DeKALB | Technology can greatly improve a teacher’s ability to help students learn, according to a technology expo sponsored by the NIU College of Education.

The conference and expo was held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in the Holmes Student Center.

“This conference is about how teachers integrate technology into their classrooms, using technology as an instructional tool,” said Nicholas Mitchell, senior early childhood studies major.

Mitchell serves as a liaison for the Mary F. English Scholarship Program that helps teach students how to incorporate technology in the classroom and help them get more research about technology.

Mitchell said through the program, donors give 20 students free laptops each year. 

Shaleah Blackshear, senior special education major, is a scholarship recipient and a second-year student in the education program. All recipients create presentations for high school and college students who come to the event.

“I’m passionate about making a difference in the lives of others,” Blackshear said. “Self-education was the field I wanted to go into, and I’m preparing for graduation, so it’s definitely a great time.”

Sekou Noriega, sophomore business marketing major, isn’t studying education but said he came to support the speakers since they come from different departments like him.

“Even though education is a different field there are specific things you can learn from education that you can apply to different fields such as marketing,” Noriega said. “It’s good to get the experience from this field and try to use it in the field that I’m in.”

LaMetra Curry, College of Education coordinator for recruitment service, is also the director of the Mary F. English Scholarship Program. She said there are some students that are interested in the technology, workshops or the presentations. 

“I think that it’s very important that we see each other, and we see ourselves as teachers,” Curry said. “Teachers shape the minds, bodies and spirits of people that they engage with or they encounter.”