Randal Ryder, recipient to the grant and professor of curriculum and instruction for the UWM School of Education, said he "could not think of a better recipient for this grant. UWM has continuously shown excellence in its education and technology programs it is involved in."

Ryder, along with six faculty and three doctoral students, will conduct classroom research of two educational technology teaching models yet to be chosen by the DPI.

According to Ryder, once the models are selected, his team will begin testing the models on 150 schools and approximately 1,200 students.

"We will not be looking at the amount of technology in classes, but rather the effectiveness of technology education programs in improving learning for mainly middle school classrooms," Ryder said. "The assumption is that technology can help learning."

However, he pointed out that few studies have evaluated the real impact of technology.

"This is why Wisconsin needs this grant to evaluate its own use of technology in the classroom in order to learn from it, and push for an even more efficient means of education," Ryder said.

"What better place to study the effectiveness of technology education than Wisconsin," said DPI spokesman Joe Donovan. "Wisconsin will not only be able to showcase its already flourishing technology education curriculum and improve upon it, but it can be an example for other states still struggling with this issue."

Results of the Wisconsin study will be included in a research-based handbook and shared with other states in order to implement a national approach to technology education, and to decide on the effectiveness of already existent programs.

Donovan said because of Wisconsin's statewide use of online classes, virtual charter schools, smaller technology-based classrooms and Internet wired classrooms, Wisconsin was picked along with 10 other states to receive part of the award money distributed as part of the No Child Left Behind Act's Ed-Tech program.

Over the course of three years, Wisconsin will be sharing $15 million funded under the Evaluating State Educational Technology portion of the federal NCLB Enhancing Education through Technology Grant, with nine other grant projects throughout the state. The grants, according to Donovan, are aimed at increasing the states' ability to design, conduct and acquire high-quality evaluations of education technology.

Along with UWM, the DPI will partner with the Learning Point Associates (North Central Regional Education Laboratory), the State Educational Technology Directors Association and the National Business Education Alliance to further extend the usefulness of the grant money.