e3Link Program: Connecting Students in the US with Students in Algeria

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Algeria to visit with teachers regarding the e3Link (English, Education, Electronically Linked) Program. The e3Link Program is designed to create a link between Algerian and American secondary students. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), the project involves students from each country creating and sharing community profiles using PowerPoint and the Internet. The project is intended to help improve Algerian students’ English proficiency and provide a cultural exchange between students from both countries.

Four schools from both countries have been selected to pilot the project and will begin the program in September 2006. Of the four schools that will be participating three are situated in Michigan: Dewitt High School, Durand High School and Pinckney Community Schools. The fourth school is Valley High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. Six additional schools from both countries will be selected to begin the program in January 2007.

When I first was told that I would be going to Algeria I wasn’t exactly excited. Even though I had been working on the project for several months and writing the curriculum for the teachers within the program, I didn’t think I would have the “opportunity” to travel there. I’m not sure what bothered me most, the fact that there are travel warnings for the country or the fact that I had to get vaccinations in the form of shots. I hate shots.

When I arrived and met with the teachers, all my fears and worries disappeared.  Prior to working for MSU I was a teacher at the secondary level for 8 years.  When I sat down with the Algerian teachers I felt like I was talking with teachers that I had worked with for years.  We discussed some of the issues that they faced and the list sounded similar to what you would hear from teachers here in the United States.  Some issues they brought up were large class sizes, poor pay for teachers, difficulty motivating some students to learn, not enough time for training and sharing ideas, not enough resources such as textbooks, and the list goes on and on.   Sound familiar? 

In the end I gained a deeper insight on the Algerian culture and the similarities we share, especially within education.  I hope that the students that are participating in the project are able to make similar connections and expand their thinking in our global society. Although the e3Link Project will begin small, only affecting students in 10 schools in each country, its potential to change lives and breakdown barriers between cultures is immense.  I know it has already changed mine. 

Picture of the participating Algerian teachers in Blida, Algeria.

–Carrie Albin, Outreach Coordinator and Co-Editor

College of Education Graduate School Programs Top National Rankings
8 Graduate Programs in the Top 10

MSU’s College of Education has done it again. For the 12th year in a row the college’s graduate programs in elementary and secondary education have been ranked number 1 in the 2007 U.S. News & World Report guide to “ America’s Best Graduate Schools”.  The Rehabilitation Counseling program retained its number 1 ranking from 2003. The College of Education had a total of 8 graduate programs ranked in the top 10 nationally and an overall rank of 14th in the nation.

The magazine ranks the nations 276 graduate education schools that grant doctorates or Ed.S. degrees. The rankings are based on six attributes:

• reputation
• faculty resources
• research activity
• student selectivity
• overall rank
• speciality rankings

Rankings from the US News & World Report

–Carrie Albin, Outreach Coordinator and Co-Editor

The online Master of Arts degree in Education is designed for experienced educators who are interested in enhancing their professional practice through online study of advanced professional knowledge related to teaching, learning, and leadership in P-16 schools.  Through elective sequences of learning opportunities, the student may develop one or two concentrations that focus on selected areas such as special education, technology and learning, K-12 school and postsecondary leadership, literacy education, and science and mathematics education.  The online MA program in Education is available only online and only under Plan B (without thesis). The online format provides optimum flexibility for students who wish to engage in inquiry and learning that will contribute to exemplary educational practice. The online program must be completed within five years.  
Please note that this online program is not designed to provide State of Michigan endorsement nor teacher certification.

Online Program Benefits

• Convenience—study when and where it suits you and your busy personal and professional life
• Taught only by MSU faculty
•  Breadth of course selection—focus in-depth on one or two areas of concentration, or pick one area for close examination and explore broadly across other areas
• Apply what you learn online in your classroom
  
• Earn your MA degree by successfully completing and exhibiting an online portfolio

Find out more about the MAED program at www.educ.msu.edu/onlineed

–Susan L. Melnick, Assistant Dean and Program Director

MACT: Master of Arts in Curriculum and Teaching Program

The MSU College of Education offers a master’s degree in Curriculum and Teaching on-campus in East Lansing; at Michigan regional sites in Birmingham and Grand Rapids; in summer-only programs in Traverse City, Michigan, and Plymouth, England; and in innovative online and hybrid (combination of online and face-to-face) formats.  There are also “study abroad” summer course work opportunities in South Africa, Australia, and Ontario, Canada.

The Master of Arts in Curriculum and Teaching Program (MACT) is organized around three themes: (1)The primary focus of the MACT program is “critical inquiry,” for helping teachers understand the research and scholarship generated in our field, and for helping them address and critique important questions in policy, practice, and professional development.  Central to this inquiry is improving and supporting all students’ learning and success in schools.  (2) “Accomplished teaching” is based on scholarship and involves the examination and application of best practices.  It develops and is refined over time through systematic and collaborative inquiry into one’s practice, and by pursuing shared goals and practices in a community of learning where teaching is made public and open to collegial dialogue, study, and improvement.  (3) The MACT program seeks to promote teachers’ “professional leadership” in its many forms, through developing positive dispositions and skills in collaborative inquiry and shared decision making in their schools and communities, and as public citizens who can exercise their commitment to public education in a variety of ways.

This 30 credit program includes three required courses of inquiry into professional development and school culture, one required and one “selective course” of inquiry into curriculum and schooling, three “selective courses” in subject matter and/or thematic concentrations, two elective courses, and a final evaluation of the student’s professional portfolio and synthesis paper that are developed through the program.   

The courses offered by the MA program in Educational Technology (especially CEP 810, 811, and 812 that constitute the program’s Educational Technology Certificate) are included among the options a student can pursue with advisor guidance and consent.

So if you’re a current MACT student you may wish to enroll in one of the educational technology classes offered locally at numerous school districts statewide. If you’re an Educational Technology Certificate Program student you may wish to consider applying for the MACT program. These are great options for both programs.

For deadlines and contact information please go to http://ed-web3.educ.msu.edu/mact  

–Doug Campbell, MACT Program Director

Want to continue learning and earn a graduate degree in educational technology? Check out MSU’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology!The MSU College of Education offers a masters degree in Educational Technology through an intensive summer cohort program in East Lansing, Traverse City, and Plymouth, England.

The MAET program builds on the foundation laid by CEP 810, 811, and 812 to deepen educators’ understanding of how new technologies can support teaching and learning, with an emphasis on developing student understanding of subject matter and problem-solving abilities. This summer’s MAET students have just completed an intense and productive month together. They read and discussed technology issues relating to teaching, learning, and curriculum, honed their web development skills, explored the use of digital video, and planned inquiry projects through which they will tackle important problems of practice in their own classrooms.

The Certificate Program is a prerequisite for the MAET program and by completing the Certificate Program you have almost 1/3 of the MAET done! So enroll today for the Certificate or, if you’ve completed the Certificate Program, apply for the MAET program by contacting Leigh Graves Wolf, Program Coordinator at gravesle@msu.edu.

Find out more about the MAET program at http://edutech.msu.edu/masters.html

– Ralph Putnam, MAET Program Director