When An Innovation Odyssey launched in 2002 on the Intel® Innovation in Education Web site, it was with grand vision: create an online collection of stories showcasing teachers who use technology effectively to enhance student learning. The idea was to illustrate what effective technology integration looks like, and to provide a database of project ideas other teachers could adopt or adapt for use in their own classrooms.

The concept was the brainchild of former Intel employee Amy Pearl, who was inspired by the publication of One Digital Day: How the Microchip Is Changing Our World. This coffee-table book, part of Rick Smolan's popular "Day in the Life" series and a publication sponsored by Intel, featured photographs taken around the globe in a 24-hour period, documenting the myriad of ways the microchip has pervaded and transformed human culture.

After perusing the book, Pearl thought it would be interesting to take a look at "one digital school year," reports Anne Batey, Intel Innovation in Education K-12 Curriculum Manager. "The idea was: wouldn't it be great if we could get teachers to submit stories of what they were doing, and we'd publish a new one on the Web each day?" The name for the series, Odyssey, came from pulling letters from the phrase "one digital school year."

Lured by the opportunity to share their stories and receive recognition in the form of a bit of online fame, teachers flocked to the Intel Web site to submit brief descriptions of projects in which they incorporated technology. Batey reviewed the submissions and sifted out the keepers (student-centered or project-based learning where technology was used as a tool for learning). Then a small bank of education writers contacted the teachers for further information to flesh out the project descriptions and document the work.

"That first year was insane," Batey said, noting the difficulty of producing such a large volume of stories so quickly, including obtaining accompanying photographs and signed permission forms for students appearing in the images in a timely fashion. The sheer volume forced Batey and colleagues to reexamine the original plan for a "story a day" to "a story for every school day." Ultimately, in that first year, the team turned out more than 20 stories per month.

It is important to note that while some of the technology uses were groundbreaking—including some of the first uses of blogging in classrooms, for instance—many were not. In numerous examples, teachers found ways to use technology in simple ways to augment student learning, such as taking digital photographs to illustrate progress on a science project, or by conducting online research for a social studies unit.

Stefanie Hausman, project lead on Odyssey early in the effort, said teachers have been "wowed" at education conferences where she has presented the series. "Teachers are really excited by it," she said. "It's such a rich collection with so many different uses of technology in the classroom. So it's a place that they found they could go and just glean some ideas and incorporate them in their own classrooms."

Additionally, she said the fact that the series is international enriches the value of the collection and increases the appeal for teachers who can look through "windows into classrooms not just outside their building, but around the world. It gives them ideas for using different technologies in ways they may not have considered."

Positive Feedback
That the series has succeeded in its goal is evidenced by the vast number of educators still accessing the database some four years later, as well as positive feedback from the education community.

Jill Brown, director of Educational Technology at Albuquerque Academy, a prestigious, independent college-preparatory school in New Mexico, says, "In my position, one of my main priorities is to share current technology integration strategies with our faculty. I find myself forwarding stories from the Odyssey collection frequently. These real classroom experiences, in the specific disciplines that our faculty teach, are excellent sources for spurring ideas and giving faculty a sense of what is going on in other classrooms around the world. Because technology changes in the classroom are so dynamic, the ability to learn about other teachers' successes is one of the most effective professional development resources I can provide. An Innovation Odyssey is an excellent resource that helps me do this."

Not only do teachers use the site for new implementation ideas, Batey observes, but they also find "validation" in discovering projects similar to those they've conducted in their own classrooms. Batey said she has observed teachers participating in professional development training "looking for things they already did. And then they'd compare approaches. They used it for validation and extension of what they were already doing."

Expanded Unit Plans
Several Odyssey projects have been further developed by education specialists to create full-blown unit plans, reports Hausman. "Teachers expressed interest in getting more of the story and details about Odyssey stories so that they could implement them in their classrooms." Such expanded stories include "Tin Whistles Go Worldwide," where elementary students learn language arts skills and more through the Flat Stanley project, "Choreographing Math," where middle school math students create dance routines incorporating depictions of linear equations, and "Watching Them Blossom," where students attending an alternative high school learn social studies and technology through visual art.

Professional Development Resource
The Odyssey story database and the extended unit plans have been frequently used in professional development training, including Intel® Teach to the Future and the Intel® Teach to the Future Leadership Forum, training for teachers and administrators, respectively, to learn how to effectively integrate technology into instruction. Batey said, "Often Odyssey is used in professional development to get a sense of the breadth of possibilities with technology integration. It's also a great starting point for discussion."

Teachers who have been featured in the project are thrilled to be part of the series. "It's a big deal to them," notes Hausman. "It's something they share with their administrator and parents. In a lot of cases, they are recognized in their school for it."

Darren Carollo and Shirley Pickton, teachers at a public high school in Dallas whose work is so inspiring, the duo has been covered twice in the Intel series, said Odyssey coverage has been valuable to their extended learning program. Each year, through their World Classroom program, Carollo and Pickton select a group of inner-city minority students to take part in an educational expedition elsewhere in the world. The latest adventure took the group to China, where the Texas students gave Beijing students lessons in using online technology tools, as well as American culture. For the American students, most of whom had never been out of Dallas, the experience was transforming. But to attract the necessary funding for such an ambitious endeavor, it is important that people understand the value of such an experience. Carollo said the Odyssey story "Riding the Orient Express" helps achieve that goal. "It gives the program a great deal of credibility and allows those who want to know more about us to read in depth and understand what we do," he says.

Batey said the series has even been used to lobby for additional education dollars in some communities. "When people are voting on technology," she said, "it helps to have a real picture of what's going on with it in the classroom."

To make the collection even more accessible to educators, the series is syndicated so that schools and school districts can arrange to have the collection, along with the featured story of the day, appear on their own Web sites. There is no charge for syndication, and many schools take advantage of the opportunity to share these exemplary stories with staff, parents, and the community as a whole.

"People who are in leadership roles get excited about it because of the accessibility," adds Batey. "A parent can read a story and understand it. A site committee can read one and get the gist of what's going on, or read more and get an idea of the possibilities."

When An Innovation Odyssey celebrates its fourth anniversary this year, the collection will have grown to over 400 stories from nearly 30 countries on six continents.

Recent stories in the series include "Discovering the Forbidden City," where middle-school students in China learn about one of their country's national treasures through inquiry-based learning , "Teen Connections," where Russian high school students in remote Siberia are able to use technology to connect with other students around the world and build language arts skills in the process, and "Tackling Real-World Problems," where California students from grades 3 through 12 compete in a local academic competition called CyberQuest and present proposed solutions in a problem-based learning activity through public multimedia presentations.

While the uses of technology have expanded over the years, teachers' passion and creativity remain a constant, as do projects that seamlessly integrate technology to improve student learning.

To access An Innovation Odyssey database, or to submit a story idea of your own, visit www.intel.com/education/odyssey