Kathleen Gradel taught online workshops and courses, launched two new tech grant initiatives

Kathleen Gradel

Education Professor Kathleen Gradel recently concluded a busy summer of teaching off campus by collaboratively launching two newly-funded SUNY Provost office grants through the new IITG (Innovative Instruction Technology Grant) initiative.

The two grants (CITI, co-authored with Dr. Shufang Shi at SUNY Cortland, and TOEP with Roberta Sullivan at UB) are building instructional resources to help faculty use web-based tools in teaching and learning. They are part of the first round of SUNY’s efforts to both recognize the talents of faculty and staff in tech integration, and to foster collaborative, innovative work relevant SUNY-wide. The two projects will keep “KG” busy collaborating with faculty and staff from Cortland, UB, BSC, Onondaga Community College, and Binghamton.

Dr. Gradel’s summer professional activities began in May, when she conducted three “people-packed” hands-on seminars at the SUNY Conference on Instruction & Technology at SUNY StonyBrook. There she taught other faculty and staff statewide on cooperative learning in online and hybrid teaching, using QR codes, and student-driven Google-based assignments.

Then she went online in June, hosting two totally online seminars (both on using GoogleApps in college teaching), in two national virtual conferences.

May and June were also busy, working with her colleague Jodi Sobczak Huber in the Brocton Central Schools, teaching first graders to write and publish digital stories using smartpens.

Later, she was the invited host of a national virtual seminar on using VoiceThread (an online publishing and collaboration venue) to “refresh” preservice teaching.