The University of Iowa College of Education’s Education Technology Center (ETC) was recently involved in two outreach projects to help Iowa educators transform their classrooms into technology rich, active learning environments.

As part of the governor’s statewide STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) initiative, leaders from four Iowa school districts visited campus through a partnership with the ETC and the UI Office of the Provost to learn about active learning TILE classrooms.

TILE is an acronym for Transform, Interact, Learn, Engage. These classrooms feature innovative technology and classroom design meant to foster interaction, including round tables, open spaces, and no lecterns.

“The school districts sent superintendents and other administrators, teachers, school board members, and even students to tour our facilities and consult with our faculty,” says John Achrazoglou, ETC director.

School districts who sent representatives on the visit were Howard-Winneshiek, Mount Pleasant, Davenport, and Iowa City.

The districts were looking to learn more in hopes of applying for Iowa STEM Advisory Council grant money to fund similar technology in their classrooms.

Two ETC doctoral students—Gary Steffensmeier and Kari Vogelgesang—recently traveled to Davenport to provide two days of training on SMART Boards and Google Apps for high school teachers there.

“It was a win-win,” says Achrazoglou. “The district got outstanding training and our students received valuable experience.”