Computer technology is changing the world so fast it's hard to keep pace, and without training educators can fall behind. So NMSU faculty, education students and New Mexico teachers are training to be technological front runners through two major College of Education projects. 

Known as PT3 and RETA, both projects are funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Ultimately they will benefit the state's school children, according to project leaders Karin Wiburg and Carmen Gonzales, curriculum and instruction faculty members.

Workshops offer PT3 faculty the opportunity to gain computer technology skills. From left are Ellen Treadway, PT3 project director Karin Wiburg and Loui Reyes. Photo by Michael Kiernan

"The goal is not technology for the sake of technology but restructuring teaching and learning in public schools and higher education," said Wiburg, the co-author of the 1998 book Teaching with Technology.  Wiburg and Gonzales have garnered more than $15 million in education grants in support of technology integration. Currently, Wiburg leads PT3 - Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers Today. The $1.23 million, three-year project is in its second year. Through PT3, 17 NMSU faculty in the colleges of education and arts and sciences are learning to incorporate technology in their teaching so NMSU's future teachers will integrate it into their daily work with children. The faculty also have formed committees to recommend how to make technology more central to NMSU's education curriculum.

PT3 provides faculty with ongoing training and mentoring - key factors in ensuring that people absorb and use what they've been exposed to in workshops, Wiburg said. The faculty receive special help from professional staff and graduate students, laptop computers and a $500 per semester stipend. PT3 also reaches teachers and administrators at Lynn Middle School in Las Cruces, Zia Middle School in Mesilla, N.M., Mesilla Elementary School and the Gadsden Independent School District, based in Anthony, N.M.  "We are building a core of cooperating teachers and providing training for them," Wiburg said. Good things are happening as a result, she said. For example, in the Gadsden district PT3 members are helping design a protocol for teaching math and reading using technology. At Lynn Middle School, students in a new Web Club supervised by teacher Mary Baker, '97, are creating their own home pages plus one open to all Lynn students.

RETA staff look over materials that encourage teachers to get involved in the project. From left are graduate student Julia Parra, '96, project coordinator Susie Bussman, '87, RETA project director Carmen Gonzales and graduate student Elatunbi Adeogba, '83. Photo by Robert Kramer

Teaching with technology is also the focus of RETA - the Regional Educational Technology Assistance Project. Since 1995 about 5,000 New Mexico educators have benefited from the project, directed by Carmen Gonzales. The co-director is Cynthia Nava, deputy superintendent of the Gadsden school district. 

RETA is supported by an $8.7 million, five-year U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant. The project has resource centers at NMSU, Eastern New Mexico University, Western New Mexico University, New Mexico Highlands University, Northern New Mexico Community College and Santa Fe Community College.

Teachers and school administrators attend RETA workshops on topics including the World Wide Web, e-mail, multimedia, desktop publishing, media literacy and technology integration. They receive a stipend of $100 and free software. An important part of the project is that they must share what they've learned. This year 85 RETA instructors are traveling all over the state to give a series of workshops to other educators.

PT3 core faculty member Maria Mercado, standing at right, with project leader Karin Wiburg, says the project has been instrumental in integrating computer technology into her curriculum and instruction courses. Also pictured are students in Mercado's bilingual education/early childhood education course. (To see a video streaming clip produced by the students, go to http://pt3.nmsu.edu and click on "About PT3 at NMSU." A Quick Time player is required.) Photo by Michael Kiernan

"We're empowering people out in their own districts," Gonzales said. 

The project has developed a training CD for its instructors, video streaming programs and bilingual English-Spanish teaching materials.

"Teachers are reporting a shift in their practice from teaching about technology to teaching with technology," Gonzales said. "Technology can be a seamless part of the curriculum, not an isolated discipline." Tools such as the Internet can make subject matter understandable that might not have been as clear without a visual aspect, Gonzales said. "It's not just eye candy," she emphasized. For instance, one RETA lesson challenges children to use the basics of geometry as they build a castle on their computer screens. Students need to "prepare to use new technology to move into the world of work and be lifelong learners," Gonzales said. She expects half of the state's 25,000 teachers to be exposed to RETA by 2003 when the project ends. Then she intends to find funding to continue the work. "We're in a state that really needs it," she said. Wiburg, a member of the National Educational Technology Standards Committee for teachers, observed: "If students don't have access to technology, their life chances are limited. Technology should not just serve the elite but all students."

Lynn Middle School teacher Mary Baker, background, started an after-school Web Club so students can learn computer skills. Among the club's members are, standing, from left, Raul Calderon, Anis Manshad and Ahmad Manshad. Seated, from left, are Jeff Castle and Michael Chavez. In the fall they were learning to build personal Web pages. Photo by Michael Kiernan

"New Mexico has done better in technology than anyone would imagine considering our resources," Wiburg said. "And New Mexico State University has probably done better than many other institutions of higher education. NMSU is very open to technology." 

Rita A. Popp, '93