Kids may know more about computers than do their teachers and administrators, but a new program associated with the Education School could change that.
The Education School is one of four recipients of a $7.2 million grant, partially funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to train kindergarten through 12th-grade school superintendents and principals throughout Virginia to use technology in education.
The Gates Foundation, run by the Microsoft tycoon and his wife, offered each state a $3.6 million challenge grant for technology training. A challenge grant requires the recipient to match the donated funds in order for the money to be released, and the Virginia legislature recently agreed to do so.
The grants aim to train school administrators who are often forgotten in technology education, said Zahrl G. Schoeny, an associate professor in the Education School's leadership, foundations and policy department.
Technology training "started with students and then [moved] to teachers," Schoeny said. But administrators need access to such knowledge as well because "as education leaders, they have to make things happen."
The University will coordinate with officials from Virginia Tech, the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Educational Technology Alliance to train administrators throughout the state. Such cooperative efforts by various institutions of higher education make the program unique, Schoeny said.
"We will be sharing resources from higher education and from public schools to provide training for superintendents and principals," he said.
Trainers will be people with experience in the classroom and as administrators working with technology, said Chris O'Neal, the project's director and the former director of the Gates technology grant in Louisiana.
"We just want to expose these school leaders to potential learning environments," O'Neal said.
Technology training will take place on-site at K-12 schools throughout the state, and lessons and presentations will be tailored to meet the needs of each individual school division.
Schoeny said Northern Virginia school districts, for instance, will not undergo the same training as districts in rural areas.
He added that similar training in other states, in programs connected to the Gates Foundation challenge grant, has not been as successful when held at university and college campuses.
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