Dear GAI Member,

This e-mail details our final announcement regarding new Summer 2012 professional development (you should have already received an e-mail about enrolling in the workshops in Chariton and the Okoboji area as well as the back-to-back “Geography of conflict and human rights” workshops).

This announcement is for the workshop entitled “Workshop: Teaching Geography Via Distance-Based Learning”.  The content for this is called “Teaching With the Stars” and was developed by the Grosvenor Center For Geographic Education (Texas State University).  It currently includes three high-quality, Internet-based geography modules that separately address a.)globalization, b.) watersheds, and c.) agriculture and water.

Dr. Dick Boehm (Director of the Grosvenor Center) and a PhD student will lead the “Teaching With the Stars” (TWS) workshop here at UNI on Tuesday, June 26th and Wednesday, June 27th, 2012.  Participants will receive an overview of the modules and in-depth training about how these can be used to support geography teaching. You will also receive extensive training regarding how to deliver on-line courses such as this.

This is a special workshop that will enroll EIGHT participants who will be selected based on responses to an on-line survey.

–What’s in it for you?–
A.  Free graduate credit hour ($50 value) [pending successful completion of the workshop]
B.  Reimbursement and/or a stipend for mileage to/from your hometown to Cedar Falls
C.  Reimbursed lodging (one night–night of June 26th)
D.  Reimbursement and/or a stipend for most meals and/or catered meals
E.  An opportunity to gain 1 graduate credit hour from UNI
F.  The opportunity to teach one of these distant-based workshops in late 2013 or in 2014 and to earn a reasonable stipend for teaching the workshop (contingent on future funding)

–Our expectations for you–
A.  Successful completion of the workshop and workshop credit
B.  Willingness to maintain regular contact with a veteran “teacher consultant” mentor throughout late 2012 through summer 2013
C.  Your agreement (in principle) to become a “teacher consultant” (TC) to teach one of these on-line workshops in late 2013/early 2014 or summer 2014
1.  **This is contingent on future funds and if there were no available future funding you would not be expected to fulfil this Part C. obligation**
2.  You would deliver the workshop from your own school district or a nearby district, AEA, or college/university (little or no travel required)
3.  Within reason, you would have quite a bit of flexibility in when you would lead the workshop

–Who is eligible?–
A.  Any Iowa educator (in-service or retired) with experience in secondary teaching [grades 7-12] and some background in teaching geography
1.  Must be willing to teach on-line/via the Internet, ICN, and/or polycom
2.  You DO NOT need to be a geography/social studies teacher as long as you have some background in teaching geography and/or integrating geography into your content     area

If you’d like to be a “teacher consultant (TC) in training” for this project and enroll in this workshop, please fill out the survey below by no later than Monday, April 30th.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GAI_TWS

All applicants–successful and unsuccessful–will be notified via e-mail by the end of the day on May 1st.

Please let me know if you have any questions.  If you do, e-mail me at Alex.Oberle@uni.edu rather than the gmail address.

Thanks for considering participating in this exciting opportunity.

Best,
Alex

Dear GAI member,

Attached are .pdf files for each of the two “Geography, Technology, and the Iowa Core” workshops this summer.  You
can print these off and send in your registration.  These workshops are outstanding and have been offered in past years in Cedar Falls, Davenport, Mt. Pleasant, Epworth, and Forest City, so if you are an educator in south-central or northwest Iowa then this is your opportunity to participate at a location near you.

Also an excellent value, these workshops include a heavily subsidized UNI credit hour that costs you only $50 [credit hour earned pending successful completion of the workshop] as well as a free GARMIN GPS unit which is about a $100 value.

These two workshops will fill up fast so please enroll early to ensure that you can participate.

P.S. The other workshop registration forms will be sent out in the next few days.

Best,
Alex Oberle
Coordinator, Geographic Alliance of Iowa

Documents: GAI_Okoboji & GAI_Chariton