About Dick Parsons

Dick Parsons is a Professional Development Manager and Social Studies Curriculum specialist at the Institute for Learning Technologies, Columbia University. Prior to coming to ILT he was a teacher, Instructional Leader and consultant in the Public School system in upstate New York where he taught various social studies courses for more than thirty years.

In addition to his career as a teacher, Dick Parsons is a member of the National Faculty of the Coalition of Essential Schools and served as Director of the Westchester Regional Center for Collaborative Education. In this capacity he was able to sharpen his skills as a facilitator in professional development while extending his understanding of the complex nature of institutional change.

As a teacher he was awarded several grants intended to provide for investigations into sensible ways to integrate the latest technologies in the support of teaching and learning. With his students he conducted on-line electronic seminars and recounted those experiences in "Students in Cyberspace" (1997), published by the New York State Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Perhaps his most satisfying experience in public school teaching occurred as a result of funding from the Westchester Educational Coalition which provided a grant intended to initiate an alternative environmental educational experience for high school seniors. Students in that course spent the year investigating, documenting and photographing the natural and human history of Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in upper Westchester County, New York, and completed their year by publishing their work. Their efforts appeared both as a book and on a student-created Website: The Senior Research Seminar in Environmental Studies. Sales from their book continue to subsidize the course.

Dick Parsons is currently working with teachers in the Eiffel Project to develop technology-supported activities thoughtfully integrated into the public school curriculum. He is also the curriculum specialist with the New Deal Network where his attention is focused on the development of student-centered activities using the archive of primary materials available on the site.