One ongoing condition of admission to teacher-education is completion of an online basic technology skills diagnostic assessment (http://www.ceap.wcu.edu/etsi). After taking this self-assessment, students are given immediate online feedback on their self-disclosed technological skill proficiency and are provided an extensive list of technology training resources, both on and off campus, to address their deficient competency areas (http://www.ceap.wcu.edu/techresources/). Students are not admitted to candidacy without participating in the assessment. Incidentally, all WCU students are required to own their own personal computer as an admission requirement to undergraduate education at WCU. Entering students are provided workshops on campus technology use and instructional technology is integrated into general education courses.
CEAP teacher education faculty and cooperating public school teachers participate in technology integration seminars conducted in the College offered each academic semester. Seminars focus on technology portfolio assessment and integration of instructional technology into curriculum areas. Candidates and faculty are also provided professional development seminars on the Library of Congress Adventure of the American Mind project (http://aam.wcu.edu/) and its integration into curriculum. Technology seminars are also offered in the College throughout the academic year to teacher-education candidates that focus on electronic portfolio creation and using technological resources for enhancing student learning. Funding for these seminars was formerly provided in part by two Department of Education Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) grants. The College also conducts instructional technology courses (as requested) during student teacher/intern seminars, education foundation courses, and in secondary education methods courses.
All CEAP student teachers/interns participate in a one-day technology seminar prior to internship. This seminar focuses on integrating technology into curriculum, best practices in the effective, efficient and wise use of technology, overview of technology resources, technology agencies and resources for special needs students, and a summary of technology requirements for initial licensure in North Carolina.
The College offers a 3-semester hour undergraduate and graduate course titled “Computers in Education” for B-K, Elementary and Middle Grades candidates (and as an elective for secondary education majors). A similar course is scheduled for all secondary education and special education students in spring 2005. Additionally, the CEAP is developing a series of online matrices to highlight correlated technology instruction in all WCU teacher education programs with the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers competencies recently released by ISTE and endorsed by NCATE.
The CEAP is also involved in a $3 million grant from the SAS Corporation that provides software and training in the SAS inSchool online curriculum resources and courseware (http://www.sasinschool.com). Please click here for additional information on this WCU software offering.
As previously mentioned, the college is involved with a federal appropriation project connected with the Library of Congress National Digital Library (NDL). Titled “An Adventure of the American Mind.” The project first began by selecting local public and private teachers located in the seven-county WCU service area and provided laptop computers and a free graduate course that teaches integration of NDL resources into curriculum and provided instruction on working with K-12 students to become collectors and sharers of local history. This project is now in 'Phase II' and offers technology-based workshops for area schools with an emphasis on digital preservation and community-based history projects that utilize NDL resources. The WCU program offers a comprehensive Internet site with searchable multi-discipline lesson plans, all correlated to both the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and the North Carolina Computer Skills Curriculum (http://aam.wcu.edu/).
To facilitate instructional technology in all teacher education programs, the CEAP hosts an Instructional Technology Center, a Graduate Student Technology Resource Center, and a Teacher-Education Distance Learning Development Area. All three facilities are located in the Killian education building.
The Instructional Technology Center, serving as an electronic classroom a portion of each day, is the main technology resource facility and hosts technology hardware, software, and peripheral resources available to all CEAP students, teacher-education candidates, interns, faculty, and cooperating teachers (http://ceap.wcu.edu/coulter/killianitc_files/killianitc.html).
The CEAP has also developed an instructional technology team that works closely with all constituents to integrate technology into the teaching and learning process. The team consists of the CEAP Director of Instructional Technology, the AAM Program Director, the AAM Digital Preservation Educator, and the AAM Project Assistant (http://ceap.wcu.edu/coulter/webtech/itcontacts.htm).