Case Study: Effective Electronic

Exhibit Rooms in the

NCATE Accreditation Process

Brandi Baker, Kelly Byrnes, Catherine Ford

Case Study

Thinking . . .

Preparation to determine current trends and areas of emphasis regarding EERs

Retrieval of current information

Reviewed web sites

Recent articles in the topic of EERs

Actual interviews for the IT piece

Case Study

Team’s intent regarding CONTENT determine exhibit requirements placed on

units undergoing NCATE accreditation suggest best practices that will defend

compliance with accreditation standards

Team’s intent regarding IT PIECE AND SITE USABILITY make recommendations gleaned from

current literature and personal interviews

Final Products: Research Paper & EER Evaluation Checklist The EER needs to include all of the following:1. Aligned to NCATE standards

General Background and Conceptual FrameworkStandard 1: Candidate Knowledge, Skills and Professional DispositionsStandard 2: Assessment System and Unit EvaluationStandard 3: Field Experiences and Clinical PracticesStandard 4: DiversityStandard 5: Faculty Qualifications, Performance and DevelopmentStandard 6: Unit Governance and ResourcesEach Standard has several ElementsEach Element has a number of required exhibits – all must be available Quality of each Exhibit is paramount

2. Conceptual FrameworkThis is what will drive the design of the EER

3. Simplicity and ConsistencyUse of Sans serif fontNo more than 5-7 colorsEducation department and NCATE logo at the top of each pageNo or few picturesNo duplication of documents

4. DocumentationPDFsTemplatesWhenever possible, create web pages to house information and data

5. Ease of NavigationButtons along the topLeft-hand navigation bar

Information is in a hierarchical orderDrop-down menus as needed

Site MapUser ManualTracking capability

Effective Electronic Exhibit Rooms

in the NCATE

Accreditation Process

History & ChallengesPresented by: Brandi Baker

NCATE

NCATE, created in 1954, celebrates it's 58th year in 2009.

Started as an independent accrediting body by five organizations

1. Council of Chief State School Officers,

2. National Education Association,

3. National School Boards Association

4. American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education

5. National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education Certification.

NCATE

NCATE is part of a continuum of teacher preparation and development that begins with pre-service preparation, and continues with stages of teacher licensure and advanced professional development, including National Board certification.

According to the NCATE website, 49 states along with the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico, all have accredited institutions

This is up from only 31 states with accredited units in 2004. Currently, Arizona is the only state without any NCATE accredited units.

NCATE

Early in NCATE's history the states and the accreditation body had challenges with state and national policy alignment with their standards.

Reviews by NCATE and the states were done separately. Duplication of effort for institutions

In 2004, NCATE and the states formed a partnership to allow joint review.

Now many states use NCATE’s unit standards as their own for the purpose of state approval.

NCATE

Another challenge that has been overcome by NCATE is the performance-based accreditation system. From 1980 to 1990 NCATE went through what some

titled a “standards movement” in which NCATE brought in performance-based accreditation.

This is a system in which institutions must provide evidence of competent teacher candidate performance.

This change supported a transition from a system oriented to the curriculum to a system oriented to candidate performance.

NCATE

In 2004 NCATE initiated a technology-based system of accreditation.

NCATE now expects institutions to fully incorporate technology into instruction for prospective and experienced teachers

Technology should also be used throughout the strategic planning process (NCATE at 50, 2001), electronic portfolios for example.

Now, in 2009, streamlining of the accreditation process is evident through the use of web based forms and Electronic Exhibit Rooms, as well as assessment programs such as Electronic Assessment System (EAS) designed and used by the University of Toledo, Judith Herb College of Education.

NCATE

In conjunction with the technology based system of accreditation, Electronic Exhibit Rooms are now being utilized.

Electronic Exhibit Rooms (EERs) are commonly prepared as an institution progresses toward an accreditation site visit from the National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).

EERs can also be utilized long after the site visit and accreditation award are complete, allowing continuous updating and sharing of significant materials that relate to accreditation, student assessment and professional development.

Effective Electronic Exhibit Rooms

in the NCATE

Accreditation Process

Why EERs & Exhibit Requirements

Presented by: Catherine Ford

Electronic Exhibit RoomsWhy electronic??? Allows Board of

Examiners to view documents prior to the site visit

BOE are able to be more prepared

BOE have more time to look for items of quality

Electronic Exhibit RoomsWhy electronic???

