Martha Holden Jennings Foundation Grant
Welcome to the eTRAIN Project Website...
The University of Akron’s College of Education has developed an Online Learning Community for Learning to Teach (OLC-LT) that promotes and advances teaching and learning for student teachers. The OLC-LT is called eTRAIN, which stands for "electronic Teacher Resource And Information Network." The members of the eTRAIN include student teachers who are enrolled in the UA student teaching program, in-service teachers who are enrolled in the Master’s Program of Instructional Technology at UA (IT teachers), in-service teachers from Akron Public Schools who mentor student teachers (mentor teachers), and UA faculty members who support student teaching and field experience (UA faculty).
To get started, click on one of the gold tabs at the top of the page 
Purpose
Student teachers will primarily be supported by the IT teachers, University of Akron faculty, and mentor teachers. The mentor teachers and University faculty will be responsible for promoting engagement with the content that illustrates exemplary practices in teaching and learning, and IT teachers will share their practical experience of integrating technologies to teach in K-12.
eTRAIN provides a virtual environment where members can share their thoughts and concerns about teaching, establish a long-term teaching social network and participate in a technology-rich resource that is robust with pedagogically-sound practices and model teaching examples.
Goals
For the mentor teachers and IT teachers, two primary goals exist:
- Develop student teachers through an online professional development community, thus enhancing their contributions in the classroom while student teaching and subsequently, when employed as contracted teachers.
- Engagement of these students teachers in the eTRAIN community after they have graduated so that they can continue to learn from the community, benefit from the expertise of mentor teachers and IT teachers, and begin to give back to the community.
An additional outcome from this project will be to learn more about the nature of designing online professional development communities for student teachers and in-service teachers.
Contact Us
The University of Akron
College of Education
276 Buchtel Common
Akron, Ohio 44325-4208
If you have questions about the eTrain project, please contact:
I-Chun Tsai, Ph.D., Co-PI
Assistant Professor
Educational Foundations & Leadership
(330) 972-6774
Email: tsai1@uakron.edu
Shelley Waltonen-Moore, Ph.D., Co-PI
District Director of Teaching, Learning, and Academic Professional Development
Cuyahoga Community College
(216) 987-4000
Email: Shelley.Waltonen-Moore@tri-c.edu
Assisting in this project are:
Mr. Ilario Cursaro, Facilitator
Ms. Diane Gearhart, Facilitator