Educational Foundations, Research, and Technology (EFRT)

Education Department
152 Gildemeister Hall (507) 457-5360; Fax: (507) 457-5354
Education Department website
Chairperson: Rhea Walker
Graduate Faculty: Eckerson, Reineke, Walker, Wysocki.

Nancy Ann Eckerson, Professor; BS, MS, Minnesota State University-Mankato; PhD, Iowa State University; 2000 –
James Reineke, Associate Professor; BA, BS, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; PhD, Michigan State University; 1996 –
Rhea Walker, Associate Professor; BS, MA, University of Northern Iowa; PhD, Iowa State University; 2004 –
Nicholas Wysocki, Assistant Professor; BA, MA, Western Illinois University; PhD, The University of Iowa; 2009 -

Technology (EFRT) area offers graduate courses in the psychological, social, and philosophical foundations of education. These courses make up the professional core of many education programs in the college of education. Through these courses, we help students understand the role and purpose of public education in a democratic society, contemporary theories of human learning and development and their implications for classroom instruction, the construction and interpretation of teacher-generated and standardized assessments, the contexts from which students come, in which they learn, and to which they return, and to become critical consumers of educational research.

In addition, EFRT offers graduate courses in the effective use of technology in classroom instruction. These courses explore the impact of technology on human learning and behavior, its ability to expand students’ access to information, reduce the cognitive requirements of classroom tasks, and demonstrate students’ understanding through various media.