by Paula Davenport, Media & Communication Resources

Closing the "digital divide" in rural southern Illinois by training new teachers in new technologies is the goal of a $541,608 grant at SIUC.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded the funds in June 2000 through Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology, a national initiative now in its second year. 

SIUC will team up on the three-year project with the Illinois State Board of Education, John A. Logan Community College, Franklin/Williamson Regional Office of Education 21, Carbondale School District 95, and Carbondale’s Unity Point School District 140. 

Under the grant, prospective teachers enrolled at SIUC and John A. Logan College will take retooled math and science courses that require use of Internet and computer software programs for data collection and analysis. 

They also will be assessed on their technology skills, with the goal of designing individualized programs to bring every student up to par. For instance, if an aspiring teacher is a whiz at using the Internet but can’t create spreadsheets, he’ll get the help necessary to learn that skill.

Students’ resumes and lists of their technology skills eventually will be posted on individual web sites accessible to prospective employers. The goal is to ensure that new teachers meet recently adopted state technology standards.

During student teaching assignments and field experiences, student teachers will be expected to design and deliver lessons that require their pupils to use technology, too.

The educational partners also will collaborate to create a "virtual mentoring community." They’ll use web cams and computer hookups to link future teachers with exemplary, veteran teachers in classrooms around the region. That will enable a student teacher in an SIUC computer lab to observe and interact with a classroom teacher demonstrating lessons to a roomful of youngsters miles away.

Andrew Lumpe and Joyce Killian, professors of curriculum and instruction, are co-directing the grant, which complements other College of Education grants to improve teacher training and technological proficiency through school partnerships.

The first year of the grant will lay the groundwork by redesigning math and science courses and developing ways to assess students’ technology skills. Lumpe anticipates the partner agencies will be ready to fully implement the project beginning fall semester 2001.