College of Education’s Teacher Education Program in the Hill Country Receives Grant Awards

Local Texas Tech students studying to become teachers can now learn advanced technology thanks to the award of a local grant.  The White Family Foundation of Horseshoe Bay has awarded the Texas Tech University Teacher Education Program a grant to purchase iPads and applications to be used for teacher training.

"This is Old School vs. New Age," says Dr. Kelly Fox, program coordinator for Tech's Teacher Education Program, "We are so excited to receive this grant and grateful to the White Family Foundation for their generosity. Our graduates will be teaching the technologically-advanced students of the 21st century. We need to prepare teachers to use mobile technology in the classroom, and there are many wonderful educational iPad apps available for teachers to use resources to prepare today’s children for tomorrow’s jobs.”

The future teachers will be trained in the iPad environment and educational applications that can be used to teach a variety of content areas, including math, science, history, and reading. Faculty will utilize iPads in the university courses and teach students how to write lesson plans that use mobile technology and educational applications. In turn, the students will write lesson plans that utilize iPads and share the plans with classmates and teachers in the public schools. The goal will be for the pre-service teachers to deliver a lesson plan using the iPad in their field experiences in the public schools.

Fox adds, “The award of this iPad initiative grant by the White Family Foundation will result in highly qualified graduates who are knowledgeable in effective teaching strategies that include mobile technology. Most importantly, the project will have a positive impact on children in the Hill Country school districts and result in improved student engagement and achievement.” Texas Tech estimates the faculty will undergo training and incorporate the iPad applications into the curriculum during the spring 2011 semester. The goal is to make the iPads a fully-integrated portion of the Teacher Education Program curriculum by Fall 2011.

Dr. Fox also received a $10,000 grant from the Mitte Foundation for the Hill Country Teacher Education Program. Her proposal, which asked for $24,000, will be reviewed again in June and there is a possibility; therefore, that the remainder of the ask will be funded.  

(Dr. Fox was assisted by Education’s Development Officer, Ms. Karen Jacobsen.)

 Students preparing to be teachers  in the College of Education Hill County.

Article Contributed by Kelly Fox.