The Friday Institute 2008 Annual Report to the Dean

Changes in Service Environment:

There have been several significant changes in our service environment in the past year.

  • The NC State legislature has allocated $12 million on an annual, recurring basis for the Connectivity project, with an increase in this amount currently under consideration by the state legislation. The goals of the project are to create and maintain a broadband education network for all schools in the state. The Friday Institute is leading a coalition of business and government partners in implementing these goals.
  • The NC State legislature has allocated $3 million in non-recurring funds for a pilot one-to-one computing program. The program, in 11 pilot schools, gives one laptop computer for each student. The Golden Leaf Foundation and SAS provided computers to the program; the state legislation providing funding for wifi networking within the schools, other technology resources such as SmartBoards and software, professional development, and evaluation. There is strong business support to expand the program state-wide; planning toward that goal has begun. The Friday Institute is a member of the One-to-One Steering Committee and provides professional development and evaluation services to the project. We have also initiated, with multiple partners, the one-to-one learning collaborative, to provide online support to teachers and administrators in schools implementing one-to-one programs, and will be running an institute for leadership teams from these schools during July, 2008, with plans for this to become an annual event.
  • The Friday Institute provides technical support and evaluation services to the North Carolina Virtual Public School.
  • The National Science Foundation has updated the manner in which they provide funding. The new system includes a cycle of innovation and the Friday Institute is well represented with this new format. See Research for a full listing of grants awarded in the last year.
  • The Friday Institute’s Executive Director and Director of Technology are both members of the NC E-Learning Commission. The commission is a partnership between business, government, and the State Board of Education to develop policies and programs relating to technology for K-20 education.

Compact Plan:

High quality, diverse faculty and staff

The Friday Institute is committed to hiring and retaining the highest quality staff. In the previous year, 25% of all new employees were persons of color and 58% were women.

Strengthen K-12 teacher preparation, especially STEM

Strengthen extension and engagement

The Friday Institute has continued to build a strong portfolio of extension and engagement activities. A partial list of our activities can be found under Extension.

Aggressively build research and graduate programs

The Friday Institute is committed to research and building research capacity, and faculty associated with FI have received a number of new NSF grants, as detailed below. The FI currently oversees $13, 204,349 in research grants and contracts.

Diversity:

The Friday Institute has increased its staff diversity by hiring three persons of color within the previous year. Two of those people are women in leadership positions: Bernice Campbell, Director of Project Evaluation for the NC Math and Science Education Network, and Verna Lalbeharie, Senior Program Manager for the one-to-one learning initiative.

Instructional Program Advances:

Does not apply to the Friday Institute.

Research:

The Friday Institute currently supports research grants and contracts that total $13,204,349. Research is focused in four main areas: Technology Infrastructures for K-12 schools, Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century, Leadership Development, and Evaluation of Educational Innovations. The two largest grantors are the National Science Foundation and the NC Department of Public Instruction.

New research grants and contracts awarded in the past year include:

  • TOSS (Trajectory of Science Scholars) Projects
  • School Connectivity Initiative FY08-Establish NCEdNet Governance and Funding Plans
  • School Connectivity Initiative FY08-Establish the K-12 Common Network
  • School Connectivity Initiative FY08-Establish the Core Functions of NCEdNet
  • Evaluation of North Carolina's One-to-One Laptop Pilot
  • Statewide Evaluation of North Carolina's Enhancing Education through Technology Competitive Grant:Impact I Renewal
  • Statewide Evaluation of North Carolina's Enhancing Education through Technology Competitive Grant:Impact III
  • Statewide Evaluation of North Carolina's Enhancing Education through Technology Competitive Grant:Impact IV
  • Evaluation of the NC Virtual Public Schools
  • Universal BEATS: Universal BioMusic Education Achievement Tier in Science
  • CPATH CB: Computing Across Curricula
  • Diagnostic E-Learning Trajectories Approach (DELTA) Applied to Rational Number Reasoning for Grades 3-8
  • Synthesizing Rational Number Reasoning for Urban Schools
  • Mathematics Instruction using Decision Science and Engineering Tools
  • Major: The Narrative Theatre - A Creativity Enhancement Environment
  • Multimodal Science: Supporting Elementary Science Education through Graphic-Enhanced Communication
  • Geosciences in Middle Schools (GIMS)
  • Grid-C: Green Research for Incorporating Data in the Classsroom
  • Noyce Mathematics Education Teaching Scholars at NC State University
  • SMART for Teachers: Science and Mathematics Achievement through Enriched Technology for Teachers
  • STEM-MSP partnership with New Schools Project

