Project KITES: Kids Interacting with Technology and Education Students

Faculty and administrators at the College of Education at Louisiana State University recognized the need to incorporate technology into all of their programs. Project KITES (Kids Interacting with Technology and Education Students) was developed to give students just beginning their professional education component real experiences with children using technology. Twenty-eight preservice teachers (3 males and 25 females) were paired with 27 fourth-grade students (12 males and 15 females) in a variety of technology-based learning projects. The majority of the preservice teachers had previous computer experience and were somewhat comfortable with computers; most of the fourth grade students were comfortable with computers. The project focused on language and reading skills using technology to support shared-literary experiences and included three activities: (1) a slide show book report using "Kid Pix 2"; (2) a newsletter using "The Writing Center" and the QuickTake camera to digitize pictures into their projects; and (3) a multimedia presentation. Project KITES showed that through immersion in learning environments that include technology, preservice teachers will learn to use technology in their teaching and view technology as a normal part of any classroom. In addition, they will be exposed to good models of teaching using technology and develop their own styles based on these models. Project KITES also provided real experiences to the education students early in their professional preparation. (AEF)