overview
Project TITE-N, through its
TITE-N Partners Consortium, works to increase the proficiency
of pre-service teachers in applying modern technology to
K-12 instruction.The University
of Nevada, Reno (UNR), serves as the Lead Organization for TITE-N. UNR is a Carnegie
Level I research institution and a land grant state university
located in northern Nevada within a metropolitan area of
about 300,000 people. The university’s enrollment is approximately
15,000 students and growing. The College of Education currently
houses a number of pre-service teacher preparation programs
with a total enrollment of approximately 1,000 undergraduate
students. These programs include elementary education (K-6),
special education (K-12), integrated dual elementary/special
education, and secondary education (grades 7-12). In addition,
post-baccalaureate programs enroll approximately 150 students
who are changing careers and hope to enter one of the teaching
professions.
the NEED for tite-n
Project TITE-N prepares elementary, secondary
and special education teachers who will have a positive
effect on the learning of K-12 students through their use
of teaching and learning technology in their classrooms.
Components of this program specifically address disadvantaged
learners through the field-based experiences in high-needs
schools, pre-service teacher training in a variety of technology
applications (including assistive technology), and incentives
for internships in rural/remote schools. Schools targeted
for these activities will include those in remote parts
of the state, with Title I designation, and/or with high
incidence of students identified as having disabilities
or Limited English Proficiency (LEP). Two TITE-N Consortium members,
the Northeastern
Nevada Technology Consortium (NNTC), and the Central
Nevada Educational Technology Consortium, (CNETC), represent the eleven most rural school
districts in the state.
They have significant numbers of
Title I schools and are mostly low SES, as indicated
by the high numbers of free and reduced lunches provided.
The TITE-N project has two segments specifically devoted
to providing assistance to high needs schools in these districts
and to the high needs schools in the Washoe County School
District (WCSD). The enhanced internship component will
send 10 Student Technology Integration Consultants (STICs)
each year to the districts in these rural counties to do
their student teaching. The new seminar series that operates
in conjunction with the practicum courses will require
all pre-service students to spend time in WCSD high needs
schools as part of their practicum course work.
As a result of a major effort on the part of
the state government (The Nevada Education Reform Act of
1997, Senate Bill 482, Chapter 473), great strides have
been made in getting technology into Nevada's schools.
What remains a major gap in improving Nevada public schools
through technology infusion is the lack of skills and knowledge
on the part of teachers to make full use of the technology
they find in their schools. According to Mark Knudson,
educational technology specialist at the Nevada Department
of Education, approximately 5 percent of teachers in Nevada school
districts are at the point of complete technology infusion.
This estimated percentage would probably hold for teachers
across the state.
A needs assessment (http://www.unr.edu/cnetc/multimedia/pdf/needs_assessment.pdf)
conducted by Kim Vidoni for CNETC in December of 2002 found that rural educators
believed the following to be the greatest barriers to technology integration
in their classrooms: a) lack of training in educational technology skills
and methods; b) lack of adequate technology equipment; c) lack of government
funding for technology equipment; d) negative previous experiences with technology
training; e) lack of continuity in district educational
technology policies – meaning that teachers would like to see district policies
reflect realistic goals and have more value placed on educational technology;
and f) overall lack of knowledge about technology integration and available
educational technology.
Gaps and weaknesses in the use of technology previously existed in the pre-service
teacher preparation programs at UNR, as well. However, many of these weaknesses
were addressed in the three years of the university's PT3 grant, Project Learning Links (PR/Award No. P342A-000145). Highlights of
these accomplishments (from scientifically-based research and evaluation
of effectiveness) include:
• Through the Faculty Fellows program, twenty-eight undergraduate teacher
education courses were modified to add technology or increase the level of
technology used by the faculty and the pre-service teachers.
• Master Teachers worked with both faculty and pre-service teachers on technology
integration methods, exchanging ideas, perspectives and techniques. Master
Teachers acted as professional reviewers of student technology projects and
often their students worked with the pre-service teachers, testing lesson
plans and giving advice on projects.
• The Learning Links 2002 Summer Institute brought together integration experts,
teachers, administrators, pre-service teachers and university faculty for
an intensive, two-week technology integration experience. Participants spent
over 80 hours in hands-on workshops learning practical applications of technology
and its relevance to their classrooms. The sessions were all videotaped and
are being prepared for dissemination via the Web. These taped segments will
be useful tools for TITE-N participants.
• The continuing evolution of the basic technology course, CEP 210, is really
the testament to what faculty have achieved in the past three years. Because
they are requiring more and more technology, and because their technology
skills are becoming more and more refined and sophisticated, the CEP 210
syllabus has been re-written every semester.
Project TITE-N has identified additional areas in which there is potential
for the pre-service education programs to further improve the preparation
of technology-proficient teachers and seeks to address these areas with targeted
activities and a comprehensive research agenda. The following are gaps or
needs that have been identified in the teacher preparation programs at the
University of Nevada, Reno:
• While many teacher candidates have good exposure to educational technology,
there remains inconsistency, depending on which professors from whom the
students take courses. Project TITE-N would support the development of a
series of seminars, conducted over several semesters, that have technology
as a major focus and that students take concurrently with methods and school-based
practicum courses.
