THE IMMERSION QUEST PROJECT v1.0 (5/6/10)

The ability to effectively communicate through English is one of the keys to the promise and opportunities of the 21st century. We believe it is a matter of social justice that every child in the world is deserving of a high quality standards-based English education. While acknowledging the enormous complexity of the challenge of achieving this goal, it is a “quest” that begins with the first steps of creating a scalable and adaptable framework.

It is Immersion Quest’s vision to work with other interested parties to create and maintain an open-source, comprehensive, robust and validated standards-based curriculum for young learners of English. The term “curriculum” is to be understood as defined by the Center for Applied Special Technology to include four basic components: goals, methods, materials and assessment. The primary audience for what is developed are the large number of organizations, schools, teachers, tutors, parents and children around the world who otherwise realistically lack easy access to such a resource. The target price point for the IQ Curriculum will be free.

The IQ Curriculum will be based on the WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards. Development for all four curriculum components will guided by Universal Design for Learning principles. The curriculum will initially be implemented and shared in four ways:

1) The Immersion Quest Project – www.immersionquest.org*     Priority: IMMEDIATE

The IQ Project will initially serve as the umbrella clearinghouse for all information, feedback and discussion related to Immersion Quest’s set of component websites. It is envisioned that as the project grows and distinct communities evolve, these entities will be served by unique forums.

2) Immersion Quest Curriculum – curriculum.immersionquest.org *    Priority: NEAR TERM

This will be a public wiki-style repository for the curriculum maintained by Immersion Quest. Subject to the to-be-determined appropriate Creative Commons license,  the curriculum will be freely available for individuals and organizations to use or adapt as  they see fit.

3) Immersion Quest – www. immersionquest.net*     Priority: NEAR TERM

This will be a public content-focused website providing interactive multimedia resources and activities developed to support the IQ Curriculum. Any original content will be made available under the appropriate to-be-determined Creative Commons license.

4) Immersion Quest Academy – school.immersionquest.net*     Priority: MID-TERM

This will be a moodle-based online English program focusing on the language domains of speaking and writing. Although IQ Academy will serve as a demonstration site, it will also be a functioning virtual learning environment with live students. As such, the safety and privacy of those students will be paramount.

* .org denotes organizational functions, while .net is for learner-facing resources.

NEXT POSTS: Commentary about the Vision Document, and The WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards. (Both ETA next couple of days.)