Center for Technology in Education

The Center for Technology in Education strives to improve the quality of life of all children and youth through teaching, research and leadership in the uses of technology. Whether it is by creating leading-edge online tools, managing data or developing high quality professional development, CTE works in innovative ways to promote high quality teaching and learning. CTE represents a unique partnership that combines the research, teaching and technology resources of the Johns Hopkins University and the leadership and policy support of the Maryland State Department of Education.  We at CTE believe that:

• All students can learn. They have a right to appropriate instruction and a right to be in schools that provide it. They have a right to access learning.
• Technology can transform education by providing equal access to the curriculum for all students, enhancing instruction and measuring school accountability.
• Technology-rich, project-based, collaborative teaching and learning help all students to meet high academic standards and prepare for the rest of their lives.
• Schools must respond to the expectations of students, parents and the community.
• Schools must be supported at all levels through partnerships with school districts, state departments of education and institutions of higher learning. CTE supports and engages in many of these kinds of partnerships and has an entrepreneurial spirit vis-à-vis forging new partnerships that can achieve the goals of all involved.
• Teachers, other educators and families can all benefit from being connected via web-based learning communities, through which they share information, resources and other tools, exchange best practices, and stay current on the latest developments in educational technology.

Our History

In 1986, the Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland State Department of Education joined forces to establish the Center for Technology in Human Disabilities (CTHD), an entity that would explore ways to use new technologies to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities across the life span. For the next five years, the faculty and staff of CTHD worked on developing ways to match individuals with new technologies to assist them with communication, mobility, and activities of daily living and career development. The CTHD faculty also began developing a model for assessing the needs of children with disabilities. Supported by one of the first federal instructional technology research grants, the CTHD also began conducting research to determine the optimal conditions and uses of instructional technologies in public school classrooms.

Jacqueline Nunn was appointed director of CTHD in 1991 and began steering the Center toward a new, more sharply focused mission to expand the bounds of the school reform movement to embrace both technology and inclusive education for children with disabilities. In response to these new directions and a refined mission, the Center was re-invented in 1991 as the Center for Technology in Education.

Over the years, CTE has honed its expertise in six critical areas: data-informed decision-making for leaders; evidence-based instruction; assistive technology; leadership development; online learning and communities of practice; and emerging technologies and tool development. Today CTE applies its knowledge and skills in these areas in a wide array of programs, projects and research activities that increase the capabilities of teachers, parents, schools and school administrators, with the end result the improvement of education for all children.