3-15-99

Contacts:
Walter Gmelch, Education, (515) 294-7000
Anne Thompson, Education, (515) 294-5287
Steve Sullivan, News Service, (5125) 29-3720

ISU TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM CITED IN TECHNOLOGY REPORT

AMES, Iowa -- A new national report has cited an Iowa State University program as a model for the best use of technology in teaching.

The report by the CEO Forum on Education and Technology assesses the nation's progress toward integrating technology into classrooms. The CEO Forum's just published annual report cites the ISU College of Education's curriculum and instruction program, which infuses technology into teacher preparation. Before ISU faculty could teach students about the uses of technology in the classroom, many had to learn it themselves. In 1992, undergraduate and graduate students began serving as mentors to faculty on uses of technology in the classroom.

Surveys indicate that faculty confidence with technology has grown since the mentoring program was created. Enrollment in a minor in education computing has grown 100 percent in the past two years.

The CEO Forum is comprised of chief executives from major corporations, including IBM, Dell and The Washington Post, and education organizations, including that National Education Association and the National School Boards Association. The forum highlights the importance of education technology and monitors its implementation in schools in order to boost the use of technology to improve student learning.

The forum was formed in February of 1996, in response to President Bill Clinton's technology literacy challenge. Clinton challenged leaders from across the country to work together to connect all schools to the Internet by the year 2000.

The CEO Forum report focuses on advances made in four areas Clinton identified as crucial to progress in education technology: installing and upgrading hardware, connecting computers through technologies like the Internet, integrating computing into school curriculums, and providing opportunities for teachers to learn how to use technology in their classrooms.

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Revised 03/17/99