DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 383 484 RC 019 678 TITLE On-Line Learning Technologies:Networking in the Classroom. Rural, Small SchoolsNetwork Information Exchange No. 16, Summer 1994. INSTITUTION Regional Laboratory forEducational Improvement of the Northeast 6 Islands,Andover, MA. SPONS AGENCY Office of EducationalResearch and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC. PUB DATE 94 CONTRACT RP91002008 NOTE 110p. PUB TYPE Collected Works General (020)
EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Computer MediatedCommunication; *Computer Networks; *Computer Uses in Education;Distance Education; Educational Benefits; EducationalChange; Educational Technology; Elementary SecondaryEducation; *Financial Support;Grantsmanship; Higher Education; *Online Systems; ProgramDescriptions; *Rural Education; Telecommunications IDENTIFIERS *Internet
ABSTRACT This packet includes reprints of articles andother information concerning the use of computer networks in small,rural schools. Computer networkscan minimize isolation; develop links to the community; stronger access reference information fromremote sources; and create professionaland academic exchanges for administrators, and students. teachers, The five sections of thepacket cover introduction to networking, funding, implementation ofnetworking technology in the classroom, issues such as equitableaccess and staff development, andresources. Articles include: (1) "The Executive Educator's CompleteGuide to the Internet" (Lars (2) "Restructuring Kongsbem); for Learning withTechnology: The Potential for Synergy" (Karen Sheingold); (3)"Plug into a Network" (Doug Linden, Larry Clark); Vander (4) "Network-BasedCollaborations: How Universities Can Support K-12 Reform Efforts" (John Clement);(5) "Funding Electronic Classrooms" (Arlene Krebs); (6) "Allabout Grants: Where to Get Them, How to Get Them, and Profilesof Schools and Districts That Have Been Forever Changed--for theBetter--after Getting Them" (Gwen Solomon); (6) "Education Online:Interactive K -12 Computing" (Edward J. Valauskas); (7) "Technology Asa Vehicle for Transformation" (Lynn Murray and others); (8) "Developinga Telecommunications Curriculum forStudents with Physical Disabilities" (Terry S. Gandell,Dorothy Laufer);(9) "Doing Science in the Electronic School District" (James D. Lehmanand others); (10) "A Community of Learning" (Geriann Marie Walker); (11)"Education On-Line" (Yvonne Marie Andres); (12) "Telecommunications:Avoiding the Black Hole" (Margaret Riel); (13) "Linking NorthwestSchools to the Internet" (Lee Sherman Caudell); (14) "Could Computer UseBe a Form of Tracking?" (Ike Coleman); (IS) "Electronic Networkingand the Construction of Professional Knowledge"(Gary D. Watts, Shari Castle); (16) "Blinded by Science" (Tom Snyder);(17) "Alternative Assessment: Putting Technology to theTest" (Isabelle Bruder);and (18) "Responsible Citizenship in the Electronic Community"(Sally Webster, Frank W. Connolly). The last section listsresources, including companies providingon-line services, information resources, funding organizations and ideas,books and articleson the Internet, and journals related toeducational techkuptogy. (LP) RURAL, SMALL SCHOOLS NETWORK INFORMATION EXCHANGE
Number 16
ON-LINE LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES: NETWORKING IN THE CLASSROOM
The Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast & Islands
U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ce 0. Educioqa: Rescich and 1,-nposemen: EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organi/alion originating II Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality
Points o! were or opinions stated in this document do not necessarity represent olf ioral OERI position or pohcv
This publication is based on work sponsored wholly or in part by the U.S. Department ofEducation under contract number RP91002008. The content of the publication does not necessarily reflectthe views of the department or any other agency of the U.S. Government.
BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 12 The Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast E- Islands Summer 1994
Dear Rural, Small School Educator.
Imagine a school where students talk with geneticists, biologists, chemists, historians,or writers across the countryor the worldto find the most current knowledge on their science, social studies or English project. Imagine students developing effective communication and study skills by collaborating on research with peers and teachers via electronic mailor exploring sources of information on a database. These networking technology projects are a reality in many rural, urban, and suburban schools around the country.
These networksoften spoken of as "the information superhighway"or, in reference to education, as the creation of a "global village"will affect the very nature of learning, teaching and knowledge. This Information Exchange Packet is compiled inresponse to the efforts to bring students, educators, and administrators online andto address ongoing restructuring endeavors in schools. The advantages to this kind of communicationsystem, particularly in rural schools, include minimizing isolation, developingstronger links to the community, accessing reference information fromremote sources, and creating professional and academic exchanges for teachers, administrators and students.
This packet, 'divided into five sections,covers practical and theoretical concerns in this area. The first section consists of introductory articles which givegeneral explanations of networking. In the second section are articles on funding, perhaps themost important concern for rural and small schools. The third section describes classrooms and schoolswhere networking technology is being implemented. Issues suchas equitable access, ethical use, assessment, and staff development are examined in the fourthsection. The last part of this package is a resource list of computers and education iournals, informationalorganizations and online services available to schools.
With our packet we hope toconvey the enormous potential in linking student to student, school to school, and to encourage educatorsto begin their investigation and implementation of successful and innovative technologies. We haveincluded an evaluation card foryour comments on this information packet and we also welcomeyour suggestions for future topics. Please note any ideas thatyou may have on this card or contact us at the Rural, Small Schools Network, 83 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, NIA01776, (508) 443-7991.
Sincerely,
ohn R. Sullivan, Jr., Ed.D. Rudi M. Bayley Program Director Associate Program Director Rural, Small Schools Network Rural, Small Schools Network
Seri \ett EILL:Itind\ett Ind\Put.rto RI «).dm!tin, L.S. l irgin
300 Brickstone Square. Suite 900 .-Iiidover.ILI 01810 (508) 470-0098 Fax (508)475-9220 BEST COPY AVAILABLE CONTENTS
ON-LINE LEARNING: NETWORKING IN THE CLASSROOM
Section F Overview of Networking Technology in Education
"Complete Guide to the Internet," by Lars Kongshem in The ExecutiveEducator, April, 1994.
"Restructuring for Learning With Technology: The Potentialfor Synergy," by Karen Sheingold in Phi Delta Kappan, September, 1991.
"Plug into a Network," by Doug Vander Linden and Larry Clarkin The Executizr Educator, February, 1994.
Section II: Funding of Technology in Schools
"Network-Based Collaborations: How Universities CanSnpport K-12 Reform Efforts," by John Clement in Educom Review, January/February, 1992.
"Funding Electronic Classrooms," by Arlene Krebs inThe Electronic School, September, 1993.
"All About Grants: Whereto Get Them, How to Get Them, and Profiles of Schools and Districts That Have Been Forever ChangedForthe BetterAfter Getting Them," by Gwen Solomon in Electronic Learning Special Edition,February, 1993.
Section III:Ideas for Networking in the School andClassroom
"Education Online: Interactive K-12 Computing,"by Edward J. Valauskas in Online, July,1993.
"Technology as a Vehicle for Transformation,"by Lynn Murray, Al Myers, Gary Howard, Bernard Caron, and Julie Longcharnp-Fay in Teaching and Learning with Technology,a video- based staff development program by Association for Supervision and CurriculumDevelopment, 1994.
"Developing a Telecommunications Curriculum for Students with PhysicalDisabilities," by Terry S. Gandell and Dorothy Lauferin Teaching Exceptional Children., Winter, 1993.
"Doing Science in the ElectronicSchool District," by James D. Lehman,John P. Campbell, Michael Ha lla, and Cherie B. Lehman in The Journal of Computers inMathematics and Science Teaching, Volume 11, 1992.
"A Community of Learning,"by Geriann Marie Walker inThe journal of Research in Rural Education, Volume 9, Number1, Spring, 1993. "Education On-Line," by Yvonne Marie Andres in The Executive Educator, June, 1993.
"Telecommunications: Avoiding the Black Hole," by Margaret Rid in The Computing Teacher, December/January, 1992.
"Linking Northwest Schools to the Internet," by Lee Sherman Caudell in Northurst Regional Educational Laboratory Neusktter Special Report, February, 1994.
Section IV: Issues in Technology and Education
"Could Computer Use Be a Form of Tracking?" by Ike Coleman in Education Week, April 17, 1991.
"Electronic Networking and The Construction of Professional Knowledge," by Gary D. Watts and Shari Castle in Phi Delta Kappan, May, 1992.
"Blinded by Science" by Tom Snyder in The Executive Educator, March, 1994.
"Alternative Assessment Putting Technology to the Test," by Isabelle Bruder in Electronic Lansing, January, 1993.
"Responsible Citizenship in the Electronic Community," by Sally Webster and Frank W. Connolly in Educom Review, May/June 1993.
Section V: Resources in Networking Technology
Companies Providing On-line Services for Education
Teachers and Administrators On-line
Information Resources Alternative Assessment and Technology Special Education and Technology Resources
Funding Organizations and Ideas
Books and Articles on the Internet
"Telecommunications Terminology," insert fromarticle "Linking Northwest Schools to the Internet," by Lee Sherman Caudell in NorthwestRegional Educational Laboratory Neusktter Special Report, February, 1994.
Journals Related to Technology in Education
t) SEC NON I: OVERVIEW OF NETWORKING TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION
6 Reprinted with permission from The ExecutiveEducator, April 1994. Copyright 1994, the National School Boards Association, all riahtsreserved. The Executive Educator's
COMPLETE GUIDE TO
THE INTERNET
By tars Kongshem
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A visualization study of the NSFNETthe Internet's National ScienceFoundationfunded research and education backbone network-4one by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications showstraffic volume from low (purple) to high (white).
