Professional Development
Forming a Teacher Study Group

Activity Two
Examples and Experiences of Existing Teacher Study Groups

  • Brief Description
  • Objectives
  • Materials and Resources
  • Activity Description
  • Internet Resources

  • Brief Description

        There are many examples of existing teacher study groups, collaboratives, or research groups that are using the Internet. These examples can provide helpful guidelines for forming and sustaining regular communication in this type of group. In this activity, we briefly describe examples of teacher study groups and provide links to resources on how these groups formed and where they are moving in the future.

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    Objectives

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    Materials and Resources

        In developing our lessons and activities, we made some assumptions about the hardware and software that would be available in the classroom for teachers who visit the LETSNet Website. We assume that teachers using our Internet-based lessons or activities have a computer (PC or Macintosh) with the necessary hardware components (mouse, keyboard, and monitor) as well as software (operating system, TCP/IP software, networking or dial-up software, e-mail and a World Wide Web client program, preferably Netscape, but perhaps Mosaic or Lynx). In the section below, we specify any "special" hardware or software requirements for a lesson or activity (in addition to those described above) and the level of Internet access required to do the activity.

    1. Special hardware requirements: none.
    2. Special software requirements: none.
    3. Internet access: Medium-speed (28,800 BPS via phone) or higher.
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    Activity Description

        As the Internet has grown in popularity, teachers have been creating and sustaining relationships with other teachers using telecommunications or e-mail. With the growing use of e-mail for teacher communication, projects and research groups have sprung up on the Web. Many of these groups are composed of teachers, with a few university faculty members and graduate students thrown in on occasion, who all share a sense of the possibilities of the Internet in education. To help these teachers realize their own potential, teacher groups have been helpful and supportive as people learn to use technology for their own means. Several of these successful teacher groups have described their experiences, forming and sustaining their communication, and made these experiences available for others to learn from. This activity describes and summarizes some of these experiences, and provides links to more information on these groups for further study.

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    Internet Resources

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