Researchers from the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment (ETRA) are working with nearly 50 middle-level students and their teachers at St. Mary Catholic School to measure their comprehension of Artificial Intelligence. How do they engage and interact with AI? What
Read morePi-Sui Hsu traversing multiple avenues to explore potential of instructional tech
After years of equipping Rockford middle schoolers to create makerspaces, Pi-Sui Hsu wanted to elevate her outreach to another level. Hsu, a Presidential Engagement Professor in the NIU Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment, had taught her after-school students and summer
Read moreCongratulations!
BREAKING NEWS! The NIU College of Education ranked No. 54 out of 313 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best Online Master’s in Education Programs! This is the 13th consecutive year that our online graduate programs have been nationally ranked. ***
Read moreNIU assessment team explores potential of AI in accreditation with ETRA student
Months after the Higher Learning Commission reaccredited NIU, a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment is helping the university understand how artificial intelligence can enable those continuous processes. The work of Stella Jung, who is pursuing her
Read moreEd.D. alum JA Allen returns to campus to share cartoon-based learning model
An alumnus of the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment has returned to NIU to share his knowledge – and, he hopes, to spark more students to follow his unique path. J.A. Allen, who earned his Ed.D. in Instructional Technology in
Read moreNIU curricular innovation grants enable faculty to try new tech, teaching styles
In 2023, NIU’s Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning piloted a Curricular Innovation Grant Fund. Congruent “with university goals and priorities,” the program was “established to provide competitive grants for experimenting with innovative teaching methods such as transdisciplinary learning, virtual reality, digital
Read moreDrive My Car: ETRA delivers fun times to STEM Fest crowds, graduate students
Hundreds of children of all ages visited the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment’s STEM Fest booth Sept. 28 in the Anderson Hall gym. And the learning – along with the smiles – was not limited to the guests. “This is
Read moreFall numbers of graduate students ranks College of Education atop NIU’s campus
Student numbers in the NIU College of Education have reached levels not seen in a decade. “Our graduate enrollments are up by 9.9%, or 112 students, which is the highest graduate enrollment we’ve had in the last 10 years,” said David Walker,
Read moreNIU’s Nonprofit and NGO Studies taps Laura Ruth Johnson as acting director
Laura Ruth Johnson has a new, albeit temporary, title: acting director of NIU’s Center for Nonprofit and NGO Studies. Johnson, professor in the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment, will hold the office for a year while a search commences to
Read morePicture this: New ETRA course advances learning design via ‘data visualization’
Explaining the concept of “data visualization” is easier shown than said – which, ironically, is the point of data visualization. Cansu Tatar makes this clear when she navigates her browser to an interactive table that allows her to compare math and reading
Read moreCOE²: College of Education team gathers for pre-finals Celebration of Excellence
The NIU College of Education family came together May 3 in the ballroom of the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center to celebrate another year of teaching, learning, scholarship, service and success. Acting Dean Bill Pitney recognized several faculty and staff members, including
Read morePi-Sui Hsu honored with Presidential Engagement, Partnership Professorship
Pi-Sui Hsu knows her mission. “Scientific argumentation is one of the eight essential practices in the Next Generation Science Standards,” says Hsu, a professor in the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment. “I firmly believe that this practice can produce young
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