Weber School District, Project #1

During the 2005-2006 school year, thereNow conducted a $500,000 U.S. Department of Education-funded research project. The purpose of this research was to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of the telepresence-enabled coaching model of teacher professional development.

Rachel McAnallen, a math expert located in Denver, Colorado provided coaching to teachers at Pioneer Elementary in Ogden, Utah via telepresence.

Weber School District, Project #2

During the 2006-2007 school year, thereNow installed telepresence equipment in the home office of reading comprehension expert Stephanie Harvey. This enabled her to deliver coaching and professional development to teachers at Club Heights Elementary, Ogden Utah.

Project IRIS

In June, 2007, thereNow was funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to further develop the observational component of thereNow's cognitive apprenticeship model.

The objective of this $850,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant is to design and research the hardware and software necessary to enable classroom observation. thereNow is currently testing the first prototype of this system, called IRIS.

Over the next 2 years, thereNow will continue to develop and then research the effect of IRIS on teacher professional development and student achievement.

Click here to view a short video demonstration of IRIS. [Quicktime]