Technology and Schools: The Future is Now
By Sharon P. Robinson, Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Education,
and
Laurence Peters, Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary, U.S.
Department of Education
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Imagine the School
of the Future
A set of functional buildings--light
and airy with the feel and look of a modern office building
but without the usual crowds of students moving every 40
minutes or so from classroom to classroom. Conventional
classrooms have been replaced with small comfortable rooms
filled with computer terminals on the perimeter and a large
video screen at the center. Chairs and tables move soundlessly
on rollers as needed. Other, smaller rooms offer one or
two comfortable chairs and desks, allowing groups of students
to discuss with an instructor their specific projects. In
other rooms learners use a studio setting to make video
presentations using slides and video they created.
Students vary in age. Sprinkled
among them are adults--teacher assistants, mentors, instructors
and other learners. In one room the large video screen displays
a workplace. The class is on-line with a manager who discusses
development of new educational software based on student
needs. In another room a teacher discusses a student's video
portfolio with a parent. The portfolio displays a variety
of quality work including a video of the student presenting
an exhibition of work to an audience of employers, subject
experts and community members. The portfolio includes
the student's achievement levels and identifies other units
and courses to be reviewed and practiced to improve performance.
The building is open all day, in
the evenings, and on the weekends. Students access the building,
as well as instruction and activities through magnetic ID
cards that record their activities and accomplishments through
the week, ensuring a minimum number of hours are spent studying
in groups and as an individual on prescribed core learning
tasks. Learners fulfill requirements through projects embedded
with defined discipline skills and of interest to the entire
community such as designing a new recreational area or recycling
center.
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Much of the technology to support this vision already exists. However,
fulfilling the vision will require an attitude shift among educators and
communities. The real gains occur when technology is used to perform tasks
differently--not to do what is already being done faster.
The vision of tomorrow's classroom points to three critical areas in
which technology allows us to change the nature of our work in ways that
enrich the learning process.
Technology:
individualizes curriculum, allowing students to study at their own
pace, according to their own needs and interests, as monitored by their
teachers and mentors.
allows students to engage in more authentic learning tasks. Easy
two-way video and digital technology connects learners with the community,
businesses, universities, museums and libraries throughout the globe.
assesses student work in ways that avoid the narrow and limiting
emphasis on standardized tests.
This last development is, arguably, the most transforming, and is
closer to coming to fruition than many people think. The age of the
electronic portfolio has dawned. Researchers like David Niguidula, with
the Coalition for Essential Schools at Brown University, have taken
the development of portfolio assessment about as far as anyone has taken
the concept. With a grant from IBM, Niguidula's group has worked with
six schools responding to the state's demand for portfolio assessment.
The schools wanted to manage student files efficiently through technology
and they wanted portfolios to be useful in guiding the curriculum and
advising students. The response was Digital Portfolio, a software developed
by the Coalition. Using a reform strategy call "Planning Backwards,"
the software asks the schools to answer three questions: 1. What should
all students in the school know and be able to do before graduating?
(Vision) 2. How could a student demonstrate these skills and knowledge?
(Exhibition) 3. How can the school systems (including its technology)
be arranged so that all students can fulfill those exhibitions? (Systems)*
Each school began thinking about critical questions central to any
effective school improvement strategy: What do we value and why? How
do we recognize learning and quality? To answer such questions, schools
created a committee of faculty, administrators, students and parents
to develop a vision of what each student should know and be able to
do.
The software provided a means to transform their vision into practice.
It also enabled strategic decisions to be implemented without the usual
lag time between idea and reality. From its main menu, a user can match
a student's demonstration of skill within the context of a particular
learning goal. The assignment is displayed at the same time.
The Department of Education actively encourages projects of this
sort through our "Challenge
Grants for Technology in Education." The Department has awarded
$9.5 million in grants to 19 communities in 16 states. The 19 school
districts work in partnership with a total of 134 other school districts
in 23 states. Each winning application included a local school district
acting within a strong consortium of partners to address community needs.
