WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Applications are accepted from full-time teachers or other staff who influence classroom instruction (i.e., principals, curriculum coordinators, media specialists, technology specialists) and who work in a Chatham, Durham, Orange, or Wake County public or private school. Applicants "must show commitment and excitement for the theory and practice of technology as it applies to education." The fund particularly encourages teachers or administrators "with little experience abroad, but will not penalize those with ample international experience." We accept applications from educators in the noted counties served by the Triangle Community Foundation (funding agency) across all grade levels and content areas. We encourage minority and male educators to apply to enhance future cohort diversity relative to past cohorts.
Applications are accepted from full-time teachers or other staff who influence classroom instruction (i.e., principals, curriculum coordinators, media specialists, technology specialists) and who work in a Chatham, Durham, Orange, or Wake County public or private school. Applicants "must show commitment and excitement for the theory and practice of technology as it applies to education." The fund particularly encourages teachers or administrators "with little experience abroad, but will not penalize those with ample international experience." We accept applications from educators in the noted counties served by the Triangle Community Foundation (funding agency) across all grade levels and content areas. We encourage minority and male educators to apply to enhance future cohort diversity relative to past cohorts.
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WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR
We seek educators who understand why there is a need to build cultural understanding among students and who are interested in developing their expertise to bring further cultural lessons supported by digital activities into classrooms or media centers. We seek educators who are interested in promoting technology use in the classroom or media center, although participants need not be expert technology users. We seek inquisitive educators who can articulate a particular cultural theme that they would be interested in studying in the host country, which may relate back to the educator's own classroom, content area, or media center for maximal impact. We seek educators who collaborate well with others in small groups and who can accommodate cultural differences at home and abroad. We seek educators who travel well and can accommodate unexpected circumstances (e.g., travel delays, closures, weather). |
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WHAT TO EXPECT BEFORE APPLYING
- We are excited to be planning our first program in Munich, Germany, a city where numerous cultural topics can be informed by plentiful cultural resources. Sites we are planning to visit as a group in our summer '20 program are summarized on our syllabus and travel schedule and include: Munich Residenz; Pinathothek art musuems; Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism; Nyphenberg Palaces; Deutsches Museum; Dachau concentration camp memorial; BMW museum, two coach trips to the foothills of the Alps to visit Neuschwanstein Castle, Zugspitze, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen; two train trips to the nearby cities of Nuremberg, and Regensburg; and one optional train trip over a free weekend to sites in nearby Salzburg, Austria. The program also provides free time and two city cards in both Munich and Salzburg (optional) for educators to explore other attractions of personal interest. During this summer's trip, between July 12-16, the free White Ravens Festival for International Children's and Young Adult Literature will be happening at the International Youth Library in Munich, which we expect to be of interest to applicants who are media specialists or regularly employ literature in the classroom. We are also exploring opportunities to visit area schools pending calendars.
- Applicants will need to articulate a cultural theme they are interested in studying in their application. This theme is used to provide focus for the digital representations of culture that each educator will develop during the program. Refer to the "professional development" section of this web site for further information about cultural themes and resources to help identify relevant themes.
- Participants who are selected for the program will complete six digital representations of their self-selected cultural theme (e.g., marked-up map, timeline), compiling those representations on a portfolio page within this web site. A few reading reflections and one summary Google Tour Builder project will also be added to the portfolio. See program syllabus for details. Teachers who complete the program will receive three CEUs of continuing education credit in digital learning competencies (2 credits) and English/literacy (1 credit). If any participants are enrolled in graduate programs at NC State, they can also receive course credit for completing the program (3 credit hours).
- Applicants should be available to attend three Saturday professional development classes at NC State before and after the international travel (April 25, May 16, and September 19, 2020). As our formal class time is very limited, it is very important that applicants are available to attend ALL of these scheduled classes. Applicants should also expect to participate in scheduled work time while in Germany. Three designated evenings have been set aside during the study abroad portion for participants to compile the cultural information they have been gathering and work on digital projects, with instructors available to provide assistance.
- Participants should expect to travel with the larger group to designated cultural sites while in the host country, but will also have some free time in which to plan their own cultural tours and activities with peers on the trip. The expectation is accepted participants will stay with and travel with the group during the designated program period (July 9-23, 2020), while any further travel with friends/family will be before or after the program, not during.
- Applicants in 2020 will benefit from private hotel rooms at a highly-rated hotel (#5 in Munich on TripAdvisor) called the Hotel Metropol. The hotel does have wifi, air conditioning, and breakfast is included daily. While laundry is not available in the hotel, it is available within a block at a laundromat that closes at 11pm. The room class provided is "superior." We are paying for single occupancy, so participants may not have family or friends staying in their rooms during the program.
