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The College of Education at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) created collaborative partnerships with nine major school districts in Iowa in order to establish several kinds of relationships between practitioners and university faculty which computer networks facilitated. A new "Cobra" computer conference system was expanded to the nine regional off-campus centers where UNI student teachers were working, and modem-equipped portable computers were linked to the campus through a WATTS telephone line. Personnel, including field-based personnel and practitioners, were then able to communicate with nearly all offices on UNI campus through E-mail and computer conferences. Further programs have recruited teachers as center Cadre members. The ability to connect campus faculty to field practitioners has positively affected the teacher education program at UNI. Classroom teachers have been a valuable resource for teacher trainees and student teachers; they have influenced university committee decisions, impacted curriculum content and methods classes, and enhanced rapport between faculty and teachers. When faculty and teachers talked about a mutual interest, traditional barriers tended to disappear. Student teachers have benefited through more frequent communication, and their cooperating teachers' interest in Cobra was heightened. Lessons proposed for similar programs are: (1) keep technical information simple; (2) establish leadership and commitment; and (3) find ways to introduce computer network users face-to-face to build rapport. Contains 8 references. (JB)

Human relations training is a requirement for all teacher education majors graduating from Iowa colleges and universities. At the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) this course is delivered to preservice teacher education students in conjunction with their full semester student teaching experience. Major goals of the training program are: (1) to confront individuals with experiences designed to create an awareness of biases, attitudes, and beliefs and to create awareness of the degree of congruency between stated beliefs and actual behavior; and (2) to internalize and translate such awareness into actions which result in more positive relationships within the teaching/learning environment. In each of UNI's student teaching centers, the course is administered and delivered by a combination of UNI professor, clinical supervisor, and a cadre of practitioners. The course content includes: cooperative learning practices, classroom "ice breakers," removing bias from the classroom, values/self-esteem, children at risk, perceptions we have (e.g., race, homosexuality), and the psychology of winning. Each student teacher is required to do at least one action research project. The course meets requirements for teacher licensure in Iowa, allows professional staff to establish a workable rapport with student teachers, offers a vehicle for demonstrating effective teaching practices, gives student teachers the opportunity to make creative contributions to their cooperating teacher's classroom, and proves that human relations are not just theoretical concepts. (LL)

The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) has established the Regional Partnership Program, consisting of nine regional centers located across the state, so that UNI may be geographically in touch with all areas of the state. All of the centers have a common structure: the administrator of each center is a tenure track UNI professor; all centers have implemented a full semester student teaching curriculum; and all center partnerships have established an advisory cadre of local education practitioners. The program has seven major characteristics: (1) use of a regional network allows expanded student teaching experiences under a centralized administration; (2) in each regional district at least one professor has overall responsibility for achieving goals; (3) in each center a clinical supervisor is under contract to the university and directly responsible to the professor in charge; (4) at least five teachers per center belong to a cadre which works closely with the professor and clinical supervisor; (5) in each region classroom teachers are trained to serve as cooperating teachers on a term-by-term basis; (6) a special relationship has been established between school district and university; and (7) a telecommunications network has been installed. To achieve greater depth in field experience programs, each regional center has established a working structure that best fits the school districts involved in the partnership. (JD)

This study sought to determine how student teachers perceived their cooperating teacher's leadership practices. The Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire Form was completed during the final week of clinical field experience by 212 student teachers. The questionnaire was based on four identified leadership styles used by mentors: (1) directing--telling student teachers what, how, and when to perform structured tasks and expecting precision and productive output; (2) coaching--demonstrating, modeling, developing talent, and resolving conflicts considerately; (3) supporting--maintaining harmony, praising, and emphasizing consideration; and (4) delegating--allowing freedom to experiment, tolerating uncertainty, and facilitating. Three specific leadership behaviors were subsumed under each of these mentoring styles. Findings indicated that cooperating teachers used multiple leadership behaviors and that they used all of the mentoring styles equally. (JD)

The problem investigated in this study was to determine how student teachers perceived their cooperating teachers' leadership practices. Specifically, the problem had three parts: (1) to identify leadership behaviors that cooperating teachers used; (2) to see if there were dominant mentoring styles that existed when a cooperating teacher and a student teacher worked together; and (3) to find out if the leadership behaviors and mentoring styles influenced the student teacher's success as measured by a final evaluation checklist. Mentoring is seen as a nurturing process in which a more skilled and experienced person practices leadership styles that direct, coach, support, and delegate to less experienced persons for the purpose of promoting professional and personal development within the context of a caring relationship. The Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire Form XII was administered to 212 student teachers. Findings indicated that cooperating teachers used multiple leadership behaviors and mentoring styles equally. Recommendations are made for exploring the subject of leadership styles in more depth. (JD)