By Debbi King

The program now known as the Technology Institute for Educators (TIE) began as a PK-12 Initiative of University of Wisconsin-Extension. The success of that first year led to the request to continue, improve and expand the initiative that now includes the Wisconsin Instructional Technology Academy (WITLA) and the TIE. With financial support from UW-System, these two initiatives work together to meet the professional development needs of PK-12 professionals in the use of instructional technology in the classroom curriculum.

The TIE is a three-phase institute consisting of a four-day Summer Institute, follow-up site consultations and a spring semester "Projects Showcase" gathering of participant teams to share their complete curriculum projects.

Critical to the success of this program is the collaboration between a local university office of continuing education, the local Cooperative Educational Service Agency (CESA) and local school districts. Five campus locations throughout the state of Wisconsin cooperated in this program: UW-Eau Claire, UW-Green Bay, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville and UW-Whitewater. Continuing education directors/ program managers served as the administrators and fiscal managers of their local TIE and coordinated local contacts with the area CESA(s) and PK-12 school districts.

While administrators were planning their local programs, preparations were made for the training of these local TIE instructor/facilitator teams at the Wisconsin Instructional Technology Leadership Academy (WITLA). Members of the original Design Team and instructor/facilitators from the first Technology Institute for Educators were brought in as Master Teachers to guide participants through the development of a training curriculum and a resource manual for use in their local TIE.

The five teams of TIE instructor/facilitators met for the WITLA in late March for this training of trainers program. After attending the WITLA, the five newly trained teams returned to their work district and/or region to serve as the instructors for their local TIE. As local TIEs are developed, the instructor/facilitators keep in mind what was learned at WITLA and follow the philosophy that learning is enhanced through effective use of technology allowing learners to interact, identify problems and solutions, and access and assess information previously unavailable in the learning environment.

Teams of four to six professionals from school districts attend the TIE together to:

Create curriculum projects to address the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards.
Examine how information and technology literacy changes curriculum and learning.
Acquire technical skills needed to integrate instructional technology into curriculum.
Study assessment strategies for a technology enhanced environment.
Enhance team-building skills to design, communicate and implement their instructional technology projects.
Model ethical and competent use of instructional technology for students and colleagues.
Develop a collegial network for future project development and consultation.

Master instructors, the project director and an outside evaluator will assess these activities at WITLA. Evaluation at the subsequent TIE sites will follow. In each case, it will be necessary to determine effectiveness and quality of learning, convenience of physical site and appropriateness for instructors and participants, program administration and cost recovery.

Teachers across the state will be able to attend these programs that will help prepare them to meet the new Wisconsin Model Academic Standards. Project director, Debbi King, hired by UW-Extension has led the coordination of the WITLA and the collaboration between the offices of continuing education at each of the participating campuses. This has allowed the programs to have continuity in leadership. Local campuses will be able to continue to do TIE programming in the future on a cost-recovery basis utilizing the model developed with their participation in this year's project. Individuals trained at the WITLA will become part of an ever-growing list of WITLA " trained-experts," available to participate in future Academies and Ties in other regions of the State