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Accessing Curriculum through Technology Tools (ACTTT), a model development project, was developed and tested by staff of the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood (the Center), a research and development unit within the College of Education and Human Services at Western Illinois University. The major goal of ACTTT was to develop, demonstrate, and evaluate an innovative technology tool model that allowed children with disabilities in kindergarten, first and second grades to access, participate in, and benefit from activities in the general curriculum. Kindergarten, first, and second grade classrooms in three elementary schools in Canton, Illinois, served as demonstration sites. Six objectives guided the development and testing of this project and this report contains information related to the completion of each of the following objectives: (1) Develop, test, and demonstrate the ACTTT model in randomly-selected classrooms in elementary schools in Canton, Illinois; (2) Provide training on the ACTTT model to site teachers; (3) Collect data on participating children and teachers; (4) Provide information to families; (5) Develop ACTTT products based on tested classroom technology-based activities; and (6) Disseminate information about ACTTT. ACTTT was a success. All objectives were met. The products produced are of excellent quality. Participation in ACTTT's technology-based activities led to many learning opportunities for children in the treatment groups. Children in treatment classrooms scored higher than children in comparison classrooms on over half of the technology skills assessed by the "Technology Assessment Based on Standards" (TABS) instrument. All treatment teachers increased their technology skills, as well as their confidence with respect to technology over the course of the project. Teachers took ownership of the activities created by ACTTT staff members. The report notes that unanticipated difficulties resulted from data collection. One unanticipated outcome was the success of the children's podcasts. A second unexpected outcome was collaboration with the APTE software company in the treatment classroom teachers' use of "Photo Kit Junior." (Contains 15 tables.)

The Early Childhood Technology Integrated Instructional System 3 (EC-TIIS 3), housed in the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood (the Center) within the College of Education and Human Services at Western Illinois University (WIU), was funded in 2004 by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) as a three-year Steppingstones of Technology Innovation Phase 3 Project. EC-TIIS 3 was designed to confirm the positive results of EC-TIIS 2 (Hutinger, Robinson, Schneider, & Daytner, 2006) and to test the effects of web-based training on a diverse audience in large, complex settings, ultimately providing a website that is easy for educators and families to use and that contains information leading to improved technology services for young children. The EC-TIIS site is a unique teaching/learning website that combines training content from the Center's tested and effective early childhood technology-related projects, into a series of nine workshops designed to provide technology knowledge and skills. The major goals of EC-TIIS 3 were four-fold: (1) to test the effects of EC-TIIS' online training on a diverse audience in large, complex settings, ultimately providing a teaching/learning community web site easy for families and educators to access and use; (2) to improve access to functional use of technologies in developmentally appropriate curriculum targeting young children with disabilities and their families; (3) to determine the effects of strategies to increase the quantity and quality of web-based training and data collection; and (4) to further refine EC-TIIS usability, to advance the availability, quality, and use of technology in addressing the practical problem of improving online education. Study 3, which included university and community college faculty and students, was designed to explore, confirm, extend, and compare findings related to use of the workshops as a supplement to university and community college courses and as a stand-alone graduate course. Results of EC-TIIS 3 demonstrate attainment of the study's research goals and the effectiveness of the workshops on the use of technology with young children with disabilities. Research results confirm Phase 2 findings. Data results from the surveys and workshop pre and post assessments indicate that EC-TIIS online workshops were effective in increasing knowledge, attitude, and skill in using technologies in the early childhood environment. (Contains 23 tables.) [For the Phase 2 report, see ED491294. For the Phase 1 report, see ED489166.]

