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Education, teaching, learning, assessment, students are words that are at the core of all the work we do. But add to the mix: technology, new media and 21st Century education and the methodologies we use to meet learning objectives are being transformed.
The goal of the School of Education Office of Educational Technology was initially designed to support faculty to incorporate new technologies and digital media seamlessly into their work, from coursework and assignments to meeting standards and learning objectives, from in-person classrooms to online student, peer, faculty collaborations, from research to assessment, from meeting the needs and challenges of preparing teacher candidates to ensuring student achievement and success in our public schools.
Faculty and staff leadership teams have been analyzing best practice uses of technology in education, both at the college level and for integration in PK-12 schools. This included the Strategic Educational Technology Planning Committee (SEPTC), a team that led half-day faculty retreats, workshops, and conversations – soliciting expectations, knowledge, experience, ideas and technology goals from the entire School of Education faculty. Committed to understanding the media-rich environment a digital generation of learners has access to and aiming to prepare them intellectually and socially to use the tools at their disposal and to know how to find information and turn it into knowledge, SEPTC wrote the educational technology vision and mission for the School of Education.
The Office of Educational Technology focused on teacher candidate success related to teacher certification exams starting in 2014. With the introduction of the edTPA, a high stakes national exam required for New York State Teacher Certification, the School of Education created a computer lab to provide technology support to our aspiring teachers. The Educational Technology staff also collaborated with faculty to design online resources and support material for student certification exams.
In 2019, a Technology Integration Group (TIG) Committee of faculty and staff was formed to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of our candidates' use of educational technologies in PK-12 teaching, learning and assessment. Upon return to our campus (post-pandemic), the computer lab will be turned into a "Research Lab," enabling candidates and faculty to use and analyze educational technologies in PK-12 learning outcomes.
Throughout all the years, the Educational Technology staff continued to lead and offer educational technology workshops to students and faculty. A digital badge, "Teaching & Learning with Technology," is now available to candidates, faculty and even cooperating teachers upon completion of 10 hours of professional development.