ou've probably heard the buzz about theInternet: It's the hottest information andcom- munications tool of the '90s: its spawning thenational information superhighway;and pioneering elementary and secondary schoolsacross the country aren't waiting for the fun.trethey're connectingto it now. Last year. the Internet rose from obscurity to household word. Within thespace oflit- tle more than 12 months. what hadlong been of interest mainlyto scientists and uni- yersiry researcherswas suddenly in the public spotlight,as newspapers, magazines, television news shows. Vice PresidentAl Gore, even the Doonesbury its praises. comic strip sang Today. more and more schoolchildren are using the Internet in theirclassrooms to corre-3 Lars Kongshem inorgegivaccess.digetneti is editonal assistant for The Executive Educator, BEST COPY AVAILABLE 1 7 1'0 / I ,,vo ein e spond electronically with peers in distant countries and Armed with this technology, the Internet has evolved . nearby towns. collaborate on projects across continents, into a global electronic village that celebratesopen query scientists for the latest discoveries, and retrieve cess to information and learning. Today,its the vi text, data, and images from university and government largest public. cooperative, wide-area computer host computers scattered across the globe. work. Though no one knows exactly how many people Some critics question the wisdom of exposing stu- have Internet accounts, current estimates peg thenum- dents to uncensored information and opinions from all ber at close to 20 million users. corners of the world, but savvy educators are learning The phrase -a network of networks" is often used to ways to tap into the vast educational potential of the describe the Internet. In fact, the Internet is notone Internet while steering clear of danger areas that can physical entity; rather, it is a cooperative agreement land a school district in trouble. (See "Cybersex and among a multitude of government, public, and com- Other Internet Hazards," page 64.) mercial computer networks to connect to each other in What's more, administrators and teachers are taking a standardized way so as to share resources and infor- advantage of this "mother of all computer networks" mation. themselves, breaking free of geographic and profes- The Internet works because all computers con -'ected sional isolation to discuss common concerns and de- to it have agreed to speak the same language:. Trans- velop joint curriculum projects with a worldwidecom- mission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, orTCP /IP munity of like-minded colleagues. And they're finding for short. This cooperation has created a global web of that on-line resources for professional and personal de- computer networks that interconnects computers of all velopment are just a few keystrokes away. shapes and sizes, from Cray supercomputers and multi- So just what exactly is the Internet? How do you get user mainframes to desktop PCs and Macs. . connected? And what can the Internet offeryou and Physical communication links among computerson your schools?"The Executive Educator'sComplete the participating networks and among connectednet- Guide totheInternet" will tell you what you need to works runthegamut from telephone lines and fiber- know to get started. optic cable to radio and satellite transmissions. Yet to the user, the Internet appears as one gigantic, seamless, From the Cold War to the classroom virtual network. New networks are joining the Internet at the rate of The Internet's roots go back a quartercentury to a Pen- one every 10 minutes, and for every network that i tagon research project to develop military computer the usefulness of the Internet increases. Ina si networks sufficiently robust to survive World War III. yearfrom October 1992 to October 1993the Interi..,
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the Internet interconnects 2million computers worldwide, and thousands of these computers providefree public access to a wealth of on-line resources and information. Email gateways to smaller non-profit and commercial computer networks allow users in 137countries to exchange electronic mail. doubled in size. to 16.500 networks connecting a total livening other useful services that have immediate appil- of 2 million computers in 62 countries. canons in the classroom. The Internet has achieved critical mass: It has be- One such use is the mailing list, also knownas a come the standard for public computer network com- ulistserv." A mailing list allows any number of people munications by virtue of its sheer size. From the U.S. who share an interest in a specific topicto participate Department of Education in Washington to teachers and in a discussion forum via e-mail. It works like this: students in Texas; from reformers in Moscow to re- When you send e-mail to the mailing list address.your searchers in Antarctica, communicating using the Inter- message is broadcast automatically to everyone who net is becoming the norm. has subscribed to the list. Although the U.S. gov- Replies can be made in ernment subsidizes some public to the list. or in of the Internet's major ar- pnvate by responding di- teries for the research and rectly to the person who education community, the sent the message. Some Internet is not free: All mailinglists even dis- participating networks pay tribute electronic news- for their own individual letters. pieces ofit.However, Why use e-mail and most of theInternet's .14 mailing lists in schools? costs are fixeda situa- Research and anecdotal tionideallysuitedto t evidence have shown that schools. Once you've paid students who write for an forthe connection,it audience of their peers on makeslittledifference the Net are more highly whetheritsitsidle or motivated and produce whether your students higher quality work than spend all day retrieving students whose writing information from a com- assignments will be read puter in Tokyo. only by their teacher. Last fall. the California -We have third-graders Department of Education who are connecting with officially adopted the use 8-year-olds in Guadala- oftheInternetfor jara, Mexico, and eleventh- statewide electronic com- Typical of the Images you can access through the Internet is this view of the Hubble Space Telescope. (max photo courtesy of NASA, the Smithsonian graders who are discussing munications and recom- Institution, and Lockheed Corporation. To access: ftpdttnic.gstc.nasa.gov gun control with students mended that school dis- in Tokyo, Japan," says tricts and county offices of education follow suit: Leigh Zeitz (zettzduni.edu), instructional technology "Planning today to become part of [the Internet] will coordinator at the Malcolm Price Laboratory School in position schools and districts to take advantage of Cedar Falls. Iowa. (Zeitz s comments. and those ofsev- statewide. national. and global communicationsoppor- eral other educators throughout this guide.came to The tunities tomorrow," the department says. E_vecutie Educator via Internet e-mail inresponse to a query posted on several mailing lists.) Getting your message across the Net The Internet abounds with collaborative K-12pro- jects. often based on mailing lists, that involve students On the Net. as network gurus liketo call the Internet. in writing and sharing their work with ocher students one of themost useful and leastcomplicated things to worldwide--everything from simple pen-pal exchanges do is send electronic mail. Unlike mail you send using to multidisciplinary projects that involve science.geog- the L: S. Postal Service ("snail mail."in the vernacular of raphy. and different cultures. (Fora list of ongoing pro- the Net). Internet e-mail Is delivered in seconds. even jects and how tojoin them, see "Curriculum Projects on toother continents. It beats faxing,too. because you meNet." page 60.) don t have to pay extra for long distance. For teachers and administrators, e-mail and mailing Internet e-mail addresses might lookcryptic at first lists provide the perfect medium for networking glance. yet they all follow the in the same simple structure: a human sense, a way to discussconcerns and solutions users log-tn name. followed by the "t" sign, followed to problems that are shared across district, state, and by the name of the host computer theuser has an ac- national boundaries. count on. The name is expressed in a string of "do- Barry Rowe (broweOncsa.uiuc.edu), who teaches mains" separated by periods. (Domainsare simply a hi- chernistri and hypermedia at Champaign Centennial erarchical method of naming and categorizing host High School in Champaign, Ill., participates inInternet computers on the Internet.) For example. President Bill mailing lists to keep abreast ofnew developments in Clinton s e-mail address is prestdentwintehouse.got,-- chemistry and teaching methods, "Our arid Yes. youcan write to him. current discus- E-mail is a very versatile mediuminvaluable sion is on multiple-choice questions, and I am treated for in- as an equal by the college teachers. This is veryre- stant personal correspondence, yet also capable ofdeg warding professionally," Rowesays. Joyce M. Kendall (J kendallanhner.unb.ecle), a li- Folks who subscribe to commercial and nonprofit , brary media specialist at the Fall Mountain Regional networks that are not part of the Internet can inmoe High School in Alstead, N.H., subscribes to a school li- cases exchange e-mail with Internet users. thanks brary media mailing list. 'Now a lone librarian in a rural computerized gateways that automatically translate school district is no longer isolated," she says. -Within incompatible message formats. This arrangement allow easy reach are hundreds of other school librarians with those who are not on the Internet to participate in mail- (whom! to communicate about what software has been ing lists, too, uniting people in 137 countries in a global the most trouble free, how other school districts handle e-mail community (see diagram on page 56). specific policies, and so on. I cannot imagine life with- Mailing lists do have the potential to swamp your out the Internetno way." (For a sampling of useful personal mailbox with a deluge of messages, and that mailing lists and how to subscribe, see "The Global places a practical limit on the number of lists you'll Water Cooler: Mailing Lists and Newsletters," below.) want to subscribe to; e-mail is not ideally suited to
THE GLOBAL WATER COOLER: MAILING LISTS AND NEWSLETTERS
To subscribe to one of the mailingsuitable for children; collaborative resource for K-12 educators and lists below, follow the instruc- projects at the national and interna-students. Conversation concerns all tions provided, using your first tional level; and network access foraspects of school networking, in- and last name where indicated. Youthe handicapped. cluding anncuncements and news, will receive a message in return To subscribe, send e-mail to eecussions, and calls for help or that confirms your subscription; thiskidspbere-requestems.cis.pittedu collaboration. This is a great place message will also instruct you how with the command subscribe to learn from others who are using to post messages to the list and kidspberefirstname lastname on the Internet in schools. how to end your subscription, so the first line of the message. Leave To subscribe. send e-mail to be sure to save this information for the subject field blank. listprocayukon.cren.org with the later reference. The procedure is Middle schools mailing list.. command subscribe cosndisc first- the same for newsletters, with the The MIDDLE-1i list is a discussion name lastname on the first line of exception that you may only re- forum for anyone who is interestedthe message. Leave the subject ceivenot postmessages. in middle schools and middle-level field blank. K-12 school administration education--including administra- High-bandwidth K-12 Inter- mailing list. The Kl2ADMIN list tors, teachers. school library media net access mailing list. The provides a discussion forum for K- specialists, and parents. SUPERK12 list seeks to promote the 12 school administratorsinclud- To subscribe, send e-mail to implementation and use of high- ing superintendents. assistant su- listservOttmd.cso.itiitc.edu with the bandwidth (56K or T1) Internet petsntendents, principals, vice command subscribe middle-I first- connections and supercornputing principals, central and county of- name lastname on the first line of resources in the K-12 environment. fice administrators, and others. the message. Leave the subject Want a T1 line to your school? Got Conversation focuses on topics of field blank.. one? Want to collaborate on pro- interest to school administrators. School library media mailing jects with similarly equipped including school management. cur- list. The 1..N_NET list is a discussionschools and r.;.ithnal research labo- riculum. services. operations. tech- forum for the school library media ratories that have supercompuung nology. and activities. community. Conversation topics in- resources to spare? Get on this list, To subscribe. send e-mail to clude the latest in school library To subscribe, send e-mail to listserrgstion.syredu with the media services, operations. andac- iistserv@stasneseeseeln with the command subscribe k12admin tivities, as well as idea sharing, command subscribe superk12 first- firstneune lastname on the first line problem solving. and announce- name lastname on the first line of of the message. Leave the subject ments of publications and confer- the message. Leave the subject field blank. ences. field blank. Kidsphereglobal computer To subscribe, send e-mail to Education Policy Digest mail- networking mailing list. Discus- kstserz..(kuvrit .syr edu with the ing list. The EDPOL -D moderated sions on the KIDSPHERE list con- command subscribe lm net first- discussion forum from Scholastic, cern global computer networking name lastrwime on the `irst line of Inc., was created for administrators, for children and their teachers--ev the message. (Note the underscore teachers, parents, researchers, poli- erything from efforts to get individ- in -lmenet.") Leave the subject fieldcymakers. and anyone else inter- ual classes on-line to planninga blank. ested in the present and future of grand scheme to link the whole Consortium for School Net- K-12 networking and technology. world together. Topics of continu- working mailing list. The COS- focuses on educational technology ing interest include networks at the N-DISC list is a discussion forum to policy on all levelsfeceral, state. local. regional. and national level: promote the use of the Internet and localwithout the techno-talk. interfaces and network services and other computer networksas a To subscribe, send e-mail to
58The Executive Eaucator/Aonl 1994 dealing with a large volume of messages that are not newsreaderspecial software that allowsyou to sift directed at you personally. quickly through messages and read only whatyou One alternative to mailing lists that does not suffer know will be of interest toyou. You can even use so- from this limitation is a globally distributed bulletin called bozo filters to tune out people whosemessages board system called USENET. which more than 4 million you're not interested in. people use to exchange information. opinions, and USENET carries an entire hierarchy of newsgroups data. USENET subdivides discussion topics into more devoted to K-12 educators and students. And withso than 5.000 -newsgroups" that carry 1 total of 75 many narrowly defined discussion areas. USENET is a megabytes of traffic every dayyet because the mes- great place for students and teachers alike to get infor- sages are kept at central sites, they don't clutter up your =don from experts on every imaginable topic. mailbox. The downside is that some of USENET's 5.000news- To read and post messages on USENET, you use a groups concern matters most peopleparents in-
etipol-d-request2scholastic.com education reform and the six. na- can Library Association's Washing- with the command subscribe tional education goals. It is pub- ton Office Newsiine is an irregular ecipol-ci firstriame lastname on the lished by the American Political publication that covers federal pol- first line of the message. Leave the Network and distributed at no icy and legislation on public infor- subject field blank. charge to a national audience of mation access and technology, It is Educational technology mail- leaders in government, business, available free of charge. ing list. The EDTECH list provides a media, and education. To subscribe, send e-mail to moderated forum to discuss educa- To subscribe, send e-mail to listserveuicon.uic.ecitt with the tional technology at all grade lev- listservegwuvm.bimet with the command subscribe ala-tee first- eis, including higher education. command subscribe rptcrd first- name lastname on the first line of Topics include problems in using name lastname on the first line of the message. Leave the subject educational technology and how to the message. Leave the subject field blank. solve them. new books and articles, field blank, White House news sum- course offerings in educational Edupage newsletter. Edupage maries. This interactive e-mail technology, notable and not-so- is a twice-weekly summary ofin- newsletter service provides daily notable educational hardware and formation technology news items. summaries of White House press software. educational technology It is provided without charge asa releases. If an item is of interest. conferences, and research protects. service by EDUCOMa consortium you may e-mail a computerized re- To subscribe, send e-mail to of leading colleges and universities quest to receive the entire docu- listserrtmsu.bitnet with the com- seeking to transtorm education merit that has been summarized. mand subscribe etitech firstnarne through the use of information Provided free of charge by the U.S. iasmame on the first line of the technology. Department of Agriculture Exten- message. Leave the subject field To subscribe, send e-mail to sion Service. blank. (Note: This list is also avail- listproc geciticom edu with the able as the newsgroup To subscribe, send e-mail to command subscribe edupage first- alma nacfcesusdagov with the bit.hstservedrech on USENET.) name lastname on the first line of command subscribe tub-summary Internet news mailing list. the message. Leave the subject on the first line of the message. What s happening on and about fieid blank. Leave the subject field blank. the Net? The NET-HAPPENINGS list. Infobits newsletter. Infobitsis Radio Free Europe/Radio Lib- provided by InterNIC Information a monthly electronic news service erty Daily Report. This free Services. distributes news and an- tnac provides a summary of infor- newsletter service provides a sum- nouncements about the !nternet it- mation technology and instruction self to the network community. mary of the latest news and politi- technology news items. It is dis- cal developments in Russia, Tran- This is not a discussion list. tributed without charge by the In- To subscnoe, send e-mail to scaucasia and Central Asia, and stitute for Academic Technology Central and Eastern Europe. It is [email protected] with the a partnership between the command subscribe net- published Monday through Friday University of North Carolina at (except German holidays) by the happenings jirstname lastnameon Chapel Hill and IBM Corp. the first line of the message. Leave Radio Free Europe:Radio Liberty To subscribe, send e-mail to Research Institute. the subject field blank, listservggibbs.oit.unc.edu with the Daily Report Card newsletter. To subscribe, send e-mail to command subscribe injobits first- hstsert.(Pubum.cc.buffalo.ectu with The Daily Report Card newsser- name lastname on the first line of vice summarizes the local. re- the command subscribe rfert-I first- the message. Leave the subject name lastname on the first line of gional. and national mediacover- field blank. age of news stones related to the message. Leave the subject Alawon newsletter. The Amen-field blank.L.K.
C,OPY A.VAILAb, eluded -- -would consider highly inappropriate for chil- log on to a computer located on another continent. dren. One of the most popular newsgroups in the -al- Remote log-in (known as telnet) aed tile transfer ternative" hierarchy is devoted solely to digitized cen- (known as Grp, for File Transfer Protocol) are the n terfold images, and in others you can find erotica, connections the Internet supports. To use a resout pro-drug sentiments, and other potential hot potatoes. though, you first have to know it existsnot aneasy For this reason, schools that have opted to offer USENET task when new ones pop up every day. To remedy this access to students invariably exclude a large number of problem, several network resource discovery toots have newsgroups from the feed. been developed over the last few years that make find- ing and using the right resource on the Net much easier, Virtual field trips The most popular tool is arguably Gopher, which uses menus to deliver information in a user-fnendly Imagine your students reaching out a long electronic fashion. Retrieving a file is no longer a nightmare of arm across the Net to connect to distant computers and clunky FrP commandsyou can just press a button on make use of free resources and information that have the keyboard. Moreover, Gopher provides a way to link been made available there for public use. The capability many related resources that are scattered all over the to do what is called "interactive remote host access" is Net and bring them all together in one place. You can by far the Internet's greatest strength. For many, the real even search menu items on all known Gopher servers power of the Net becomes apparent the first time they on the Net to find what you're looking for.
