Teachers, Technology and Tomorrow’s Classroom

How will a shortage of math and science teachers and an insufficiency of teacher training affect our nation’s technological standing in the world? Is America destined to fall behind? On the next edition of Technogenesis, Elizabeth Rohatyn, chairperson and founder of Teaching Matters, Inc. and Dr. Edward Friedman, a Stevens Institute of Technology professor of technology management and the founding director of the Stevens Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education, join Stevens President Dr. Harold Raveche in a frank discussion of the shortage of qualified math and science teachers in our country.

Technogenesis is a weekly TV program produced by Stevens Institute of Technology (Stevens), in cooperation with cn8, the Comcast Network. This week’s program features a look into the impact a shortage of math and science teachers will have on the strength of America’s technological future.

The Technogenesis program, “Teachers and Technology in Today’s Public Education System” airs at 7:00 p.m., on cn8, the Comcast Network, each of the following Sundays in New Jersey and parts of neighboring states, including the Philadelphia and Baltimore regions: January 5, January 19, February 2, and February 16. The program will also appear at various times throughout the week on the local Comcast outlets in Prince William and Fairfax counties, Va., as well as Prince George’s County, Md. Please check for local listings.

Hosted by Stevens President Dr. Harold J. Raveche and veteran TV journalist Steve Taylor, each program includes special guests from the areas of science, technology, government, education, business or industry.

Elizabeth Rohatyn has worked extensively to move public agenda ahead in the areas of school reform and the use of technology to enhance education. Rohatyn founded and serves as chairperson of Teaching Matters, Inc., a non-profit education organization whose mission is to help teachers learn to use technology effectively in the classroom.

Rohatyn also served as a board member of New York’s New Visions for Public Schools and as vice chairman of WNET/Channel 13. As a sponsor of the “I Have a Dream” project, she directed a program to lead 53 at-risk children through their last six years of school through graduation and four years of college.

She also founded Technology Empowerment Collaborative, a consortium of New York City academic institutions to advance the role of technology in education.

Edward A. Friedman is the founding Director of the Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) and a professor of technology management at Stevens. CIESE was established in 1988 to help K - 12 educators exploit the power of technology to improve instruction and to bolster student achievement in mathematics and science.

Friedman works collaboratively with teachers, schools system administrators and other educational stakeholders to provide intensive, hands-on training, support and counsel to infuse technology in meaningful ways into the curriculum. Technology is seen as both a tool for teachers and a new mode for bringing exciting content to students. Through partnerships with school districts, as well as other colleges, universities, and other organizations in New Jersey and other states including; Arizona, Florida, and Ohio, the CIESE program is in the process of training 10,000 teachers and reaching more than a quarter million children.

Co-produced by Stevens and Comcast, the half-hour Technogenesis programs feature government, research and industry leaders discussing some of the most challenging real-world issues facing science and technology today.

The Comcast Network is one of the nation’s largest regional cable networks reaching more than to 4 million households in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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