Okay. I'd like to welcome everybody to our conversation
with Addie Kinsinger. Addie is from Arizona and has
been a staunch supporter of AECT for decades. And
the point of our interview in our discussion with added
today is to let's get to know her a little
bit and what she's all about, how she got
involved with a E C T, how she got
there and what are some of her feelings as to
what the technology is going to be like today?
So first we say hello to you, Addie and
welcome. And let's begin by a few comments as
to your original background. How did you get to
Arizona? And from where got to Arizona? Because
my husband was hired as the provost at Arizona State
University. We had been in mission at michigan state
University for Probably 25 years. Um, I think
prior to that I had been a teacher in new
york state in pennsylvania and in Ohio short one or
two years because we were finishing degrees and various places
and had to give equal time to each partner.
Um I always wanted to be a teacher from the
time I was fourth grade and I had a horrible
teacher and so I decided I could teach better than
she could. My goal to go to college was
what drove me through all the rest of my elementary
and high school years. Um I was successful in
getting a scholarship to a private college in Ohio,
very small one Hiram College and had what I thought
was a fantastic, almost individualized education because it was
small. We got to know our professors and I
really enjoyed being there. I ate up every moment
of it had what I thought was a fantastic education
approved. We will, I started to teach and
I taught math, high school economics, history and
then in michigan and decided to go back to school
, get a masters to a am library science which
I started that and worked on at the same time
I decided to do to look into what they had
available michigan state University. Um They convinced me to
get involved in their program which is one of the
most outstanding ones in the United States. People like
charlie Schueler can't cast of some early Jordan son and
the people who wrote the textbooks that we were using
were invited to be guests at a six week program
funded by the National Defense Education Act. And this
is in Somewhere in 1965 that changed my life in
terms of being introduced act. I heard about it
from almost every one of the guest speakers and I
got very very thrilled about during the the group and
getting involved at that time. I E C T
. Wasn't called E C. T. What was
it called? I haven't the slightest idea. I
don't remember ever being called anything else. It was
called the Department of audiovisual instruction. It was a
subset of the National Education Association. Yes, I
know that part. Yeah. And and so in
any event there you were working with the T.
As well call it. And what was it that
kept you there? You've been there ever since this
decade? Well because the people that I met like
like um charlie, schueler and woody miller and Um
early in Jordan 10 kind of just open doors for
me. What are you interested in addy? What
would you, how can we help you pursue your
interests? And I found it to be um I'm
an opportunist. I just kind of jumped in with
both feet and said okay I'm ready, let's go
. You're beginning to profiles and behaviors though? On
the part of those early leaders. Oh yes,
seem to repeat themselves. They were available. Uh
, you know, um, I was a stranger
a teacher. Um, the thing that was exciting
about all of that is that I learned how to
do things like write grants. I went back to
my school district started writing grants and got every possible
kind of equipment that I could put in the schools
that we're going to introduce them to. Anything that
could be called media technology. And then I had
to teach them how to use it, which meant
I had to learn how to use it. And
where was that? In Okayama switch, uh,
community just outside of Lansing. Michigan is Lansing where
michigan state is. Um, it was an exciting
time for me and it was an exciting time for
the school district. The, the uh, superintendent
was so generous with funding in the school board giving
me pretty much heart blanche to just go ahead and
equip. They built schools with media centers in them
. They built uh for language labs. They built
science labs. They got all kinds of things to
teach, improve the teaching of mathematics. Okay.
How could you not be excited about that? And
you're you're using new terms to, because you mentioned
media center and of course in in the early times
that wasn't called that there wasn't one. Absolutely not
. But Dick, I'm my media centre was the
center of the school. It was the center of
learning and I was a teacher as well as being
um the person who put it all together. Okay
so take us now into more of the more recent
future. What has what's been the track of your
uh work within a E. C. T.
I know you started as a member. Well how
did you get to be president of babies? Oh
my well In 69 I decided that I needed the
Joint Act. and Willie Miller dragged me the convention
and he said no what are you really interested in
? And I said okay government relations legislation at the
national level how I can impact whatever is going to
happen in schools to improve education. But mostly I
want to learn about learning. Then the next thing
that happened was um I went to I remember Mr
CT Convention since then that was 1969 I went to
every convention and after the second or 3rd 1 you
know all of us and I'm in charge of the
Government relations Committee. Uh and then I'm in charge
of leadership because those are things that are dear to
me. And of course with that kind of stepping
stone from chairing a program or chairing a a a
task force, you moved in up the leadership ladder
until at some point the folks seem to think that
you would make a pretty good president. Yes.
And you became one. Yes. And now looking
at the present, how things changed between then and
now I've gotten better, stronger, um expanded the
realm of oh, committee and task force, things
that are done, that effect are learning affect the
use of technology and how it impacts learning. I
I have maintained all along that it has, you
have to grow up with what's happening in the world
, not just your own little classroom. And so
you have moved from the presidency now to be involved
with the SCP Foundation, which is the charitable arm
of the organization. As we begin to close out
this interview, what do you feel is important in
that role? Well, the reason I wanted to
get involved was the fact that I want to do
for other young people, what had been available to
me. I got a scholarship that changed my world
literally and helped me reach my goals. I wanted
to be able to do that and I figured,
okay, there's an organization I can be a part
of and I can be, People keep telling me
I have a lot of enthusiasm. Well, I
figured I could use some of that enthusiasm to go
out and do the royal ross stuff that's necessary to
raise funds and um, I believe strongly in the
scholarship program and the intern program and I always want
to be involved in it as much as I can
be. And you certainly have been, and it
has been a distinct honor to have had these few
moments with you. And I'm hopeful that the students
who will be viewing this and the others who see
it will get a sense of why it is that
Adam Kinzinger is still a stalwart supporter of A E
. C. T. Thank you so much for
being with my pleasure. It's been my reward.
And year after year, I know that uh I
devote a lot of time to U. C.
T. And I want to continue to do that
. We hope you do and thank you. You're
welcome. It's been a pleasure.