(L to R) Dr. Nancy Gallavan, professor, Dr. Tammy Benson, chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Terry James, chair of the Department of Leadership Studies, Chris Hogan, clinical instructor and Amy Thompson, program coordinator, from the College of Education receiving the award.
The University of Central Arkansas received the Innovation in Teacher Education Award from the Southeastern Regional Association of Teacher Educators (SRATE). The award was given in recognition of the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program’s Bug-In-Ear Initiative.
The Bug-in-Ear Initiative is a peer coaching intervention that improves instructional behaviors of teacher candidates. Through Bug-in-Ear and Skype, supervisors conduct observations of interns while they are teaching and are able to give immediate feedback.
“This recognition speaks to the quality, innovation and excellence of our Master of Arts in Teaching program,” said Dr. Victoria Groves-Scott, dean of the College of Education. “The program is driven by dedicated and engaged faculty who are committed to the use of cutting-edge technology.”
SRATE is comprised of 12-states with active units in the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE). The ATE was founded in 1920 and is an individual membership organization devoted solely to the improvement of teacher education both for school-based and postsecondary teacher educators.
ATE members represent over 700 colleges and universities, over 500 major school systems and the majority of state departments of education. ATE exhibits members’ interests before governmental agencies and education organizations.
This is the second national award UCA’s MAT program has won. The MAT program also received the SRATE Innovation in Teacher Education Program award in 2012 and received the ATE Distinguished Program in Teacher Education Award in 2010.
“I am extremely proud of the innovative and creative work that this faculty has done to ensure that our internship supervision is state of the art and pushes the envelope on how technology can positively impact teacher effectiveness and student learning,” said Dr. Tammy Benson, chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning. “They dedicate themselves to positively impacting the K-12 populations through their modeling of appropriate practices and mentoring of our UCA students to be the very best teachers they can possibly be.”
– 30 –
