The City University of New York has been awarded a five-year grant by the U.S. Department of Education to lead a consortium of universities and other agencies in a 13-state area to help integrate educational technologies to support learning into kindergarten through high school classrooms, libraries, and other educational settings. First-year funding for the Northeast Regional Technology Consortium (NetTech) from the Department of Education is approximately $1.7 million, with equal funding anticipated in subsequent years. As the lead institution, CUNY will contribute $171,000 per year of the total cost of the project in matching funds. NetTech is one of six newly created regional consortia throughout the country.
Other members of the consortium include Brown University, the University of Maryland, Ohio State University, the Technical Education Research Centers (TERC), Educational Testing Service (ETS), and the Education Development Center through its Center for Learning, Teaching and Technology (EDC/CLTT).
"Educators are being challenged to prepare students for the increasingly sophisticated skills that will be needed in the 21st century's information-driven technological society," said CUNY Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds. "Although we have made great strides, we need to realize the full potential of technology in supporting new visions of education. NetTech is designed to address the critical gaps in educational technology policy and infrastructure, while pooling the knowledge of the very accomplished participants. Equally important, it will foster full access to an expanded range of opportunities and greater success for all students."
NetTech will help shape local and state-wide policy to support coordinated changes in the use and impact of technology in education. It will work in close collaboration with State Education/Technology Teams comprised of representatives of state and local education agencies, Goals 2000 Committees, higher education, school library and media personnel, teachers, business and government leaders, and resource providers throughout the 13-state region.
Dr. Bonnie Brownstein of the Center for Advanced Study in Education at the CUNY Graduate School and University Center, and Michael Ribaudo, CUNY Dean for Instructional Technology and Information Services, are co-directors of the consortium.
NetTech will collaborate with the other five Regional Technology Centers in the country, as well as with other resource-rich institutions in the Northeast Region. These include the New York City Urban Systemic Initiative, of which CUNY is a partner, which supports improved science and math education in New York City schools; the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, the Computer Museum; the International Technology Education Associates; and many others.
NetTech plans to offer technical assistance, create an information exchange, develop collaborative efforts, support demonstration sites, and offer professional development to teachers and other educators throughout the region. Most of the activities will serve to leverage much larger investments by state and local educational agencies.
In addition, NetTech will help foster inclusion of educational technology and its uses in teacher preparation programs through dissemination of its experiences and those of exemplary programs, ensuring the continuing use and development of cutting-edge applications of educational technology in schools.