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October 24, 2007

ULM curriculum and instruction department puts grant to work Oct. 26

Technology and creativity go hand in hand, especially in the ULM Department of Curriculum and Instruction.

The department will host 10 - 12 students from Cypress Point Elementary Friday, Oct. 26 from 9 a.m. – noon at Strauss Hall, room 154. The group will turn ideas into posters, using tools like the World Wide Web.

When the visitors arrive, Professional Block education students will share their technology skills with the students. Both the students and the teacher candidates will work together to create high-quality printed posters in a ULM computer lab. The large poster will return with the visitors to their school, while the ULM department keeps a copy in Strauss.

“This will be an excellent way to introduce students to the campus of ULM and allow them to learn through the Internet,” said Ava Pugh, a professor of curriculum and instruction.

This initiative is funded through a $9,000 grant secured earlier this year for “Future Teachers: Outreach and Empowerment with Technology,” obtained by ULM’s Pugh and Mike Beutner, an associate professor in the department. In this outreach program, local school officials will send at least 10 groups of K-12 students to ULM.

“It’s a guaranteed way for students to be encouraged through success to pursue higher education in the future,” Beutner said. “They’re going to have a great time. We’re also sending a message that technology is easy. I doubt many of the visiting students know PowerPoint—they’ll be able to use it within an hour.”

The grant provides valuable community outreach, said Wayne Brumfield, vice president for Student Affairs.

“The service-learning grant by Dr. Pugh and Dr. Beutner provides great opportunities for our curriculum and instruction students to interact with K-12 students in a meaningful, deliberate way.”

The “ULS Serves” grants are made possible by a $1.2 million grant awarded to the University of Louisiana System by Learn and Serve America to increase the capacity of service-learning in its eight universities over a three-year period.

While at ULM, the students will also eat lunch at Schulze Cafeteria.

For more information, contact Ava Pugh at (318) 342-1282 or apugh@ulm.edu

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