In addition to major instructional and research programs, the College of Education provides service to K-State faculty and students, local schools, and a variety of other entities in the state and region.
Specific services of the College of Education are provided or coordinated through the following centers.
Activities designed to address the unique educational needs of small schools and rural communities in Kansas and the plains states are the major focus of this center. Its basic services as ongoing endeavors are in research—to identify unique needs, effective techniques, and decision-making processes—and assistance programs centered on the development, coordination, and delivery of information and services. Development and maintenance of links with local schools and state and federal agencies are important functions of the center. A highly successful annual conference on rural education and small schools has attracted national attention and was initiated by the center and the College of Education.
The Catalyst provides a range of services, instruction materials, and audiovisual equipment for the college's faculty and students. Professional quality materials, such as tapes, overheard transparencies, slides, films, digital photography, brochures, CDs, DVDs, fliers, and displays are produced for faculty members. Students use the Catalyst to prepare similar materials for use in class projects and student teaching. Audiovisual equipment of many types is maintained and provided by the Catalyst along with training, desktop support, technology integration into classroom environments, and support for college applications.
The Catalyst provides a full range of computer and computer services for use in instructional media classes and professional use. The facilities include computers with word processing, database, presentation, spreadsheet, communication, and digital video programs. Applications and equipment are also available for multimedia presentations with the use of hypermedia and other presentation capabilities along with desktop publishing. Portable workstations and mobile labs with most computer functions are available for use in Bluemont Hall.
The Catalyst offers a video production studio and state-of-the-art video and audio recording capabilities. These are designed to help instructors develop classroom communication technologies and interactions.
The Catalyst also houses the Midwest Educational Assistance Center (MEAC) library containing multicultural resources for K-12 public schools districts in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska as well as College of Education educators and pre-service students. This collection contains videos, books, magazines, posters, games, and multimedia resources.
The Catalyst has space for individual student and small group learning activities, video investigation, and use of computer and instructional materials. Also housed in this center is an interactive video conference unit for instructional collaboration.
Administratively housed in the College of Education, the Center for Science Education is a university-wide vehicle for marshalling and coordinating K-State's historically independent and compartmentalized endeavors in science, mathematics, technology, and environmental education. Groups of faculty affiliates specializing in science, mathematics, computer science, educational technology, and environmental education from across and beyond the K-State campus come together to address teaching and learning issues.
The center's mission is to improve the quality of science, mathematics, and technology teaching and learning throughout Kansas, the prairie states, and the nation from kindergarten through the PhD level. The center facilitates collaboration among individuals and units on and off campus to conduct research; develop curriculum materials, pedagogical strategies, and organizational mechanisms; demonstrate their effectiveness in model school sites; and disseminate the latest knowledge to an audience of school administrators, teachers, researchers, other professionals, parents, and citizens in non-formal educational settings.