Assemblyman David Townsend attended the ceremony to celebrate the enhanced learning that's on the horizon for area students.
"Implementing this learning system, is the wave of the future," Townsend said of the new technology that will be utilized throughout Madison, Oneida, Jefferson, Herkimer and Ostego counties.
Understanding the importance of innovative learning in the region, Assistant Director for Technology at the Mohawk Regional Information Center Tracy Rowlands said she is excited to see an increase of writing literacy thanks to the EETT grant. She said the use of Web 2.0 tools and collaborative learning will be a part of the new supplemental courses.
"The technology is in their hands and we want to make sure they can use it," Rowlands said.
Beacause several avenues of technology will be implemented, Rowlands said students will utilize the tools on school campuses to learn how to use them intelligently and in a secure manner. The idea of using a group online classroom chat or video conference would help a large group of students in several counties learn in a collaborative manner, she said. Students will start using research based technology, Wikis, blogs and other technological learning tools.
"Our job is to prepare our students for what's ahead, even if it's unknown," Rowlands said.
One of the many regional teachers that will be able to use the new learning tools, Oriskany Central School District music teacher Lisa Davis, said she is looking forward to the time when music will be a "core subject." She said there different ways technology has already been incorporated in her students' seventh grade cirriculum.
While studying their opera unit, Davis said her students created animated videos using Xtranormal software and descroptive poster designs with Wordle to better understand a genre of music that might otherwise not be appealing to youth.
"Right now my kids are engaged and excited, using upgraded technology," Davis said.
Teaching in the Allied Health Partnership Program in the Madison-Oneida BOCES, Tracy Merrill, said the new technology will help her keep her students updated to the minute with changes to health reform, which is important in the medical field. There are several management and integrated technological systems that her students will benefit, Merrill said.
"They're motivated and they retain more," Merrill said.
The New York State Education Department awarded the local educational centers with an Enhancing Education Through Technology Grant.The 2009 EETT Title II, Part D, competitive grant is awarded over a three-year period to help districts improve student academic performance in the core subject areas of English language arts, mathematics, science and technology literacy through effective use of technology in teaching and learning.
Districts served by this BOCES and MORIC include: Hamilton, Madison, Morrisville-Eaton, Stockbridge Valley, Canastota, Oneida City and VVS, but this grant will serve many more schools than that throughout the Oneida, Ostego, Madison Herkimer and Jefferson county areas.
