Eight California State University campuses recently received a total of more than $9.5 million from the U.S. Department of Education to train teachers to use technology in the classroom. The CSU campuses are: Bakersfield, Dominguez Hills, Fresno, Long Beach, Sacramento, Sonoma, San Diego and San Francisco.The grants will fund programs to incorporate technology training into teacher preparation programs, provide training to current teachers, and offer computer skills training to School of Education faculty at CSU campuses.

The CSU campuses are among more than 100 grantees across the country that will receive $128 million over the next three years as part of the "Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology" grants program. The program, which encourages partnerships among colleges, universities, elementary and secondary schools, community-based organizations and technology companies, will train 200,000 new teachers to become technology-proficient by the year 2003.

The following are brief descriptions of the CSU grants:

• Bakersfield - More than $971,000 to train student teachers in the best use of computers in the classroom, in conjunction with Apple Computer's California Learning Interchange.
  
  
• Dominguez Hills - More than $604,000 to help teacher candidates in all grade levels across the South Bay and South Los Angeles. The training will include using the Internet, applying Web-assisted courses, using computers to analyze tests, and understanding Power Point software.
  
  
• Fresno - $1.14 million to improve teacher candidates' skills in implementing technology into their teaching; prepare teachers to meet the technology learning needs of low-income, rural and minority students; improve the assessment of students' technology skills; and prepare selected students to become technology leaders in their future schools.
  
  
• Long Beach - $1.29 million to improve technology skills for School of Education faculty and students; infuse technology throughout basic teacher preparation programs; and expand access to computers for faculty and students.
  
  
• Sacramento - $1.2 million to redesign teacher preparation courses to take advantage of technology and to create new lessons for K-12 classrooms. The grant will be used in conjunction with a $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and a commitment from Apple Computers to provide technology training for local school administrators.
  
  
• Sonoma - $1.4 million to infuse technology into the instruction of future teachers; provide training and support for SSU faculty to master technology skills; and offer feedback on preparation of teacher candidates.
  
  
• San Diego - $1.5 million to develop and implement two interactive, Web-based multimedia instructional series. The first will develop instructional materials to improve high school students' reading skills, and the second will focus on additional subjects. During the third year of the grant, the project will be expanded through a series of 11 workshops to reach an estimated 6,600 teachers.

San Francisco - Nearly $1.4 million for the university's Department of Special Education to test and implement new and emerging technologies for use by regular and special learners. The project also will help redesign teacher education courses and ensure the integration of technology into all subject matter areas. In cooperation with Oracle Corporation and Apple Computers, the project will create the Community of Online Learners for continuous communication, access to resources, sharing of ideas and dissemination of new online learning materials.