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), LitTECH Outreach was a 3-year technology-based preschool literacy project conducted by staff at the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood, a research and development division of the College of Education and Human Services at Western Illinois University. The major goal of LitTECH was to link the results of effective emergent literacy technology research to early childhood practice, thereby improving emergent literacy practices for young children with disabilities. LitTECH positively impacted teachers and children in treatment classrooms, as demonstrated by the data collected during the 3-year project. Treatment teachers implemented important components of the LitTECH curriculum into their classrooms. They established appropriate classroom computer center environments, integrated technology tools and software into the classroom curriculum, and made use of technology to facilitate communication between home and school. Treatment children saw greater gains in emergent literacy skills than their comparison counterparts. These skills included interacting with book and print materials, demonstrating an understanding of story, book handling skills, responding to pictures and print, and demonstrating emergent writing behaviors. Treatment children also had greater gains in technology skills particularly in the areas of basic operations and concepts, using technology productivity tools, and using technology problem-solving and decision-making tools. Parents reported that involvement in the literacy technology program provided such benefits to their children as improved language development and communication skills. The study demonstrated the LitTECH model positively impacts the development and acquisition of emergent literacy skills of young children with and without disabilities. (Contains 15 tables and 5 footnotes.)

Interactive Technology Literacy Curriculum Online (ITLC Online) was a Steppingstones of Technology Innovation for Students with Disabilities Phase 1 (Development) project awarded to the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood (the Center) at Western Illinois University (WIU). ITLC Online's goal was to improve services for young children with disabilities by offering access to effective family and professional development materials focused on emergent literacy via a web-based system organized in an easy-to-use format. Teachers and other early childhood professionals, faculty, preservice personnel, family members, and care givers across the nation can use ITLC Online workshops for staff development activities, as part of coursework at undergraduate and graduate levels, or as a means to gain personal knowledge. ITLC procedures and materials have the potential to positively impact literacy skills of many more young children with disabilities than can be reached when adults are trained using traditional face-to-face strategies. ITLC Online was based on "ideas that work"--four projects that provided the knowledge and skills base that informed the website's content and approach. Content was organized into six online workshops: (1) "Literacy Foundations" (2) "Literacy Environments"; (3) "Children's Software"; (4) "Technology Integration"; (5) "Authoring Software"; and (6) "Literacy Assessment." Other features include: (1) a database containing 2,040 children's books, categorized according to common classroom themes with information on availability of special formats, such as big books or books on tape. Database fields include author, illustrator, book title, publication date, publisher, publisher location, subject descriptors, and others. Book listings in each category are available in PDF format for printing or downloading; (2) 238 links to resources for materials, products, and information. ITLC Online's Resources contains eight sections including: "Glossary," "Articles and Books," "Children's Books," "Family Info," "Literacy News," "Organizations," "Technology News," and "Software and Equipment"; and (3) 71 PDF files including articles, curriculum activities, resource information and instructional materials contained in the six workshops. Six Advisory Panel members evaluated the ITLC Online website. All strongly agreed that ITLC workshop content reflects developmentally appropriate practice; all strongly agreed that materials on the website are current; and all either agreed or strongly agreed that the content addresses the topic thoroughly. All agreed that the website design was good and that the site was easy to navigate and use. ITLC Online contributes both to knowledge and practices beneficial to the fields of early childhood and of converging technologies. Workshop content addresses emergent literacy, a topic of growing importance in early childhood. As opposed to on-site, face-to-face training, with its accompanying time constraints and travel expenses, the ITLC Online website not only represents a more cost-effective model of distance education, addressing a nationwide audience, but also addresses varying needs of divergent users. This document describes the four objectives, five program performance measures, and budget information behind ITLC Online.