Extension:

The Friday Institute is committed to providing service to North Carolina and its communities. The following projects, and activities illustrate that commitment.

Innovation Leaders Academy- This project is designed to provide leadership training to schools and school systems and assist with designing innovative solutions to problems, spreading and scaling up effective innovations, and sustaining those innovations over time. The Academy is in conjunction with the 21st Century Teaching and Learning project in 6 Northeast NC school districts.

21st Century Teaching and Learning- The Friday Institute is collaborating with educators from northeastern North Carolina school districts to create innovative classroom practices – and a technology infrastructure to support them – in rural public schools. New, technology-based learning tools will enable interactive, collaborative and engaging learning experiences that boost creativity and self-directed learning skills. Over 29,000 students are impacted by this program in 6 school districts.

The following extension activities took place within the past year:

Professional Development

  • 1:1 Learning Collaborative Launch Day-long Conference September 2007
  • New Literacies Collaborative Launch Day-long Conference, October 2007
  • Workshops for 1:1 Teachers and Administrators, November 2007
  • Web 2.0 Online Professional Development Class, January- February 2008
  • Workshop for English and Social Studies Mentor Teachers, February 2008
  • Workshop for Middle Grade Teachers, February 2008
  • New Literacies Researchers Meeting, February 2008
  • New Literacies Blog, ongoing
  • US/China Summit on K-12 Education, May 2008
  • Brown Bag Seminars, 9 lunchtime seminars throughout year
  • Voices of Innovation Series of Speakers, throughout year
  • Joseph D. Moore Lecture Series, throughout year
  • Plenary presentation at NSF PI meeting
  • Plenary presentation at Tech Expo Kansas City
  • Working group High School Math policy makers
  • NC Council Teachers of Mathematics Leadership

K-12 Student Development

  • MC-MSEN Pre-College Program coordinates and provides extensive student development throughout the year to over 450 students.
  • Crystal Island is an interactive gaming environment that teaches Microbiology content from the NC Standard Course of Study. Approximately 350 8th grade students interacted with Crystal Island in the past year.
  • Drs. Jere Confrey and Alan Maloney led the effort to rewrite the NC Standard Course of Study K-5 Math Curriculum Descriptors.
  • NC School of Science and Math workshops
  • Graphs and Glyphs workshops

Faculty:

Does not apply to the Friday Institute.

Students:

Does not apply to the Friday Institute.

Fundraising:

Private fundraising for the Friday Institute consists of a $15,000 competition prize that was won by three staff members, Lodge McCammon, Sammie Carter and Brian Bouterse and donated to the Friday Institute; a $10,000 gift from Anne Goodnight; and $10,000 donation from MCNC all to be used for the Executive Director’s Discretionary Fund.

Administration:

The Friday Institute continues to increase its staff in important areas such as Communication, Technology Support and Operations, as well as research and development staff. New hires since July 1, 2007 include:

Dr. Glenn Kleiman, Executive Director

Verna Lalbeharie, Senior Program Director

Dr. Jere Confrey, Senior Research Fellow

Dr. Alan Maloney, Senior Research Fellow

Dr. Bernice Campbell, Program Evaluator, CRMSE

Jenifer Corn, Senior Research Associate

Elizabeth Halstead, Research Associate

Mustapha Jawara, Technology Support Specialist

Mary Jane Johnson, Financial Assistant

Chris Pfitzer, Communication Specialist

Lodge McCammon, Multimedia and Curriculum Specialist

Gwynn Morris, Post Doctoral Researcher

In addition, Sammie Carter has been promoted from Operations and Systems Specialist to Associate Director of Technology.