All the projects are designed to model ways we can break the mold
and use technology to transform the "factory feeling" of much of conventional
schooling. Some examples from around the country illustrate how our
grants are changing the nature of what's possible:
The Baltimore Learning Communities project - This project uses distance
learning, interactive cable TV and the Internet to connect schools to
homes, businesses and the community at large. In the workplace component,
two-way interactive video allows work supervisors at local businesses
to interact with educators to learn how to transform work experiences
into learning experiences. Bell Atlantic instructors, adept at the change
process, are working with Johns Hopkins University faculty to develop
the program.
White Cloud Michigan - In this remote rural area, almost half of
the students live in poverty. A consortium, committed to raising student
achievement, is providing critical learning resources such as high quality
distance learning courses, electronic work groups for teachers, and
an automated management system. Every teacher in the county will be
provided a personal classroom workstation; there are a minimum of four
workstations in each class for student use. As in Baltimore the fiber
optic cable network connects the school with the county seat, the hospital,
and libraries as well as private non-profit agencies and area businesses.
Philadelphia - Challenge Grant funding has made it possible to design
"virtual schools" using new communications systems that distribute curriculum,
instruction and assessment information electronically through on-line
centers of instruction. These electronic classrooms offer services to
adults seeking diplomas, homebound students, prison inmates and other
hard-to-reach populations.
The "Challenge Grants for Technology in Education" are aptly named.
They respond to America's challenge--to reinvent its system of schooling
for the next century. Advances in technology allow this transformation
to take place at a swifter and more invigorating pace than many of us
had ever imagined. In fact the vision described in the opening may soon
start sounding dated. There couldn't be a more exciting time to be involved
in education!
To learn more about the programs described in this article as
well as obtain current information about the Department of Education's
technology programs, contact:
INet. The U.S. Department of Education maintains a Gopher/FTP/World
Wide Web site that includes general information about the Department
and its programs, as well as directories of effective programs and education
related organizations; research findings and syntheses; publications
for teachers, parents, and researchers; and funding opportunities. INet
also offers links to ERIC and other Department of Education sponsored
Gophers and World Wide Web sites, including those maintained by the
Regional Educational Laboratories and the National Research Centers.
Gopher to gopher.ed.gov (or select North America-USA-General- U.S. Department
of Education from the All/Other Gophers menu on your system). If you
have a Web browser, open the URL and connect to
http://www.ed.gov.
Challenge
Grants for Technology in Education. Funds awarded through this
grant program will supplement the partners' investments by supporting
curriculum, professional development, and evaluations of educational
effectiveness. Approximately 12 grants will average $1 million per year,
four or five grants may range between $2 and $3 million per year. Challenge
grants are expected to be funded annually for five years. For more information,
contact the Interagency Technology Task Force, U.S. Department of Education,
600 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20202-5544, (202) 708-6001.
Star Schools Program. This multimillion dollar distance education
program is designed to improve instruction in various subjects through
technology use, particularly in schools serving low-income (Chapter
1) students and other traditionally underserved populations. More than
50,000 teachers, administrators, parents and policy makers have participated
in staff development and community development activities produced via
satellite, compressed video technology, fiber optics, videodisc, and
microcomputer based networks. For further information, contact Star
Schools, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research
and Improvement, 555 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20208; (202)
219- 2116.
Technology Resources Center. The Technology Resources Center
at the National Library of Education is a demonstration site for the
application of technology at all levels of education. The center offers
personalized demonstrations to educators and visitors of such cutting-edge
technology as satellite downlinks, interactive videodiscs, CD-ROM, and
the latest computer hardware and software. Appointments are encouraged,
but educators and the general public are welcome to walk in to the Center's
office at Capitol Place, 80 F Street NW, Washington, DC. Call (202)
219-1699 or write to 555 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20208-5725.
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