TEMPLE UNIVERSITY RECEIVES $402,000 LINK-TO-LEARN GRANT FROM PA. DEPT. OF EDUCATION TO PREPARE TEACHERS TO USE TECHNOLOGY
Today's students may know their way around computers, but do today's--and tomorrow's--teachers know how to use technology effectively as a teaching tool to improve classroom learning?
A $402,000 Link-to-Learn grant from Pennsylvania's Department of Education will fund Temple University's Project LITT (Literacy Improvement Through Technology), an initiative to increase the proficiency of teachers in using technology as a vehicle to improve the teaching, and learning, of language arts.
Education Secretary Eugene W. Hickok announced the Link-to-Learn grants, totaling $5.4 million. Temple is one of 20 institutions of higher learning statewide to share in the awards.
"These grants emphasize teaching with technology rather than teaching about technology," Secretary Hickok said. "They will ensure that Pennsylvania teachers- today's and tomorrow's--can use technology to help teach rigorous academic subjects in meaningful and exciting ways."
One of Project LITT's primary goals is to boost the proficiency of the 1,300 pre service teachers in Temple's College of Education in using technology to improve teaching and learning, according to Professors Glenn E. Snelbecker and David X. Fitt. While a portion of the funding will be used to buy new equipment, the emphasis will be on teacher training.
"Some people think that gadgets will get the job done," Dr. Snelbecker remarked. "You just don't turn on a computer and expect something to happen, you need a lot of training and a lot of support."
Recently, U.S. Education Secretary Richard Riley voiced his criticism that too few American teachers are up to speed in using classroom technology.
Under Project LITT, by the year 2000, pre-service teachers in the program will be able to use the Internet, develop multi-media presentations, use advanced word processing and other technology resources to improve the teaching of language arts including reading, writing, speaking, and listening--for grades K-12.
The Project will bring together as partners Temple faculty in the College of Education and the College of Liberal Arts and teachers at schools in North Philadelphia and the Pennsbury School District in Bucks County.
"The Link-to-Learn grant shows that Temple University is ahead of the game in the effort to meet the needs of current and future teachers in Pennsylvania," Dr. Snelbecker said. "At Temple, there has been a long history of planning about the use of technology in education."
Partners in the LITT program will be in-service teachers at the William Penn Cluster of Schools, including William Penn and Bodine High Schools, the James Elverson Middle School at 13th Street and Susquehanna Avenue, and the John F. Hartranft School, 8th and Cumberland Streets; The Alliance for Progress Charter School at 18th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue; and the Pennsbury School District.
The Project's focus underscores literacy as the foundation of all educational instruction and a critical part of the education of elementary and secondary English pre-service teachers, according to both Snelbecker and Fitt.
"It will equip teachers in integrating technology as an important means of teaching language content, transforming how teachers teach and how children learn," says Snelbecker.
For more information, call Harriet K. Goodheart, director, at Temple University's News Bureau, 215-204-7476 [email protected].
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hkg-622 February 9, 1999
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