ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996 TAG: 9607110080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
Virginia Tech will host a pilot program aimed at training the state's primary and secondary education teachers on how to use technology in the classroom, university officials announced Wednesday.
The program, which begins Monday, will be funded in part by a $66,000 grant from the State Council of Higher Education. Additional support from Tech, Apple Computer Inc., Bell Atlantic, Ohio State University and the University of North Carolina will be available in the form of Internet connections, equipment and educational materials.
Teachers from Falls Church will begin their three-day workshops Monday. School systems in Franklin and Charlotte counties and Newport News also will take part in the training sessions, which end Aug. 14.
Anne Moore, Tech's manager of technology initiatives, said two rural and two urban school systems were chosen from different regions of Virginia for the pilot program. The idea is to train a group of teachers who will return to their school systems and subsequently educate their colleagues.
"This is a kind of `train the trainer' program," Moore said. "What we want to do is spin it out."
The announcement of the pilot program came during a tour of the Tech campus by the House Appropriations Committee. The General Assembly money committee has been traveling throughout Virginia this week, including stops Wednesday morning at the Hotel Roanoke and the Catawba Mental Health Center.
The tour of Virginia Tech, which lasted several hours, focused on the university's technology initiatives in such things as how the Internet is used to teach lecture courses and biotechnology companies that have been spun off from research projects at Tech.
The theme surrounding most of these presentations was how the university contributes to the rest of the state, including its efforts to work with elementary through high school teachers.
Moore said this latest program goes beyond the current practice of giving schools computer equipment without the necessary training on how to use it effectively in the classroom. The extra training can be achieved only through partnerships with other educational institutions and private companies.
"We know that no one can do it alone," she said.
LENGTH: Medium: 51 linesby CNB