CURRICULUM PROJECTS ON THE NET
This spring, three intrepid British by enthusiastic teachers in con- 50 countries on all continents par- travelers are setting out across nected classrooms: ticipated. The dialogue takes the the Arctic Oceanfrom Siberia Academy One is a series of cur- form of an exchange of personal to Canada via the North Pole riculum-based educational telecom- presentations and views on the de- bringing all necessary food and outing projects sponsored by the sired future of the world. To begin, supplies with them. As the mem- National Public Telecompuung Net- children are asked to give informa- bers of the. Arctic Drift Stream Ex- work (NTTN). Projects include pro- tion about themselves, what they io pedition traverse the 1,400 miles of viding students with remote access want to be when they grow up, water and ice, schoolchildren to supercomputers; hosting global how they want the world to be bet- worldwide will be able to follow "teleolympics" in which students ter, and what they can do to make their progress and participate in compete in track events in their this happen. the expedition's environmental own schoolyards, compare results To learn about the projects, send missioncourtesy of an Internet on the Net, and give recognition to e-mail to listservattrni modakectu cumculurn project. Through the the international winners: having with the command subscribe magic of global e-mail, children in schools around the world share kiellink firstname lastname on the participating schools will receive electronic editions of school news- first line of the message, using your progress reports from the expedi- papers, chronological accounts of a own name and leaving the subject tion rnemners, as well as newspa- day in a student's life, or data gath- field blank; you will be added to per articles and photos in coded ered about local pollution; simu- the Kidlink news mailing list. For form. They will also discuss envi- lated space shuttle missions: "key- more information, send e-mail to ronmental issues raised by the ex- pal" exchanges: comparisons of kOlink-infoUttml.nodakedu or pedition. holiday customs: and sonnet-writ- use the Kidlink Gopher server: The Internet abounds withpro- ing contests. Teachers may join ,gopher kuis.duq.eciu jects such as this. During World curriculum exchanges and other Newsday is a multicurricular AIDS Day '94, schools from all dis- educator support protects. project sponsored by the Global tricts in Florida exchanged aware- Academy One is available SchoolNet Foundation in which ness messages over the Internet. In through NPTN affiliate freenets; upper elementary through high December. NASA combined satellite teinet free.net-in-a.cu'ru.edu tocon- school students produce local television and the Internet fora nect to the Cleveland Free-Net. newspapers based on news dis- mini-series about robot explorers in Most Academy One projectscan patches from student correspon- Antarctica. organizing interactive e- also accommodate schools thatare dents in all participating schools. mail activities for studentswho limited to e-mail. Send e-mail to Students become news gatherers would send questions to scientists aa0054nprn.cirg for information. and reporters, editors. layout and they had seen on the program Kidlink sponsors annualpro- graphics artists. and publishers. A and making teacher guides avail- jects aimed at getting childrenages the end of the project, participanell. able over the Internet. 10 to 15 involved in a global dia- Here is a sampling of ongoing exchange their finished product. logue. The current project, Kids-94, To join. send e-mail to projectsmany of which have runs until May 7; in preceding newsdayebontta.cerffred.org been organized and implemented years. roughly 10,000 children from for more information. 12 60 Tile 4 004 By far the most impressive discovery tool is the mail.barrnet.net). the district's technology chrecto:. World Wide Web ( \x-Ncw. or simply the Web), which "They have access to bodies of knowledge thatno sin- you can use to surf cyberspace from one information gle teacher can provide. and they are findingout about resource to another using hypertext and hypermedia different people and cultures in wasnever before links across the Net itself. As you arrive at new loca- imagined." tions. the most advanced Web interfaces can present in- In Fort Collins. Colo., the entire Poudre -Ri School formation from the remote resources using full-color District makes use of these resources. "Students of all graphicseven video and sound. agesbut primarily seventh though 12th-gradersuse At the Woodside School District in Woodside, Calif., the system daily."says Greg Redder( redder: third through eighth-graders colostate.eciu), who pro- use these tools to access in- vides technical support and formation on the Internet instructional help to the from computers located in school district on behalf of their classrooms. Colorado State University. -This has done incredi- -For example, the campaign ble things for opening the '92 documents availaoie via world to our students.- says Gopher and NASA Spacelink Theresa A. Baker (tbaker@ are very big attractions.
World's Youth News and its people. Subject is a news agency for stu- areas include arts. litera- dents sponsored by Free- ture. social studies. eco- Net Finland. WYN collects nomics. politics. lan- and exchanges news writ- guages. environment. and ten by and for children science. Students use e- worldwide. mail, on-line conferences. To join. send e-mail to and video-telephones to u.t.n4"freenet ina.1i for fur- communicate. ther information. To loin, send r- -mail to kids-WeatherNetis a eal©copeirfiencligc weeklyexchange of aoc or[; for more infor- v%eather data among mation. -,:hools from the Czech Global Schoolhouse Republic to Tasmania and Protect tram .Alaska to Florida. is funded by the The protectruns each National Science Founda- 'ear from mid-August to tion to connect schools June. and open to all and students nationally -A.bools that wish to par- and internationally using a ticipate. Data are com- variety of tools. including piled weekly by students live videoconferencing over the Internet. Schools it\lanzano Day Scnooi in Sixteenth-century illuminated manuscript from the Vatican Library exhibitat the Library of Congress. To access: gopher marvel.loc.gov collaborate on research in Albuquerque. N.NI . and distributed to all partici- space exploration. solid waste management. alter- pants For iniormacion about how to To loin. send e -mail to ecilog, native energy sources. and weather loin. send e-mail tc, matl-sererq; and disaster preparedness. (Mini- tru(n.unIn eciu for more inform- forum swartilnnore edit with the ation mum requirements to do videncon- command send mathmaGic_Infoon terencing over the Internet are a MathAtagicis a K -12 telecom- the first line of the rne'sage You :)61: or T1 connection. Mac or PC munications prolecz designed to may also access information about with a video board, standard tele- moovate students co use computer the protect through the following technology while increasing prob- phone connection and speaker- Gopher server. r?opl.ierfiwurn phone for audio. and a video cam- lem -sole ing strategies andcommu- swaribmore edit era: Cornell University s CU-SeeNle nications skills. Teams pair up over E.A.RNis J worldwide K-12 the Net to engage in dialogue videoconferencing software is network of students in 20 countries used.) aimed at solving word problems on all continents who work to- posted in four different grade To join. send e-mail to cate- gether on protects that makea glitz.4cerf net for more informa- gories. meaningful difference for the Earth BEST COPY AVAILABLE 13 .ad61 along with pen pals and connections to foreign Gopher mina's in many different time zones. Imaginean inter- servers.' national conference call without long-distance charges. (For a list of classroom-appropriate Internet re- During and immediately following California's Jan sources. see "Internet Field Trips: Your Road Map to the earthquake, IRC was buzzing with informationan Information Highway,' page 67.) ports of the destruction. A lot of the chatting is just gossipand some of it is The talk at the Net lewd and even obscene. But several curriculum projects have made good use of Internet Relay Chatas a struc- Students can use the Internet for live interaction, too. tured and supervised activity that links together class- Internet Relay Chat (IRO is an application that amounts rooms in different countries for exchanges of greetings to a global CB network. Users pick a channel or start a and views. new one and then "talk" by typing and responding to A related phenomenon is the multiuser simulation conversational messages that are immediately relayed environment, which adds simulated activities to the across the network and flashed simultaneously on ter- conversations. These are on-line role-playing games in which a large number of participants interactusing typed textin an environment that has been pro- grammed to simulate a fantasy world. Most are-purely recreational. and many involve adventure themes spun off from the 'Dungeons and Dragons" role-playing games or the "Star Trek" television and movie charac- ters. These so-called multiuser dungeons (MUDS) are notoriously addictive. But simulation environments can have educational applications, too: The Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology's Artificial Intelligence Labruns MicroMUSE, a safe K-12 learning environment withan emphasis on scientific, cultural, and environmentalconcerns. The kids who use the system get to designsome of the vir- tual landscapes it containsone 9-year-old createda simulated Yellowstone National Park, complete erupting geysers and a wandering moose. What's more. kids learn valuable lessons in civics they construct virtual communities on-line,says Micro - MUSE's founder Barry Dort (barry,@kudzu.cnidr.org),a consulting scientist at Bolt. Beranek, and Newman Labs in Cambridge, Mass. "Cooperation and collaboration are valued behaviors in such communities.' Kort says. "I haveseen leader- ship skills emerge as the participants discovered there- wards of crafting a just society in whicheveryone is able to find a worthwhile and constructive role."
Internet on a shoestring So how much does all this cost? Theanswer: It de- pends. but it might be less thanyou think. Internet ac- cess from commercial providers varies in cost according to how sophisticated a connection you want and how many users you want to serve. Geographic location is another vanableprices tend to be lowerin metropoli- tan areas. where competition between localaccess providers is stronger. The most basic and cost-effectivetype of Internet connection is what's known as dial-up: using a per- sonal computer and modem to call andconnect to a host computer that in turn is connectedto the Inte t. This type of connection requires the least into hardware on the school's end because thePC is n tually on the Internet. its just being usedas a terminal; the Internet host computer is actuallydoing all the 14 work. Even 15-year-old PC dinosaurs likeRadio Shack's '.its -S0 have gotten a new lease on life thisway. One dial-up account can servea teacher. an adminis- IS YOUR STATE HERE? send pdial in the sublec: field of themessage: you will receive a list of dial-up access providersin the United States in return, courtesy of Peter Kaminski.proprietor Education networks in thefollowing states provide of the Information Deli, full access to the Internet: an Internet consulting firm. In many cases, schools canget dial-up Internet ac- Arizona New Mexico cess free or for next to nothing through statewide California New York edu- Florida cation networks. According to the Educorpreport Net- North Dakota works Now: The 1993 Survey ofHow States Use Indiana Ohio Telecommunication Networks in Education, fullInternet Massachusetts Oregon access is available through education networks Michigan in 21 Pennsylvania states (see box). Most other states either havean educa- Minnesota South Carolina tion network that is limited to Internet Missouri e-mail or are South Dakota planning to implement an educationnetwork. Montana Texas These state education networks currently Nebraska provide In- Virginia ternet access to more than 109,000 K-12 New Hampshire users. Typically, staff and students witha computer and a modem can dial local or 800 numbersto connect to Internet hosts. Some state networks provide trator, or a classroom full of kids for accounts only to teachers as little as a flat fee and administrators, but others also letstudents on-line. of S30 per month. often withno surcharges for connect "There's a danger that our society willbecome polar- time. And in metropolitan areas, theaccess provider is ized between those [who) usually only a local call away. areinformation rich and those [who) are informationpoor, and I think the state To find a commercial dial-up Internetaccess has a role to play in preventing provider in your area, contact this." says Connie Stout InterNICInformation Ser- (cstout@tenetedu), who is the director of the vices at [email protected] or (800) 444-4343. Texas Ed- Or send e- ucation Network, orTENET. mail to info-deli-serveranetcom.com withthe command To address the equity question,TENETprovides full
CIO Ozone
February 1993
15 Low =srellHigh Data from NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite shows how the ozone layer above Earth's northern hemisphereisbeingdepleted as levels of chlorine monoxide in the atmosphere rise. Courtesyof the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's public information office. Toaccess: ftp pubinfo.jpi.nasa.gov Internet access for the nominal fee of $5 a year tomore teachers. and administrators isto get accounts o, than 22,000 teachers, representing nearlyevery school local -freenet," provided there'sone in the a in the state. Teachers may train students, who typically Freenets are community- supported networking prof share one account per classroom. that provide free accounts to the publicanyonewho Similarly, the California On-line Resources for Educa- can connect with a computer and a modem. Freenets tion (CORE) network makes Internet access available to typically provide a wealth of community and localgov- more than 12.000 teachers and students in the state. ernment information in addition to Internet access. (If Virginia's Public Education Network also dispensesac- you already have Internet access, you can telnet toa counts to both staff and students. freenet to establish an account and use its resources.) (For more information about the availability of edu- To find out if there's a freenet in yourarea. contact cation networks in your state, contact your state depart- the National Public Telecomputing Networkat ment of education or the Consortium for School Net- infoenptn.org or (216) 247-5800. working at infoecosn.org or 202/466-6296. To ordera copy of the Educorp report. send an e-mail message to cifrazzerecedarcic.net or call 703/345-1429.) Speed costs moneyhow fast do you want to go? In many cases, too, universities will provide free with a dial-up connection, your schoolsare driving the dial-up accounts for teachers from local schools:Van- information highway via remote control: witha direct derbilt University, University of Kentucky, University of connection, they're right in the middle of Internet traf- Maryland at College Park. Duquesne University inPitts- fic. This has both benefits and drawbacks. burgh, and El Paso Community College all provide such A direct connection to your schools allows outreach programs. your stu- dents to make more powerful use of the Internet.and it Another free dial-up access option for students, affords potentially greater control ofcontent. With a di-
