NYIT’s legacy as a leading source of instructional technology reached another milestone with a pilot program that stands to improve the quality of education for more than 2.5 million students in New York.
On Oct. 16, NYIT and fellow tech heavyweights Dell, Intel, Adobe, and Microsoft launched a program that offers teachers easier access to computer hardware, software, and professional development. Dubbed the Technology Placement Program (TPP), the project enables K-12 teachers in New York to buy state-of-the-art systems or upgrade their current computers at a reasonable price. In addition, the program offers discounted software bundles geared to teachers as well as providing them training and support at teacher centers located throughout the state.
The portal site, www.nytpp.org, was unveiled on Oct. 3 at the United Federation of Teacher Headquarters in New York City, and the official launch of nytpp.org took place two weeks later in Albany.
“NYIT plays a large role in the state’s educational technology program,” says Stan Silverman, director of NYIT’s Technology-Based Learning Systems (TBLS) department and co-chair of the New York State Teacher Center Technology Committee. “We were in an ideal position to bring together the state education department’s teacher centers, the teachers’ unions, and the technology companies.”
NYIT’s TBLS department conceived this collaborative project with Intel as a result of their work together on the Verizon/MCI Foundation’s MarcoPolo program, which offers K-12 teachers virtual training and online resources that meet and often surpass state and national educational standards. To date, more than 20,000 teachers in New York and more than 230,000 in the nation have already participated in the program.
Research from that venture also determined that 52 percent of the hits on the MarcoPolo Web site were from teachers who were working from home. “We saw that teachers had a need for tools they could use outside the classroom,” says Silverman, “so we began to invite participants to join us.”
“Intel’s public sector programs focus on increasing the use of technology in education and the home—empowering teachers with the skills and tools they need to succeed,” says Melanie Fekete, education program manager for Intel Americas. “When Stan and I met over a year ago, I realized that the New York teacher center network [and the proposed TPP project] correlated perfectly with what the mission of my team is.”
Silverman is quick to point out that the TPP is not a sales effort but a way to give the nearly quarter-million teachers in New York the tools and training they need to increase their technological skills to help students succeed in the 21st century. The program was designed to be a prototype for use throughout the United States, and now that the TPP has launched, Silverman says he expects it will attract other major hardware, software, and telecommunications partners.
NYIT’s TBLS department will continue to coordinate the efforts of the existing TPP partners as it expands its ever-present role in educational technology. Silverman adds that the college and Intel are already exploring the idea of a similar program for parents that can help reduce the digital divide between them and their children. |
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(From left): NYIT’s Stan Silverman; Eileen Lento (Intel), Joe Pesavento (Mid-Hudson Teacher Center), Melanie Fekete (Intel Americas), Jason Sanders (Dell), Delight Roberts (Microsoft), and Bill Sherman (Adobe), at the New York City launch of the TPP Web site. |
