UNK-Dr. Susan Gallagher, assistant professor in the department of professional teachers education at the University of Nebraska at Kearney has been awarded a grant for her work to “renew preservice education” through technology and scholarship. The subgrant from University of Nebraska-Lincoln was awarded in the amount of $97,688 to the UNK campus.
The money is part of a $1.2 million grant that includes faculty and K-12 teachers UNK, Kearney Public Schools, UNL and Lincoln Public Schools. This project creates a model of partnership between colleges of education and K-12 school districts that will prepare preservice teachers to become effective users of instructional technology. Methods faculty members are paired with teachers who have instructional technology expertise to create new teaching strategies for preservice education. Students will work cooperatively with K-12 teachers, drawing on their methods class instruction to design, implement and evaluate teaching materials in the K-12 classroom.
Dr. Gallagher stated, “The external funding in this project will provide technology support and training opportunities for students, methods faculty and Kearney Public Schools partnership teachers during the next three years,” she said. “It will provide our students with authentic tasks of developing classroom materials that integrate Internet and technology resources into teaching strategies. KPS partnership teachers will provide feedback to students regarding their projects and how they work in the classroom.”
