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MITA International Renewal Center Accomplish things never before accomplished by using parts of the brain never before used! |
President and Senior Vice President of the MITA Center
| Ellen Weber: CEO and President of MITA International Brain Based Center for Renewal in Secondary and Higher Education, author, lecturer and columnist. Combined with her experience in Multiple Intelligence research, university and high school teaching, a TV and radio guest, she brings international expertise to the MITA Center. Check our site to view recent articles, detailed CV, research interests, and information on Ellen's newest book [ October, 2005], MI Strategies in the Classroom and Beyond: Using Roundtable Learning Pearson Education; Student Assessment that Works: A Practical Approach (1999) Allyn & Bacon and Roundtable Learning (1997) Amazon.com. Ellen enhanced MITA through work with faculty in the High Arctic, Ireland, Canada, Caribbean, U.S., Chile, SA, and Mexico. Ellen received the Greater Rochester Quality Council's 2004 Award for Excellence. She chairs the Professional Development Committee for the new Regional Academy which is currently being designed by Dr. Bill Cala and other education leaders in the Rochester, NY area. |
| Robyn McMaster: Senior Vice President of the MITA International Brain Based Center focused on "Collaboration for Curricular Change" during her recent PhD research at University at Buffalo. Her research focused on Celebration of Knowledge as a way to explore and express knowledge in a wider community as a way to facilitate intelligence fair testing. During her research a teacher made a paradigm shift and students showed higher student participation and achievement in 11th grade classes. She recently taught MS faculty and leaders in Chongqing, China and UB Graduate Science using MITA Celebration as key to learning and assessment. Robyn currently is exploring the use of MITA methods to teach graduate students Online. The Greater Rochester Quality Council recognized Robyn's contributions in selecting her for its 2004 Award for Excellence. She serves on the Curriculum Committee for the new Regional Academy which is currently being designed by Dr. Bill Cala and other education leaders in the Rochester, NY area. |
History: The MITA Center arose from traditional secondary
education reforms in British
Colombia. After years of teaching
secondary school, Ellen Weber created a model to engage bored students. In 1994 Dr. Weber began
a quest to renew learning approaches that resulted in a Ph.D. dissertation.
She developed curriculum programs to revitalize education at upper
levels. Dr. Weber pioneered
application of Harvard's Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory
for secondary and higher education and "has inspired others to make similar
applications." (Quote by Howard Gardner) Since 1994 ideas from
MITA methods have influenced curriculum in the US and globally.
Teachers today often lack encouragement and support. Dr. Weber's vision to establish a global reform center offers great hope, not only for a needy local area, but for world arenas. Beginning in September 1999, Ellen began putting MITA Center vision and ideas into action along with Center Coordinator, Robyn McMaster.
When asked, "How did MITA begin and why is the MITA Center a next logical step to the reform efforts," Dr. Weber replied, "MITA is a collaborative attempt to work with other faculty and teachers to respond to education reform needs with an appropriate teaching and learning model. Over years of teaching high school I observed that change is a natural outcome from new information disseminated about the human brain. This fact moved me from a lecture approach to a MITA and problem-solving approach. I exchanged standardized tests for performance based and authentic assessments. My new brain based leaning and assessment methods were well received because they were founded from current facts about the brain. Results from using these approaches in high school and university provided motivation to continue reform work."