Teachers and Technology: Enhancing Teaching and Learning

A national effort to improve learning through technology is changing the look of classrooms across the country. Now that they have the computers, high-speed connections and video cameras, teachers are also becoming the pupils as they learn how to best use the high-tech equipment.

A summer institute underway at the University of Cincinnati College of Education is helping 27 UC faculty, students and mentor teachers who work with the UC teaching interns in the public schools, as they all explore how technology can enhance their own classrooms. The institute runs from June 11-15 and June 18-22 at the UC College of Education and Blegen Library next door.

The sessions are led by local and national leaders in the technology field, including Joyce Pittman and Jeff Gordon of UC's College of Education. Pittman, for instance, was a leading member of a writing team that developed national technology standards to guide teacher education programs across the country.

The individuals enrolled in the institute underwent a competitive selection process, based on proposals they submitted on how they wanted to develop projects in technology. On completion of the institute, they'll be awarded partial funding for their project. The rest of their funding will come in September, when they present their project for evaluation at the annual CERTI conference at Kingsgate Conference Center. Projects will be evaluated by local and national teams that are assessing the effectiveness of CERTI.

The CERTI Summer Institute is funded by a $2.7 million three-year initiative led by project director Joyce Pittman, a UC assistant professor of educational technology. CERTI, short for Comprehensive Educational Restructuring and Technology Infusion Initiative, is a $2.7 million project, half of which is funded by local and national partners with UC. A federal grant under the U.S. Department of Education's PT3 (Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology) program funds the other half of the initiative, launched in the summer of 2000.