Emerging Literacy Technology Curriculum (ELiTeC 2, [referred to as E2 in this report]), housed at the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood at Western Illinois University, was funded in 2000 by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) as a 3-year Phase 3 Steppingstones of Technology Research on Implementation Project. E2's technology-based curriculum and procedures combined effective computer applications and emergent literacy experiences and were based on the results of a 3-year research study (referred to in this report as E1) of 255 children and their families from diverse cultures and socioeconomic groups; 8 teachers, and 16 half-day preschool classes in rural and urban central Illinois (Godt, Hutinger, Schneider, & Robinson, 1999; Hutinger, 1999; Hutinger. et al., 1998). E2's target population was preschool children with a wide range of disabilities, those at risk, their families, teachers, and program staff. E2 had three major goals: (1) replicate and validate E1 research findings in a range of typical rural and urban educational settings; (2) study implementation and maintenance of the model as demonstrated by replication sites; and (3) disseminate information related to the study. These goals were supported by five objectives and their tasks. Two objectives related to management and dissemination, while three related to such activities as conducting staff development activities, implementation, and follow-up in replication sites; studying the implementation of the E2 approach in multiple, complex settings; and revising, developing, and disseminating E2 products and materials. (Contains 9 tables and 6 figures.)

The Expressive Arts Outreach (EAO) project, housed at the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood (the Center) at Western Illinois University, was funded in 2000 by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) as a 3-year outreach project. The target population was 3-8 year old children with a wide range of disabilities, their families, teachers, and program staff. Project resources focused on providing experiences in the expressive arts used in the general curriculum to a traditionally underrepresented segment of the population: young children with disabilities. The Expressive Arts (EA) model, developed and tested during a 5-year model demonstration period beginning in 1992, was developed for diverse ethnic and cultural groups. Individuals with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities were part of the planning, implementation, and evaluation process. A prior OSEP-funded EA outreach project, referred to in this report as EAO Phase 1, began in 1997.

This final report describes the activities and outcomes of the Interactive Technology Literacy Curriculum (ITLC) project. This federally funded 5-year model demonstration project was designed to advance the availability, quality, use and effectiveness of computer technology in addressing the acquisition of emergent literacy among young children with mild to severe disabilities. ITLC promotes literacy knowledge and behaviors in young children with special needs by providing children with stimulating, meaningful experiences generated by an engaging set of activities using computers, accompanying peripherals, and software that contain developmentally appropriate content and elements of interactivity. Underlying the model is the assumption that emergent literacy is an important process that gives children the ability to deal with abstractions later used in writing and reading, which have roots in the scribbles, images, and pretend play of the young child. ITLC established three demonstration sites and three replication sites in rural and urban locations in Illinois during the 5 years of the project. A total of 291 children, 289 families, and 18 early childhood team members participated. Of the 291 children, 32 demonstration-site children and 11 replication-site children participated in ITLC for 2 years, while 8 demonstration-site children participated for 3 years. Children's emergent literacy skills and understanding of literacy concepts, as defined in theory and by the ITLC, improved as a result of their participation in the project. Children demonstrated increased communication skills, social interaction, fine motor control, attending, planning, and problem solving skills. Teachers who participated in the model designed classroom environments that promoted emergent literacy and designed activities that supported emergent literacy development. They improved competencies related to literacy, computer operations and adaptations, computer applications for children, and family involvement. (Contains 61 references.) (Author/CR)

This final report discusses the outcomes of a 2-year project designed to provide an innovative tool process and a state-of-the-art instructional environment for children from 3 through 8 years of age with a wide range of disabilities across ages, classrooms, and locations as they constructed their own communities and participated in building a cooperative community on an Internet site. The TEChPLACEs' technology-based learning environment provided a potent learning tool that taught children and teachers to use communication technology as they learned about the varied content that comprises communities. TEChPLACEs involved collaboration among Macomb Projects at Western Illinois University, and teachers and children from four rural school districts (a preschool for children with disabilities, two inclusive kindergarten classrooms, and an inclusive first grade classroom). Through participation in the project, teachers gained confidence in the use of technology and familiarity with the Internet and Web construction applications. Teaching styles evolved into a more child-directed approach, and teachers used questioning techniques to guide children's thinking. Children demonstrated gains in language development and became fluent in the vocabulary associated with technology, development of Web pages, and visiting Web sites. They developed higher level thinking skills and wrote and sent e-mail messages. (Contains 37 references.) (CR)