Teaching and Learning
Applying the Power of WSU's Technology Resource
Database
More than 12 million students with reading difficulties
in the United States struggle to make adequate yearly
progress in the general education curriculum. Many
scholars posit that technology can provide these students
with additional access to curricular materials that will
lead to enhanced student learning. The United States has
spent nearly 40 billion dollars developing its technology
infrastructure and e-learning (i.e., software, online
materials, and multimedia) products over the past decade.
Unfortunately, a majority of K-12 classroom teachers are
unprepared to take advantage of this substantive
investment in emergent technologies for two primary
reasons: insufficient resources to aid teachers in
selection, implementation, and assessment of e-learning
products; and insufficient research to identify which
e-learning products and associated technology-based tools
are most efficacious for student learning.
Dr. Marino’s research is in the
pilot year of a proposed five-year project that will
address these deficits by providing the educational
community with a research-based resource for purchasing,
implementing, and assessing technology in inclusive
classrooms. The Washington State University Technology
Resource Database is composed of three linked interfaces:
(1) an online e-learning assessment instrument, (2) a
database containing the response results, and (3) a
search engine that allows teachers and researchers to
access pertinent information in the database quickly and
efficiently. Dr. Marino is interested in using the data
he collects to identify commercially available e-learning
products that teachers and students report as improving
learning outcomes for secondary students with reading
difficulties. This data will lead to rigorous scientific
examination of the products during the final two years of
the project with subsequent dissemination of the results
to the field.
Contact Information
Matthew T. Marino, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Teaching and Learning
Washington State University
P.O. BOX 642132
Pullman, WA 99164-2132
Telephone: 509-335-6386
E-mail: matthewmarino@wsu.edu
Society, Communication, and Learning
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Dr. Matthew Marino is a former secondary special education and general education science and technology teacher, with extensive experience in developing universally designed technology-based curricula for inclusive classrooms. Dr. Marino was nominated teacher of the year in Vermont in 2002. He earned his Ph.D. in special education at the University of Connecticut in 2006 before joining the faculty at Washington State University as assistant professor of special education in the Department of Teaching and Learning. Dr. Marino has been awarded five competitively funded small-scale grants since 2000. His 2006 publication, “Making informed assistive technology decisions for students with high incidence disabilities,” appears in the journal Teaching Exceptional Children. Dr. Marino frequently presents his scholarly work at regional, national, and international conferences for researchers and professionals in curriculum development and assessment. |
