Smithsonian includes collection from School of Education

by Tom Uribes

The Smithsonian Institute has selected a collection from the School of Education and Human Development to become part of the Permanent Research Collection of Information Technology at its National Museum of American History. The collection includes more than 440 of the year's most innovative applications of technology from 38 states and 21 countries.

The selection came after Steve Jobs, chief executive officer of Apple Computer, Inc., nominated Fresno State for the Computer-world Smithsonian Award in the Education and Academia category. The nomination was made in recognition of outstanding work by education faculty and the staff of the Instructional Technology and Resource Center.

"Our application of technology to education includes not only the support of instruction in our state-of-the-art building, but leadership in distance learning and educational communications around the Valley," said Dr. Paul Shaker, dean of the School of Education and Human Development.

Otto Benavides, associate professor of edu-cation and director of the school's Instructional Technology and Resource Center, prepared and submitted the university's case study for the collection. Included for display in the Smithsonian are photos and documents on how technology is used by the School of Education and Human Development to support the training of teachers.

Benavides noted that Fresno State's technological infrastructure, organization and program support are among the best in the nation. "The school has a unique Software Regional Preview Center open to the K-12 community and a one-of-a-kind NASA teacher resource center that is open to faculty, students and the educational community at large," he said.

The 2000 Information Technology Innovation Collection will be formally presented to the Smithsonian on Monday, April 3, in Washington, D.C., at which time Benavides will receive the Computerworld Smithsonian Award for Fresno State's contribution.

Dan Morrow, executive director of the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program, said this year's collection shows how new information age tools can extend the benefits of technology to society.

Spencer R. Crew, director of the National Museum of American History, said, "The primary source material submitted by Calif-ornia State University, Fresno will enrich the National Museum of American History's growing collection on the history of information technology, and contribute significantly to the museum's on-going efforts to chronicle the Information Age."

The National Museum of American History is one of 16 museums that, along with seven research facilities and the National Zoo, make up the Smithsonian Institute.

Case studies from the 200 Computerworld Smithsonian Collection will be available at http://innovate.si.edu, the official Internet site of the program, where the entire collection is available to scholars, researchers and the general public worldwide.