New Federal Appropriations Help Keep e-train Express on Tracks!
BOWLING GREEN, KY. – A $900,000 federal appropriation over two years will help Western Kentucky University keep the E-train Express on track.
The funding, including a $500,000 appropriation this year, was secured with the help of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Sen. McConnell presented a symbolic check today to WKU President Gary Ransdell during a visit to Apollo High School in Owensboro.
E-Train Express is a project designed to increase the number and quality of new teachers who are highly effective in using technology to facilitate, assess and communicate learning for all students.
E-Train Express provides seminars and training workshops for teachers at all levels and resources to assist new teachers with the use of technology in their instruction.
“WKU is a leader in helping integrate technology in the classroom,” Sen. McConnell said. “The funding I secured will enable WKU to expand its program of training teachers to use computers as instructional tools. This is a great program, and I am proud of the university for its continued commitment to improving the quality of education in Kentucky.”
Dr. Ransdell said the confidence Sen. McConnell has in Western shows in his willingness to work for funding initiatives that are important to the University and the region.
“We are about education. We are about public service. We are about research. Above all, we are about improving the quality of life in our region,” Dr. Ransdell said. “The most important resource any region has is people, and Sen. McConnell’s assistance in securing funding for initiatives such as the E-train Express will help us properly prepare those who will be teaching the next generation of leaders.”
A recent study found that only 20 percent of current teachers feel comfortable using technology in their classrooms, and more than 2 million new technology-proficient teachers will be needed in the next decade, said Dr. Leroy Metze, a WKU psychology professor and E-train Express project director.
Western Kentucky University, along with partner schools in the 28 districts of the Green River Regional Educational Cooperative, Owensboro Public Schools, the Compass Learning Corporation and NetTango, are implementing programs and practices designed:
To ensure that all teachers who graduate from Western’s teacher education program can use technology to increase student achievement;
To ensure that all graduates can use technology to assess student learning;
To ensure that all university faculty from both teacher education and the arts and sciences departments can model effective technology-assisted instruction for prospective teachers;
To ensure that electronic portfolios are used as the primary means of gathering data used in the evaluation of teacher performance;
To use technology to show K-12 students that teaching is a good career option; and
To set up an electronic clearinghouse that will give teachers and teacher educators throughout the country access to exemplary technology-assisted lesson plans and assessments.
“We believe that technology has the potential to make teaching and learning far more efficient than in the past,” Metze said. “Technology not only gives people access to new information, it gives them more opportunities to work together. The E-train Express will enable WKU to integrate technology in teacher preparation courses and use technology to spread the best practices that develop from them.”
More information about the E-train Express is available from the project’s Web site at www.etrainexpress.com or by calling Leroy Metze at (270) 745-6327.
