1900 Lexington Avenue, Monroe, Louisiana 71201
318-387-9759
Holly Casey, Technology Coordinator
This web site is a cooperative venture of the MCS Instructional Technology
Department, the Management Information Systems (MIS) Department and the
Louisiana Challenge Grant project.
We invite district personnel to create web pages for their schools and/or
classes. All pages must be submitted to the Instructional Technology Department
for approval and uploading.
If you are not familiar with hypertext markup language but would like
to have your school or class online, assistance is available upon request.
The site will be updated monthly. New pages or request for changes to
existing pages are due by the 20th of each month.
To report site problems, offer suggestions, request assistance, etc.,
contact:
Challenge Grant Telecommunications Facilitator
318-387-9759
The Instructional Technology Department was established in 1993 to lead
the instructional portion of the MCS Technology Initiative.
The department's primary goal is:
To have up-to-date instructional technology available in a "plug
and play" environment to enhance teacher productivity and student
achievement as evidenced by higher student test scores, increased student
motivation, expanded teacher creativity and curriculum development, and
greater teacher-student use of telecommunications to access the information
highway, thereby placing MCS personnel and pupils in a competitive posture
for the twenty-first century.
Phase I of the Technology Initiative has been completed. Thirty-station
Macintosh or PC labs have been established in each of the district's elementary
and junior high schools. The Curriculum Committee selected the Computer Curriculum Corporation integrated learning system
to enhance classroom instruction in grades K-6. Training on the new software
has been completed by all grade 3-6 and junior high teachers. Additional
personnel were trained during the spring semester.
The Instructional Technology Department offers a variety of classes
for district personnel, including Mac and PC Basics, WordPerfect 6.1 and
3.5, Eudora e-mail, Netscape, etc.
A full listing of the department's offerings is included each month
on the MCS Professional Development Schedule.
Please note that registration is required due to space limitations. To register,
contact Tina Ballard, 387-9759.
LaNIE Grant
In October of 1994, a $565,000 technology grant was awarded by the National
Science Foundation to fund the Louisiana Networking Infrastructure for Education
(LaNIE). The project was a joint effort of the Louisiana Systemic Initiative
Program (LaSIP), the Louisiana Department
of Education, and Northeast Louisiana
University. The funds were used primarily to implement three pilot sites
to integrate Internet resources into K-12 instruction and to develop a statewide
plan in technology for schools and universities.
An out-of-state review team selected three pilot sites for the state:
Jefferson Parish/University of New Orleans; Natchitoches Parish/Northwestern
State University; and Calcasieu Parish/McNeese State University. Two additional
sites, Monroe City Schools/Northeast Louisiana University and Lafayette
Parish/University of Southwestern Louisiana, were integrated into the project
as both were already utilizing Internet. The project provided $50,000 to
the original sites to purchase the technology necessary to bring their systems
online and $15,000 to the online sites to provide teacher training and assistance.
Each participating district selected a teacher to go on sabbatical in
order to serve as the district's LaNIE Team Leader. The Team Leaders conducted
training workshops and served as liaisons between the district Technology
Coordinator, university personnel, and state project personnel.
LaNIE District Team Leaders
Karla Bowlin, Monroe City Schools
Vickie Pfost/Linda Breaux, Calcasieu Parish Schools
Jean Curran/Maidie Couvillon, Jefferson Parish Schools
Juanita Guerin/Sylvia Bienvenu, Lafayette Parish Schools
Rebecca Callaway, Natchitoches Parish Schools
MCS Project Schools and Participants
Teachers from three district feeder schools were selected to participate
in the project. Each teacher was enrolled in NLU's Computer Science 514
class, Integrating Internet into the K-12 Curriculum, and attended district
Internet training sessions. During the semester, they wrote and implemented
Internet lesson plans.
Clara Hall Elementary
Debbie Bryan, 4th grade; Sara Caldwell, 2nd grade, Jean Dunham, 3rd
grade; Euleshia Johnson, 2nd grade, Mary Stodghill, 1st grade
Jefferson Junior High
Debbie Blue, Principal; Rose Lee, Counselor; Cassandra Green, Science;
Earl Osborn, Math; Pam Wilkins, Science
Wossman High School
Brenda Adams, Special Services; Deanna Ford, French; Barbara Hodges,
Business; Evelyn Jackson, Science; Jerry Mayhall, Special Services; Betty
McBride, Special Services; Tamra McCarter, GT Math; Dorothy McNeal, Social
Studies; Cassie Owens, Math; Ola Mae Tennant, Science
Louisiana Challenge Grant
And because the LaNIE project was so successful, the consortium applied
for and received one of the US Department of Education's Challenge Grants!
To read all about the grant and to meet the district personnel and the teachers
involved, click The LOUISIANA CHALLENGE!
Driver's Ed for Teachers Navigating
the Information Superhighway
Dr. Virginia Eaton, Project Director
Department of Computer Science
Northeast Louisiana University
This three year Northeast Louisiana University
(NLU) project will provide fifteen school districts in northeast Louisiana
with a cadre of well-trained resource persons and the support necessary
to benefit from electronic networking. This proposal presents a plan that
will, in the space of three years, prepare 60 teachers to use the Internet
with sufficient skill to effectively integrate resources on the Internet
with state mandated curriculum guides, translate the technology into daily
activities in mathematics and science courses, and train their colleagues.
Personal networking and electronic communication channels will be established
so that these teachers will have access to sources of expert assistance
in their Internet-pedagogic endeavors at all times.
The plan is to invest in 60 teachers from 15 school districts surrounding
NLU who have demonstrated the ability and desire to enhance the way that
science and mathematics are taught in their schools. These distinguished
teachers will assume graduate assistant positions for two semesters and
one summer at NLU while on sabbatical leave from their respective schools.
Course work taken during their assistantships will include not only specific
Internet training and of Internet mathematics and science applications into
the classroom but also education in methodology and leadership training.
The goal of the project is that the teachers not only learn how to navigate
the network, but that they will have the skills necessary to return to their
school districts as resource persons capable of training others to use the
Internet.
During the 1995-1996 school year, five MCS teachers were on sabbatical
to participate in this project:
Janet Davis, Valerie Fields
Deanna Ford, Martha Preston, and Mary Stodghill.
Each of these teachers worked with several schools to train the faculty
in basic computers skills as well as curriculum integration of Internet
resources. A total 231 MCS teachers were trained this year due to the project.
Five new MCS teachers will participate in the project this school year.
They are:
Carol Fletcher, Diana Lewis
Jackie Mathews, Pam Wilkins, and Anthony Williams.
Karla
Bowlin