Fort Worth, Texas — The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame has received two national awards for its distance-learning program, the 2010-2011 Pinnacle Award from the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC) and the 2011 Teachers’ Choice Award from the Berrien Regional Education Service Agency for the second year in a row.
For the 2010-11 school year, the Cowgirl Museum was one of the 25 distance-learning providers in the United States to receive the coveted Pinnacle Award and the only recipient in Texas. This is the first year for the museum to receive the award, having received honorable mention in 2010.
Through its 26 distance-learning programs, the Cowgirl Museum reached 16,963 students in 2011 (a 75% increase over the last school year) via 435 distance-learning program sites— more than any other content provider through the Connect 2 Texas program, sponsored by the Texas Education Agency. The museum also provided 91 classes to students in other states and four classes to international audiences. Listed on the museum’s web site at http://www.cowgirl.net/ are the programs available to elementary and secondary schools and other organizations. Each program lasts 45 minutes. For information, contact Cindi Collins, school services director of the Cowgirl Museum, at 817-509-8697.
“We are extremely proud of our school services staff and programs” said Patricia Riley, the museum’s executive director. “These awards bring validation to what we already knew. Reaching out in this medium is a key part of our mission and deserves this recognition. This and the other educational services we offer will continue to grow.”
About the Pinnacle Award
The Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (http://www.cilc.org/), established in 1994, is an Indiana-based not-for-profit organization specializing in access to applications and the utilization of videoconferencing for live interactive content and professional development, as well as web-based collaborative learning environments for K-20 education. CILC provides consulting expertise in videoconferencing, integration, problem-based learning products, school-community partnerships and effective techniques for the delivery and development of quality programs.
The CILC’s Pinnacle Award is presented annually to organizations posting outstanding K-12 standards-based interactive videoconferencing programs to http://www.cilc.org/. To qualify for the award, the provider must receive a minimum 2.85 average score out of a possible 3 on its program evaluations from educators during the school year. The evaluation assesses seven areas, two related to the effectiveness of the presenter and five related to the educational content of the program. All content posted to http://www.cilc.org/ by Pinnacle Award winners is marked with the CILC flame.
About the Teachers’ Favorite Award
The Berrien Regional Education Service Agency, the cooperative based in Michigan’s Berrien County, maintains a content provider database with a listing of videoconferencing resources. For its annual Teachers’ Favorite Awards, educators from across the country vote to select the best content and videoconferencing service providers. (http://www.berrienresa.org/)
About the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame
The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame (http://www.cowgirl.net/) honors and celebrates women, past and present, whose lives exemplify the courage, resilience, and independence that helped shape the American West and fosters an appreciation of the ideals and spirit of self-reliance they inspire. The museum, located at 1720 Gendy Street in the heart of Fort Worth’s Cultural District, is considered an invaluable national educational resource for its exhibits, research library, rare photography collection, and the honorees in its Hall of Fame.