Also of note, staff member and Ph.D. candidate Lodge McCammon (along with CED professors Drs. Pope and Beal) won the Gertrude Cox Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching and Learning with Technology for his work on TOP 2007. He is the only student to ever receive this prestigious award.

Recommendations and concerns:

As we move forward, the Friday Institute will need to be aware of the need to build internal capacity and organizational processes to support our core mission. The Friday Institute should also begin investigating strategies that allow for flexibility and the ability to respond nimbly to changing conditions.

Creating Educational Innovation:

School Connectivity Initiative- In November of 2006 the State Board of Education, the Governor's Office, and the Lieutenant Governor's Office asked the Friday Institute to act as program manager for the School Connectivity Initiative. In our role as SCI program manager, the FI has:

  • Served as the base of operations for the program;
  • Provided technical planning and design services;
  • Provided coordination across agencies, programs, and industry;
  • Served as the primary communications conduit to the LEAs;
  • Served as technical and E‑rate consultant to LEAs; and
  • Acted as a liaison to the General Assembly on behalf of the SBE and DPI.

We continue to serve as a de‑facto technology in education extension service for the SCI and other emerging technology pilots and online education programs.

NC 1:1 Learning Collaborative- The Friday Institute, in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and SAS, launched the NC 1:1 Learning Collaborative, which is designed to support K-12 schools and districts that are implementing programs in which every student and teacher has a laptop computer, desktop computer, or other computing device, with ready access to the internet

Cinema Veriteen-Cinéma Veritéen is a research project that culminates in student-generated videos.The project illustrates that complex thinking and learning and the YouTube aesthetic are not mutually exclusive. Rather, this unique amalgamation catalyzes student engagement in relevant and rigorous content through contemporary media.

Fizz –Fizz has developed a process and suite of tools in which the teacher can implement extremely safe web 2.0 environments. This will enable teachers to instruct students about appropriate and productive use of online user-generated sites. These tools will also allow teachers to safely broadcast teaching and learning outcomes over the Internet so students can share their work with parents and friends.

Graphic-Enhanced Elementary Science- This project is a two‑year NSF funded grant to create and assess teacher professional development materials that support effective use of student‑generated graphics for science learning in grades 2‑5.

New Literacies Collaborative- The New Literacies Collaborative is a group of researchers and practitioners who promote research and professional development in new literacies, including Web 2.0 and game-based literacies. The work is positioned at the theoretical and practical intersection of literacy, technology and media.

North Carolina State High School Mathematics Leadership Initiative- Drs. Confrey and Maloney are coordinating a statewide consortium of experts interested in forming a coherent initiative to improve high school mathematics education in North Carolina.

Synthesis of Rational Number Reasoning- Drs. Confrey and Maloney are currently synthesizing the international research that has been conducted on rational number reasoning.

Diagnostic E-Learning Trajectories Approach (DELTA) to Rational Number Reasoning- This is a major NSF-funded project that takes a systemic approach to the development of research-based diagnostic assessment of rational number reasoning (RNR) for grades K-8.

NC-STEM Mathematics and Science Partnership- The purpose of this partnership is to facilitate teacher professional development for the integrated mathematics curriculum (CorePlus) in 8 underserved districts in North Carolina and their eight New Schools Project-affiliated high schools.

Graphs N Glyphs- Drs. Confrey and Maloney have developed new mathematics education software, Graphs N Glyphs, that seeks to engage middle grades students in mathematics through animation. On-screen animation is driven by manipulation of mathematical objects with geometric transformations on the coordinate plane, but the animations can be sequenced and edited using tools in the software whose behavior is modeled on those of professional video editing suites.