POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY 2005-2007

THE DAVID PACKARD CENTER FOR
TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATIONAL ALLIANCES
Created in 1996, the David Packard Center
for Technology and Educational Alliances
develops opportunities connecting
Polytechnic with educational, business
and community organizations to enhance
and disseminate information on electronically
mediated learning, and to encourage
advanced studies in mathematics, science
and technology.
The center seeks to:
• Ensure equity of availability, opportunity
and access for women and underrepresented
minorities in the use of
computers and information-age technology
and in the study of mathematics
and science.
• Build alliances of stakeholders,
enabling information-age technology to
impact the learning process and social,
economic and educational institutions.
• Serve as a resource for the professional
development of teachers to enhance
learning in science, mathematics and
technology.
• Utilize technology as a tool to assist
learning, and disseminate findings
through publications, multimedia communications,
symposia and lectures.
COLLEGE AND
UNIVERSITY ALLIANCES
Through the Knowledge Workers
Educational Alliance (KWEA), a consortium
of five colleges and universities, students
at participating liberal arts
institutions prepare to become knowledge
workers, well versed in technology and
well rounded by a traditional liberal arts
education. As upperclassmen, undergraduate
students study in “bridge courses”
in technical areas and then continue as
graduate students at Polytechnic. At the
end of five years, these students are armed
with two degrees: a bachelor’s degree from
their original college and a master’s from
Polytechnic. They are qualified for specialized
jobs that require sophisticated
technical knowledge. Programs currently
offered for a master’s degree include computer
science, integrated digital media,
organization behavior/human resources
information management, transportation
engineering and planning, bioinformatics,
and construction planning and management.
KWEA also conducts faculty
development conferences, which are
designed to improve faculty skills in information
technology and student learning.
SECONDARY SCHOOL
ALLIANCES
The Packard Center serves to extend the
University’s commitment to pre-college
students by providing a contact point for
learning initiatives. Polytechnic students
and staff serve as mentors, interns and
instructors. In addition, high school teachers
form alliances with Polytechnic faculty,
and professional development programs
yield long-term advantages for high school
and college learners.
The Packard Center provides leadership
for a variety of activities that allow middle
and high school students to participate
in scientific research competitions and
exhibitions, meet noted scientists and engineers,
and attend academic symposia.
Among these programs and events are the
Principal’s Scholars Dinner–Symposia;
the Future City Regional Competition;
the New York City FIRST! Competition,
a national robotics and design competition
for high school students; and the FIRST
LEGO League Competition, a similar program
for middle school students.
High school teachers attend specially
designed workshops, courses and conferences
at Polytechnic to learn how to use
information-age technology in their classrooms.
A companion program seeks to
develop varied teaching strategies in science
and mathematics that emphasize
hands-on learning experiences.
Polytechnic is a partner with a community
school district in a major New
York State Education Department grant
through which the district’s teachers
receive training in mathematics.
Participants can earn graduate credits
while improving their knowledge of mathematical
concepts. The University also
provides on-site coaching for teachers of
mathematics in area schools.
In 2003, Polytechnic hosted the Student
Leadership Conference of the National
Consortium of Specialized Secondary
Schools in Mathematics, Science and
Technology (NCSSSMST), thus extending
the University’s reach to include high-school
students across the country in its program.
COMMUNITY ALLIANCES
Polytechnic University has enjoyed an
alliance with settlement houses aligned
with United Neighborhood Houses Inc.,
which serves economically disadvantaged
populations, to introduce young people to
new communications technologies. The
University has also worked closely with
Brooklyn Technical High School to support
the high school’s efforts to align its
engineering curriculum with that found at
a university. Additional programs have
brought Polytechnic faculty and students
directly into high schools, where they serve
as resources for science study, as is the case
with Project RAISE (Revitalizing
Achievement through Instrumentation in
Science Education), a National Science
Foundation-supported G K-12 program in
which Polytechnic undergraduate and graduate
students are posted at local high
schools as RAISE Fellows. There, they
teach classroom units, assist teachers with
their understanding of instrumentation and
robotics, and provide students with opportunities
for active learning experiences.
Polytechnic is a partner for a community
school district in a major New York
State Education Department grant through
which the district’s teachers receiving
training in mathematics. Participants can
earn graduate credits while improving
their knowledge of mathematical concepts.
The University also provides on-site
coaching for teachers of mathematics in
area schools.
STAFF
Noel N. Kriftcher, Executive Director
EdD, Hofstra University
Carmen Seda, Administrative Coordinator
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