By Sara Ballenger
The word innovation says it all.
Foothill College’s Krause Center for Innovation - with its 18,000 square feet of state-of-the-art computer labs, unique furniture, architectural designs, teaching spaces, digital art gallery and cyber cafe - will celebrate its grand opening Sept. 14.
The center will serve as a regional technology training site for kindergarten through community college teachers.
The $9.3 million funding for the project came from public bond money through the 1999 passage of Measure E and private donations, including $1 million by the center’s namesakes, Bill and Gay Krause of Los Altos Hills. Gay, executive director of the center, is also a former teacher, counselor and principal.
“It’s a nice tribute and a great opportunity to continue in the local community in regards to K-14 education,” Gay said.
Both Gay and Foothill College President Bernadine Chuck Fong saw a need for providing an education in technology to local teachers.
“We hope and expect that the site will be a national resource center for teachers and students in the innovative uses of technology in the curriculum,” Fong said. “It is critical that we reach out to those teachers and students from lower income communities to give them the exposure and experiences that should be available to anyone living in Silicon Valley so they can reap the benefits of the technology this valley has developed.”
The center has developed partnerships with high-tech companies and others, for the benefit of area educators. The San Jose State University Instructional Technology Master’s Degree Program and the Learning in New Media Classrooms program, also in conjunction with SJSU, are currently being offered at the center. The center is also partnering with the Santa Clara and San Mateo County Offices of Education, Industrial Initiatives for Science and Math Education, Resource Area For Teachers and Adobe Systems Teach-The-Teacher Program.
There is a definite shortage of teachers who have the ability to integrate new technology into their classrooms even in Silicon Valley, Gay said.
“For those teachers who do use technology, many still lack the ability to develop the outcomes needed for students who are the future of Silicon Valley’s economic position in the world economy,” Gay said. “A significant gap divides those who have access to technology and those who do not. The digital divide is more than a division of wealth. A notable shortfall exists between those students and teachers who have received an (technological) education and those who only have access to outdated instructional materials, and therefore lack the understanding of how to implement technology in the classroom.”
To help teachers with their technology education, the center has identified several educational goals for its programs. Those goals include providing courses for teachers to qualify for the state certification in technology, helping with lesson plans, integrating technology through project-based learning and fostering partnerships with other institutions to teach technology curriculum.
“The center allows us to attract a lot of educators from throughout the area. With our ongoing classes we have reached over 2,000 teachers in the last three years,” Gay said. “Our goal is to offer low-cost quality instructional programs to teachers who will in turn teach it to their students. We estimate that each teacher sees about 100 students a year, teaching 2,000 students every year.”
The resources at the center are available to K-14 teachers participating in the center’s programs as well as some Foothill College classes.
“The center is open to any part of our curriculum that has a need for high-end uses of technology in the classroom, such as our Geographical Imaging Systems, Bioinformatics or electronic arts programs,” Fong said. “In addition, we have an open computer facility with high-speed computers and Internet access that are available to any Foothill student.”
Gay encourages the public to come to the opening as well as to view the changing exhibits in the digital art gallery.
“We wanted to keep the museum quality of the building, which was originally set up as a space science museum,” she said. “We hope to have the museum open weekends to encourage people to come by.”
A continuation of the gallery will be the stone sculpted furniture in the seating area outside the gallery, designed by artist Maya Ying Lin, who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
The opening of the center is scheduled 9:30-11 a.m., Sept. 14, at 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills. Admission is free, and the community is invited to attend. Guest speakers and tours of the new facility are scheduled. For information, logon to www.foothill.edu/kci.
