AACTE Awards Program Recognizes Innovative Use of Technology in Educator Preparation
AACTE is committed to recognizing excellence in educator preparation through its prestigious annual Awards Program. Among the nine categories of awards, the Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology honors AACTE members that infuse technology throughout their curriculum in an innovative way. AACTE’s Committee on Innovation and Technology sponsors this award and selects a school, college, or department of education that uses technologies to stretch beyond standard practices in teacher education.
The video above features AACTE member institution Northeastern State University’s (NSU) College of Education, the 2018 recipient of the Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology. Dean Vanessa Anton explains how NSU’s Robotics Academy of Critical Engagement (RACE) program works and why it received the award.
“I think we received the award because what we’ve done in a short period of time is local, at our state, nationally and internationally,” Anton said. “We were looking for ways to facilitate critical thinking skills, decision-making, problem solving, teamwork and collaboration within our teacher candidates so then they can facilitate those characteristics and skills with their students.” Learn more about NSU’s RACE program in this blog.
The eligibility requirements for the Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology include teacher preparation programs must have changed in some way as a result of the technology implementation and integration. For example, the innovation may have resulted in one or more of the following outcomes:
- Bridging the theory and practice of teacher preparation through the use of multiple technologies
- Integration of technologies with teaching and learning
- Effective use of distance learning
- Provision for more effective learning for teachers and/or PK-12 students
- Practices that involve educator preparation faculty and faculty from other disciplines in activities across the college or university
- Leadership in the development and/or conduct of activities across campus
- Forging state, regional, national, and international links
Applications for the 2020 AACTE awards are open on AACTE’s online submission site. Entries for the Outstanding Dissertation Award are due August 20. Entries for the Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology and all other awards are due October 9.
Applicants for the Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology should identify the program’s context, goals, and objectives; its components; and the impact technologies have had based on qualitative or quantitative research. Only programs that have been in place for at least two years and that are AACTE members will be considered.
Winners will be decided by the AACTE standing committees and recognized formally at the 2020 Annual Meeting, February 28 – March 1 in Atlanta, GA. For more information, refer to the official Call for Entries, visit the submission site, or contact AACTE Director of Meeting and Events Linda Minor at lminor@aacte.org.
Tags: Annual Meeting, membership, technology
