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Educational Technology Incubators

Today I was exposed to the idea of an "educational technology incubator" for the first time. It came up in this post by two of my classmates (who are also working on a funding proposal for class):

Our proposal entails a plan to develop an Educational Technology Incubator to support the mission and goals of The John Leland Center for Theological Studies. As The Center seeks to prepare ministers for a 21st century environment, there is recognition that technology will be an integral part of most people’s lives. As part of Leland’s mission of “bringing together scholars, practitioners, and students to equip leaders for the emerging church.” the Incubator will serve to school in three important areas:

1. Instructional Support




• Provide technical resources and support to Leland instructors to assist them in utilizing technologies to enhance the effectiveness of traditional classroom instruction.


• To translate traditional face-to-face courses for delivery in an online environment.




2. Outreach to Local Churches




• To provide churches with the resources and expertise they need to make use of technology in support of their own Christian Education initiatives.


• Develop and implement strategies to allow local churches to tap into the academic and professional expertise provided by Leland faculty.




3. Research and Development




• Research and experimentation on the application of technological solutions to issues of spiritual development.

Even now technology is fast becoming a ubiquitous presence throughout society. It is the purpose of this project to harness the benefits of technology to address issues of spiritual development, ministerial preparation, and evangelism and outreach. This project will benefit theological educators throughout the academic world by providing a working model of technology integration in the context of theological education.

We will be approaching the Lilly Endowment for funding of this project.

References:

Byer, G. C. J., Clark, J., Mahfood, S., & Welch, L. J. (2002). Generative neo-cyberculture in the modern seminary. Teaching Theology and Religion, 5(2), 113-117.

Litchfield, R. G. (1999). Webs of connection using technology in theological education. Teaching Theology and Religion, 2(2), 103-109.

Soukup, P. A., Buckley, F. J., & Robinson, D. C. (2001). The influence of information technologies on theology. Theological Studies 62(2), 366-378.

Respectfully Submitted,

Susan R. Moore

Wyll Irvin

The following response to their post proved educational for me:

Susan Moore & Wyll Irvin, I must say that I am going into educational technology overload with all of the new information I have learned this week. I had no idea what an educational incubator was. The only incubators I know about is the one used for hatching eggs on the farm and the other is a neonatal incubator to keep newborns warm, when they have trouble with heat regulation. So, I searched for information to help me understand this concept as it realted to education. I stumbled upon two sites. You might have this one already and if so please disregard. The following is a site related on the how to evaluate incubators for effectiveness and this site is http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/74068.html
The following provides a link to some notes made by Yuan in 2001 at a conference on Incubators. http://ree.stanford.edu/reee/2001/E_session.pdf,page 3, gives a detailed description, in outline format, of what an education incubator is. Yuan (2001) also listed that to measure success use "educational value", "relationship to the commuinity" and "inspiring alumni". I would interpret your proposal as supporting "relationship to the community". Thank you for such a great learning experience. Mary Ann

Reference
Yuan, J. (2001). To incubate or not incubate (Session by Babson, M. R. at REEE roundtable conference, Stanford Technology Ventures Program. As retrieved April 10, 2005 from http://ree.stanford.edu/reee/2001/E_session.pdf

In class, I am hoping that Susan and Wyll will provide additional background information on the subject, but in the meantime, if anyone else out here cares to comment on the subject, I'd be interested.

-Mark