6 rect connection, users may also take advantage of spare and are willing to siphon some of it off for little 1 friendly, point-and-click graphical interfaces to the In- or no money. For example. the Florida Institute of ternet. The disadvantages are higher connection costs. a Technology in Melbourne provides three local htg greater need for local technical expertise. and the ne- schools with full Internet connections. Similarly. Getty. cessity of more computing horsepower on the school's burg College in Pennsylvania connects Gettysburg Area end. High School via a T1 line and a Sun workstation: the The biggest cost variable is bandwidtha measure Oak Ridge National Laboratories in east Tennessee of how fast the data flow through the connection. make leased lines available to schools in the area: and Bandwidth determines how many users can share a the Oklahoma Geological Survey Observatory provides connection and what they can do with it. a dedicated line to Leonard School. which enrolls 125 The least expensive option involves using a high- K-8 students in rural Tulsa County. speed modempreferably 14,400 baud, or bits per sec- Grants and demonstration programs are another way ondto connect a PC or an entire local-area network to pay for direct Internet connections. Thomas Jefferson of PCs to the Internet using an ordinary telephone line. High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax This can be done using one of two similar methods: Se- County. Va., for example. won its connection through rial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP), commonly used for SuperQuest. a national competition to get access to su- connecting a single PC. or Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), percomputing resources. a more sophisticated method better suited to connect- Other grants also are available. For example. at press ing local-area networks. Most dial-up access providers time, the U.S. Department of Commerce's National also offer these types of Telecommunications and connections. Information Administra- The next step up is a tion announced a S20 leased data line, dedicated million matching grant to carrying the school's program to help school Internet traffic. Common districts and other non- speeds for dedicated lines profits connect to the In- are 56 KB (56.000 bits per ternet and othernet- second), Ti (1.54 million works. Contact the ad- bits per second). and T3 ministration at (202) 482- (45 million bits per sec- 2048 or [email protected] ondithe highest speed got': the application dea the Internet currently sup- line is May 12. 199a. ports AndastheWhite How much bandwidth House ponders sweeping is actually necessary for changes in telecommuni- schools is a topic of hot cations regulations. many debate. Faster connections companies have discov- allow. a greater number of ered the public relations users todo more sophisti- value in helping schools catedthings.suchas get Internet connections: videoconferencing.yet Before calling off their many argue the increased proposedSP)billion cost cannothe iustifiedin merger in February. Bell terms of greater learning Atlantic andTCIhad an- benefit. One thousand Viking Orbiter images were processed and combined to produce nounced plans to connect Putting a ;.-hool slocal thiscomp(.4itephoto of Mars. courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey and 26.000 elementary and area networkwith as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. To access: hp pubinfo.jpi.nasa.gov secondaryschoolsin many as 2;t1) PCs)on the areas served by the two Internetusing a SLIPPPP connection can cost as little as companies. Although plans for that project might afiat tee of 5250 per month plus a 5-50 startup tee. change as the two companies go their separate ways, Hidden costs include hardware and software, technical Pacific Bell has made a similar proposal: to spend 5100 support. and training. In comparison. a turnkey T1con- million to connect -.400 California schools, libraries, nectionthat includes a leased line. installation. and 24- and communin. colleges with digital network lines that hour network information and support servicescan run will allow Internet access and videoconferencing. asmuch as 5-+5.000 per year plus line costs. Tolocate a commercial dedicated-line Internet Why Johnny can hackbut not crack provider, contact theInterNIC (seeabove) or send e- mail (no message needed) todlist4oracomto receive You might think the potential for electronic high jin an updated list of 38 U.S. providers. courtesy of com- would be considerable on the Internet. And in fat. puter hook publisher O'Reilly and Associates mischief does occur: In March. a college student was In an effort to hold costs down. many school districts arrested by Secret Service agents for allegedly sending a have formed partnerships with nearby um% ersitiesor death threat to President Clinton's e-mail address. But government laboratories that have Internet access to such incidents aren't common. With proper training, !7r--,T COPY AVAILABLE - 17 TheExecutive Educator/April 1994 65 kids generally conduct themselves responsiblyeven. ministrator Mike Gallotgalloitzenoltr.edtofound in many cases. policing each other s on-line speech and teachers require ongoing Internet training. ,Technical behavior. support. home Internet access. and time to learn and -We've found that the community moderates itself." incorporate the Internet into their classes. says Jack Crawford (jackerochgte ficionet.org), one of the founders of Kl2Net. a system of on-line confer- No couch potatoes ences for students and teachers. -I used to lose sleep over this stuff, but I don't any more. because it takes Why Internet? Why not cable TV? Perhaps because the care of itself. If someone gets out of line. everyone else Internet obliterates the traditional mass media distinc- will let him have it." tions between producers and consumers of information. Robert D. Carlitzreicazmis.cis.pitt.eciii). a professor Anyone can provide information or a service to the In- of physics at the Univeisiry of Pittsburgh who runs an ternet communityno marketing research committee unmoderated Internet mailing list for children, agrees gets to decide who or what. Ail it takes is a connection that abusive or profane language is kept in check. In and a computer: even inexpensive desktop PCs and one incident, a student who Macs can be set up as Go- had sent out an objection- pher servers accessible to able message immediately anyone anywhere on the In- was inundated with repri- ternet. mands from other students: It's this essential two-way "They sent messages saying. flow of information that sets 'Hey, don't you know we re theInternet apartas a gonna lose our network ac- model for the information cess if you do that?" Carlitz superhighwayfromthe says. passive consumerism of 500 Incidents of students who cable TV channels. Even abuse a school's Internet proprietary computer net- connection to gain illegal ac- works like CompuSer e and cess to other computers on America Online are designed the Net are few and far be- primarily to deliver canned tween. In the language of products to consumers for a the Net. a person who does profit. this is known as a -cracker": StudentsintheStark in contrast. a -hacker-is County School Districtin someone who is very adept Canton. Ohio. know this with computers. Should a well Their StarkNet Gopher break-in occur. you can get server not only allows them assistance from cne Com- and their teachers to get to puter Emergency Response sources of information any- Team i cerr4cert or_;b. based where on the Internet. it also at Carnegie Univer- provides a means for them sity. to make their workcre- -It took only a ''ear for ative writing. lesson plans. the first attempt.' says Ron computer art and graphics. Tenisoni ten ism? (2, ctt rseq and sound filesavailable to ; ccultn.edzo.computer center other Internet users world- directoratCatlinGabel Voyager 2took this picture of Saturn on July 21. 1981. when the wide school. a spacecraft was 21million miles fromthe planet. Courtesy of NASA's privateK-I2 Inthe same way. the scnool Jet Propulsion Laboratory. To access:ftp pubinto.jpi.nasa.gov inPortland. Ore Columhia i Nlo.i Public "One of our students gave away a password. andsome- schools make school hoard information. school lunch one else used the Internet connection to try to breakin menus. and information about school athletic and fine some other place. They were both picked up.- arts events available un -line through the Gopher server To prevent attempts at cracking.some schools don t they share with the City of Columbia,a local libran', allow staff members and studentsto access the school's and the University of Missouri-Columbiaproviding in- Internet connection from home bymeans of a PC and iormation to the local community and the world in one modem But such restrictions makeit harder for teach- fell swoop ers to find the time to become familiar and comfortable In JanuarY. the Clinton Administration proposedto with the Net And as Ri 2Nets Crawford says. 'You connect every clas,:rootn. library, hospital, and clinic to can't be visionary about somethingyou don't under- the planned National Information Infrastructure (of .stand." which the Internet is today's tangible reality) by the Indeed. training for both teachers and studentsis es- year 2000. sential. school networking expertsagree. In a Ph.D. re- But why wait? The world already is search study on the effects of Internet a global village. access for K-12 and the Internet can make your students itscitizens teachers. Florida Institute of TechnologyNetwork Ad- today. 6'6 The Executive EolicatoriAonl 1995 1-8 BEST COPY AVAILABLE INTERNET FIELD TRIPS: YOUR ROAD MAP TO THEINFORMATION HIGHWAY
Acomprehensive list of Internet travel destinations Now, using these programs. here's a select list (in would fill a book, so were presenting here onlya no particular order) of where you can go on the Inter- sampling of interactive on-line resources of interest net and what'll you'll find when you get there. Bon to educators and students. All resources on this list voyage! were available at press time, but keep in mind that U.S. Dept. of Education services might change or disappear, and that host gopher gopher.ed.gov computers might be down temporarily. Education research and statistics. funding opportu- To use the free resources on this list, you needac- nities. educational software, and information about the cess to a computer on the Internet that allows you to department and its programs. run the programs called telnet, Gopher, and FTP. (See Educational Resources Information Center the main article for a discussion about findingan In- (ERIC) ternet access provider.) Internet interfaces vary widely, telnet sklib.usask.ca (log-in: sonia) yet these basic access methods are the Internet's com- gopher ericirspr edu mon denominators. Instructions for accessing the re- The University of Saskatchewan allows Internet ac- sources are shown the way they would be typed at a cess to the searchable ERIC Current Index to Journals Unix prompt: the name of the program followed by in Education and Resources in Education data base the name of the host computeryou are accessing. with records from 1983 to the present. The AskERIC (Unix is the most common operatingsystem on com- Gopher provides information guides, searchable ERIC puters connected to the Internet.) Other interfaces digests. listsery archives, education conference calen- might require clicking on a program icon and entering dars, and more. (You may also sendrequests for infor- the host name. mation by e-mail to askeric@ericirsyredu) Here are some brief tips on using theprograms: Library of Congress Telnet connects you to a remote hostcomputer as gopher marvel.loc.gov a terminal to run all kinds of programs. (If you don't Library of Congress card catalog, data base of have access to the World Wide Webor Internet Relay pending and approved federal legislation. Supreme Chat on your local system. you can alsouse telnet to Court rulings, and on-line exhibits containingtext and connect to public clients for these applications.) To imagesVatican Library, Dead Sea Scrolls, Russian terminate the connection prematurely, hit Or / -I and Archives, and 1492. Many additional federal andinter- then type quit. national resources. Gopher connects you to a menu-based information Federal government information server running on a remote host computer. Youcan gopher ace.esusda.gov read and search for inforrnauon aridsave files you ve gopher esuscia.go located. Use the up and downarrows to move the Public access to government information, including cursor. the right arrow to select a menu item. and the the Health Security Act of 1993, National left arrow to retrace your steps. Menu Information items ending Infrastructure documents, North American FreeTrade with'" are directories. and those ending with"<'>" are searchable. Agreement. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, National Performance Review, White House informa- FTP allows You to retrieve files froma remote host tion. U.S. Congress information including phone and computer. At the log-in prompt. rype anonymous. At fax numbers, 1995 proposed U.S. federalbudget, Fed- the password prompt. typeyour full e-mail address. eral Emergency Management Administration, To list files. type dir. In a directory listing, disaster subdirecto- relief information about the 1993 floodsand the 1994 ries are distinguished from files by a "d" at me begin- Nontandge. Calif.. earthquake. and ning of each entry. To change to a subdirectorv. more. Service pro- repe vided by the U.S. Department ofAgriculture Extension cc/
68The Execave Educator/Aen11994 braries; the University of California campus libraries; space images fromNASA.reference desk with Web- and the New York public libraries. ster's Dictionary and Roget's Thesaurus, U.S. tele- Teacher education Gopher phone area code and zipcode finders, world area gopher state.virginia.edu codes, census information, geographic nameserver, li- Discussion groups, teaching modules, research. braries, and more. electronic publications, and software archives related Blacksburg Electronic Village to teacher education. Established by the Society for gopher mone.cns.vt.edu Technology and Teacher Education, University of Vir- Electronic Schoolhouse with K-12 education re- ginia, and University of Houston to use the Internet to sources, including information and links to sources of benefit teacher education programs around the world. information arranged by subject area. Academic Position Network Armadillo middle school Gopher gopher wcni.cis.umn.eclu 11111 (include port gopher chico.rzce.edu 1170 (include port number) number) Collection of K-12 Internet Acceptable Use Policies On-line position announcement service based at and idormation about Texas natural and cultural his- the University of Minnesota. tory. Created by teachers Includes faculty, administra- and students in the Hous- tion, staff. graduate assis- ton School District. tants, and fellowship posi- Canada's School Net tions. searchable by state or gopher ernest. the entire United States. carleton.ca 419 (include On-line Career Center port number) gopher gopher.msen.com Collection of K-12 offer- On-line job bank includes ings for Canadian schools. announcements in all profes- Schools you can visit sionsincluding positions on the Internet for superintendents, princi- gopher sparc3.sparcc. pals, and teachers. ohio.gov Chronicle of Higher Ed- gopher bigcat.missoun'. ucation edu 411 gopher chronicle.merit.edu gopher busd.k12.co.us Brief abstracts of news gopher trtania.ckp.edit from the Chronicle, includ- gopher lobo.rmhs. ing job announcements. colorado.edu Consortium for School gopher Networking (CoSN) gopherprs.k12.nfus gopher cosn.org gopher wealaka. Information about CoSN; okgeositrveyl.gov En route to Jupiter in 1990. National Center for Technology thespacecraftGalileopassed the gopher copernicus.bbn.corn Earth and took this picture.To access: ftp pubinto.ipl.nasa.gov Planning, a clearinghouse of Stark County School Dis- school district technology trict, Canton, Ohio; Columbia plans: other information related to K-12 networking. (Mo.) Public Schools: Boulder Valley (Colo.) School NYSERNet Empire Internet Schoolhouse District: Pittsburgh Public Schools: Poudre-R1 School gopher nysernet.org District. Ft. Collins, Colo.; Princeton Regional School K-12 collection includes Internet protect invitations. District; Leonard School, Tulsa County. Okla.; and the references and resources. career and guidance office National School Network Testbed,a project of Bolt, with on-line admissions service for NewYork