The TURN Exchange

A Distributed Electronic Network

The Teacher Union Reform Network (TURN) aims at "enhancing communication and collaboration among local teacher unions and also with other potential reform partners." To that end the TURN Exchange will be established as a distributed electronic network to foster:

  1. Communication among TURN local leaders
  2. Communication between TURN local leaders and members
  3. Communication between TURN local leaders and reform partners

The TURN Exchange will provide the following services:

  1. clearinghouse for information and key documents
  2. case studies of reform experiences
  3. research studies
  4. email and distribution lists (listservs)
  5. conferencing/discussion groups
  6. Published interviews with local leaders

A few years ago the model for such electronic networks would have been commercial on-line services or else private, dedicated conferencing and bulletin board systems. But with the advent of the World Wide Web (WWW) browsers on the Internet beginning in late 1993, the appropriate platform for an electronic network for professional collaboration is a WWW national home page linked to local unit home pages.

Through the TURN Exchange, a national home page, TURN locals will be oriented to an appropriate platform that can link to that of other educational reform organizations, including the NEA and AFT national organizations. During the next two years TURN will first establish a national home page, housed at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, and then encourage and support the development of a local union home page in the 10 NEA and the 10 AFT locals participating in TURN.

TURN locals will be encouraged first to set up a computer with internet connections to engage in email communication and in browsing the TURN Exchange. Next, they will be encouraged, and supported, to set up a local home page, possibly in collaboration with a local university partner.

Besides the WWW home page, UCLA will maintain a listserv (e-mailing distribution list) for sending TURN communications to each of the TURN sites as well as to reform partners and other interested individuals.

The TURN Home Page will feature information resources for sharing as well as special sections on:

  1. People -- profiles and interviews with TURN local leaders
  2. Places -- profiles of local reform efforts
  3. Stories -- Case studies of local reform efforts
  4. Practices -- Documents and contracts, relevant to local reform efforts
  5. Partnerships -- profiles of local reform partners and partnerships

The TURN Home Page will include search engines for document searches, email links to key leaders, conferencing capability for discussion groups. In addition, TURN participants will utilize email and occasional internet-based videoconferencing ( CUSeeMe) to communicate.

Implementation of the TURN Exchange

The TURN Exchange will be implemented through a partnership of TURN and the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, as follows:

Operations
The Educational Technology Unit (ETU) at GSE&IS, under the direction of Peter Kovaric, Chief Technology Officer for the School and Phil Ender, Director of Planning & Information Systems, will set up the WWW Home Page, support the translation into electronic form of documents and other content to reside on the home page, maintain the listserv and monitor the operation of the TURN Exchange.

Content Developer/Editor
Bob Pearlman, Director of Research for the Boston Teachers Union, will act as the content developer for the home page, working with each TURN local to select, abstract, and publish key documents and case studies for placement on the TURN Exchange.

Facilitator/Moderator
Gary Obermeyer of Learning Options, Portland, Oregon, will act as the moderator and facilitator of the Exchange. He will conduct interviews, develop profiles, and moderate discussion groups (using WEB Caucus software) on the Exchange. He will encourage and support the development of local home pages by each TURN local.

Development Plan
The TURN Exchange will be developed in three phases, beginning in the Spring of 1996, as follows:

Phase I -- March 1 to April 25, 1996
Develop the national TURN Home Page on the GSE&IS Internet Server. Initial content will include:

  1. TURN description and mission
  2. TURN Membership Page
  3. Profiles of TURN Local Leaders and local reform activities with either hypertext links to key documents or to contact information
  4. Matrix of reform Activity by TURN locals
  5. Exemplary reform documents from TURN locals

Phase II -- April 26 to August 31, 1996
Assist all TURN local leaders to get internet connections and become internet users and active browsers of the TURN Exchange and readers of TURN email distributed notices.

  1. Conduct training at UCLA, April 25, 1996.
  2. Provide remote assistance and consultation to local leaders
  3. Further develop national TURN Exchange web site
  4. Send TURN notices via email distribution

Phase III -- September 1, 1996 to August 31, 1997
Assist all TURN locals to develop local union/reform web sites in partnerships with local universities, based on TURN national model.

  1. Further develop national TURN Exchange web site
  2. Provide local partnership plan design documents
  3. Provide remote assistance and consultation to local leaders

UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies

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