Congress appropriates $1 million for technology

The University of Kentucky has received word that $1 million will be awarded to the College of Education’s Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling (EDSRC) to establish the first statewide center on instructional technology. This center will be the first of its kind in the nation and, according to Dr. Bill Berdine, chair of the EDSRC department, will position the Commonwealth as a national leader in the field.

Working in conjunction with Senator Mitch McConnell, the department faculty developed a proposal for the creation of the Commonwealth Center for Instructional Technology and Learning (CCITL). Berdine’s request for a congressional budget appropriation of $1 million annually to establish the center was supported by McConnell’s office and received additional backing from Senator Jim Bunning and Congressmen Hal Rogers and Ernie Fletcher.

The Commonwealth Center will be Kentucky’s first statewide instructional technology collaborative linking all of the state in a comprehensive service, instruction, and research entity. According to Berdine, the CCITL will focus on development, implementation, and evaluation of cutting-edge technological applications for students with disabilities in the Commonwealth.

Berdine noted further that, due to the population demographics of Kentucky, the center is designed to collaborate with rural school districts, but not be exclusively devoted to these regions. The center will maintain its obligations to the entire state.

“In order to further develop and deliver our department’s vision of high quality public education for all children with disabilities, we must take the instructional technology innovations of the campus to community schools,” Berdine said.

The appropriation will be used to employ instructional and assistive technology professionals and support staff and purchase equipment for the development of technological innovations needed by the Commonwealth. The project will meet 1997 federal mandates and President Bush’s education reform legislation approved by the Senate.

The center will operate within the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling under the direction of Berdine. He will work in conjunction with the department’s National Assistive Technology Research Institute (NATRI) directed by Ted Hasselbring, the Bryan Family Endowed Chair in Instructional Technology.

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