Elementary school students from across Louisiana now have the opportunity to learn via the Internet with “Colonel Chat” and “Story Time With the Colonels,” both of which were established with the University College of Education.

Teacher education students conduct reading tutoring sessions with fifth graders at South Thibodaux Elementary through a program called “Colonel Chat,” Cynthia Vavasseur, assistant director of education and instructional technology specialist for the College of Education, said. The program is conducted in the computer lab located in Polk Hall.

Vavasseur is collaborating with Tobey Naquin, one of the first students who will graduate in December from Vavasseur’s master’s degree program in educational technology leadership. Naquin is a teacher at South Thibodaux Elementary and is incorporating the chat program into her graduation project.

South Thibodaux Elementary’s fifth graders are the first to use the chat program, but Vavasseur said they plan to expand to other schools, grade levels and subjects in the upcoming semesters. She said that since the word has gotten out about the program, about 14 other schools have contacted her, wanting to participate.

With the use of technology such as webcams lent to South Thibodaux Elementary by the University, students are able to interact one-on-one without leaving their respective schools.

Google Chat, a program linked to Gmail, the University’s e-mail system, connects students face-to-face over a video feed. This virtual tutoring program also allows teacher education students to review reading flashcards and teach comprehension via the Internet.

“Story Time with the Colonels” is a storytelling program for preschool and kindergarten classes and is another virtual learning program to link University education students with elementary school students.

Book readings accompanied by puppet shows, skits and theatrical performances are done via Adobe Connect and Skype. The first schools to participate in this program were Spanish Lake Primary and St. John Primary, both in Prairieville, and St. Bernadette Elementary School in Houma.

Vavasseur said six schools are now participating, and the program will be expanded in the upcoming semesters.

Vavasseur explained that teacher education students do not have to be enrolled in a particular education class to take part in the programs. It is open to any education junior or senior on a voluntary basis.

“It can be any education major in a methods class,” Vavasseur said. “That’s junior and senior level classes where you are actually learning how to teach a subject such as English methods, science methods, social studies methods.”

The programs are used as “virtual field experiences,” Vavasseur said, and will count toward the 180 hours of fieldwork teacher education students are required to complete before they can student teach.

“It’s nice for us too, because we do not have to drive everywhere to earn these hours,” Courtney Robert, Vavasseur’s graduate assistant, said.

Both programs are great for the elementary students and the University students because they allow for teaching and learning in a new and innovative way, Vavasseur said.

“Someone said kindergarteners or fifth graders are getting a college education, and I loved that,” Vasseur said. “They are getting a new and innovative method of learning that we are teaching our candidates here.”