the certificate program serve as resources and mentors for others in the school system?
- What role will the certificate program play in terms of professional development for your school/district?
- Will the school or district provide any financial support for their teachers enrolling in the program? (e.g., pay a portion or all of the tuition)
- What arrangements will be made for teachers to use the computer labs outside of class?
- If there are technical needs during the course, will someone be available to solve those needs quickly on the weekend?
- How will people enroll in the course? For example, will it be left entirely up to the individuals to decide, will certain individuals be encouraged to attend, or will certain individuals be required to attend?
- Will there be a commitment to provide those attending the program with appropriate technology to implement what they are learning both during and after the courses?
Promotion
- We'll be happy to help you promote the program in your district. As a starter, you can download a flyer about the program.
- Review these testimonials about others who have made us of the Certificate program.