Mary Ellsworth Wins
USDLA Award

Excellence in Distance Teaching

Senior Team Science teacher, Mary Ellsworth, received the "Excellence in Distance Teaching" award given by the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) at their awards ceremony in Washington, DC on April 19, 2001. The distinguished panel of judges recognized Mary for her work developing and implementing the SOAR-High Earth System Science course. Through SOAR-High, teachers from three schools for the Deaf share online curriculum and their students collaborate on learning activities. The students in Washington, D.C., Indiana, and California learn science by creating web pages, using collaboration software and videoconferencing.

Mary was one of three recipients in the "Excellence in Distance Teaching" category and the only one involved in K-12 education. Other award recipients included the Governor of South Dakota, as well as technology leaders in higher education, government and industry.

Mary expressed her appreciation to her SOAR-High colleagues, Sarah Raymond, MSSD science teacher, Teresa Huckleberry, Indiana School for the Deaf science teacher, Chris Gonzales, University High School science teacher, and Dr. David Synder, professor in the Chemistry and Physics Department at Gallaudet University for their support of this project. "I'd also like to extend a special thank you to all the wonderful MSSD students for their participation and assistance, and their willingness to investigate collaborative distance learning as a new learning style," said Ellsworth.

Congratulations Mary!

[ Awards program as a Word .doc ]

Look for more details at the USDLA Web site in the near future.