Silicon Valley Challenge 2000: Year 5 Multimedia Project Report

Introduction

Increasingly, schools that have made large investments in technology are discovering the need to invest in a new area: preparing teachers to integrate technology into the classroom. To date, teachers’ access to professional development has been more limited than their access to technology. There are few opportunities for teachers to learn deeply about the relationship between learning and technology, and schools and districts have provided limited ongoing support for teachers struggling to find ways to use technology to support innovative teaching. The Challenge 2000 Multimedia Project (MMP), a 5-year initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education, provides one solution to these problems by providing mentoring and support to teachers learning to integrate project-based learning supported by multimedia (PBL+MM) into their classrooms. The MMP works by providing teachers both with initial training in a reform model of teaching and learning and with ongoing support anchored in the examination of student work.