Cultural Landscapes Collaboratory
Educational Research & Inquiry (CLCERI):
Since 2003, the Austin Val Verde Foundation and the Cultural Landscapes Collaboratory: ‘Educational Research & Inquiry (CLCERI)’ have worked and learned together to forge an innovative partnership between private not-for-profit foundation and university-based research creating new possibilities in communities - based learning. CLCERI is a consortium of diverse school communities, classroom teachers, students, families, university educational researchers and art and science professionals who have developed and are committed to educational programs that support students’ classroom-based academic experiences by extending them into the broader landscapes of their communities.
CLCERI's aims are to:
Create a shared conceptual language that contributes to the construction of local and global understanding of teaching and learning processes, around teaching for social change and justice, within and across diverse educational settings.
Build teacher-leadership communities, across these diverse settings that support the study of multiple literacies of their students and communities of interdisciplinary learning with stakeholders from private and public industry, from formal to informal educational settings, in order to examine the permeability of community spaces as places for learning.
Document, examine and disseminate transcultural manifestations and variations of pedagogies and theories that are developed via digital video cases, ethnographic interviews and everyday work-related artifacts in teaching, studying, learning and communication communities facilitated and enhanced through use of digital video-based and informational technologies; and
The AVVF is our Intellectual Campus, or hub, that supports our innovative programs that include students and adults learning to become ‘cultural guides/docents’ who navigate for guests the social-cultural context of The Austin Val Verde Foundation; students, families and teachers interacting with and learning from distinguished local and global artists, authors and scientists. A hallmark of our Collaboratory is our Invitational Summer Institute where teacher-researchers, many National Writing Project fellows, graduate students and university faculty convene to explore their professional knowledges and learn professionally by developing joint research projects using YouLiveNOW!™ web-based video conference software and WebDIVER™ video archiving and analysis software. During these face to face institutes and the mediating tool of technology, teachers stay connected, create new technological space for learning, thus making their local knowledges global resources for learning. We document and evaluate our programs and disseminate our work at local and global levels at professional venues, organized lectures and educational institutions. Our members are located across the country (California, Texas, Missouri, Illinois) and globe (Finland and Russia).
Our Collaboratory has studied the ways that the lived experiences of community members are indeed academic resources from which students, teachers, families and community members can learn and take professional action to change their worlds. By honoring the existing cultural landscapes of our lived experiences, all participants develop sophisticated academic thinking practices in reading, writing, arts, math and science. These, in turn, allow participants to see themselves as active and contributing members of their communities further re-shaping the cultural landscapes where we live.
For further information or if you wish to support the Collaboratory, please contact its Director, Dr. Ralph Córdova (Austin Val Verde Foundation Director of Education, Assistant Professor of Education at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and Director of the Piasa Bluffs Writing Project) at rcordov@siue.edu tel: 314-621-3784 and fax: 805-969-7518.
