Michigan State University’s College of Education has been named an honorable mention recipient for the 1998 Best Practice: Innovative Use of Technology Award, by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. The award was presented at the association’s convention in New Orleans, Louisiana.

"The MSU College of Education continues to distinguish itself as a leader in teacher education," said MSU President Peter McPherson. "I am particularly pleased that the college’s outstanding initiatives focusing on integrating technology into our classrooms have been recognized. MSU will continue to make technology a priority in preparing tomorrow’s teachers."

The 1998 AACTE Innovative Use of Technology Award program has drawn financial support from the Microsoft Corporation, which will provide more than $30,000 in software and resources to the College of Education as part of the award.

"This award is a well-deserved recognition of the creativity of our faculty in research and development efforts around educational technology," said Carole Ames, dean of the College of Education. "We continue to develop our capacity to assist schools and teachers in implementing technology to enhance learning and in assessing the impact of technology on student learning."

In the past five years, the college has developed and implemented a highly innovative environment for integrating technology in teacher education. The College has made an large investment in computer hardware and software, including the Technology Exploration Center and computer labs.

An emphasis has been placed on hiring top flight faculty in educational technology. Graduate students working as Tech Guides are available to help students and faculty integrate technology into classroom teaching. A master’s program has been developed in educational technology and there has been a heavy research focus on technology, including research projects that focus on uses and development of technology for teaching specific content.

And a college initiative has provided student interns with laptop computers with word processing, database, electronic mail and Internet capabilities to help them more effectively prepare for teaching assignments and communications with supervisors.

In addition, the college is continually developing outreach initiatives to work with K-12 schools in the use of technology. A new program, edtech.connect, will take the college’s research in technology to school districts throughout Michigan and enable school leaders to explore key issues in integrating technology in schools.