CCSSO Offers Excellent New Curriculum Resource--the LumiBook

CCSSO, in collaboration with School Improvement Network, has released an excellent new resource, the InTASC LumiBook, a free interactive online guide to understanding and applying the updated InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers.

The LumiBook platform, developed by the School Improvement Network, is a highly interactive, cloud-based e-reading platform that allows readers to collaborate in an online community centered on the text of a book. Embedded within the InTASC LumiBook, the platform provides resources and social media features that enable educators to explore and improve teaching practices aligned to the InTASC standards. Readers of the LumiBook can engage with the author and with other readers by posting comments, sharing files and ideas, and creating online discussions directly in the text of the book. Through the LumiBook platform, users will have access to video examples of classroom teaching and other resources for each InTASC standard, which can help deepen their understanding of the teaching standards and improve their professional practice.

 “We know that effective teachers are critical to ensuring students reach college and careers,” said Chris Minnich, CCSSO Executive Director. “The InTASC LumiBook, is an innovative tool to help teachers collaboratively assess and improve their professional practice.”

To access the new InTASC LumiBook, please go to www.lumi-book.com/intasc (registration is required).

To learn more about the InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers, please go to www.ccsso.org/intasc or contact Kathleen Paliokas, InTASC Director, at kathleenp@ccsso.org.

IES Pushing for Research Utilization

In a recent report to the National Board for Education Sciences, IES Director John Easton described the institute’s strategy for cutting its research budget in the face of reduced funding brought about by the sequester. Easton reported IES has sought to protect the integrity of existing grants by curtailing new awards. For example, while the National Center for Education Research funded 49 new grants, it would have funded 16 additional meritorious awards if the sequester were not in place.

Regardless, IES is pushing for increased understanding of knowledge utilization and research dissemination. Planning is under way in two IES centers—the National Center for Education Evaluation and the National Center for Education Research—to implement the new requirement that utilization and dissemination be incorporated into the research grant applications. IES’s commitment in this area is most clearly demonstrated by a new competition for a five-year, $5 million national research center to study knowledge utilization in education. Applications for this award are due September 4, 2013.

UCEA considers this welcome news, encourages institutional members to seriously consider this competition, and will continue its efforts in this area.

Award Nominations Are Due June 17!

In order to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to the educational leadership field and to highlight excellence among university leadership preparation programs, we encourage you to submit nominations for the following international awards.  You may access more detailed information on each award by clicking on the name of the award below, or by visiting our website at www.ucea.org and selecting a specific award from the Awards dropdown menu:

▪   NEW THIS YEAR: Exemplary Educational Leadership Preparation, given by UCEA to a program within colleges and departments of education that demonstrates exemplary educational leadership preparation. The award is inspired by UCEA’s core mission to advance the preparation and practice of educational leaders for the benefit of all children and schools, and the recipient(s) will be given a significant cash award.  The award-winning institution will receive a significant cash award.  Please visit the website for more information as the nomination requirements for this award differ from the others listed below. 

▪   Edwin M. Bridges Award, given by UCEA annually for original, outstanding work in the area of research and/or development that contributes to our knowledge and understanding of how best to prepare and support future generations of educational leaders.

▪   The Roald F. Campbell Award, given to senior colleague recognizing a lifetime of excellent achievement.

▪   The Jack A. Culbertson Award, given to a professor in the first six years of his or her career for some outstanding accomplishment. 

▪   The Master Professor Award, given to an individual faculty member whose record is so distinguished that UCEA must recognize this individual in a significant and timely manner.

▪   The Jay D. Scribner Mentoring Award, given to a educational leadership faculty who have made substantive contribution to the field by mentoring the next generation of students into roles as university research professors, while also recognizing the important role(s) mentors play in supporting and advising junior faculty.

Nominations for these awards are welcome from faculty member(s) of UCEA member institutions and partner institutions and should include electronic copies of all required materials sent to ucea@virginia.edu by June 17, 2013 (please note that the requirements for the “Exemplary Educational Leadership Preparation Award” are different and more extensive given the nature of the award, see the web link provided to access the list of these requirements):

▪   the candidate's curriculum vitae;▪   a letter addressing the contributions of the nominee relative to one or more of the selection criteria;▪   support letters from individuals who have been directly mentored by the nominee, and/or individuals who can attest to the nominee's mentoring strengths, are strongly encouraged. 

The deadline for submissions is June 17, 2013.

A UCEA committee appointed by Executive Director Michelle Young will review and evaluate the nominees. This committee will reserve the right to present this award to multiple candidates on any given year, or conversely, not to present this award should nominees not fully meet the selection criteria.

Please send nominations electronically to ucea@virginia.edu.  Questions?  Please call UCEA Headquarters at (434) 243-1041 or email us at ucea@virginia.edu

All 2013 Convention Proposal Submitters:

If you submitted a proposal for this year's convention, please make sure to login and check your reviewer assignments with the email address you originally used to submit.

All reviews are due today

If you have any questions, please call (434) 924-0861 or email us at uceaconvention@gmail.com.

Thank you

MOOCs, What Are They Good For?

It's an understatement to say that there is a lot of interest in higher education about the potential of MOOCs: Massively Open Online Courses.  Questions, such as whether they should be used, how they might be used, and what purposes they serve, are on the minds of many higher education stakeholders. For those mulling over the issue, the May 24th edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education opens with two articles on MOOCs.  The first focused on plans by Georgia Tech to offer a MOOC-like Masters degree in computer science and the second focused on the perspective of "hard-core" MOOC students (i.e., individuals who have completed 10-20 MOOCs or more).  The articles mull over what makes a MOOC work for students as well as the importance of offering highly rigorous MOOCs for students on the degree track.  

Many UCEA institutions already offer MOOCs, though not in the education field. The more I learn about them, the less certain I am that they are appropriate for developing individuals for highly skilled professions like educaitonal leadership.  They appear an appropriate means for sharing information about a subject, but high quality educational leadership programs do much more than share information.  University-based, educational leadership preparation develops the knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to lead goal-oriented educational organizations and people. Can this be done within a Massively Open Online Course? 

For a more philosophical debate on this issue, I refer readers to a chronicle.com article that appeared a few days previous.