• Additionally, we have found, through evaluation of internship portfolios,
that pre-service teachers do not consistently use technology in their teaching
once they have left campus-based courses and move into their Supervised Internship
(student teaching). This is partially due to limited resources in some K-12
classrooms, a lack of value placed on technology by some K-12 teachers, and
a lack of emphasis on technology in the assignments required of the internship.
TITE-N would provide support for a redesign of the internship requirements
to include significant technology components.
• Two pilot projects conducted within the last year have highlighted areas
in which candidates need more skills and support for technology. A group
of interns piloted completing a "Student Learning Sample" (SLS) assignment
in which they studied a subgroup of students in their classrooms and collected
and analyzed data that demonstrated the impact of their instruction on the
students. None of the interns were proficient enough to use technology in
the collection, analysis, display or interpretation of their data without
significant support. TITE-N would help the programs introduce these skills
to all pre-service teachers through intensive, technology-rich seminars and
instruction on the use of handheld devices and laptops, so that they are
able to use technology in data-driven decision-making in their classrooms.
A second pilot program involved a group of students in creating electronic
portfolios (instead of paper portfolios) to meet the performance assessment
requirements of the programs. While there was enthusiasm for this on the
part of students and faculty, it was again found that the students required
significant support in this process and, because it was a voluntary activity,
about half of them dropped their involvement before completing the portfolio
in the electronic format. TITE-N would participate in the redesign of the
teacher preparation programs to include support for the development of e-portfolios
by all students over a sequence of semesters as part of course requirements.
• Few students take the opportunity to move beyond basic technology competencies
to develop high levels of expertise or earn the Nevada Technology Specialist
teaching endorsement. TITE-N will make opportunities for up to 60 pre-service
teachers to participate in advanced training and leadership activities related
to instructional technology and earn this advanced endorsement. The students
who earn this endorsement will be provided incentives to do their student
teaching in rural schools.
• While we can demonstrate the positive impact of past efforts to improve
our pre-service teachers’ use of technology while they are in their preparation
program, there is little concrete information about how these activities
translate into classroom practices once they have graduated. We would like
to follow a group of pre-service teachers into their induction year to document
their use of technology, through the proposed research initiative with the
University of North Texas.
• It is difficult to determine how our pre-service teachers compare with
those from other programs in their knowledge and use of technology. TITE-N
proposes an ambitious research agenda that would seek to answer those questions,
in collaboration with the University of North Texas.
the SIGNIFICANCE of the project
Through its many and varied activities, TITE-N will make
significant contributions to the knowledge base in teacher
preparation through its ambitious research agenda in collaboration
with institutions in other regions of the country. Highlights
of this research agenda (detailed below in the Quality
of Project Design and the Quality of Evaluation sections) include
the following:
• Collect baseline and annual data on pre-service teacher and university
faculty proficiency in use of technology to make a variety of analyses: a)
contrast pre-service proficiency levels with those of in-service teachers
and university faculty; b) compare/contrast pre-service gains in Nevada to
those from similar activities in Texas and Maine; c) examine synergistic
impact of PT3 pre-service initiatives with complementary K-12 technology
intensive projects (NNETC and CNETC activities in Nevada schools); d) track
approximately 15 pre-service educators into their induction year classrooms
and examine impact on teaching and K-12 student achievement.
• Develop and validate new standards-based self-appraisal instruments for
pre-service educators: a) base new instruments on existing ISTE/NCATE standards;
b) cross-validate in Nevada and Texas; c) use the development model of the
GP3 – General Preparation Profile that was created and validated in 2002-2003;
d) publish findings in Computers in the Schools and post in ISTE’s CARET.
• Participate in data/sharing analysis component of next generation collaborative
exchanges among technology integration cluster universities: a) post forms
and gather online data (pre-post); b) conduct half-day data analysis institute
for attendees to work with their own data
The importance or magnitude of the results or outcomes likely to be attained
by the proposed project, especially improvements in teaching and student
achievement. It is anticipated that TITE-N will make a positive impact on
the pre-service preparation of teachers in Nevada. Approximately 475 pre-service
teachers graduate from the program each year to become in-service teachers
in Nevada’s schools. The impact their entry into the teaching profession
makes will be measured directly in several ways:
• All pre-service teachers will demonstrate increased knowledge and use of
technology applications as reflected in their performance in practicum courses
and in their e-portfolios.
• All pre-service teachers will infuse technology into their teaching during
the Supervised Internship as demonstrated by direct observations and lesson
plans in their (electronic) Internship Portfolios.
• All pre-service teachers will collect, assess, analyze, and present data
indicating their impact on K-12 student learning through the Student Learning
Sample, required as part of the Supervised Internship.
• A total of at least new 60 teachers, 20 per year, would have completed
the Nevada Advanced Technology Endorsement as part of their pre-service program
through their involvement as Student Technology Integration Consultants (STICs).
• Approximately 15 teachers will be followed into their induction year of
teaching. Assessments (including observations) will be made of their infusion
of technology into their teaching and their use of technology to assess and
make decision about instruction based on scientifically-based evidence.
First year annual evaluation, PT3 External Evaluation Report.
College
of Education
Univ.
of North Texas
Pre-service
Teachers
