Reading Classroom Explorer is yet another example of the innovation taking place within the College of Education.

Under the direction of P. David Pearson, Hannah professor of education, the two-year-old project has produced a unique computer environment in which preservice teachers can see what Pearson calls "images of excellence" in teaching.

The idea for the software program was born when Pearson viewed a series of six videos produced by the Center for the Study of Reading at the University of Illinois. The videotapes showed teachers in their classrooms at six schools throughout the country: Danville, Illinois; San Antonio, Texas; Honolulu, Hawaii; Harlem, New York; Lansing, Michigan; and Media, Pennsylvania.

Pearson thought highly of the videos, but wondered if the power of newer technology could make something like videotaped instruction even more meaningful for preservice teachers.

So Pearson put doctoral student Joan Hughes to work developing what would become Reading Classroom Explorer.

The idea was to combine the benefits of video with the power of hypermedia, or the ability to place a cursor on an image or word and click on it and therefore move to a different part of the program, as well as text and audio. The goal was to do it in a way that could be combined into one program that would be easy enough to use by students.

Hughes began working on the project in 1995. Piecing the vision bit by bit, Hughes and Pearson decided to use portions of the videos from the Center for the Study of Reading. Other doctoral students helped with sifting through the six hours of video to select the most effective clips to use. (Currently, there are 147 clips that last anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes.)

"Our vision for Reading Classroom Explorer was that preservice teachers would be able to dig into these videos and not just look at them once, but look at them time and time again and afford them the ability to make cross-classroom analysis," Hughes said. "So what we hoped this hypermedia system would do is give them the ability to quickly access the video instead of fumbling with videotapes and fast forwarding and rewinding, etc., and then help them to look across classrooms and analyze issues from many perspectives."

Hughes began to workout the look and layout of the new learning environment. She and Pearson knew they wanted a layout on the screen that would allow the user to access the video clips quickly, search a database of information for particular instructional methods, and even allow for the writing of notes or journal entries as the videos played.

By the fall of 1996, the work had produced the Reading Classroom Explorer.

It is a complete hypermedia environment. On its main page, the upper lefthand corner of the screen can play the video with the teacher’s audio voiceover. To the right of the video screen is the text of the teacher’s narration. At the bottom of the screen, students can search for dozens of reading topics covered in the video clips, or they can type in a word and the program can search its database for a match.

There is also a corner of the screen that is designated as a notebook, where students can write notes or comments about what they are viewing or reading. The interface also includes questions to provoke students’ thinking, and a section that provides information for further reading.

To date, Reading Classroom Explorer has been used in two methods courses in the spring and summer of 1997.

Hughes, along with doctoral student Becky Packard and Pearson, have been collecting data on students’ use of the program, interviewing them and videotaping them as they use it.

Initial findings indicate that students are using the program in different ways, but getting exposed to the wide range of teaching methods.

Another important aspect that the program is that it has made more available to students images of student diversity, Hughes said. By using clips from classrooms such as ones in Hawaii and Harlem, students who use the Reading Explorer CD-ROM are exposed to racially and ethnically diverse students.

It is exposure, Hughes said, some preservice teachers may not get any other way.

As for the future of the program, Hughes and doctoral student Rick Ferdig are working on placing it on the Internet by spring.

"What we hoped this hypermedia system would do is give preservice teachers the ability to quickly access the videos instead of fumbling with videotapes and fast forwarding and rewinding, etc.," Hughes said. "And then we hoped it would help them to look across classrooms and analyze issues not only from one perspective but from many perspectives.

"I think it’s done that. It has allowed preservice teachers to go into internship year with various visions of excellence."