Technology Training For Teachers Gets A Boost From Intel And MicrosoftComputer behemoths Intel & Microsoft, whose chips and operating systems power the majority of the personal computers in the free world, recently teamed up in an effort to provide technology training for teachers. So far, this program has trained over one and a half million teachers in more than thirty countries. Dubbed "Teach to the Future," the program provides teacher technology training in addition to donating computer equipment, software, and technical support. Microsoft and Intel aim to bolster the lagging technology skills of today's teachers in an effort to improve teacher quality. Company executives acknowledge that computers aren't magic; they need to be operated competently in order to facilitate the goals of higher education. The computer industry further acknowledges that all the technological tools available to students and teachers in classrooms around the country are near worthless if they don't know how to utilize the equipment effectively. The joint program was spurred by a Department of Education report that revealed 80% of classroom teachers felt unqualified to use technology on a regular basis in their daily lesson plans. Teach to the Future organizers say it is the largest effort yet to curb this challenge before it gets worse. Private industry is donating at least $500 million to the program. The challenge facing current teachers is that many of them did not grow up in the Internet age, while the current crop of students is the first generation who have been weaned on technology since they were very young. So the disconnect is that while the students are comfortable with and embrace technology, many veteran teachers are not. This program aims to bridge that gap. Program administrators expect teachers to have lesson plans ready so the staff of Teach to the Future can take those lesson plans and work with the teachers on how to best integrate technology into their daily teaching. Each classroom teacher will also be given a complimentary version of the MS Office Professional Suite and MS Encarta Encyclopedia. Armed with these tools and the training on how to use them, teachers should be able to transform bland lesson plans into multimedia projects to supplement reading books and other learning materials. Substantially discounted computer systems will be offered to school districts whose teachers participate in the technology training. The program operates on a train the trainer model where 100 master teachers will be recruited and trained annually in each region. Then each master teacher will train at least 20 classroom teachers each year in various school districts within the region. The program began in Texas, Oregon, northern California, and Arizona, where Intel has existing facilities which make it easier to provide the necessary training and support to get the program off to a solid start. Participating schools will be selected based on factors including need and willingness to apply the technology. |