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Center faculty members and staff write and apply for selected grants
throughout each academic year. The following initiatives are currently
in progress.
PrimaryAccess
The Web-based application, PrimaryAccess, allows teachers and students to tap into original material archived on the Internet through institutions such as the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Working with Primary Source Learning, a consortium of northern Virginia schools focusing on the use of technology in the classroom, we will conduct a rigorous quantitative assessment of PrimaryAccess, support by a $154,000 grant from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. At least 20 teachers and middle school students will take part in the study.
PrimaryAccess is the first online tool that allows students to combine their own text, historical images from primary sources, and audio narration to create short online documentary films linked to social studies standards of learning. Since the first version was developed in collaboration with the University of Virginia Center for Digital History and piloted in an elementary school in 2005, more than 6,500 users around the U.S. and in other countries have made their own short movies.
FIPSE Grant: Preparing Science and Mathematics Teachers to
Use Visualization in Whole-Class Inquiry-Based Instruction
Over 90% of all US classrooms now have a computer with an Internet
connection. As the prices of computer projectors edge downward,
many schools are beginning to buy them in increasing numbers.
School leaders are realizing that adding a projector to the classroom
is a more effective strategy than acquiring a second computer
for the classroom.
Our initiative will (1) generate comparative data that will highlight
the benefits of employing projection systems in instruction, (2)
identify best teaching practices under the new paradigm, and (3)
provide models and materials that encourage other teacher education
programs to prepare teachers for this shift in instruction.
Impact Project
The goal of the Impact Project is to develop resources to facilitate
appropriate uses of technology in teacher preparation programs.
The initiative has addressed secondary mathematics, science,
English, and social studies education and is funded by a grant
from a private foundation.
Integrating Technology in Teacher Education
Center faculty and graduate students explore digital technologies
that have the potential to enhance teaching and student learning,
such as graphing calculators, igital imaging, online digital resources,
handheld computers, and content-specific software and simulations.
Teaching modules and interactive applications (using Flash movies)
are developed for integrating these technologies into teacher
education programs, as well as in K-12 classrooms.
This work is disseminated through publications
in teacher education and practitioner journals, as well as through
state and national conferences, regional workshops, and local
professional development programs. Content-specific applications
are also made available online
and through CD-ROMs distributed to teachers and teacher educators.
 As
digital cameras become increasingly affordable, schools can take
advantage of their utility in the classroom to help students better
visualize abstract concepts and communicate with images.
Check out our new book on this topic: Teaching
With Digital Images: Acquire-Analyze-Create-Communicate
New Tools
- CameraScope
 CameraScope
is the first tool in a series to be made freely available to educators
throughout the world. CameraScope is an easy-to-use software application
that supports a wide range of digital imaging devices, including
the Intel QX3 digital microscope, Canon and Olympus digital cameras,
and most commonly available webcams. CameraScope can be used to
take high-quality still images, digital movies, and time-lapse
movies.
National Technology Leadership Initiative
The National Technology Leadership Initiative (NTLI)
was established with funds from a Preparing
Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) Catalyst grant
and expanded with private funding. The initiative has funded a
number of interrelated projects designed to build information
communities among PT3 grant recipients and the larger teacher
education community.
 The
Center for Technology and Teacher Education, through the NTLI,
has co-sponsored nine National
Technology Leadership Summits. The summits have convened
leaders representing the national teacher educator associations
for the core content areas (mathematics education, science education,
social studies education, and English education).
These leaders have discussed and developed policy recommendations
for a variety of issues common to teacher education, such as appropriate
integration of technology into teacher education, the future of
ubiquitous computing in education, and digital imaging in the
school curriculum.
Bermuda Project
Center faculty members have participated since 1998 in the
XL-Bermuda Initiative to help Bermuda public senior and middle
school teachers accomplish the following goals:
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Understand the capabilities of, and effectively use, a variety
of technologies.
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Learn to appropriately integrate these technologies into
their instruction in ways that enhance student attainment
of the Senior School Curriculum Objectives.
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Become critical and reflective users of technology in order
to extend their capabilities to integrate into their teaching
technologies beyond those addressed in this program.
Center faculty members and graduate students have conducted
workshops at both the Berkeley Institute and the CedarBridge Academy
in Bermuda. In addition, Bermuda leadership teachers involved
with the mathematics, social studies, and science components have
attended workshops at the University of Virginia.
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