Our Mission
The main goal of the project is to enhance student achievement and college readiness through technological empowerment in selected dual enrollment college-level classes offered at Portland area high schools who are participating in the PSU Challenge Program.
Furthermore, PSU faculty whose research expertise lies in these scholarly areas can enter the high school classroom by delivering online lectures or engage in dialogue with students on a variety of topics. Ultimately, the Academus project aims to demonstrate that this experiment in “learning without walls” and forging a close link between the University and the community can be accomplished at a manageable cost.
Characteristics
- high disciplinary and curricular expectations that ensure students’ success in higher education
- dedication to facilitating access for all to higher education
- focus on individualized, self-paced learning
- rigorous methodologies that involve collaborative small-group learning networks within the classroom
- sustaining vision of the connectivities between schoolroom, college, workplace and community, in both its local and global sense, recognizing the interrelatedness of traditionally separately defined fields of knowledge
Method
- installation of full student-individualized wireless mobile computer technology in a traditional classroom
- selection and installation of appropriate software suites, as indicated by institutional technical specifications
- training of faculty and ongoing technical and pedagogical support