|
Undergraduate
teacher education has been a primary mission of West Chester University
(WCU) from its beginning in 1871 as a state certified but privately
owned normal school. WCU now ranks as the third largest university
in
southeastern Pennsylvania and teacher education remains the most popular
major for both undergraduate and graduate students. Second only
to Pennsylvania
State University in the number of teacher candidates prepared for licensure
each year, over 600 teachers each year are graduated from WCU teacher-education
programs with degrees and certifications in elementary education,
early
childhood, special education, reading, and counselor education. In
collaboration with the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and with
the professional
schools of Business, Music, and Health, the School of Education (SOE)
prepares teachers for the secondary school and specialists in music,
and in health and physical education. Faculty in both the SOE and
in
the CAS, who share the responsibility for preparing teachers, ensure
that teacher candidates achieve a solid grounding in academics
and experience
a clinically- based professional curriculum that exemplifies "best
practice."
As part of an ongoing review of how to best educate exemplary teachers, the Dean and SOE faculty have recognized the need to improve preservice teachers' ability to integrate technology into the K-12 curriculum, resulting in several critical actions in the 1998-99 academic year. SOE hired a technology coordinator to plan for and support the use of technology; it reorganized the curriculum in EDM 300, a required educational technology course, to focus on technology integration as well as skill development; it filled two vacant positions responsible for teaching the technology course with professors highly skilled and experienced in the area of K-12 technology integration. The School also allocated funds to establish a Faculty Technology Center (FTC) which will make state-of-the-art equipment accessible and increase faculty technology skills. A technology committee, with representatives from each of the SOE departments, met throughout the year to discuss technology issues and establish a technology plan in keeping with NCATE/ISTE standards for technology integration. This committee identified infrastructure and equipment requirements and presented priority plans to the Dean and other University officials. In considering how to best prepare teachers, the SOE realizes it must seek out the contribution of others, both for the expertise and the resources they might contribute. The SOE is engaged in projects connecting them to the CAS and school districts in both urban and suburban environments. Also, we believe the increased use of technology in teacher preparation should not stand alone as a discrete course but should pervade the entire undergraduate experience, across the University. Toward that end we realize that all faculty who teach teachers must model technology in their classrooms, a principle underlying the needs analysis which follows.
Created by TeacherHost.org
|