Pacific Resources for Education and Learning
Pacific Resources for Education and Learning
Schools Use Media to Create Unique Local Resources
By Kavita Rao and Jim Skouge
Students re-enact a play in which a Hawaiian kupuna shares knowledge about traditional uses of salt. A chief in Yap explains the significance of a men’s house as a place where boys learn traditional practices from their elders. A librarian in Guam creates bilingual books for his library, and teachers in Ebeye create a variety show to broadcast on the radio.
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These are a few of the projects initiated by the teachers and students involved in the Pacific Voices project. Pacific Voices celebrates the diverse cultures and languages of the Pacific by exploring technology supports for oral language, literacy, and language arts in both home languages and in English. These supports engage participants in community research (for example, interviewing elders), storytelling, public speaking, theater, and the arts.
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The video-based stories, bilingual books, and multimedia instructional materials represent important ways in which educational technologies are a constructivist medium, allowing teachers and students to create items relevant to their unique local issues and instructional needs. These materials will become part of a module (lesson plan ideas and guidelines) currently in development by PREL’ s Pacific Regional Technology in Education Consortium (PR*TEC) through the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. The module can be used for teacher professional development and provides details about learning objectives, hardware, and software used for the projects. It also includes step-by-step instructions on how to create and extend these projects to other Pacific classrooms.
Pacific Voices teacher teams are based in 12 school sites, one in each Pacific island entity in PREL’s service region. School sites are provided with the technological tools and training needed to create culturally appropriate and relevant instructional materials for their students, including technology supports for students with disabilities. The focus is on developing content and project-based units that share literacy and language arts learning objectives. The technology serves as a vehicle in capturing, presenting, and sharing project-based, interdisciplinary ways of teaching and learning.
In developing their projects, teachers choose themes that are important to their local communities and cultures. Students often help create these projects as well. In Palau, for example, a teacher videotaped short movies of students describing environmental issues depicted on posters that they had created. In Guam, 4th graders at the Pacific Voices school site are working on video “commercials” on the impact of pollution on the ocean. Meanwhile, students in Chuuk, Yap, and American Samoa researched and published legends from their villages. And in Saipan, 4th and 5th graders have become proficient in using the video camera to film each other, creating videos of classroom presentations.
The Pacific Voices project will continue to develop these classroom-based curriculum units. Sample projects will be available on CD-ROM and on the Pacific Voices website. For more information, please contact Kavita Rao at raok@prel.org.
Kavita Rao is an Instructional Design Specialist for the PR*TEC and PRELSTAR programs at PREL. Jim Skouge is an Assistant Professor with the University of Hawai‘i’s University Center on Excellence.
MS ITT Promotes Digital Literacy in the Pacific
By Katherine Kautzer
Access to the World Wide Web can transform the classroom, creating a problem-oriented, student-centered environment that supports both collaborative and individualized learning. But because it promotes Western values, the Web can also create a dilemma for Pacific educators. How can they ensure that their children develop 21st century digital literacy skills without diminishing traditional languages and cultures? Through conscientious management, technology can meet Pacific Islanders’ needs while supporting Pacific ways of life. One example is the Master of Science degree program in Instructional Technology and Telecommunications (MS ITT). The MS ITT is a 35- semester hour graduate program developed through a collaboration between PREL and Western Illinois University.
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Delivered primarily via the Web through the support of PRELSTAR, the MS ITT is designed for Pacific teachers, principals, technology coordinators, and administrators who wish to develop their ability to use technology as part of the educational process. Specifically tailored to serve the unique needs of the Pacific region, the educational objectives for the MS ITT are based upon teacher competencies identified by the International Society for Technology in Education. The program prepares Pacific educators to:
- develop expertise in the application of technology to teaching and learning in ways that honor Pacific culture rather than diminish it;
- serve as visible role models of successful technology adoption and integration;
- support appropriate use of technology to promote and disseminate Pacific languages and cultures; and
- serve as advisors to and resources for others seeking to integrate technology and Pacific education.
One goal for the MS ITT is to develop a cadre of Pacific educators to demonstrate that technology adds value to their communities without diminishing culture. Web use in the Pacific will not only assist students in developing 21st century skills; it will contribute to increased participation by Pacific Islanders in the global economy and will extend and enhance the Information Superhighway through the addition of Pacific voices. For more information about MS ITT, contact Katherine Kautzer at kautzerk@prel.org.
Dr. Katherine Kautzer is the Associate Director of Professional Development for the PRELSTAR program at PREL.
