October 8, 1999

Loyola professor leads effort to secure a million-dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Education

"The brighter you are, the more you have to learn." Don Herold

by Kristine David Director of Public Affairs

Margaret M. Dermody, Ph.D., professor of education, was the principal investigator of an effort that has yielded Loyola a three-year, $1,169,631 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant is funded through the initiative "Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology" and will fund and establish the New Orleans Consortium for Technology Integration and Implementation in Teacher Education (NOC-TIITE).

Dermody's partner in the grant proposal is Richard B. Speaker, Ph.D., associate professor of education at the University of New Orleans. He will co-direct the program with her.

NOC-TIITE's goal is to make modern multimedia computer technology a standard fare in content and methods courses, and field experiences for future teachers. By using the 'teachers teaching teachers' model of instruction, college professors and current practitioners will train professors in the College of Arts and Sciences and education majors in the use of technology in the classroom.

"Studies have shown that teachers, even those trained in implementing best practices, often feel most comfortable teaching the way they were taught," explains Dermody. "This grant will help members of our faculty as well as future teachers integrate technology into the traditional classroom and improve the overall quality of teaching in the arts and sciences," she adds.

Dermody says program organizers are currently identifying college faculty and current practitioners in schools who use technology effectively in the classroom to participate as training mentors in the first NOC-TIITE workshops and

training sessions scheduled for May and June 2000. College faculty and education students will be selected to participate in two individual workshops designed to improve their ability in technology implementation for teaching. Once trained, faculty and students will implement instruction using technology in their courses and field experiences with children in public, private, and parochial schools.

The three-year NOC-TIITE project will involve 60 university faculty; 150 university studentsas student technology mentors; 3,000 other university students; and 3,500 learners in 50 classrooms in five schools in the New Orleans area. Consortium partners are: Isidore Newman School, John Dibert School, Benjamin Franklin High School, Mary Church Terrell School, YMCA Educational Services, Audubon Montessori School, and the Audubon Institute.

"This is a wonderful confirmation of Dr. Dermody's hard work and experience. Grants such as this help to assure that Loyola and its faculty remain at the forefront of the use of technology," states university Provost David C. Danahar, Ph.D.

Dermody acknowledges the new library had a lot to do with Loyola receiving the grant. "A deciding factor in awarding Loyola this grant was the state-of-the-art technology available in the Monroe Library, specifically the multimedia classrooms." All initial training and workshops will take place in the Monroe Library.