CCT Named National Center on Instructional Technology

Posted: July 21,2008
CCT has been awarded a 9.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to serve as a National R&D Center on Instructional Technology, taking a close look at how game-based activities can aid science and literacy instruction. We are collaborating with colleagues at EDC and Electric Funstuff to develop and pilot-test a series of game modules—built around the Nintendo DS—that plugs inquiry-based game activities into traditional classroom practice. Rather than stand alone, the game modules will fit into regular curricula and will take aim at the science misconceptions, reading difficulties, and motivational issues that hamper student learning and complicate science teaching.

Picturing Modern America Selected for EDSITEment

Posted: July 14, 2008
Picturing Modern America was recently selected for inclusion on EDSITEment as "one of the best online resources for education in the humanities." EDSITEment is a clearinghouse for teachers, parents, and students across the country seeking humanities education websites. Picturing Modern America, which was created in 2003, was nominated for inclusion in response to an open call for nominations posted on humanities listservs. The site was then reviewed by a peer review panel for "intellectual quality, content, design, and most importantly, classroom impact."

JAM 2008 - Transforming STEM

Posted: June 16, 2008
The National Science Foundation's Division of Human Resource Development held its Joint Annual Meeting (JAM), which gathers the many project leaders whose programs fall under division's direction. This year's theme is "Transforming STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). While CCT Senior Scientist Babette Moeller did not present at the meeting, her work is well reprsented within the Division. The User-Centered Digital Library Project is enabling users (teachers and students with disabilities) to conduct searches for accessible content on the Teachers' Domain digital library that is formatted to meet specific students’ needs. In addition, her Evaluation of EAST is examining a five-year effort to increase the number and diversity of students with disabilities receiving STEM degrees in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Both projects are funded through NSF DHRD's Research in Disabilities in Education program.

Presenting about Evaluation at Scale in Vienna

Posted: June 30, 2008
We're in Vienna, Austria this week (senior rsearcher Harouna Ba that is) to present at AACE's ED-MEDIA World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia &Telecommunications. Dr. Ba presents a paper on Tuesday, July 1, detailing our ongoing Cisco 21S Initiative evaluation in Mississippi and Louisiana. Harouna will describe lessons learned about effective ways to implement, evaluate, scale, and sustain a large scale education technology project, discussing research methodologies and findings from the first two years of the project and available literature. (The paper co-authors include, Alison Boyd, Terri Meade, Tara Weatherholt, and Ashley Lewis, as well as William Fowler of Cisco Systems.)

Social Issue Games Inspire O'Connor, Grapple with Impact

Posted: June 5, 2008
This year's Games for Change Festival (June 2-4) proved how much discussion of serious games has expanded. Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor underscored the potential of games as learning tools by announcing Our Courts, an interactive civics initiative aimed at engaging middle grade students both in school and at home. CCT is contributing instructional design expertise to this ambitious project. CCT also figured directly into the festival conversation as Director Shelley Pasnik lent our perspective on ways to capture and evaluate the impact of social issue games in the panel discussion on "Measuring Impact." Our partners Global Kids shared their work in a discussion on youth-created games, while Breakthrough demoed their immigration game, which we recently evaluated. Read more about the conference at G4C website. Check out our work in TV, Media and Games.

Developing Indicators for 21st Century Learning

Posted: June 1, 2008
Cisco Systems has tapped CCT to develop and test a series of indicators that monitor change in how educational systems prepare administrators, teachers, and students for the 21st century. In addition, CCT will also determine the most efficient way to implement them. This research builds on our ongoing evaluation of the Cisco 21S Initiative, a large-scale reform effort bringing technology and professional development to schools in Mississippi and Louisiana. This new project extends our investigations into defining and assessing 21st century skills.