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John W. Porter Building

   Target: The unit has outstanding facilities on campus and with partner schools to support candidates in meeting standards.  Facilities support the most recent developments in technology that allow faculty to model the use of technology and candidates to practice its use for instructional purposes.

   The College of Education occupies and has responsibility for all of two buildings on campus and occupies a major part of a third.  The Geddes Town Hall School , located just west of the Porter Building, was constructed in 1895 in rural Washtenaw County and was used as a one-room school until 1957.  In 1987 it was moved to its present location and restored.  It is used for school tours, meetings, and special events.

   The Joseph E. Warner Physical Education Building, completed in 1964, is slightly to the north and west of the Porter Building.  Although other EMU units occupy part of the building, the facility houses the specialized spaces for the Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance—gymnasiums, dance studio, laboratories—and a few classrooms.  However, the department office and faculty offices are across the street in the Porter Building.  The building was named in honor of Joseph E. Warner, former member of the Michigan House of Representatives (Washtenaw County, Second District) and Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, who was influential in obtaining funds for this facility.

   On time and on budget, and during the summer of 1999, the College of Education moved into the $14 million renovated John W. Porter Building. With this move, COE units left some of the worst facilities on campus and are now housed in the most technological advanced building on campus. The building formerly housed the EMU Library.  It was named in honor of John W. Porter, former EMU president, former Michigan State Superintendent of Education, and highly distinguished African-American educator.

   The building contains 133,000 square feet and includes nearly 200 offices, 25 classrooms, six seminar rooms, a large computer laboratory, two large lecture halls, six (including the lecture halls) "smart" classrooms, a two-way compressed video conferencing studio, a large student lounge, and computer classrooms, among numerous other features.  Each faculty member has an individual office with built in features and Internet connectivity (two data drops).  Each department has a suite of offices, including a conference room and a work room.  Each classroom has at least four data drops, numerous electrical outlets, and window coverings.  The Porter Building is the only "wireless" building on campus.  

   For a floor plan of the building, click here. For a virtual tour of many of the features of the Porter Building, click here.

   The first floor, which is client centered, includes the COE Clinical Suite, the CATE Lab (Center for Adaptive Technology in Education), the Educational Resource Center, the Office of Collaborative Education, the offices of the Department of Special Education, a specialized computer laboratory for special education students, a classroom, work/storage space for the Geddes Town Hall School, and building service areas.  The west entrance to the building, on this floor, is especially designed with the needs of external clients in mind.

   The second floor of the building is student oriented. The south entrance to the building is used extensively by students and the entrance areas are enhanced with display cases, a mural, and the photos of the members of the Education Alumni Hall of Fame.  A large student lounge is located just off the south entrance, attractively furnished with lounge furniture. The student lounge is equipped with numerous electrical outlets and data drops, as well as with vending machines, a microwave, and other amenities.  Offices for student organizations are also on this floor.

   The second floor also contains the COE's Office of Academic Services—"one stop shopping" for the college's Advising Center, specialized educational placement services of EMU's Career Services Center, admission to the initial teacher preparation program, scholarship information, state certification testing information, student teaching, and many other such services.  One of the associate deans, the assistant dean, and the director of student teaching are housed in this suite.

   A special feature of the second floor of the Porter Building is the Bonisteel Computer Laboratory, which contains not only 126 computers (48 Macintosh, 78 PC's), 12 printers, nine scanners, and 11 video cameras, but much additional hardware and extensive software as well.  The Bonisteel Lab is open to all EMU students, although it is used primarily by professional education students.  The main lab area is surrounded by four technology intensive classrooms, one of which is a two-way, compressed video instructional/ conference room.

   The second floor contains a number of classrooms of various sizes, each with numerous electrical outlets and data drops, including two lecture halls, both of which have extensive technological features.  As funds can be obtained, many classrooms are being retrofitted with different furnishings and with permanently installed projectors and other permanently installed technology.  A set of classroom laptops on a cart is available from the Computer Lab and can be taken to any classroom in the building.  Since the building is now "wireless," these can be used to convert any classroom into a computer-intensive learning environment.     

   The third floor is faculty intensive, as it contains the departmental suites and individual faculty offices for the departments of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance; Leadership and Counseling; and Teacher Education.  The college administrative offices are located on this floor as well, along with a faculty/staff lounge. The third floor includes classrooms, including two large rooms, each with operable walls such that each area can be one large space or as many as four "standard" classrooms spaces. 

   Members of the faculty are substantially involved with the use of technology for the improvement of practice.  Some of our recent projects include:

• $200,000 Microsoft Grant in partnership with the Lincoln School District. This grant promises to impact both pre-service and in-service teachers by providing the most recent software that will infuse technology into the classroom.

• $75,000 Ameritech Award for student teachers/cooperating teachers.

• Michigan Teacher Network, State of Michigan/U.S. Department of Education Technology Literacy Challenge Fund.

• Consortium for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching with Technology (COATT), established under the leadership of Senator Carl Levin.

• TeacherLIB: Digital Community and Collections for Science and Mathematics Teacher Education.  National Science Foundation Digital Library Program.

• CATALISE: Consortium for the Application of Technology and Learning Innovations in Schools of Education, U.S. Department of Education Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology Program (PT3).

• InTIME: Integrating New Technologies Into the Methods of Education. U.S. Department of Education Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology Program (PT3).

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