The power of partnerships: Spanning the digital divide for teacher education

It all began with a handshake between two visionary Florida college presidents in 1968. Leaders at Brevard Community College (BCC) and the University of Central Florida (UCF) recognized the benefits that partnering could bring to their institutions and the students those institutions serve. Since that time, rapid growth and Florida legislative recommendations, http://www.firn.edu/doe/rules/6a-102.htm, for articulation agreements have prompted expanded 2+2 partnership initiatives with community colleges throughout the central Florida area. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the collaborative and partnership strategies in place at the Community College/University joint-use library to provide resource access and support for our teacher education curriculum. As the interactive presentation demonstrates, resources and educational access are enhanced through combined community college and university library faculty expertise, and the optimization of digital capital at partnership locations. As a result, our teacher education students have consistent access to academic support materials throughout their undergraduate and graduate programs of study regardless of where they complete their coursework. The presentation includes handouts and live access to a list of librarian-evaluated community college and university, teacher education-oriented web sites.