The goal of Teachers 2000 at Gloucester County College is to infuse
technology into the education of future teachers.
The program is divided into four student cohorts (learning
communities), each mentored by a different faculty member. One thread of
the evaluation focused on these learning communities and the role
technology played in their growth. Thirty-seven students (80%) reported
studying with other community members outside class-time. Fifty-nine
percent believed their learning of subject material was frequently or
always influenced by such collaborative learning. In part because of
findings such as these, the faculty are focusing on strengthening
collaborative learning still further by increasing group size and
developing more small group activities (e.g., collaborative papers).
In contrast, the evaluation indicated that a telecourse students were
taking was not providing sufficient structure, so the telecourse is being
dropped this year.
The evaluators found improvements in student performance relative to
students not in the T2K program, as measured by GPA of matched pairs. They
also found that retention was 5% higher for the T2K students than for
students not in the program. For the full report (not on the Web at this
time), contact