- In late August, participants who have completed their portfolio will receive a $400 reimbursement by direct deposit to offset some expenses incurred (i.e., airport transfers, lunches/dinners, cultural tours and activities scheduled on one's own). The program also covers: instruction, web services and tools, lodging, in-country transit and tickets for group excursions, and food during classes. As lodging consumes approximately half of our annual budget, regrettably educators must provide their own airfare which is beyond the scope of our budget (average of $1200-1400 for round-trip flights to Europe). A non-stop flight between Charlotte and Munich on Delta provides for efficient transit to this year's host city.
APPLICATION
The application period has closed for our summer 2020 program in Munich. The application form will re-open in November 2020, for the summer 2021 program (city to be announced, likely Munich again). If you would like to be contacted when our application form re-opens, please add your name to our contact list.
To apply, eligible educators should first make a short video of themselves discussing answers to the questions listed below. The video can be created with a cell phone camera and video app or a laptop camera and video capture software. It is not necessary to use props or Powerpoint slides, just capture yourself answering the questions below. After creating the video, place it online using any Web service that generates a "shareable URL" (e.g., YouTube). When filling out the application form, paste-in the URL to your video. Please test your video URL to make sure it can be watched/viewed publicly by anyone with the link.
Answer these questions in your application video (max of four minutes for entire video, or about 1 minute per question):
**Please do not let the questions above dissuade you from applying. We don't expect you to describe the perfect cultural theme, to know about all of the cultural resources that can inform your theme, or to know about all of the ways to digitally represent your theme at the time of application. We will help you make some of these choices, identify resources, and train you to use digital tools. We are only interested in your INITIAL ideas about these elements. We understand they will be refined as you get into the program.**
The application period has closed for our summer 2020 program in Munich. The application form will re-open in November 2020, for the summer 2021 program (city to be announced, likely Munich again). If you would like to be contacted when our application form re-opens, please add your name to our contact list.
To apply, eligible educators should first make a short video of themselves discussing answers to the questions listed below. The video can be created with a cell phone camera and video app or a laptop camera and video capture software. It is not necessary to use props or Powerpoint slides, just capture yourself answering the questions below. After creating the video, place it online using any Web service that generates a "shareable URL" (e.g., YouTube). When filling out the application form, paste-in the URL to your video. Please test your video URL to make sure it can be watched/viewed publicly by anyone with the link.
Answer these questions in your application video (max of four minutes for entire video, or about 1 minute per question):
- Describe your existing grade level and content area(s) and how teaching about culture is relevant in your curriculum or setting. If an administrator, describe your school and why teaching about culture is relevant in your curriculum or setting.
- One of our program expectations is that participants will select a cultural theme, research that theme online and on-site in Germany, and use different technology tools to digitally represent that theme and their reflections on it. Describe the cultural theme that you would be interested in learning more about if accepted into this program, and if applicable, how that theme ties into your teaching. Examples of cultural themes are available in the "professional development" section of this site (e.g., elementary teachers might be interested in studying German folk tales since they teach reading and folk tales in their curriculum; high school history teachers might be interested in studying nationalism with many museums and sites dedicated to its perils around Munich; a PE teacher might be interested in studying German approaches to fitness or the historic relevance of the pre- and post-war Olympics in Germany with an opportunity to visit the Olympic Park in Munich; a business teacher might be interested in unique German business practices in a particular industry like auto manufacturing with an opportuntity to visit the BMW plant in Munich; a music teacher might be interested in Bavarian classical traditions with opportunities to visit the national theater in Munich where Wagner operas were premiered or Mozart sites in Salzburg; an art teacher might be interested in studying influences on the Bauhaus movement and emerging styles, or changing traditions for displaying art with opportunities to visit Pinakothek's old, new, and modern galleries). Your theme can be modified as you get into the program, we would just like to hear what you might be interested in studying up front.
- The "professional development" section of this web site lists cultural resources available in the Munich region (museums, schools, historic sites). Other cultural resources may be available online. In your application video, try to mention a few cultural resources you might use to inform your cultural theme. Program staff can help you identify other appropriate resources as you get into the program, we would just like to hear if you are aware of any specific resources at the time of application.
- Finally, the "professional development" section of this web site lists examples of how one can digitally represent a cultural theme (e.g., through maps, through augment/virtual reality, through data, through documentary, through writing, through a game or digital objects). Thinking about your theme, do any of these forms of representation stand out to you now? Which do you think would work best to represent your theme? Your response is not binding and forms of representation can change as you learn more about each. Program staff will help you choose appropriate representations as you get into the program, we would just like to hear if any representations stand out to you at this time as you think about your theme.
**Please do not let the questions above dissuade you from applying. We don't expect you to describe the perfect cultural theme, to know about all of the cultural resources that can inform your theme, or to know about all of the ways to digitally represent your theme at the time of application. We will help you make some of these choices, identify resources, and train you to use digital tools. We are only interested in your INITIAL ideas about these elements. We understand they will be refined as you get into the program.**