state Beranek, and Newman, Inc. colleges. grants information center. school reformand State education networks youcan visit technology planning center. CNN Newsroom class- gopher gophertenet.edit room guides. links to other school systems, and sub- telnet vdoe386.vakl2ed.edu (log-in and password: ject-oriented information. guest) K-12 student Gopher telnet eis.calstate.edu (log in: ctp) gopher nwoca7.nupcci.ohio.gov telnet psupen.psu.edu (username: TX) Suitable K-12 Internet resources without linksto in- gopher informns.k12.mn.its appropriate sources of information. Federal govern- telnet k12.tics.iimass.edu (log-in: guest) ment resources include Catalog of Federal Domestic telnet Ingsky.bigskv.dillon.mt.its (login:bbs) Assistance. Clinton's Health Care Plan, SupremeCourt telnet sendit.nodak.edu (log in: bbs; password: Rulings. U.S. State Dept. travel advisories, andCIA sendit2me) World Factbook. telnet gcedunetpeachnet.edtt Florida Tech education Gopher Texas Education Network: Virginia Public Educa- gopher sci-eclfit.edit tion Network; California On-line Resources for Educa- Education resources by subject area, including tion: Pennsylvania Department of Education Teacher 21 The. Cvaroown ,A1 00 4Ca Pages; Internet for Minnesota Schools (formerly TIES- Links to French-speaking gopherseers across the net); University of Massachusetts K-12 Info. System: world. On-line subway navigator letsou find a rou Big Sky Telegraph, Montana; SENDIT, North Dakota; in the subways of Lille, Lyon. Paris, and Munichin and GC Edunet. Georgia. ther French or English. United Nations Japan Gopher gopher gopher.undp.org gopher ganmcc.go.jp Information about the U.N. and its agencies, cur- Information about the culture. diplomacy,econ- rent news and press releases, and General Assembly omy, events, food, geography, government. history, and Security Council resolutions. society, and universities of Japanfrom the Japanese World Bank perspective. Provided by the National Cancer Center gopher ftp. worldbank.m in Tokyo. Public information service containing searchable European Gopher servers documents and publications about World Bank activi- gopher gopher.sunet.se ties in many countries. Swedish gopher provides linksto other gopher World Health Organization servers in European countries. gopher gopher.who.ch Wellington, New Zealand City Council Press releases, and information about influenza, di- gopher gopher.wcc.gottnz abetes. and AIDS. Located in Switzerland. Information about New Zealand and thetown of Es-USSR data base Wellington. telnet ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu (log -in:e:: -ussr) World Wide Web demo Information about former republics of the Soviet telnet ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu (log -in: www) Union. including lists of top officials from Russia, Open Web client with text-based interface forIn- Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Tatarstan,Kaza- ternet users who do not have Web accesson their khstan, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan; e-mail addresses for local systems. Use up and downarrows to move be- a wide variety of institutions and organizations in the tween hypertext links, right arrow to activatea link, former USSR, including several K-12 schools; and dis- and left arrow to retrace yoursteps. You are riot lim- cussions. Web interface. ited to the links that are shown;to create new hyper- Russia-America information text links, hit g and enter a new Uniform Resource telnet solar rtd.utk.edu (log-in: friends) Locator name. You may wish to try the followingu "Friends and Partners" service, joindy developed by ful uns: citizens of Russia and the United States, serves as a http://info.cern.ch/hyperrem/DataSources/ repository for information about the twocountries. Yanoff.html Contains much useful K-12 information. Web interface. Russian Freenet http://www.cen.uiuc.edu/-119544/index.html http://galaxy.einetnet/gopher/gopher.html telnet izbmark.udmurtia.su (log-in and password: guest) Internet Relay Chat demo telnet ircclient.itc .un lute .ac.at 6668 (includeport Talk to Intemains in Russia. number) University of Zagreb, Croatia Open IRC telnet client in Vienna, Austria. for gopher diana.zems.etf.hr Inter- net users who do not have IRC accesson their local News reports from Sarajevo and Bosnia. dailypress systems but want to try it out. Limited to 15 bulletins from the Serb-Croat conflict. users at a press releases time, so use sparingly. When you logtri, you will be from the Croatian Foreign NIinistr,and U.S. Embassy prompted for a nickname to identify daily bulletins. (Slow connection.) you to other users on-line. Commands begin witha slash: Use /list Israel and Jewish information to see a listing of all available chat channels, gopher use /join =name-of-channel to join a channel, and gopher jerusalem1.datasrv.co.il /quit to dis- connect. Anything else you type on the command line gopher :srael.nysernet.org 71 (include port number) will be broadcast. (Connectionmay be slow.) Information about Israel and Arab-Israelirelations. Internet information including maps and pictures, providedby the Ministry gopher internic.net of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem: electronic Jewish li- Information, registration, and directoryservices for brary, containing Holocaust archivesand historical the Internet community. Provided documents. provided by the Jerusalem by InterNIC Infor- One Network: mation Services as a service of the NationalScience Jewish networking information.including Holocaust Foundation. information and pictures, provided bythe New York- Internet training materials Israel Project. gopher tra:nmat.ncl.ac.uk National University of Singapore A collection of network training materialsand inf gopher solomon.technet.sg matron. News and information about Singaporeand the British Council. Internet trainers and consultants gopher gopherfonorola.net French-speaking Gopher A directory of network trainers and consultants. gopher gopher.jussiezt.fr Look under the Internet BusinessJournal.L.K.
70The Executive Educator/April 1994 Reprinted with permission from Phi Delta Kappan, September 1991. Restructuring for Learning With Technology: The Potential forSynergy
The agendas of active learning, technology, and restructuring each a powerful vehicle for changing learning and teaching in schools need to be pursued concurrently to be maximally effective, Ms. Sheingold maintains.
BY KAREN SHE1NGOLD
THE SUCCESSFUL trans- formation of student learn- ing in the Nineties will re- quire the bringing together of three agendas of reform: an emerging consensus about learning and teaching, a movement toward well-inte- grated uses of technology, and the push for restructuring. Each agenda alone presents possibilities for a very power- ful redesien of education. Yernone has realized or is likely to realize its full potential in the absence of theother two. KAREN SHEINGOLD isa director in the Division of Applied Measurement Researchat the Educational Testing Service,Princeton, N.J. She wishes to thank Sharon Carver, Al- lan Collins, Jane David, Gloria Frazier,Ron Gillespie. Martha Hadley, Robert Pearlman, John Rinaldi, Gwen Solomon, andMarc Tucker for their helpful input during thewrit- ing of this paper. The articles in this special "Mat .. v.: , section are based on chapters that originally 'NINA .*1 :";"? appeared in Karen Sheingold andMarc S. Tucker. eds.. Restructuring forLearning with :J.'S "'"' ge5i Technology (Bank Street Center forTechnol- ?;:"St' 41-t:^1.1%: ogy and Education and National Centeron Education andthe Economy, 19001, "e;"7.4,.;',e4
2 3 BEST COPY AVAILABLE THE AGENDAS ARE BEGINNING TO COME TOGETHER.
In the past, approaches that view stu-over, their pervasiveness in the worldbe speeded. Because of space Iimita dents as active learners and that aim toof adult work has given them a newI have neglected many relevant issues help students understand academic con- legitimacy in school, and a growing cadre(e.g., assessment, accountability, incen- tent and be able to think were seen2Sim- of teachers is learning how to use themtives, and the uses of technology to pro- portant for only selected groups of stu- well. mote restructuring independent of student dents.' Today, these goals and ap- Indeed, reforms of many kinds havelearning). However, some of these con- proaches are urged as priorities for all continually cycled through American ed- siderations are discussed in the other two students. The consensus emerging about ucation.3 For example, recent reformsarticles in this special section. these ambitious learning goals and meth-have called for "injections" of new kinds ods supported by a body of research of curricula and teaching methods or for on how people learn both demands and more stringent adherence to standards. CONSENSUS ON LEARNING: makes credible a broader commitment to Yet proponents of restructuring argue THE OPPORTUNITY this approach than has thus far been at-that, unless the system itself changes in Educators and policy makers nation- tempted. fundamental and thoroughgoing ways, no wide recognize the critical need for stu- Similarly, past technologies have been reforms can be successful in the long run. dents to leant how to think, to understand promoted asthe answer" for educa- Restructuring provides a framework forconcepts and ideas, to apply what they tion.2 Today, these views are generallychanging the system as a whole, thuslearn, and to be able to pose questions tempered by an understanding that it is creating an environment within whichand solve problems. Such goals, once not the features of the technology alone,particular reforms can be carried out suc- pursued only in our best public and in- but rather the ways in which those fea-cessfully. dependent schools, are now deemed man- tures are used .in human environments, Below, I further define these three datory for all U.S. children. These goals that shape its impact. At the same time,agendas, lay out the opportunities andrepresent standards that are not simply the technology itself has changed. To-challenges each presents, and discuss higher than current ones but qualitative- day's computer and video technologieshow advancing each requires advancing ly different. We are not seeking more of are more powerful and versatile than thethe other two. I also describe some of the the same; we are pursuing much more technologies that preceded them and are places where these agendas are beginning complex and rigorous standards of - much more widely available in schoolsto come together and offer some recom- dernic accomplishment. than were earlier technologies. More- mendations about how the process might The realization that approaches tote.. ing and learning must be fundamentally altered comes from many quarters. The recent report of the National Governors' Association emphasizes that students must learn to use their minds well in school and points out that radical changes are required to overhaul the school curricu- lum. Textbooks and curriculum materi- als, the report points out, 'focus largely on the mastery of discrete, low-level skills and isolated facts, and deny opportuni- ties for students to master subject matter in depth, learn more complex problem- solving skills, or apply the skills they do learn."' Similarly, those who are work- ing on a comprehensive redesign of school curricula, those who analyze how students are doing in particular subjects, and those who conduct national assessments have all come to similar conclusions about what our students ought to be learning and about the changes that must occur in how stu- dents learns As educators and policy makers stress the urgency of pursuing these new for student accomplishment, they 24 acknowledge that the goals rest L. quite different model of what teachingdents should spend all their time learn- and learning should be about' Effective ing alone. To the contrary, small-grcup THE CHALLENGE learning hinges on the active engage-and collaborative learningcan be effec- The challenge presented by pursuing ment of students in constructing their tive methods for accommodating and ad-these kinds of goals and approaches is own knowledge and undemanding. Such profound. Historically, such approaches learning is not a solitary process; it oc- have proved most difficult to implement curs through interaction with and support and have succeeded only at the margins from the world of people and objects and of the education establishment. through the use of technologies of many PI BY AND LARGE, Creating schools in which students are kinds. In this model of learning, teach- engaged in learning and are learning to ing involves less telling and more sup- STUDENTS' TASKS use their minds well means asking teach- porting, facilitating, and coaching of stu- SHOIJLI) NOT HAVE ers to do something that is very hard to dents. And learning itself becomes not ONE RIGHT ANSWER, do. It requires them both to give up long- the acquisition of a stable body of facts AND PROBLEMS held beliefs about teaching and learning and truths, but rather a dynamic process and to devise instruction that embodies of understanding knowledge and its hu- SHOULD NOT HAVE the new goals and approaches. Indeed, man creation. ONLY ONE ROUTE as David Cohen eloquently argues, we This set of assumptions goes by a va- TO A SOLUTION. know little about the instructional impli- riety of labels, among them student- cations of the view of learning that per- RATHER, STUDENTS centered and constructivist. I will refer vades implicitly if not always explicit- to this approach as active learning/adven- SHOULD ENGAGE IN ly current reform efforts.Cohen's turous teaching, to acknowledge from the WORK THAT HAS AN term, adventurous teaching, appropriate- beginning that both learning and teach- UNDERSTANDABLE, ly conveys what such teaching involves, ing are under revision.' as well as what is entailed in becoming EVEN COMPELLING, such a teacher. PURPOSE. This approach also requires that schools WHAT DOES IT TART? and teachers make very hard choices about curriculum. If students are to be What would it mean to create class- held accountable for understanding (not rooms in which the goals of active learn- just memorizing), for applying knowl- ing/adventurous teaching are seriously edge (not just reciting it), for demonstrat- pursued? Much research in recent dec-dressing differences in students' under- ing their understanding through carrying ades has informed us about the kinds of standing and skills, as well as for involv- out complex projects, and for doing their classroom circumstances that help stu-ing them in complex and challengingown research, then they must venture dents to develop a deep understanding oftasks. However, the lockstep approachto more deeply into a carefully chosen set academic contents Students shoulden- learning that is common in most schoolsof topics or concepts. Teachers and oth- gage in complex tasks such as conduct- (i.e., everyone in the same grade learn- ers will have to decide what curricular ing a science experiment, composing a ing the same thing, at the same time, andmaterial deserves such focused effort poem, or analyzing the causes of eco- in the same way) will fail formany stu- and what can be ignored. nomic decline in their local community dents. Schools must find ways of diag- Similarly, if the active learning/adven- that enable them to participate in the nosing students' strengths and weaknessesturous teaching approach is taken seri- many processes that make up intellectu- and must devise programs that buildon ously, many organizational features of al accomplishments. By and large, tasksstudents' strengths, allow them topursue schools must be questioned. For should not have one right exam- answer, andexisting interests and to cultivate new ple, 40-minute periods are too short to problems should not have only one routeones, and enable them to get help when do justice to the kind of work students to a solution. To the greatest extentpos- they need it. will be expected to do, andsome of the sible, students should engage in work that In addition, classrooms will haveto be- information resources that students will has an understandable, even compelling, come places where all students can be need for their work may not be found purpose. Authentic and legitimate work, deeply engaged in learning subjectmat- work that has real within the school but will instead be connection to the world ter. Learning to think and learning con-available in the larger community outside school, is likely to be engaging or tent are integrally related. Only throughthrough telecommunications networks. and memorable precisely because it does serious involvement with contentcan matter. Clearly, there is no singleway to em- students be challenged toreason, ques- body these assumptions, approaches, and Moreover, because studentscome totion, integrate information from different school with markedly goals in a functioning school. Thereare different back-sources, and devise their own interpre-teachers, principals, and reform grounds, interests, and skills, learning groups tations. At the same time, such "higher- (e.g., the Coalition of Essential Schools) must be individualized muchmore than order" activities help students to under- the typical format of already taking this task seriously. Butthe whole-group lessonsstand and remember information and field is genuinely open for experimenta- Will allow. This doesn'timply that stu- ideas. tion, discovery, and creation. Indeed,the
