Workshops


The International Social Studies Project in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Workshops

The principal activity of the ISSP since its inception has been the presentation of training workshops for social studies teachers. Workshops are offered in each of the units of the World in Transition series. Materials are purchased by the sponsoring LEA or other organization, which also recruits participants. A minimum of two hours is required to sufficiently introduce each unit.

Workshops vary according to the leader and the region covered, but generally they are hands-on sessions that utilize both the workbooks and the videotapes from the World in Transition series. Activities often include the presentation of methods of learning the names of all the countries in a region, identification of major issues facing the region, and assessments of the varied philosophies of the former Secretaries of Defense and State as exhibited in the SCIS forums

Workshops may be provided in a variety of combinations and time frames. Two units could be grouped in a single day (e.g. two two-hour sessions on a Saturday, separated by lunch) or all six could be presented over a period of weeks (e.g. one two-hour session each Thursday after school for six weeks). We prefer that workshops involve at least 12 participants.

Participants receive a certificate documenting their attendance, which may be presented to the individual school system for assignment of CEU credits.

It is also possible to schedule a "Cyber-workshop," utilizing Distance Learning Technology. This technology allows participants at as many as four separate sites to interact with each other and with the workshop leaders. Our first such workshop was conducted by Virginia Wilson and Jim Litle on September 29, 1999, broadcasting from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham. The ISSP is currently offering a Distance Learning Workshop series, covering all six units of the Southern Center's "World in Transition" materials.