Touro University has come to Benicia

For Sunday, September 7, 2008

A real, positive opportunity has come to the Benicia Unified School District with the decision by Touro University to begin a Masters in Educational Technology Program held right on our campus, in our classrooms, with our teachers invited to enroll at an amazing 25-percent discount off the going price of a Master’s Degree.
Our teachers can earn their Master of Arts Degree in curriculum, teaching and learning with an emphasis in technology in 18 months (fall-spring-fall, or spring-fall-spring), with six classes, two at a time, for only $4,725 total.
When we factor in the lack of commute costs, the savings of commute time, the opportunity to run home to eat, the ability to collaborate with peers we teach with every day, to develop group projects that can grow and thrive long after the program ends, and the freedom to do some of the course work from home in a hybrid environment – mostly live, partially online – it’s a pretty good deal.
BUSD will greatly benefit from the program because we will be graduating dozens of teachers skilled in the complex task of teaching to the 21st Century student. So far 16 teachers are enrolled to begin classes September 16, and 8 more have committed to begin in early February, with more emailing me every day for information.
These teachers have their roots firmly planted in Benicia. They will take these newly-found skills back to their classrooms to benefit our students, your children.
I had one future teacher, Joe Heffernan, ask me frankly today, “What do honestly think of this program, Steve? Do you think Touro University is going to provide us with a high-caliber learning experience, or is this some fly-by-night operation?”
I replied frankly, “Well, Joe. I think it all depends on the brilliance, creativity, talent, integrity, experience, and fortitude of the instructors they hire. Quality teachers create quality learning.”
“Eh. You’re the primary instructor.”
“That’s what I’m telling you, my friend. I’m putting it all on the table, sharing all my secrets. I’ve been training tech with teachers since PC-DOS 2.0. If I don’t have it straight by now, if you don’t walk out of this program all smiles with a firm grasp on the future of a bright new career, I’ll be in the back room committing hari-kari.”
“I’m holding you to it,” he said.
It is true. I’m the primary instructor for now. More will come. I will be teaching a strand of three methods classes. We will explore how technology is woven through pedagogical theories like constructivism, cognitivism, behaviorism, multiple intelligences, project-, service-, and problem-based learning. We’ll develop lesson plans that adhere not only to the California Content Standards, but also the California Technology Standards and International Technology (ISTE) Standards for teachers, students, administrators, and technology curriculum directors. We won’t just develop lessons as an exercise. Candidates must take these lessons into their classrooms and implement them. That’s required.
This isn’t a theoretical approach. It’s a practical, hands-on, field-based “I did it in real life” curriculum.
I am also assisting in the development of three research courses. We will read, analyze, and discuss educational research until we know what everybody else knows. We’ll develop our own proposals for new research, and we’ll each complete a masters project and a program portfolio.
Please don’t let me sound like I’m building from scratch. Touro is heavily resourced and generously supportive. Whatever I need, they provide. Touro has a long history of offering high-caliber advanced degrees in health care and education. I have a stack of syllabi from previous Touro teachers tall enough that I can stand on them and rescue cats from tall trees. I am building on the shoulders of giants.
I also work with a team of excellent educators and administrators. Dr. Pamela Redmond, my boss, the Program Director who oversees the four masters programs going on in Benicia, Vallejo, Fairfield, and Vacaville, with Martinez next on the list, does and knows so much that I can’t eat while she’s talking or food falls out of my mouth. In her spare time, she teaches educational technology at SFSU. She has far-reaching aspirations. She wants to spearhead an Ed.D. Program at Touro. I hope to be at the tip of that spear.
Dr. Jim O’Connor, Associate Dean and Professor at the College of Education, is a man of vast experience and casual professionalism. I liked him the minute I met him. He put me immediately at ease. I felt like I could discuss with him the finer points of pedagogy or the best lures for native trout. He was open, humorous, trusting, and knew how to delegate authority. Those are the traits one wants in a school administrator.
In 1790 Judah and Isaac Touro funded the first free library in the North American Continent. Touro College was chartered in New York in 1970 in their name and honor by Dr. Bernard Lander. I’m onboard with the mission:
“The mission of Touro University-California is to provide quality educational programs in the fields of health care and education in concert with the Judaic commitment to social justice, intellectual pursuit, and service to humanity.”