BLC/MELC Research Home Page

MELC Partners

MELC involves a number of partners who have generously contributed to the project's success. The teachers, staff, administration, and students at the participating middle schools have worked closely with UMCP researchers. Discovery Communications and Maryland Public Television have donated digitized video. The National Archives and Records Administration has made available digital images and video. Apple Computers has donated 40 Macintosh Performa Power PCs, and technical assistance to the MELC project. Project partners are currently involved with technological implementation, are interested in working together as part of a learning community, and have dedicated time and/or materials to the project.

MELC Baltimore City Middle Schools: (Directions) Francis Scott Key Middle School Hamilton Middle School Highlandtown Middle School Lombard Middle School
MELC's Corporate/Government/Non-Profit Partners: Apple Computers, Inc. Discovery Communications, Inc. National Archives and Records Administration Maryland Public Television
Other BLC components: Baltimore City Public School System (BSPS) SCANS 2000 Center at John Hopkins University

BLC/MELC – Middle School Teachers in Action
Because MELC is a joint venture between the Baltimore City Public School System and the University of Maryland at College Park, this coalition has formed an electronic learning community. The venture involves using technologies such as digitized video, Internet resources, two-way video and audio for distance learning, and electronic mail to support and enhance middle school curriculum and professional development. Central to the project is the creation of an electronic lesson plan template that is used by teachers to create online learning modules. Having the modules online enables them, and the expertise they represent, to be shared by community members. This template tool also allows members to integrate rich and powerful online original sources (video, text, graphics, audio, and images) into the middle school curriculum. These electronic resources have been indexed according to topic area and with respect to state outcomes and national content standards.

The teachers access the resources via a search engine developed by University of Maryland faculty and graduate students. There is no centralized source of expertise in the project; learning goes back and forth in many directions as all of the different partners work to understand the best ways to blend rich content into the learning environment.

webmastr@learn.umd.edu