8:02 a.m., Oct. 8, 2009----The Association of Teacher Educators has announced that Chrystalla Mouza, associate professor in the University of Delaware School of Education, is the recipient of the 2010 Distinguished Research in Teacher Education award. This yearly award is designed to honor the highest quality research in the field of education across the country.

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“I was pleasantly surprised and honored to be the recipient of such a prestigious award at this stage in my career,” said Mouza. “This is not an early career award, which means scholars from all ranks can submit their work.”

For Mouza's entry, her paper was entitled, “Does Research-Based Professional Development Make a Difference? A Longitudinal Investigation of Teacher Learning in Technology Integration.” The article was published in Teachers College Record earlier this year.

Mouza says she received a letter from the chair of the Awards Committee this past May, indicating that her article had been nominated. She says she was extremely surprised to receive attention so quickly because her article had just been published.

Mouza's research integrated aspects of teacher education, learning technologies, and the learning sciences. It explored how teachers learn to combine technological tools with their teaching and how technology-mediated learning environments support teacher and student learning.

A large portion of her work explored ways in which urban teachers used technology with disadvantaged students in order to improve their access to digital resources and to create an enriched learning environment.

“I believe the work reported in the article is very important because few studies exist to date that examine teacher learning and practice for more than a year, in order to understand the sustainability and growth of professional development gains,” said Mouza. “Findings from my work can help educators, researchers and policy makers, especially those directly involved in the design and implementation of professional development programs, on the use of technology.”

The work reported in the article was partly funded by a post-doctoral fellowship from the Educational Testing Service and a general University research grant from the University of Delaware.

Mouza will receive a plaque and present her work at the Association of Teacher Educators 2010 Annual Meeting in Chicago in February.

Article by Cassandra Kramer