Cory Cummings

New PT3 grant to promote
handheld technology in classrooms

by Mark McGowan

Imagine a classroom where children find a quiet corner, read a story, listen to an interview of the author and take a comprehension test, all on a handheld computer.

Next, they beam their results to the teacher’s handheld computer for instant analysis of how well they are meeting learning standards.

Sounds like “Star Trek?”

Not to leaders of NIU’s newest project to Prepare Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology (PT3), who say that day is actually at hand. And thanks to a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, they soon will begin to prepare teacher education students and area teachers for such seemingly science fiction to become sensational science reality.

“Teachers need an efficient way to assess and track their students’ achievement,” said Corenna Cummings, NIU’s PT3 project director and an associate professor in the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment.

“ ‘No Child Left Behind’ has inserted a whole new world for us,” Cummings added. “We have annual standardized testing for children in grades 3 through 11, but annually is not a good time to find out your students are not doing well.”

The Integrating Technology, Assessment and Action Research (ITAAR) project, one of only 25 funded nationally and the sole Illinois grant, will gather 10 NIU faculty from the colleges of Education and Liberal Arts and Sciences with five clinical supervisors of NIU education students (pre-service teachers) and five cooperating teachers (mentors) in the DeKalb, Elgin, Geneva, Harlem and Hononegah school districts each summer for the next three years.

By the end of the summer training week, the 20 participants will have experienced and learned a model developed by the colleges’ reading, language arts, science, math, health, assessment, instructional technology, research methodology and special education faculty, clinical supervisors, K-12 cooperating teachers and grant staff that teaches elementary and secondary school pre-service teachers the multiple applications, and best use, of handheld computers in the classroom.

The intense, one-week summer workshop will launch the program in the schools next fall, when the faculty, clinical supervisors and cooperating teachers join forces to demonstrate and instruct the future teachers on the best use of the technology.

Project managers will track the first-year cohort through the second and third years of the program as more faculty, five clinical supervisors and five cooperating teachers are added each year.

Meanwhile, the “ITAAR Model Team” will continue its work to revise the program to implement improvements, include new strategies and keep pace with advances in technology.

“NIU is committed to forging strong and advantageous partnerships with the schools in our region, and the work Cory Cummings has done through the PT3 projects is a bright example of what we can accomplish by working together,” NIU President John Peters said. “This new grant furthers the important mission of helping children learn by making sure their teachers understand and use the incredible technology now available.”

A prime focus of the ITAAR project is the use of handheld computers for assessment, evaluation and improvement of instruction. The grant will supply certain NIU faculty and students with handhelds, and offer one-on-one support through the College of Education Office of Instructional Assistance.

With the appropriate training, teachers will be able to employ handhelds for many assessment- and evaluation-related activities, including giving tests, grading homework during class, recording informal observations and scoring group activities.

Teachers might then “sync” with programs and records on their desktop computers and, of course, receive student exam answers automatically.

“Palms are no longer organizers. They’re computers. They’re an untapped resource. Teachers have no idea how powerful they are,” Cummings said. “Handhelds allow teachers to track children on the spot as to how they are meeting standards.”

Another large portion of the grant funding will pay for servers that provide SharePoint technology.

SharePoint allows students to build electronic online portfolios of works in progress and finished products of their pre-service teaching experience – also linked to learning standards, and allowing for peer review and comment – and later assists their colleges in collecting evidence needed for program accreditation.

ITAAR models also will include specific, research-proven methods of effective instruction for special needs students.

“NIU’s faculty are eager to participate,” PT3 project manager Deb Kalkman said, “spurred either by their experience with the first PT3 grant or by the encouragement of professors already involved.”

“Half of the current College of Education faculty will have taken the course for faculty from the first grant, and there are quite a few from Liberal Arts and Sciences as well,” Cummings said. “That creates a pool of expertise – a quite phenomenal pool – to move on to the next grant and to move it forward.”

“The faculty are so excited about it,” Kalkman said. “They’re thrilled at the potential of these handhelds.”

Cummings said the ITAAR model also will encompass the scientific method of inquiry, something enabled through use of the handheld computers, and make the teachers “excellent problem-solvers.”

“We need to base programs on scientifically based research,” she said. “When a teacher understands what the issue to address is, collects good data, asks appropriate research questions and analyzes data correctly, he or she is very effective at solving their own problems in the classroom.”

Chris Sorensen, dean of the College of Education, said the ITAAR project is a perfect mission for the college.

“We identified two years ago two focus areas in the college – technology and partnerships with schools – and ITAAR actually has both of those,” Sorensen said. “We’re moving into more handheld technologies, moving into looking at how technology can be used for assessment. With ‘No Child Left Behind,’ assessment in schools is a big issue.”

Fred Kitterle, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, praised Cummings’ vision and understanding of the issues of K-12 teachers.

“Cory Cummings brings to these projects a vision, a comprehensive understanding of issues in the schools and an innovative and pragmatic approach to addressing the needs of K-12 teachers,” Kitterle said. “It is a pleasure to be a partner with her on this significant grant.”

The new grant has guaranteed funding already in hand, a luxury not enjoyed by the first three-year PT3 project, which earned its near $1 million year by year.

That first PT3 grant project, which will end this summer, recognized that schools had spent substantial dollars in past decades to place the hardware and software of technology in schools but typically failed to prepare teachers to use those tools in a meaningful way.

When such preparation was provided, it usually came in the form of in-service professional development, rarely coming from formal teacher education programs. The College of Education and the university have recognized these issues and have made significant steps toward addressing them through programs like PT3, providing faculty development opportunities, and offering curricular redesign support.

• Faculty report considerable increases in technology integration in teacher education courses.
• Three dozen K-12 teachers have come through PT3 and report marked growth in their technical competence and ability to integrate technology into teaching.
• Undergraduate certification students in early childhood education, elementary education and special education are required to complete technology integration courses.

Now NIU is ready to prepare teachers to use more advanced technologies, implement creative applications and develop innovative strategies to improve education with technology.

“I can’t help but think they really liked what we did the first time around,” Cummings said. “This project is completely different, but we have certainly used what we learned from our first grant. We have picked the best aspects to focus on.”

Additional contributors to the ITAAR grant proposal were Toni VanLaarhoven of the Department of Teaching and Learning, Lara Luetkehans of the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment, and Jason Underwood, PT3 graduate assistant.

11-10-03