Media Contact:
Dr. Ellen Vasu, 919/515-1779
Mick Kulikowski, News Services, 919/515-3470.

Dec. 9, 2002

College of Education Involved in International Multimedia Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

North Carolina State University's College of Education specializes in teaching its students - the teachers of tomorrow - how to effectively use technology in the classroom.

At a recent academic gathering - the National School Board Association's Technology + Learning Conference - the college displayed its leadership role in the endeavor to promote teaching and learning in the technology-enabled environment. It co-sponsored an international awards program that identifies models of effective classroom use of technology. The college also hosted the final judging of awards earlier this year.

Multimedia Mania awards were presented by HyperSIG - the multimedia special interest group of the International Society of Technology in Education - and winners of this year's competition received plaques and software, as well as travel expenses to the conference. NC State College of Education's Dr. Ellen Vasu, head of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, serves as HyperSIG's president and coordinated this year's award program.

Winners were chosen from among about 220 submitted presentations, and ranged from a PowerPoint presentation on Russia to a Web site that used DreamWeaver, Flash and Fireworks software to explore Roman architecture. Awards were broken up by elementary, middle and upper grades.

Winning projects, which used various software including PowerPoint and Web-design programs, are available on a free CD-ROM. Each project is aligned to a standard curriculum and offers ideas for using technology in a variety of subjects and grade levels. A few of the winning projects can be viewed on NC State's Web site at www.ncsu.edu/midlink/mm.win.final.2002.htm.

Two North Carolina projects won first-place awards: a Graham Middle School student team used HyperStudio software for a project on Pompeii, and an Accelerated Technology School team in Lexington grabbed the top spot in the upper grades division for its project on Roman architecture. Teacher supervisors were Virginia Royals at Graham Middle School and Ruth Hartsook at Accelerated Technology School.

"The CD-ROMs are used in teacher education programs to provide examples of how to effectively use technology to promote learning," Vasu says. "Students must learn not only how to utilize the technology effectively but also how it fits in with the content of the class."

The international panel evaluated projects using a rubric developed at NC State that placed a strong emphasis on the creative use of multimedia to address curriculum standards. Winners were selected on the basis of instructional design, alignment to the standard curriculum, originality, content, subject knowledge, graphical/screen design, mechanics, and video or 3-D enhancements.

Next year's program will again be coordinated through NC State by Dr. Jane Steelman, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, and Dr. Lisa Grable, director of the College of Education's Learning Technologies Resource Center.

- kulikowski -