Help for Educators: "Just in Time"

by Marilyn Kelly, OPEN staff
kelly_m@4j.lane.edu

Over the past few months, you've read in these pages about the OPEN Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse, funded by the Oregon Department of Education, is an exciting project. The OPEN vision is an online support system assisting K-12 teachers and administrators across the state, a support system providing access not only to teaching and learning resources on the World Wide Web and beyond, but also to professional development opportunities, collaborative projects, discussion groups, how-to information, expert guidance and, literally, to a worldwide learning community.

One component of the OPEN Clearinghouse is the Just-In-Time Training (JITT) project. The goal of JITT is to provide Oregon educators with useful, relevant, high-quality training and professional development opportunities. JITT is designed to provide training when it's needed, and training that's tailored to the specific need. For example, you don't need to know how to change a tire until you get a flat; when you do get a flat, you need to find out quickly how to fix it, but you don't need to learn how to rebuild the whole car. JITT gives you what you need, when you need it.

The objectives of JITT are:

To respond to identified needs;
To help people find good information quickly and easily, but also empower them to explore the Web, discover new dimensions, and create their own paths of study;
To set and adhere to standards of excellence for materials presented;
To identify and bring together existing resources;
To deliver timely information for schools, teachers, and administrators; and
To facilitate the establishment of an online community where people can ask questions, solve problems, and share ideas.

In short, JITT wants to help you find what you need and where you want to go, and to help get you there with the least amount of fuss and with the opportunity to explore along the way.

The JITT team recently completed a preliminary needs assessment survey using a test group of 150 teachers and administrators across the state. The most frequently identified need was for help with integrating technology into the classroom, and the second most frequent was for help with Netscape operation and Internet research. We're working on responding to these needs right now.

Another part of our task is to help familiarize teachers with the Oregon Standards. The JITT project is developing an online version that, in its final form, will link the standards to performance tasks and scoring guides for each of the content areas and grade levels.

We're also developing a simple database of resource people. Initially, this will be a list of people that you can contact for help via e-mail; the list will be searchable by grade level, subject matter, and geographic location. A long-term goal is to create a system of online discussion groups staffed by experts or guest moderators. If you have a particular skill or knowledge that you're willing to share with others - maybe you're a ClarisWorks expert, or you're pretty comfortable using the Mac, or you've developed a knockout project for your fifth-grade science class - let us know. Call or email Marilyn Kelly at 541-687-3255. Better yet, fill out the online Mentor form.

We're looking for people to help test the Web site as it's developed. If you're interested in being a tester, drop us a line. Include your name, e-mail address, the name of the Web browser you use (e.g., Internet Explorer, Mosaic, Netscape), and your level of experience with the Web (e.g., you're able to find basic information but generally feel lost; you can make profitable use of Web searching software and resource lists; you can create your own Web pages).

Things are taking shape. Visit us at our Web site (address above) and see for yourself. You'll find introductory Netscape and e-mail courses, a short course on grant seeking, the JITT skill assessment survey, the site evaluation criteria and checklist, and our mentor form. Let us know what you think. Your comments and feedback will help us achieve the Just-In-Time Training vision.