Educational Administration Doctoral Student Developing Online Training Tools for Texas Teachers - January 27, 2012

College of Education doctoral student Kye-Hyoung Lee is part of a multi-disciplinary University of Texas at Austin research team that’s received $150,000 from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to develop a set of online training modules for Texas educators.

The Web-based training modules will be interactive resources that educators can use to enhance their understanding and use of data in the classroom as well as in administrative environments.

Headquartered in the School of Undergraduate Studies (UGS), the team that’s working on the project is led by Assistant Dean Cassandre Alvarado and will be partnering with another research and development team from The University of Texas at El Paso to create a comprehensive final product. Alvarado is a lecturer in the College of Education's Department of Educational Administration and an alumna of the college (M.Ed. '98, Ph.D. '04).

The project is one in a series of efforts by the Higher Education Coordinating Board to create a "culture of evidence" in Texas schools and universities by providing educators with virtual pedagogical tools.

"The online tutorials being developed by The University of Texas at Austin will assist all educators — especially those of us who are not statistics savvy — in better engaging in and using data to inform our work in the classroom and in the policy arena," said Kristen Kramer, THECB's director of success initiatives.

Although professional development efforts in Texas have traditionally involved face-to-face interaction at conferences and seminars, the online modules will have the potential to play an equally crucial, cost-effective role in keeping educators at the cutting edge of their fields.

"We want Texas teachers to be the most well informed, creative, prepared educators in the country," said Alvarado.

The University of Texas at Austin team includes Lee, Alvarado; Julie Schell of the Center for Teaching and Learning and a postdoctoral fellow in Harvard University's Mazur Group; Leslie Kavanaugh, UGS assessment coordinator; and Scott Brownlee, UGS program coordinator.

Leslie Kavanaugh, UGS assessment coordinator, 512-471-8990,
or Kay Randall, University Communications, 512-363-6520