• The Application of Knowledge to Real-Life. I was very happy with how this project worked out.  Students learned to apply the psychological theories they learned in class to real-life case studies they listened to and read on the Internet.  The "Teenage Diaries" provided students with twelve teenagers from very diverse backgrounds and the teenagers' stories were intrinsically interesting.  I was also happy to find the "Prison Diaries" because my adolescent development course is now cross-listed with criminal justice and I think that the teenagers profiled in the "Prison Diaries" talk about experiences that are highly relevant for those majoring in criminal justice.
• Equitable Access to Technology. Because students all have access to computers on campus, even if they didn't have a computer at home they were able to explore the "Teenage Diaries" Web site at school and could print out a transcript of the diary to use for doing the assignment. The assignment did not require them to spend a long time in front of a computer, so I think it was an assignment accessible to all students.
• Student Ratings of the "Teenage Diaries" Assignment. 
I surveyed students (N = 20) in my winter 2002 adolescent psychology course and asked them to respond on a 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) to three statements. Their mean rating for being interested in reading and listening to the "Teenage Diaries" was 4.29.  Their rating for the assignment helping them to understand psychological theories was 3.95. The mean score for the "Teenage Diaries" helping them find out about people very different from them was 3.86.
• Students Using Technology Creatively. Only one student handed in his assignment on disk, so in the future I will try to encourage more students to use technology for creatively presenting their assignment.  Creativity was 15% of the grade on this assignment, so technology offers students other avenues for creative expression.  The tools of technology can be added to their creative repertoire, but, in order to be fair, open-minded, and cognizant of diverse student capabilities, I will not require the creative component to include technology and I will not penalize students for using creative tools that are not technological.

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Self-evaluation of Project #2:

• A Professional Appearance. After creating a professional-looking poster I wondered why I had not learned how to do so earlier. The amount of time it took to learn the technology, create the poster, and have the poster printed was a bit longer than it generally takes me to use my scissors, construction paper, and glue to create a poster, but the end result is so much more visually pleasing and professional.  Now that I've learned the process, I will be able to create future posters much more quickly. 
• The Financial Cost. The only problem with creating posters using this technology is that there is a financial cost for the product of about $55. Plus, I had to buy a $20 protective carrying case. My department does give me some professional development money each year, but I wonder if making a poster is truly the best way to spend some of that money.

Self-evaluation of Project #3:

• The Education of Student Assistants. An important aspect of this research project was that I was able to pay two undergraduates to help with data collection, coding, and input. Thus, two undergraduates learned in a hands-on manner about research design, data collection, data coding, and statistical analysis. They also were educated about gender role stereotyping and educational software design.  This research project afforded me the opportunity to mentor two psychology majors and provide them with valuable research experience.
• Journal Publication. For professional development it is important for me to conduct empirical research and then write up the findings to submit for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.  Because the topic of this study crosses over into many different research areas (e.g., gender roles, education, media, stereotyping, technology), there will be several different publication avenues to choose from.
• A New Area of Research. If it weren't for the MITTEN project, I never would have become so keenly aware of the gender stereotyping in educational software for young children and therefore never would have pursued this area of research. This study has required that I read literature in the areas of early childhood education, instructional technology, feminist theory, and cognitive psychology; therefore, the project has added to my professional development by increasing my interdisciplinary knowledge.