Center for Children & Technology

           The Center for Children & Technology (CCT), which is based in New York City, is part of the Education Development Center, Inc. CCT’s mission is to research educational technology and impacts on teaching and learning not just at the classroom or community level, but also the city, state and national levels. CCT is often retained by state and national governments to investigate the impact that new methodologies would have on educational stakeholders in various subjects taught in schools and other organizations. In fact, they were recently “…awarded a $9.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to serve as a National R&D Center on Instructional Technology, taking a close look at how game-based activities can aid science and literacy instruction” (http://cct.edc.org/, September 9, 2008 update). Their site includes research on educational technology pertaining to many different subjects ranging from math to social studies to art.

            One item of concern when researching, evaluating, designing and developing new and hopefully more effective educational strategies and techniques is whether they will help or hinder the educational process of the people affected. CCT takes into careful consideration what elements of diversity, such as gender, culture or socioeconomic status, will affect instruction and learning. They gather a lot of information using both qualitative and quantitative methods. (For those who don't know what that means, a great description is given HERE.)

            CCT is also very involved in the politics of what will affect a nation’s schools and other educational organizations. As the staff members work with an assortment of institutions in investigating and developing new programs, they take what they have learned to various policymakers. They hope that the wisdom of their research and experience will then benefit those affected, whether teachers, corporate trainers, parents, students, researchers, for- or nonprofit and so on.         

            While CCT does not seem to host its own, it does participate in a wide variety of conferences around the world. For example, Daniel Light, a Senior Research Scientist for CCT presented a workshop called “Evaluating Educational Technology: How Do We Know It's Working” at the Quest Educational Conference in Bangalore, India in August, 2008. (The PDF for this presentation can be found HERE.)

            To receive CCTNEWS, which is CCT’s free quarterly newsletter exploring educational research, click HERE. You will, of course, have to enter a valid email address for verification of the subscription and have the option of setting a password, but they promise to never spam you or otherwise use, sell or lose your email address to those who would.

 

CCT's Website: http://cct.edc.org/

CCT's Contact Information: 96 Morton Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10014 
                                       Phone: (212) 807-4200  Fax: (212) 633-8804