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who should participate?
These courses are designed for educational practitioners including teachers, administrators, researchers and teacher trainer professionals. Educators at all levels have participated in our courses and are welcome to enroll. Because courses are conducted online, you should feel comfortable using the World Wide Web and e-mail and have reliable access to them. You should also be able to devote approximately 7 hours per session for each course.
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How can I receive an electronic version of WIDE World's program overview?
If you would like an electronic version of WIDE World's program overview, including a course calendar, please send an email message to wideworld@gse.harvard.edu with your request. Please put Program Overview in the subject line and include your full name in the body of the email.
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Can I do everything at home?
Mostly. You may need to take questions, ideas and, perhaps, projects you develop, into your classroom for exploration with your students (and colleagues). You can do all your other coursework (readings, curriculum planning, discussion/reflection) at home as long as you have a computer at home with access to the Internet.
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Are courses applicable for non K-12 teachers?
Yes. In general, our courses are designed for educators at every level-early childhood, middle school, high school and higher education. For each course we expect to have a small number of college and university level educators. Naturally each teacher may have different sorts of questions that reflect their contexts. Therefore, the courses provide a forum though which a variety of educators can apply teaching techniques into their specific situations.
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Do I have to be affiliated with Harvard in order to take a WIDE World course?
No. Our courses are available to educators around the world.
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Do you offer your courses in Spanish?
We are currently translating and updating our new website for Spanish speakers. We still offer Enseñ¡®ºa para la Comprensió® ¢ut will have more information available in the forthcoming months about its instructors and content. We apologize for any inconvenience and ask you to contact us if you would like to know more about Spanish options: wideworld@gse.harvard.edu
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What is the course structure? What is a typical session of a course like?
Each week, you will log on to the course's Web site for the current lecture, assignments and supplementary materials. You may read these online, or download them to read at your leisure. The assignments may ask you to try out new ideas in your classroom, develop lesson plans, and reflect on your practice. In addition, you will participate in small discussion groups in which you will share ideas, projects and feedback with other course participants. These groups will be led by experienced course coaches who will provide advice, tips and raise questions for you to consider.
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What is the time commitment?
We expect approximately 7 hours per session (usually a two-week period) over a period of 12 weeks.
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Can a local group enroll in your courses as a group, work together, and complete the final project together?
If a local group would like to enroll, we accept teams of 3-4 members/team. Your group coordinator should send the list of names, the e-mail addresses, and the name of the WIDE course that the team wants to register for, via e-mail to WIDEWorld@gse.harvard.edu and we will e-mail you back further registration instructions.
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What is it like to participate as an individual?
WIDE World has created an easy-to-use, online course environment. The heart of each course is the online discussion area, where participants engage in lively and stimulating discussions with other teachers, with the ongoing support of WIDE's expert coaches. To ensure the discussions are meaningful and relevant, each participant is placed into a small study group with other teachers who share their passions and learning goals, and whose subject and/or grade-level expertise matches their own. An expert coach will guide each study group's discussions, providing personalized feedback throughout the course.