25 SEPTEMBER 1991 19 possibility of success hinges on such Multimedia technologies can provide openness. technology magazines regularly catty im- much richer sets of materials for learn-pressive stories about what teachersbay ing than art typically available in class- WI.MII*10 accomplished with technology in *a* rooms or school libraries today. Theseclassrooms. Now the research evident-11F NEED TOR RESTRUCTURING can contribute significantly to students' AND TECHNOLOGY is beginning to accumulate that computer exploration and research. The produc- use in classrooms can support and help What is required to advance such antion capabilities of computers and video bring about active learning. (The article ambitious agenda in the nation's schools?cameras enable students to create attrac- by Allan Collins in this special section First, there must be a widespread public tive, professional-looking products of their provides details.) conunitinent from policy makers andown design, which can easily be shared In addition, a recent survey of a group educational leaders. More important thanor revised. In addition, the public nature of teachers selected because of their ac- public statements and documents, how- of computer work in classroomscan helpcomplishments in integrating technology ever, is real commitment to creating the foster collaboration, discussion, and re- into their teaching practice revealed that kind of school environments that willflection. Some kinds of computer software most of them believe that their practice support innovations. (Jane David dis-can help students monitor and manipu-itself has changed as a result of using cusses such a school environment in her late their own thought processes as wellcomputers. a They indicated that they article in this special section.) In an in-as demonstrate concepts that prove hard are capable of presenting more complex novative school, people are encouraged to grasp (e.g., what a median is). Othermaterial to students, that student work to take risks, to least from one another software allows students to simulatecom- can proceed more independently and in (and from those outside the system), to plex scientific, economic, or historicalways that are better tailored to individu- work hard at changes that (whether they events and phenomena, thus exploring the al needs, and that they are acting more sucheed or fail) can inform future plans variables and relationships that constitute as coaches than as information providers. and designs. The commitment to creat- these phenomena. For some of these teachers, the process ing this kind of school environment is in- All of these uses can contribute to theof integrating the technology did herent in restructuring as it is currently more kinds of classrooms we envision. Taken than enable them to change things in their defined. However, because active learn-together, they can provide a resource-rich ing and adventurous teaching classrooms: it actually helped them to see are so dif-environment for our resource-poor and that change was needed. ficult to institute, schools and teachersoften crowded classrooms. will need to have available to them and Some schools in this country have make well-integrated use of any technol-adopted these and other creativeuses of THE CHALLENGE ogies that can help support and advancetechnology that support students'engage- this agenda. Despite the promise that new technol- ment, active learning, and thinldng. ogies offer to schools and despite the en- There are an increasing number ofre- couraging developments in some places, ports from the field about good projects, WELL-INTEGRATED USE OF the full potential of the technologies is not TF,CHNOLOGY: THE OPPORTUNITY excited teachers and students, andcre-being widely realized. The use of tech- ative uses of technology. Educational nology in schools has yet to be tied direct- While future technologies offer almost ly to agendas for improving learning unimaginable possibilities to education, on even those that are currently available a large scale. Computer-based technolo- gy has been brought into schools during have significant potential for supporting active learning and adventurous teaching. the past decade largely because the tech- nology was seen as important in and of For example, computer software tools, itself such as word processors and graphing because it was an increasingly programs, can help organize and struc- central component of the world of adult ture complex tasks for students. Video work. Courses in programming and com- puter literacy in secondary schools and and videodisc technologiescan provide drill on basic skills in elementary schools visual examples of real. world phenome- na, events, and stories that students can have been the general rule." Onlyre- cently have applications use for probletn-finding and problem- word proc- solving activities. Computer networking essors, database management systems, and satellite communications technolo- spreadsheets, and graphics programs gies can help promote local and long- made their way into more than a new distance collaboration and communica- classrooms. And only recently have edu- cators been attempting to integrate the use tion among students and teachersand can help them become part of the of computers into subject-matter teach- larger ing and learning. But technology is wcrld of scholars and scientists.Within classrooms and through networks, likely to have a qualitative impacton stu- cation unless it is deeply integrated in dents can create and haveaccess to data- bases that can enhance their the purposes and activities of the class- research. room.
20 PHI DELTA KAPPAN RESTRUCTURING CAN PROVIDE THE CONTEXT FOR INNOVATION.
the complex skills and knowledge that The central idea underlying many re- NEED FOR ACTIVE LEARNING they need to function effectively and AND RESTRUCTURING structuring efforts is that the system it- productively as citizens in our democratic self must be reorganized from top to bot- If districts, schools, and teachers decid- and increasingly information-oriented so- tom in order to achieve the kinds of learn- ed that the central (if not the sole) pur- ciety, but many are dropping out long be- ing and thinking outcomes now seen as pose of technology in the schools was to fore they complete high school. Others, necessary for students. An organizational help achieve active learning and adven- although present, remain lethargic, unin- structure must be created in which au- turous teaching, then technology wouldterested, and unchallenged by a system thority and responsibility are aligned have a comprehensive, exciting, and-that rewards obedience and passivity. in which those who are charged with get- forward-looking role in the schools. This A first wave of school reform, based ting the job done, namely schools and purpose would bring focus and depthon the naive assumption that we needed teachers, have the authority and the sup- to the use of technology, would enableonly larger doses of the same sort of edu- port they need to do it. In the long run, schools to take advantage of the exper- this means that schools and districts must tise of teachers who are already using be accountable for achieving certain yet- technology to further these goals, and to-be-defined outcomes, rather than for would probably have a significant educa- adhering to a set of procedural guidelines tional impact. RATHER THAN and regulations. Educators will have the Giving technologies a serious educa- TET.LING SCHOOLS responsibility for deciding how to reach tional mission in schools and districts is HOW TO DO WHAT these goals. 13 not sufficient, however. Once teachers Such an approach dictates a very dif- THEY MUST DO, THE begin to use technologies well to advance ferent relationship between the central of- student learning, they often 1) need more CENTRAL OFFICE fice and the schools, and many decisions time to learn about, obtain additional CAN HELP THEM must be pushed down to the school lev- training in, and plan for the use of the GET THINGS DONE. el. The central office can then play a technologies; 2) want students to have more supportive role. Rather than telling longer blocks of time in which to do their schools how to do what they must do, the technology-based work; 3) want to inte- central office can help them get things grate the curriculum and try team teach- done. In addition, community participa- ing; and 4) need greater access to tech- tion is seen as central to the setting of nologies for themselves and theirstu- cation e.g., more requirements, agoals for the school system and, in some dents. The barriers these teachers must longer school day and year has notcases, to school-based decision making overcome are precisely what teachers in produced significant positive results. Aas well. restructuring districts have (or are sup- second wave, now proceeding, is found- This systemic approach to reform, by posed to have) the authority to change): ed on the more radical assumption thatitself, says nothing about how schools It is very unlikely that the widespread we need nothing less than a wholly reor- should operate or how teachers should do and effective use of technologies to pro- ganized system operating on a differenttheir work. It assumes that given the mote active learning can take place un- set of expectations and incentives. authority, support, and incentives less schools can reorganier their own school staffs can figure out how to structures. priorities. and spaces. As with achieve the desired outcomes. Through active learrung itself, seriously pushing WHAT IS RF_STRUCTURING7 such a structure, it is hoped that people's the potential of technologies requires both Inpracticetheterm restructuring best efforts and energies will be mobi- a commitment to thoughtful innovation means many things at the moment. It is lized and will flourish. Over tune, this and a school community that supports applied to phenomena as diverseas giv- outcomes-oriented system that respects such change. Restructuring can provide ing teachers more authority for school teachers as professionals should lead to the context in which such innovationcan management, reorganizing a school'sa much more productive education sys- take place. daily schedule, developing performance-tem. based assessments to measure student RESTRUCTURING learning, and creating ungraded class- rooms. It seems either that the term is ill- CHALLENGE Within the last decade there hasbeendefined or that it refers to somethingso nearly universal agreement that The challenge of making the complex our general that all of these phenomena quali- changes that are called for by schools are not working for restructur- a large pro- fy as part of it. Yet an attempt at defmi- ing is staggering. All participants in the portion of our students. The list of indi- eon is critical if restructuring is to mean, system cators is long, consistent, and depress- superintendents, principals, as it must, more than this year's specialteachers, students, parents, school board ing. Not onlyare students not learning project. members, and community members
BEST COPY AVAILABLE 27 SEPTEMBER 1991 21 must learn how to do their jobs differ- challenge for restructuring efforts is ac- ently. The allocation of resources musttually changing what and how students EFFORTS AT SYNERGY be reexamined, often by people who havelearn in school. If this does not happen, If my argument so far is correct, not previously been involved in such mat-then restructuring will have failed to considerable synergy should resultfill, ters. achieve its central purpose. the thoughtful bringing together of these What were once taken as "givens" are Thus the ambitious goals for student three agendas. Each both requires and ad- now being reconsidered. What constitutesaccomplishment and radical approachesvances the other two. Restructuring pro- a school (no longer simply a separate to reorganizing the educational enterprise vides the expectations and organization- building) is being called into question, as must be met with equally ambitious and al conditions that foster and sustain gen- educators discover the importance ofradical approaches to changing learning uine, well-supported, and long-lasting in- creating small communities within which and teaching in the classroom. If we seek novation; high standards for student ac- students can be known and valued asqualitative change, we must be willing tocomplishment and an active learning/ individuals. Within schools, schedules,. craft qualitatively different instructional adventurous teaching approach (well- grouping practices, teaching assignments, practices and learning environments. The matched by newly designed assessments the use of spce, curriculum, and assess-active learning/adventurous teaching ap- and accountability systems) define both ment must all be rethought and redesigned. proach can guide, inform, and be in- purpose and direction for the innovations; District and state regulations, formerlyformed and expanded by the restructur- and technologies act as both supports and insurmountable obstacles to change, areing process. catalysts for the redesign of learning and being waived for schools that can justify Finally, if restructuring is to succeedteaching (and of the reorganization ef- the waiver as necessary for their pro-on a laige scale, it will need to take max- fort). grams. imum advantage of the tools and tech- To date, evidence of such synergy is niques that can support the process. Itslim indeed. But that is not surprising, is unlikely that the ambitious goals for given the recency of all three agendas and NEED FOR ACTIVE LEARNLNG learning and teaching can be met with-the challenges that each one poses in its AND TECHNOLOGY out widespread, creative, and well-inte- own right. Yet these ideas are making With all this activity in the interest ofgrated uses of technologies of many their way into a number of public forums systemic change, by far the most serious kinds. although the active learning connec- tion is often only implied or left out en- tirely. In the past few years, numbers of national conferences of cators and researchers have included ... structuring and technology on their agen- das. The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teach- ers, in collaboration with major vendors, have each been involved for several years with technology projects in support of restructuring. The Coalition of Essen- tial Schools has just begun an IBM -sup- ported project to assist two of its mem- ber schools in developing computer- based "exhibitions" of student perform- ance. There are also individual schools and districts working on these issues. Every- thing is in its early stages; nonetheless, I have been able to gather three types of examples: technology schools in restruc- turing districts, a technology /active learn- ing project in a restructuring district, and whole districts making technology an ele- ment in restructuring.
