Teachers in Action: A High-Tech, High-Touch Service-eLearning Model
Teachers in Action is a service-learning program that requires extensive use and integration of
technology and pre-service teachers’ direct involvement with special needs citizens in a variety
of settings. The focus of this roundtable will be on sharing the structure of the Teachers in Action
model, the use and integration of technology into the project, and the educational impact of the
project.
Teachers in Action
The Teachers in Action project emerged based on a need recognized by faculty attempting to
integrate service-learning projects into an online elementary education course, “Teaching
Students with Disabilities in the General Education Classroom.” Specifically, two faculty
members teaching the course required a “Make a Difference” assignment that called for students
to complete a service project in their respective communities. The original projects were ad hoc
and largely based on volunteerism on the part of students rather than goals of civic leadership
and service-learning best practices. The feedback from students about the experience was so
positive in terms of shaping dispositions about disability that faculty in exceptional education
teamed with faculty specializing in service-learning to develop a more systematic, servicelearning based project that would be easy for all faculty to use.
In addition to meeting the educational needs of pre-service teachers, Teachers in Action
intentionally partnered with UCP of Central Florida to meet the needs of UCP’s educational
centers and programs for persons with disabilities throughout Central Florida. For example, one
need identified by UCP was help in renovating the play area at one of its more remote preschool
locations. Located on a busy street corner, a simple chain link fence at the site kept the children
inside the existing dismal playground that consisted of bare concrete and one small plastic picnic
table. No shelter covered the area. After the need was posted to the Teachers in Action site by
one of the facilitators, five students from the area met at the preschool to survey the needs and
develop a plan of action. They decided to weave bright-colored slats into the fencing to block
out the traffic, paint a mural on the building wall, and paint games on the concrete as a start. As
their efforts began to build, another UCP center offered extra playground equipment they were
not using. Hearing of the project, a private UCP supporter offered $4,000 to have awnings added
to the area to provide shade and other supplies. The students independently raised $200 to buy
toys to contribute to the new playground to round out the collaborative effort. This is one of
hundreds of efforts from Teachers in Action participants, and it was all initiated and planned
online.
The Project: Technology and Service-learning
In higher education, online enrollments have been growing at a rate substantially greater than
overall higher education enrollments, and are showing no signs of slowing. Over 25 percent of
students in higher education have taken at least one online course as a part of their studies (Allen
& Seaman, 2010). Based on this realization and the difficulties of covering the large geographic
area served by the university in person, the Teachers in Action model employs various
technologies for marketing and content delivery including a Website, e-mails, videocasts, social
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networking sites, classroom management systems such as Blackboard’s Webcourses, and
AdobeConnect, a Web conferencing platform.
The College of Education at UCF committed to including the Teachers in Action project as a
requirement for every student taking EEX 4070 or EEX 4242. These courses provide an
overview of teaching children with disabilities for pre-service elementary and secondary
education majors. Because the Teachers in Action modules are designed as a stand-alone project,
project directors made the modules available to any faculty at UCF who wish for students to
complete a Teachers in Action 15-hour service-learning project with persons with disabilities as
co-partners. The primary activity for Teachers in Action takes place in a Blackboard-based
online environment that includes asynchronous discussion opportunities, tutorials, resources, and
seamless links out to “real time” discussions hosted on AdobeConnect. Upon faculty consent,
students are enrolled in the Teachers in Action Blackboard Webcourse where they view five
video-based modules that introduce and are narrated by project personnel. The five modules that
comprise the “Service-Learning with Special Populations” content include: 1) Introduction 2)
What is Service-Learning?, 3) Understanding Differences, 4) Getting Started, and 5) Reporting
Results.
The “Introduction” module is a video introduction to the project and shapes initial understanding
of service-learning and persons with disabilities. Next, “What is Service-Learning?” introduces
the philosophical and practical foundations of service-learning. The “Understanding Differences”
module provides students with an overview of communicating with persons with differences and
understanding how perceptions shape our actions. Fourth, “Getting Started” shows the specifics
of engaging in the service-learning activity, and links students to service-learning resources such
as the National Service Inclusion Project and National Service-Learning Clearinghouse. The last
module, “Reporting Results,” provides a template for students to submit their project in digital
format to a Web-based server.
In designing the course layout and components, knowledge and experience in best practices of
online teaching were combined with consideration of student comments from previous “Make a
Difference” projects. Since university students were spread across five counties, locating
community service opportunities and identifying other students with whom they could partner
had consistently been a problem for students. By establishing a more systematic way for
students to connect with other students in their own community and by partnering with a specific
agency, both of these issues were largely alleviated.
To eliminate the isolation often experienced by the distance learner (Abbey, 2000; Beard &
Harper, 2002; Charp, 2002; Lynch, 2002) and encourage “high-tech, high-touch” studentinstructor and student-student communication, students have the opportunity to participate in
synchronous virtual reflective discussions with project personnel, instructors, and facilitators.
Students interact with facilitators and other students via webcam and sidebar chats. Students
simply click a designated time on an interactive calendar to join a “real time” discussion with
project facilitators conducted using AdobeConnect. The Blackboard course format also allows
students to engage in asynchronous discussions and plan with persons in their geographic region.
Students use these spaces to establish service teams or announce volunteer opportunities. Young
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adults with disabilities from the community concurrently participate in and lead online
discussions and community service activities.
Students use a project-planning template to conduct a community needs assessment that guides
their design of an appropriate service project with persons with disabilities. Projects range from
creating special events for persons with disabilities such as a Fitness with Friends Fair, providing
after school opportunities for children with disabilities at the downtown community center, and
increasing disability awareness by screening movies such as Shooting Beauty, a documentary
about persons with severe disabilities, at their faith-based organizations or in community centers.
After completing service-learning projects, students create multimedia presentations displaying
various aspects of the project as well as their thoughts and reflections on service-learning and
working with people with disabilities. Final projects are uploaded to Slideshare, YouTube,
DimDim, Slideboom, Authorstream, and various other sites that house multimedia projects. All
final projects are expected to include images and a narration of the project.
Teachers in Action: Educational Impact
By supporting collaboration with persons with disabilities through service-learning, Teachers in
Action first enables future educators to practice project management and organizational skills
that will transfer to their classrooms. This project places students in a position to work in teams
to create events specific to and appropriate for their immediate community. Service-learners
must communicate effectively, schedule time, report ideas, and determine goals and how to
achieve them. Collaboration skills, content knowledge, project development/implementation
skills, and assessment design skills are enhanced. In addition to service activities, students have
the opportunity to plan for the use of a metropolitan facility and become familiar with the use of
numerous technologies for learning. In the latter case, this exposure may increase pre-service
teachers’ confidence to use or try technologies in their future classrooms.
Second, pre-service teachers develop a clearer and richer understanding of course content
through contextualized experiences. What they learn in their courses is inextricably linked to
real-life issues and human realities. Out of this experiential approach, students overcome the
“inert knowledge problem” (Eyler, 2002, p. 517) by witnessing an immediate application of their
learning. In their service projects, pre-service teachers increase their pedagogical knowledge by
having to design, implement, and assess varying instructional strategies/techniques and
management styles. This impact is particularly important considering that classrooms are
becoming more inclusive and future teachers must feel efficacious to work with disabled
learners. By working with persons with disabilities, pre-service teachers develop more respectful
attitudes and caring toward diverse groups (Hoover & Webster, 2004; Terry & Bohnenberger,
2003; Yates &Youniss, 1996) and have an enhanced ability to connect academic learning to
societal issues and concerns (Eyler, Giles, Stenson, & Gray, 2000).
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