It is important to remember that too long of a project may result in loss of student motivation and interest in the project. Project durations of six, twelve, or fifteen weeks are good suggestions to consider when designing a collaborative telecomputing project. Elementary teachers may wish to follow the six weeks timeline and secondary teachers can opt for the twelve to fifteen week project session. Below are some suggested timelines that have worked for me. For more detailed information on the Learning Circle Concept, please check out Learning Circle Guide (Courtesy of Margaret Riel).
A fifteen weeks suggested project timeline:
Getting Ready --
Contacting participating teachers via e-mail or conference call to pre-plan your project
Week 1-2 --
Beginning the project with an electronic teacher role call (E-mail)
Classes introduce themselves
Classroom surveys are exchanged
Welcome Packs of school/community items are exchanged via snail mail
Weeks 3-4 --
Project discussion and planning
Project descriptions are exchanged
Weeks 5-11 --
Student research and development of project
Exchange of student work
Weeks 12-14 --
Students summarize and evaluate their work
Schools exchange project summaries
Work is organized either by electronic format or hardcopy via desktop publishing
Project publications are exchanged either electronically or via snail-mail
Week 15 --
Students and teachers say goodbye
Discussion of the 15 week session - what worked, what didn't
Creating and Following a Project Timeline