The New Jersey Association for Educational Technology awarded Gregg Festa of Oakland, NJ its 2007 NJ Technologist of the Year Award at its annual meeting on May 8 at the Department of Education in Trenton. Festa is the Director of the ADP Center for Teacher Preparation and Learning Technologies at Montclair State University.

The NJAET presents its award annually to a person who has made an outstanding contribution in the field of educational technology. Festa founded the ADP Center, a state-of-the-art facility that provides over 20,000 pre-service and in-service teachers with facility, curricular, pedagogical, research, and professional development support.

Festa has written extensively on the design, construction, testing and utilization of learning spaces that incorporate educational technology. He has been instrumental in integrating new and emerging technologies such as wikis, digital storytelling, and web 2.0 tools.

In addition to his responsibilities at the ADP Center, Festa has been highly active in aligned educational technology projects, including:

Silk City Media Workshop, an after-school digital media program for 180 inner city middle school students who are at-risk of serious problems such as gangs and dropping out of school. free online mini-workshops for teachers covering a range of topics from integrating literature in mathematics to mentoring new teachers.

a digital backpack program being funded by a Verizon grant that provides innovative educational technology tools for pre-service teachers.

co-chairing the NJEDGE statewide video conferencing initiative. The NJAET appreciates the efforts of Gregg Festa and others who work long hours to help the students of New Jersey learn with the assistance of educational technology.