<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Dear Teacher Leader</div><div><p class="MsoNormal">In addition to being administered slightly later than in previous years, this year’s MLTI fall student survey is slightly different than in the past.<span> </span>Instead of collecting a broad spectrum of data about student use, this year’s fall survey is focused on collecting information about students’ ability to access, evaluate, and synthesize information found on the Internet, an important 21<sup>st</sup> Century skill.</p><p class="MsoNormal">There are several other ways in which this year’s fall survey is different from those in the past:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>Your survey data will be returned to you to give
you a better picture of students’ skill levels as well as to enhance your own
work to help students navigate virtual space. <span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Please encourage all of the teachers in your building
to take advantage of the opportunity to have students take the survey and in
return receive information that could significantly enhance their students’
abilities.</p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><span>-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "> </span></span></span>It is not required that your students complete the fall survey; however, because of the nature of the information that we’re collecting, the potential benefits of having them complete this survey are significant.<span> </span>(Please note: a spring 2009 survey will be administered near the end of the school year and, as in other years, <i>will be required</i>.)</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><span>-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "> </span></span></span>We’ve partnered with digital literacy researchers from the New Literacies Research Lab at the University of Connecticut who have been studying the best way to help students become better consumers of information found on the Internet.</p><p class="MsoNormal">A link to the survey can be found on the following webpage: <a href="http://www.usm.maine.edu/cepare/surveys.htm">http://www.usm.maine.edu/cepare/surveys.htm</a>.<span> </span>Students should be instructed to visit this link, click on the “MLTI Student Survey – Fall 2008”, and complete the survey.<span> </span>The password to complete the survey is fall08.<span> </span>The deadline to complete the survey is Wednesday, November 26, 2008.<span> </span><span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Should you have any problems with the survey or have questions, please email <a href="mailto:cepare@usm.maine.edu">cepare@usm.maine.edu</a> or call Sarah Wintle at (207) 780-5046.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Thank you for taking the time to provide this important feedback to MLTI researchers and evaluators. For Fall 2008, there will be no teacher survey administered. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal">Thank you</p><p class="MsoNormal">MLTI Team</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p></div><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>Juanita Dickson (Deschambault)</div><div>M.L.T.I.</div><div>Maine Department of Education</div><div>23 State House Station</div><div>Augusta Maine 04333</div><div>(P) 207-499-7142 (7:30am - 4:00pm)</div><div>Visit MLTI on the web at <a href="http://MaineLearns.org">http://MaineLearns.org</a> and <a href="http://mlti.org">http://mlti.org</a></div></div><div><br></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br></body></html>