TECHNOLOGY SCHOOLS in some restructuring districts ( Dade County, Florida; New York St. Paul; and San Diego) technolugy schools are being created. New schools 28 offer unique possibilities because theyplan what kind of school it is going is easel that the school found abandoned can design themselves from the ground to be. They selected students who were in the district office. Eventually, students up. Technology schools are especially in- interested in technology (though notwill be able to borrow computers for teresting because they can provide real necessarily experienced with it), who had home use. examples of the integrated use of tech- Although these plans sound very differ- nologies in environments in which tech- ent from those of most schools, the nological resources are plentiful and staff school is still bound by state and city re- and students are interested in using them quirements and examinations. It is ap- imaginatively. "TEACHERS WILL proaching student assessment gingerly, In some districts, where new build- HAVE TO CONFRONT planning firstto work on alternative ings are being designed for technology forms of assessing students in elective schools, there are exciting opportunities SQUARELY. THE courses. to think through the spatial implications DIFFICULT PROBLEM It is much too early to know how the of reorganized learning environments. OF CREATING A School of the Future will work out, but For example, newly designed schools the teachers have been given a great deal SCHOOL ENVIRON- might have: of authority to design and redesign the teacher technology rooms, where MENT THAT IS educational program of the school. They teachers can have access to technology FUNDAMENTALLY see themselves as learners and as cre- for their own work and for collaborative DIFFERENT FROM ators, and they are taking an appropri- projects; ately experimental approach to their new spaces of different sizes and shapes THE ONE THAT THEY school. for students' individual work, for small THEMSELVES Certainly, from the perspective of size, groups, and for large groups; HAVE EXPERIENCED. selectivity, and resources, this school is special studios or spaces in which starting out with many advantages. Some students can work on technology-inten- obvious barriers do not exist; others have sive projects; and been made less formidable. While re- electronic displays of student work moving such impediments does not en- in classrooms and in public spaces. sure success, it does give the teachers There are two risks associated with the stick-to-itiveness, and who wanted tomore time to focus on the central issues creation of txhnology schools, however. work in groups. The ethnic composition of learning and teaching. Teachers will First, they may do on a districtwideof the student body was selected to match have to confront squarely the difficult level what computer labs do in somethat of the district (30% Asian, 30% problem of creating a school environment ;:hools: relegate technology to the mar-white, 20% Hispanic, 20% black). Aca- that is fundamentally different from the ;ins of the system. Thus integrationdemic achievement was considered only one that they themselves have experi- would become harder to achieve. Sec-to ensure adequate diversity. enced. Clearly, the School of the Future ond, technology schools may focus on The plan for the School of the Future represents fertile ground in which to technology per se but lack an education-emphasized students' use of technologygrow a technology-infused, reorganized al vision. for projects. To give them time to get school that gives student learning high One technology school that does have deeply involved in their work, class peri- priority. What is not clear is how (or a broader educational vision is the Schoolods would run 100 minutes in length. whether) what is learned in this school of the Future, now beginning its second Teachers were to function as guides and will affect other restructuring efforts in year of operation in New York C;ty'scoaches. Teachers spent a great deal ofNew York City. District 2. It came into being as a resulttime over the summer planning the cur- of a grant from the U.S. Department ofriculum (English and social studies are Education's Fund for Innovauon. It is lo-integrated under the rubric of humani- TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS IN cated in a district in which the supenn-ties), and they were able to do some of RESTRUCTURING DISTRICTS tendent has been supportive of schoolstheir work over the board of education's All districts have computers and relat- that give students a variety of options forcomputer network. ed technologies, some in large quantity. obtaining a good education. All students The school has a networked computer In most districts, one can find special in the district may apply to these schools. lab, in which students take their technol- LLchnology projects, often carried out by The School of the Future started with 82ogy class and learn basic applications schools in collaboration with universities seventh-graders and plans to add a grade(word processor, database, and spread-or with hardware vendors. But there are each year through high school. sheet). Once students master the basic ap- few projects in restructuring schools and Before the school opened, its direc-plications, the technology class and lab districts that are explicitly aimed at fur- tor created a vision for the schoolas aare used for student projects. The school thering both reorganization and active place where technology would be used also has computers in the classrooms (six learning. Discover Rochester is one. for learning. She hired six teachers,three for every 28 srudents), a scanner, a la- Discover Rochester is a research and of whom had technological expertise. andser printer, video production equipment, demonstration project entering its third I.02ether they planned and continue toa CD-ROM drive, and even an electron- year in a middle school in Rochester,
29 BEST COPY MAILABLE DISCOVER ROCHESTER COULD SPARK FURTHERINNOVATION.
New York. The project is a collaborative purchased the equipment needed for theticipants, it will pat pressure on the sys- effort of the Rochester City School Dis- project. tem to move in the same direction. As trict, the University of Rochester, the A one-semester pilot produced veryen-more teachers become interested and in- Rochester Museum and Science Center, couraging results. Students were engaged volved, they will need more technology, and the Center for Technology in Edu- by the project, came to schoolmore of-and they will want to learn how to use cation at Bank Street College. ten, and participated in class much moreit productively in their own subject- Rochester, an urban district with a frequently than they had before. Some matter classes. Some are already making large number of poor students, is under-gave up free time (e.g., lunch) to worksuch requests. going major restructuring. As part ofon the project. They produced work of But teachers do not now have the this effort, it has reorganized its middle much higher quality than they had before, authority to make their own purchasing schools into houses, which are furtherand they learned to use thecomputers decisions or to allocate resources for their subdividedinto grade-levelclusters quite fluentlydespite having had littleown training. VvIether and how they will taught by teams of four teachers. The or no previous experience. Through the get the long-term support they need once Discover Rochester project was carriedproject, students spent a good deal ofthe research project is completed is not out with a class of non-Regents eighth- time off campus doing their school-basedclear. graders in its first year; it has sinceex- work, such as interviewing people and A second way this project is putting panded to include two classes in the fall borrowing photos from a localmuseum.pressure on the system has to do with and all eighth-graders in the cluster (ap- The teachers also becamevery in-scheduling. Because students devote a proximately 100 students) in the springvolved in the project. Previously inex- of 1991. full day per week to this project and be- perienced with computers, they learned cause all the computers are located in the The purpose of Discover Rochester is a great deal about them and other tech- science room, complex scheduling prob- to help students develop the thinking and nologies. More important, the projectlems have resulted. problem-solving skills neeesary to directprovided teachers with an opportunityto As the project grows, different ar- their own learning and to communicate collaborate with one another and with what they have learned. This interdis- rangements of space and time will have project staff members. Despitemanyto be developed. Clusters of teachers ciplinary project incorporates subject- differences in style and pedagogy, thedecide that, rather than set aside one matter curriculum and focuses on the lo-teachers worked together successfully.a week for a special project, they wa.. cal community. Students find out aboutAs they created connections between theto make the projects a part of daily life. the Rochester environment from scien- Discover Rochester project and theirownIn this case, periods may have to be tific, mathematical, historical, cultural,curricula, the project began to make its longer than 40 minutes. And students and literary perspectives. They work in way into classrooms during regular class may need special space for project de- groups to conduct research, and theytime. For example, in English classes stu- velopment. communicate their understandings via dents spent a week reviewing what they a multimedia exhibit at the Rochester Once some critical mass of teachers has had written for the Discover Rochesterbecome involved in using technologyto Museum and Science Center. Theex- exhibit and planning their revisions. hibit. known as Discover Rochester, promote students' active learning, those was Teachers also became aware that, whenteachers should be able to generate both created on Macintosh computers and dis- working with students on thecomputers, practical solutions and exciting ideas for plays students' work through text, audio, they needed to play a different kindoforganizing the school and for using its graphics, music, and maps. role more facilitative than directive resources more effectively. Because it is The project Iles in very well with theand that this transition was a very diffi-taking place in a district bent onrestruc- district's pedagogical and organizationalcult one to make. By the end of theyear, goals, which include the integration of turing, Discover Rochester has the poten- however, the teachers were better ableto tial to spark further innovation. The technology into subject-matter teaching, new play a facilitative role andwere much demands it creates should be seen interdisciplinary teaching, and schools as op- as more comfortable doing so. portunities for inventing new forms of centers of inquiry that make use of corn- It is also encouraging thatnew teachers schooling within existing schools. muruty resources. Teachers agreed thathave asked to be included in the project students could devote one full dayperthis year. The district views Discover week to the project, with each teacher Rochester as a lighthouse project. USING TECHNOLOGY IN giving up one period of instructionper Will the kind of synergy this project DISTRICT RESTRUCTURING week. The district allowed theseteach- is creating lead to broader innovation of While large districts have been slowto ers to waive accountability for their stu-a similar kind in Rochester? Or will the dents' districtwide final examinations, make technology a widespread and in- project simply disappearonce the re-tegral part of restructuring, thereare thus freeing them from the needto cov- search is complete? No onecan say forsmall districts that have made techno er the same amount of material in theircertain. But if it continues to take hold gy and an active learning/adventuron. regular courses. In addition, thedistnct. and be successful in. the eyes of thepar-teaching approach centralto their re- structuring efforts: the Chittenden Southand technology. The plan is pedagogical-dons devoted to each one of the themes. School District in Vermont and Centrally eclectic, and it varies from schoolto Groups of students will cycle through the Kitsap School District in the state ofschool. However, there are plans forastations, while teachers will be available Washington. networked system of computers for all as facilitators. Almost half of the teachers Clittemien South. In Chittenden South,schools within the next two years. in this school are involved in this pro- a rural Vermont district with 3,000 stu- A central focus of the effort is on teach- gram, and they will train their colleagues. dents, restructuring and technology haveer training and support. There are many Restructuring and technology continue been proceeding on parallel tracks. Theteachers in the district who are not ex-to work together in Central Kitsap, with schools are involved in an effort to re-perienced with technology. An elemen-the extensive planning and training effort structure around a set of ''essential learn-tary school that opened in 1989-90 had still in progress. What is most impressive ing behaviors" for students, whicharefew computer-using teachers but had aat the outset is the dual commitment to goals that a committee of teachers de-computer for every two students (six per working on these agendas together and signed. The Chittenden South schoolsareclassroom, two computer labs, and a to providing enough technology and sup- to be places where learning, not teach-computer on each teacher's desk). The port to enable teachers to become knowl- ing, is emphasized. At the same time,a computers were networked and wereedgeable users. In this way, large num- very active technology program in theused primarily as a delivery system for bers of teachers can experiment intelli- schools, run by a group of teachers andinstructional programs. Over the course gently with technology and push the one administrator, has resulted in exten-of the year the teachers became acquaint- boundaries of change in the district. sive use of computers and video technol-ed with the technology and made exten- ogies in the district. sive and enthusiastic use of the electron- The two strands of activity intersect inic mail feature, which allowed themto RECOMMENDATIONS the process of planning a major addition"talk to" one another and to keep track These and other isolated examples. for a K-8 school that is to house 1,000of what was happening in the school. In-aside, the integration of restructuring, ac- students. A team of teachers has beenterestingly, the teachers are now asking tive learning, and technology is not yet chosen to plan and pilot the newpro-for more sophisticated, more interactiveoccurring on a large scale. Why not? All gram, scheduled to begin in the fall ofprograms for their students. three developments are of relatively re- 1991. These teachers will work with 100 In two other elementary schools, multi- cent origin, and bringing them together students in groups that are multi-aged andmedia technologies will play a major role is not easy. Perhaps over time these agen- ungraded. The roles for technologies inin the instructional program. Forexam- das will come together on their own the new school were still being discussedple, teachers in one of the schools willor, as Allan Collins argues in this spe- as this article was written, but there is awork in teams during a common planning cial section, the increasing use of tech- commitment to having a large quantity of time to organize the curriculum around nology will naturally move schools in the technology available in the new addition themes. They will use technologiesto direction of active learning. But the need (including a student/computer ratio ofcreate multimedia problem-solving sta- is too urgent and the opportunities too 5:1). As seems to be the case inmany other districts, the very physical reality of the new addition has createdan oppor- tunity to infuse technology throughout the system. What is more interesting, though, is the way in which technologies and learning agendas intersect with and affect one another. On the other coast, in Washington's 11,000-student Central Kitsap School District, restructuring effortsare also un- der way. In the past fewyears, there has been a move toward site-basedmanage- ment. With fully half of the district's teachers involved, an overall plan forre- structuring the district has been devel- oped. The plan includesa significant commitment to technology, funded large- ly by a local bond issue. How did technologyget into the plan in the first place? Thecore group of lead- ers (mostly teachers) who thought about and planned thechanges in the distnct were technologyusers themselves and strong advocates of bothrestructuring 31 IT IS IMPORTANT TO CULTIVATE NEW IMAGES OF SCHOOLING.
