The following former eTech Ohio programs are available for informational or reference purposes.
Teacher Planning Grant
Note: This is not an active program. The resources produced by the program are maintained to share with school districts in Ohio facing challenges in support and management of educational technology.
One critical competency for future teachers will be the utilization of education technologies to ensure K-12 students of today have the technological competencies required to be career and college ready by graduation. This goal will be accomplished by generating close partnerships between Ohio Colleges and Universities approved to grant degrees in education by the Chancellor and Ohio Public Local Education Agencies (LEAs) for the purpose of expanding the use of technology in the teaching and learning environment.
This work includes, but is not limited to:
- Increasing the use of information and communication technology (ICT) by students and educators in elementary and secondary schools.
- Developing a course or strengthening an existing educational technology course as part of the educator preparation core curriculum or embedding the use of additional and updated components of ICT in existing classes to ensure pre-service educators are prepared to utilize appropriate technologies in the teaching and learning environment during the pre-service placement in schools.
- Expanding communication through a community of practice between pre-service, practicing teachers, Colleges and Universities and public LEAs in order to improve collaboration and communications regarding needed competencies and future educator performance expectations as it relates to use of educational technology.
This grant was specifically developed for Ohio Colleges and Universities approved to grant degrees in education by the Chancellor to prepare pre-service teachers for the 21st Century classroom and the role of technology in teaching and learning, generating partnerships and improved cooperation with three Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and benefiting students in elementary and secondary education. The grant aligns to eTech Ohio's Strategic Goal: to work with all levels of the educator community and make recommendations in 2011 for changes in teacher and administrator preparation, certification and re-certification programs to include rigorous educational technology instruction in required curricula. This work is being done in order to increase the daily use of educational technology within K-12 classrooms by 80% to support standards based instruction.
The three overarching goals are to:
- Ensure elementary and secondary students are provided with adequate means to learn with technology in order to ensure they are college and career ready by graduation.
- Ensure practicing teachers remain abreast of new developments in technology-enabled learning.
- Ensure pre-service teachers entering the classroom are prepared to meet the challenges of teaching in a 21st Century Classroom and are competent in utilizing information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance teaching and learning.
Each grant recipient will receive $100,000 for the purpose of this grant. There will be approximately 10 grants awarded.
View the Teacher Planning Grant website.
Podcasts for Assessment Mini-Grant
Note: This is not an active program. The resources produced by the program are maintained to share with school districts in Ohio facing challenges in support and management of educational technology.
This mini-grant was developed to generate a greater capacity for Ohio teachers to personalize and individualize learning through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). This work is intended for students to demonstrate their understanding of the curriculum (including Common Core, Ohio Academic Content Standards, Ohio Academic Technology Standards and ISTE NETS-S Standards through podcasts as the product of an assessment as well as provide professional development opportunities for Ohio teachers to use podcasts in their instruction.
The mini-grant aligns to eTech Ohio's Strategic Goal: By 2015, increase the daily use of educational technology within K-12 classrooms by 80% to support standards based instruction.
The overarching goals are to:
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Ensure elementary and secondary students are provided with opportunities to demonstrate their understanding of the curriculum and the ISTE National Education Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S) through the use of appropriate ICT. With the use of NETS-S, in addition to the curriculum, the focus for the students is to:
- Demonstrate creativity and innovation.
- Communicate and collaborate.
- Think critically, solve problems, and make decisions.
- Use technology effectively and productively1.
- Build the capacity of Ohio teachers in using ICT in their classrooms appropriately and students in the use ICT.
- Expand the use of podcasts by students and in the classroom.
Each mini-grant recipient will receive $2,000 for the purpose of this mini-grant. There will be approximately 50 mini grants awarded.
All materials developed, except those that would compromise data about students, by teachers and students will be used for the best practices sharing across the State of Ohio. In addition, the podcasts will be safely disseminated to teachers, parents/guardians and administrators.
1International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)(2007), National Education Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S)
View the Podcasts for Assessment Website.
ARRA
Note: This is not an active program. The resources produced by the program are maintained to share with school districts in Ohio facing challenges in support and management of educational technology.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 provides $10 billion nationally in new funding for programs under Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. The ARRA will provide $650 million for Education Technology State grants, which fall under the statutes of the Title II-D Enhancing Education Through Technology Program. Ohio will receive approximately $23.9 million under the ARRA Title II-D grant which is being allocated in two rounds. The Ohio Department of Education, in consultation with eTech Ohio will award the grants to school districts/buildings, which meet specific elgibility criteria identified in the Request for Proposals, through a competitive application process. The first round of funding was released to awarded buildings in September 2009. The second round of funding is anticipated to be released in June, 2010. Eligible Buildings must meet all application requirements in the Round 2 RFP by 5:00 P.M. (EST), April 1, 2010 in order for their application to be considered for review. (The online Letter of Intent is due by 5:00 P.M., March 12, 2010.)
This competitive grant focuses on Professional Development and Student Learning. It offers a unique opportunity to schools that are ready and willing to embrace the change that is required for 21st century learning. Through sustained, collaborative, job-embedded professional development and the use of research-based methods, teachers will experience new models and strategies for teaching and learning. Teachers will become facilitators and co-learners, and create technology-enabled learning environments in which students will meet or exceed the state academic content standards and develop 21st century skills.
EETT
Note: This is not an active program. The resources produced by the program are maintained to share with school districts in Ohio facing challenges in support and management of educational technology.
On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (P.L.107-110). The legislation, which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, provides increased flexibility and local control to states and school districts, emphasizes strong accountability for results, offers expanded options for parents and supports teaching methods that have a solid scientific research foundation. In an effort to improve student achievement through the use of technology, the U.S. Department of Education established state grants under the federal Educational Technology Program (Ed Tech). The reauthorized ESEA established the federal Ed Tech Program, which consolidated the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund (TLCF) Program and the Technology Innovative Challenge Grant Program into a single state formula grant program (ESEA Title II, Part D, Subpart 1). Under this program, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) and the eTech Ohio Commission, work collaboratively, to award federally funded grants to school districts/buildings that meet eligibility criteria.
The Ohio Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) grant program is a two-year, federal initiative to ensure that funded projects are of sufficient scope and quality to efficiently meet the purposes of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation. The EETT initiative targets students in grades K-8 and focuses in the academic content areas of Mathematics and English Language Arts to increase student achievement.
The primary goal of the federal Ed Tech Program is to improve student academic achievement through the use of technology in schools. This program is designed to assist students in crossing the digital divide by ensuring that every student is technologically literate by the end of eighth grade. The program also encourages the effective integration of technology with teacher training and curriculum development to establish successful research-based instructional methods.
