University
of Waterloo Program - Overview.
About
the Program
The goal of the Clarica Scholars Program is to assist high
school teachers and students to champion the use of technology
in their classrooms so to enhance student learning. During
the one-week program at the University of Waterloo, ten teams
of participants (2 teachers and 2 students per team) will
design, develop and evaluate learning support software for
their classes. In addition to the training week, teams will
receive continuing assistance to share ideas, continue technical
development, evaluate projects and share the resulting learning
support systems with other Clarica scholars.
Teams
will be selected based on their submission of a project idea
related to the subject areas of History or Geography (this
might occur in your curriculum in a Civics or Social Studies
class) which addresses a subject-specific instructional challenge.
An instructional challenge can be a concept, skill, or idea
that has been difficult to teach effectively to many students,
which can block learning in later assignments and courses.
A description of the instructional challenge that you want
to address in the project and where it fits into your curriculum
is required.
How
are teams selected?
Teams will be selected based on their submission of an instructional
challenge in their subject area (History or Geography). Submissions
of problems with a (1) clear pedagogical objective that can
be addressed through the use of technology, (2) for which
the use of technology will enhance student learning, and (3)
which are innovative, are desired. We also seek proposals
which show enthusiasm for the possibilities that technology
can bring to teaching and learning.
How
do I know if my project is suitable?
Because our goal at the University of Waterloo is to assist
in the development of teaching with technology to improve
student learning, proposals will likely need to be tailored
from their original format. We will be encouraging prospective
teams to think-through the process of instructional design
to ensure that their projects are, not only "doable" but that
they will also address effectively a pedagogical objective.
Some proposals, therefore, will likely have to be revised
and resubmitted prior to arriving at Waterloo. This will encourage
teams to have a clear plan before they attend the one-week
program.
Follow-up
Activities
Follow-up activities will be created to assist in the implementation
of the learning support software, including evaluation of
their use. Such activities will be designed to fit each individual
project, while at the same time allowing Clarica Scholars
to build on their relationship with other teams from across
Canada.
