M.A.S.T.E.R. I.T. (Math and Science Teachers Enhancing Resources Through
Instructional Technology): A Multimedia Training Program for K-12 Teachers
Constance R. Schmidt
Nancy C. Keese
In July, 1996, the Instructional Technology Support Center (ITSC) and the
Department of Educational Leadership at Middle Tennessee State University
(MTSU) co-sponsored a four-day multimedia workshop for high school math
and science teachers. The workshop was titled "M.A.S.T.E.R. I.T.,"
which stands for "Math and Science Teachers Enhancing Resources Through
Instructional Technology." At the workshop, teachers created multimedia
applications for students to use in their classrooms. In the following sections,
we discuss: (1) the workshop participants and instructors, (2) the software
used in training, (3) the content of the training sessions, (4) the multimedia
projects created by the teachers, (5) the participants' evaluations of the
workshop, and (6) our plans for future M.A.S.T.E.R. I.T. workshops.
Workshop Participants and Instructors
Fourteen middle school and high school teachers from five Tennessee counties
participated in the M.A.S.T.E.R. I.T. workshop. Ten were mathematics teachers,
whereas the remaining five were science teachers. The teachers were selected
to participate by their superintendents. The workshop instructors and assistants
included four faculty members from teacher education departments at MTSU,
three MTSU math and science faculty members, two curriculum specialists
from the Tennessee Department of Education, a producer/director from MTSU's
television services units, and an instructional technology specialist from
the ITSC. Also, presenters from the Tennessee Department of Education provided
valuable information about current math and science standards and curriculum
frameworks.
Workshop Software
The main software package teachers used in the M.A.S.T.E.R. I.T. workshop
was HyperStudio. HyperStudio allows teachers to combine text, graphics,
movies, and sound into interactive applications students can use in self-directed
learning. Participants also learned how to find multimedia resources in
their subject areas on the World Wide Web using Netscape and how to create
multimedia classroom presentations using Microsoft PowerPoint. All software
applications used during the workshop were available on both Macintosh and
Widows platforms. Participants chose the platform they preferred to use
in creating their multimedia projects.
Participants benefited from different types of training during the four-day workshop. Several two-hour training sessions were devoted to learning the basics of the software packages used during the workshop. Teachers were also shown how to use digital cameras and color scanners to import graphical images into their multimedia projects. This technical training was supplemented by training directly related to the teachers' content areas. Representatives from the Tennessee Department of Education discussed state and national curriculum frameworks in science and mathematics. Science and mathematics faculty at MTSU taught teachers how to locate resources on World Wide Web. Throughout the week, teachers were given blocks of "open lab" time for individual project development. MTSU faculty and staff were available to provide assistance during these open lab sessions. Finally, participants met with MTSU faculty and staff individually twice during the week to consult at length about their developing projects.
Participant Multimedia Projects
At the end of the workshop, participants presented their multimedia projects
to their peers. All of the projects were produced using HyperStudio. The
titles and authors of the 13 finished projects are listed in Table 1 below:
Table 1. M.A.S.T.E.R. I.T. 1996 Participant Projects
| Project Title | Content Area | Author(s) | County |
| Intro. to Algebra 1 | Mathematics | Whitney Boyce | Bedford County |
| Transformations | Mathematics | Lana Carlton | Bedford County |
| Writing Formulas | Mathematics | Anna Arnold | Cannon County |
| Deriving the Quadratic Formula | Mathematics | Norma Lewis | Cannon |
| Against All Odds | Mathematics | Stephen Blessing | Coffee |
| Numbers that Mystify | Mathematics | Dorothy Pedigo | Coffee |
| Circular Conics | Mathematics | Marylee Foster & Francine Whitworth | Rutherford |
| The Saga of SOH-CAH-TOA | Mathematics | Jim Miller | Rutherford |
| I saw the sign | Mathematics | Candis Angle | Wilson |
| Earth's Moving Plates | Science | Jeanie Phillips | Bedford |
| Chemistry Jeopardy | Science | David Harris | Coffee |
| Energy Flow Through the Ecosystems | Science | Joe Nunley | Rutherford |
| Careers | Guidance | Kris Marshall | Rutherford |
At the end of the workshop, participants completed detailed evaluation forms.
Eight-seven percent of the participants rated the overall quality of the
workshop sessions as either "good" or "excellent." Sixty-seven
percent rated the usefulness of the workshop to their teaching as "good"
or "excellent." Participants gave their highest ratings to the
software application training sessions, individual consultations with the
instructors, open lab sessions, and the final participant presentations.
They were less enthusiastic about the presentations concerning curriculum
frameworks and the sessions demonstrating the digital camera and scanners.
Participants complained that the camera/scanners session did not involve
enough "hands-on" experience with the digital imaging equipment.
Teachers were also frustrated by frequent computer crashes that occurred
during many of the training sessions, crashes that were probably related
to problems with the HyperStudio program.
Plans are underway for conducting a second M.A.S.T.E.R. I.T. workshop during
the summer of 1998. Some of the participants in the first workshop will
return as master teachers and mentors in the second workshop. We will use
the evaluations from the first M.A.S.T.E.R. I.T. workshop to improve the
training and events planned for the second workshop.
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