Institution can use the site for continuous updating Assessment Curriculum Vitae

The site can be shared among stakeholders

The site can act as a storage location

Electronic Exhibit RoomsOrganization

Organization is VITAL The right document

must be able to be easily found at the right time.

Do not duplicate documents . . . Instead create links, as needed, to the same document.

Electronic Exhibit RoomsDocuments

Organize exhibits by the standards

Connect each exhibit to a specific element

General Background and Conceptual Framework

Standard 1: Candidate Knowledge, Skills, and Professional Dispositions

Standard 2: Assessment System and Unit Evaluation

Standard 3: Field Experiences and Clinical Practice

Standard 4: Diversity Standard 5: Faculty Qualifications,

Performance, and Development Standard 6: Unit Governance and Resources

Effective Electronic Exhibit Rooms

in the NCATE

Accreditation Process

IT ConsiderationsPresented by: Kelly Byrnes

Electronic Exhibit Rooms: Lessons Learned “The formation of a

team of individuals to research, plan, produce, and implement, and should consist of a webmaster, clerk, multi-media author, and a technical systems expert.”--Zimmerly and Saltzman, Idaho State University

Know when enough is enough!

“No matter how beautiful a website, if it doesn’t have the proper documentation and is aligned to the NCATE standards, it will not help in the accreditation process; but a terrible design, even if it has everything, can sink you if the Board of Examiners can’t find what it wants!” C. Damon Osborne, PhD., Assoc. Prof. and Dir. Of Online Curriculum, Mt. Vernon Nazarene University.

What Makes an Excellent EER?

1. Aligned to NCATE Standards2. Driven by the Conceptual Framework3. Simple and Consistent

Use of sans serif font No more than 5-7 colors Institution and or department logo No or few pictures

4. Documentation/Links PDFs, Templates, separate web pages

What Makes an Excellent EER?

5. Ease of NavigationA. Buttons along the top

a. Left-hand navigation bar b. Information is in a hierarchical order

c. Drop-down menus as needed

B. Site Map

C. User Manual

Technical Aspects

“As far as the technical aspect goes, we used IIS, TomCat, JSP Technology, XML, MS-Frontpage and Flash. The biggest technical challenge we faced was getting TomCat to interface with IIS. The site currently runs on a Dell Power Edge 2850 with Windows Server 2003 SP1. It's an Intel Xeon 2.80 GHz processor with 2GB or Ram. The server has 3 disks, a 36GB system drive that is mirrored, and two data drives. The D: drive is 146GB and it is 97% free. The E: drive is 146 GB and is 99% free. There isn't much storage space involved.” Todd Cunningham, Executive Director of Information Technology Services at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Becoming a Teacher at The University of Toledo. (2008, February 15). Retrieved February

22, 2009, from http://www.utoledo.edu/education/Becoming_Teacher.html

Electronic Assessment System Tutorial. (2006). Retrieved February 22, 2009, from

http://www.utoledo.edu/education/centers/carver/pdf/EAS_Student_Tutorial_with

_Port.pdf

Hammond, C.J. (2007). Electronic Exhibit Room ( . . . not so scary). Retrieved February, 4,

2009 from /Jackson %20Hammond%20rev%20PPT%20Elec%20Exh%20...

Malone, S. (2007) Preparing the Electronic Exhibit Rooms. Retrieved February, 4, 2009

From coe.eku.edu/2008NCATE-Fall-Update/Presentations/Strand%20D_

Electronic %20Exhibit_Malone.ppt

NCATE at 50: Continuous Growth, Renewal, and Reform. (2001). Retrieved February 22,

2009, from http://www.ncate.org/documents/15YearsofGrowth.pdf

NCATE and the States: Partners in Excellence. Retrieved February 22, 2009, from

http://www.ncate.org/documents/resources/NCATEandtheStates.pdf

Zimmerly, C.R. and Salzman, S. (2002). Electronic Journal for the Integration of

Technology in Education. In Technical Lessons Learned from the Design, Development, and Implementation of a College of Education Accreditation Web Site. Retrieved March 18, 2009, from http://ejite.isu.edu/Volume1No1/Zimmerly.html.

References