It’s a moment meant for sharing milk and cookies – the excitement and joy of an accomplishment so rewarding that it bursts from a youngster as he runs into the house. “Mom, I’m a composer.”
Composer, painter, architect, scientist … the list is endless. Empowering students to dream big and realize their potential is the ultimate goal of NYIT’s Technology-Based Learning Systems (TBLS). For more than 20 years, TBLS has been a leader in providing instructional technology to primary and secondary schools. The program’s motto is, “Enabling the mind by encouraging the heart.”
As new technology is developed, the TBLS staff ensures that New York state teachers understand its impact and learn how to use it in the classroom. The technology committee of the New York State Teacher Center visits NYIT’s Central Islip campus several times a year for training, which is then shared with 239,000 teachers statewide.
This process alone has the ability to impact thousands of students, but TBLS does much more. Each year, the program receives grants that help the TBLS staff put technology right in the classroom. Current grants total more than $3.3 million.
“Our project list is endless,” says Stan Silverman, director of TBLS and NYIT’s online campus. “From implementing new ‘webinar’ software to the latest in video e-mails, we are working on projects that will change the future of education. And the limits of our work are as boundless as our imaginations.”
The composer example above comes straight from one of TBLS’ most successful programs, the Educational Enterprise Zone (EEZ). With EEZ’s help, the Manhattan School of Music created Music, Melody and Me, a program geared to teach students the building blocks of music.
“EEZ sets the standard in developing educationally relevant programming,” says Christianne Orto, assistant dean of distance learning and director of recording for the music school.
But EEZ does more than help young composers – it provides schools with the technology needed to interact with museums, zoos, libraries and other cultural institutions.
Using EEZ’s multi-point video conferencing system, students can tour the Guggenheim Museum or interact with scientists at the New York Hall of Science without leaving their classrooms. Right now, the EEZ has more than 100 cultural institution partners serving 1,200 school districts.
“One of the hallmarks of EEZ programs is the constant interactive dialog between the students in the classroom and the educators they see on the TV screen,” says Orto.
This allows students to be as involved in their education as the teacher. “Students can sort, collect and construct their own knowledge,” Silverman says. “It far surpasses what you can do with a textbook. Students are able to ask questions about whatever interests them. And it works.”
Empowering students is also paramount in TBLS’ latest project. MarcoPolo, a virtual learning system sponsored by the Verizon/MCI Foundation, provides educators throughout the world with free access to curriculum content and professional development. They can search lesson plans, resources and worksheets for specific topics at specific grade levels.
Silverman, one of the project’s founders and administrator of the New York state MarcoPolo Web site (www.nyiteez.org/MarcoPoloNY), says there were four main characteristics integral to the project’s development – that it entice, enable, encourage and, of course, empower educators and students. “MarcoPolo entices by providing resources and training; it enables with a user-friendly Web site allowing easy access to materials; it encourages using a regular slate of new materials; and it empowers by supplying educators with content designed to maximize the potential of every student.”
The New York MarcoPolo site is aligned with the state education department’s standards, so teachers who use this site are drawing upon content that has been thoroughly reviewed. Tutors, parents and even students can access the site as well. “If students are having trouble with a topic,” says Silverman, “they can search MarcoPolo for alternative explanations and practice their skills.”
The program’s success has already outpaced expectations. Within two months of going live in November 2005, the site had received 3.4 million hits from throughout the United States and 63 countries. “I am astonished,” says Silverman. “There have been days when we’ve had 90,000 hits. It’s a great validation that what we have created is making an impact.” |
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The TBLS team (from left): Karen Osman, Rose Tirotta, James Monge, Karen Mack, Stan Silverman, Gerry Gass and Yong Ra.
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