great simply to wait and hope. Thus I of- network in the school, with computers onforts at widespread technology -infuseu fer a few recommendations that mayeach teacher's desk, so that teachers canchange will flounder. speed the process. communicate better and plan together What constitutes a critical mass of ex- 1. Bring technology and learning tomore easily; 3) "loaner machines thatpertise in technology? There is little evi- the same "table" when restructuring isteachers who do not own computers candence on which to make a judgment. being planned. Today, these agendas are take home in order to become more adeptNonetheless, I speculate that, if half the on separate tracks in most districts, andwith the technology; 4) a multimediateachers in a school are comfortable with technology is not harnessed to restructur- laboratory, with computers, videodiscs,using technology in their teaching and do ing. Thus, for example, teachers can de- CD-ROM players, and peripherals thatso with some regularity in a variety of cide on a set of learning goals for the dis-can enable students and teachers to cre-curricular areas, there would be a suffi- trict and not ask (or be asked) about how ate their own presentations and products;cient critical mass of expertise. Teachers technology could advance or support or 5) more classroom machines, so thatcould then help one another with the use these goals. At the same time, technolo- the, technology can become better in-of technology and could think together gy specialists can decide to spend mon-tegrated with students' ongoing work? about the kinds of innovations they wish ey on technology that they believe will Clearly, there is no one right answer. to try. be useful and not ask (or be asked) how In fact, any of the above options could As for the technology itself, critical this purchase relates to the district's new- be the solution for a given school. Butmass is not defined solely by numbers of ly defined goals. Unless both agendas are laying out and considering such alterna-computers or of other machines, but also made part of the larger restructuring ef-tives in relation to local circumstancesby their location, by who has access to forts, the opportunity for synergy will beand.local goals for restructuring, learn-them, and by what they can be used for. lost. ing, and teaching should be central to the For example, even a large number of In any district, the chances are very discussion. computers used simply to move students high that there are teachers or computer In addition, technology demands muchthrough a programmed set of drilli for coordinators who are expert at integrat- more than hardware, software, and tech-a given number of minutes per day will ing technology into classroom learning. nical support in schools and districts. Itnot be sufficient to support resmicturin Such people should be sought out and in- needs people who can help teachers inte-Such rigid uses do not give studen cluded in the restructuring process; they grate the technology into their practice. teachers the oppoitunity to contro have a great deal to contribute. These may be computer coordinators,technology or to discover and design 2. Reconsider how technology is or- media specialists, other teachers, or out-ways to use it for active learning. ganized in the district. Are there struc-side consultants or groups that provide On the other hand, one could take the tural ways to bring technology closer to such services. But schools and districts same number of computers, provide soft- learning goals? Technology budgets andneed to cultivate their own people withware and peripherals so that they could purchasing authority could be more de- such expertise as well. Once teachers be used in multiple ways, and place some centralized, so that schools or groups ofhave become competent with new tech-in classrooms, in project work spaces for teachers wishing to invest in technology nologies, plans for and discussions ofstudents and teachers, and on the desks could do so. Or, if technology does re- how to use them are really discussionsof interested teachers. This configuration main the province of the central office, about learning and teaching and about would give students and teachers the crit- it could be linked directly to curriculum how to tailor technologies to the needs ical mass of technology-based experience and instruction. Alternatively, a corturut- of individual teachers and students. In-that they need to support active learning tee of teachers could be involved in mak- house support from colleagues will be ofand adventurous teaching. ing key decisions about spending on tech- greatest long-term value. 4. Use the media to convey new im- nology. 3. Work toward a critical mass ofages and metaphors of schooling. If How funds for technology are spent equipment and expertise. Technology educators are successful in integrating and the process by which those decisions can support acnve learning and restruc-these three agendas in the next decade, are made are critical issues. If technolo- turing but only if there is enough tech- then we will have created schools in gy is thought of as a tool for restructur- nology and enough expertise in its effec- which students' achievements are both ing, then we must ask some hard ques- tive use for teaching and learning. Once higher than and different from thosa of tions and make some hard choices. For a school or district has achieved a criti-today's students. These schools will not example, if a restructuring school has a cal mass of teachers and administratorslook and feel like our traditional idea of significant amount to spend on com- who understand how they can use tech-`school." The differences may create con- puters, should the money be spent on: 1) nology to support active learning, thesesiderable discomfort for those of us who a system to individualize students' sched- educators can think through and imple-have grown up in traditional school ules and activities by managing this in- ment the structural, organizational, and that is, for most of us. Whatever w formation in ways that are easily acces- curricular changes that they wish tobelieve schools should be like, the t. sible to students and teachers; 2) a teacher make. Without such a critical mass, ef-tional images are very powerful .teachers
32 standing in front of quiet children, stu-into being on a large scale only whenam- 2. Larry Cuban. Teachers and Machines (New dents seated in straight rows, teachersbitious goals of the kind now being wide- York: Teachers College Press, 1986). telling things to students. The images de-ly espoused for all students are taken seri- 3. Larry Cuban, ''Reforming, Again, Again, and rive power from their familiarity. Again,' Educational Researcher, JanuarylFsbruary ously and when teachers are givensup- 1990. pp. 3-13. It is very important, then, to cultivateport for taking risks to do their work 4 Fiturnting America: State Strategies for Achiev- new images of schooling, so that the newmore effectively. ing the National Education Goals (Washington. can become familiar and comfortable. D.C.: Nauonal Governors' Asscesation. 1990), p. The media can effectively portray new 16. 5. Science for All Americans: A Project 2061 Re- images of schooling: small groups of stu- port on Literacy Goals in Science. Mathematics. dents engaged in animated discussion NATIONAL MEDIA, and Technology (Washington, D.C.: Amen= As- about data that they inspect on a computer sociation for the Advancement of Science, 1989); PARTICULARLY TELE- Committee on High School Biology of the Nation- screen; a student interviewing a senior' al Research Council, Fulfilling the Promise: Biol- citizen in the local community about lo- VISION, CAN BE ogy Education in the Nation's Schools (Washing- cal history, while other students video- POWERFUL FORCES ton, D.C.: National Academy Press. 1990): Arthur N. Applcbee et al. The Writing Report Card. 1984- tape the interview; or a teacher and a stu- IN CREATING NEW dent discussing and evaluating the con- 88 (Princeton. NJ.: Educational Testing Service. IMAGES OF SCHOOLING 1990); and Ina V. S. Mullis and Lynn B. Jenkins, tents of the student's portfolio of work, The Reading Report Card. 1971-88 (Princeton. which includes products in several differ- FOR THE PUBLIC. AND N.J.: Educational Testing Service, 1990). ent media. 6. See, for example, Albert Shanker, 'The End of THEY HAVE BEGUN the Traditional Model of Schooling and a Pro- National media, particularly television, TO DO SO. BUT THE posal for Using Incentives to Resnucture Our Public can be powerful forces in creating these Schools," Phi Delta Kappan, January 1990. pp. kinds of images for the public. And, in NEED FOR NEW 344-57. small ways, they have begun to do IMAGES OUTSTRIPS 7. For the origin of the term adventurous teach- so. ing, see David K. Cohen. 'Teaching Practice: But the need for such new images farout- MEDIA EFFORTS Plus ea Change. ," in Philip Jackson, ed.. strips what has been done to date. Contributing to Educational Change: Perspectittu TO DATE. Local and much less expensive on Research and Practice (Berkeley, Calif.: McCutchan, 1988), pp. 27-84. efforts may also be effective. Forexam- 8. John Seely Brown, Allan Collins, and Paul ple, an elementary school in Maine bent Duguid. ''Situated Cognition and the Culture of on restructuring makes creative use of the Learning,"EducationalResearcher.Janu- talents of a retired citizen who volunteers Finally, restructuring will not succeed ary/February 1989. pp. 32-42; Judith W. Segal. his services as a video technician.' He Susan F. Chipman. and Robert Glaser, eds.. unless its ambitious goals for studentac- Thinking and Learning Skills: Relating innruction visits classrooms, tapes children at work,complishment and for radical approaches to Research. Vol. 1 (Hillsdale, NJ.: Erlbaum, and interviews them. He also tapes theirto reorganizing the educational enterprise 1985); Susan F. Chipman. Judith W. Segal, and performances, plays, readings, andart- Robert Glaser, Thinking and learning Skills: Cur- are met with equally ambitious and radi- rent Research and Open Questions. Vol 2 (Hills- work. His tapes are then broadcaston thecal approaches to altering learning and dale, N.J.: Erlboum, 1985); Lauren B. Resnick, local-access cable channel. Parents notteaching in the classroom. The active "LearningIn School and Out.' Educational only have the pleasure of seeing their Researcher, December 1987, pp.13-20; and learning/adventurous teaching approach idem, ed., Knowing, Learning, and Instruction: children on television, but they alsoseeis the one most consonant with the goals Essays in Honor of Robert Glaser (Hillsdale. some new images of what school can becurrently put forth. Moreover, putting in- NJ.: Erlbaum, 1989). of what their children's school alreadyteractive computer and video technolo- 9. Cohen, op. cit. is. gies into the service of these learning and 10. Karen Sheingold and Martha Hadley,Accom- plished Teachers: buegranng Computersinto teaching goals can provide substantial Classroom Practice (New York: Center for Tech- The agendas of active learning, tech-help in reaching them. Put morestrong- nology in Education, Bank Street College, 1990). nology, and restructuring each a pow- ly, it is unlikely that these ambitious goals II. Henry 1. Becker. "Computer Use in United erful vehicle for changing learning andfor learning and teaching can be meton States Schools, 1989: An Initial Report of U.S. teaching in schools need to be pursued a large scale without widespread, cre- Participation in the LEA. paper presented at the annual meeting of the American EducationalRe- concurrently to be maximally effective. ative, and well-integrated uses ofmany search Association, Boston, 1990. If we imagine all three coming togethertechnologies. 12. David Dwyer, Cathy Ringstaff, and Judy in schools and districts, the potentialfor What I am urging here is an effort not Sandholtz, 'The Evolution of Teachers' Instruc- synergy is very great indeed. simply at synergy, but at building coher- tional Beliefs and Practices in High-Accessto- Technology Classrooms," paper presentedat the Technology tied to learning and teach-ence of educational goals, approaches, annual meeting of the American Educational Re- ing of the kinds I have describedcantools, and structures. Even if we achieve search Association. Boston, 1990; and Sheingold work much more powerfully inschoolsonly a very rough approximation of that and Hadley, op. at. than it typically does. Itcan be still more coherence, we can transform schooling. 13. Jane David et al., State Actions to Restructure Powerful if its use is encouraged and Schools: First Steps (Washington, D.C.: National sup-Therein lies great opportunity. Governors' Association,1990); and Marc S. ported in environments in whichchange, Tucker, "Creating an 'Entrepreneurial' School reorganization, and reflective experi- System.° Education Week. 21 lune 1989,p. 36. 1. Lauren B. Resnick. Educanon and Learning ments are valued. The active learning/ to 14. Doris A. G. Ray, "As Far Awayas the Ream Think (Washington. D.C.: Nanonal Academy Press. Next Door: Restructuring Schools and Technolo- adventurous teaching approachcan come 1 987) . gy" (Master's thesis, Lesley College. 1990). Et) BEST COPY AVAILABLE 33 Reprinted with permission from The ExecutiveEducator, February 199, Copyright 1994, the National School BoardsAssociation, all rights reserved. PLUG INTOA NETWORK
By Doug Vander Linden and Larry Clark
Here's what you need to knowto get started building an information infrastructure for your schools
IF YOU WANT YOUR students to be able accomplish for teachers to tap into data on and administrators. And the nations informa- that led us to networking. tion highway, you One consideration inse- need an information infras- lecting a network is the tructure in your school dis- cost of software per user tr.a. And the backbone of on the network. Consider. 40that infrastructure is a com- for example, a desktop- puter network. publishing program called That's what we've dis- The Writing Center,pro- covered in Unified School duced by The Learning District 244 in Burlington. Co. A stand-alone, single- Kan. Located in the south- user copy of the program eastern part of the state, costs $ 129.95. For a lab our school district enrolls with 25 computers, then. 1.000 students. We havea it costs 53.248.75 to have K-5 building with 500stu- legal copies for all the Cents, a middle school students to use at the same time. with grades six.seven, and eight that has 250 students. and a 9-12 high school Keep that price in mindas we discuss the three with 250 students. types of networks we looked Like many medium sized at: school districts, we ven- Devicesharing network. In this tured into the informationage one step at a time. But kind of configu- before long, ration. individual stand-alonecomputers are tied to- we realized we needed to includecom- gether. using a penpherai-sharing puter networks inour technology pianning. The com- system. Apple built puters in each of one of me basic systems into its Macintoshcomputers our buildings are now configured in using the LocalTalk port. But if networks, anarrangement that enhances both teaching you don't have a Maciri- and learning. tosh. or if you are usingApple Ile or IBM MS-DOScom- Getting there has beena learning process puters. you can use another electronic forus. and we'd like topass along what we ye learned sharing device, for the such as the standardA-B-C-Dswitch box. benefit of school districts likeyours. As their name suggests. themain reason to use de- vice-shanng networksis to share peripherals, suchas Three types of networks dot- matrix printersor laser punters. In some smaller de- n our planning, vice-sharing networks,you might even be able to share we considered not only what we a modem. wanted toao for students. but also whatwe wanted to Operating system-basednetwork. This kind of Doug Vander network still involves individual. Lindenis technology director and Larry Clark stand-alone computers vivermtendenr with hard drives. Butthe network is configured in Unified School District244, not Kan Burlington, only through physicalconnections. like Apple's Lo- cagralk or other networkcabling; it is configured BEST COPY AVAILABLE j4 through the operating system software as well. For ex- pack of software. A lab pack ofThe Wrung Center. ample. Apple's System 7 has the abilityto share infor- which includes live copies. mation on hard drives among the users on the network. costs 5299.95. or of 51.499.75 for a lab with 25computersa savings of Similarly, Windows NT from Microsoft is designedto S1.7-19. (You can purchase lab allow users to share information based packs for either a de- on the operating vice-sharing network or anoperating-system network.) systems software within the computer. Anotherpro- Client-server-based network. In thisconfigura- gram. Novell Lite, also allows individual computersto tion, which is the most be linked in a network without a common, each computeraCiti- separate, centralized ally becomes a workstation connectedto a dedicated computer acting as a file server. computer, called the server, whose The primary feature of an operating system-based purpose is to pro- vide the workstations with softwareand datawhether network is to share data by allowing individualusers to the data are for video, text, graphics, gain access to the data on other computers. For voice. or audio. exam- Again, the primary purpose of this kind ofnetwork ple. the superintendent might havea spreadsheet you is to allow computers to share and need access to so you can fill in save data. But it's no some information for longer necessary for you touse a program on my com- budgeting. The superintendentcan put the spreadsheet puter and slow my computer down. Instead,you go to on his computer. and you can actuallytap into that the file server, get a copy of the computer and get the file. When you're done, program. and bring it you can to the memory of your computer. Theserver acts as the transfer the file back to the superintendent'scomputer or the superintendent can attach to your centralized computing power for theentire network. computer and What's more. the number of peripheralsthat can be get the file back. used on the network increases The drawback is that the ability dramaticallyeverything to share software on from printers and modemsto scanners and fax ma- this kind of network is quite limited. IfI have a copy of chines. You might have what's called Microsoft Works on mycomputer and you want access a CD-ROM server CO it, for example, I can't use it while on the network. (This device allows multipleCD-ROM you do. What's software programs to be made more, when you attach tomy computer to use the pro- available across the net- gram, you slow down the processing work.) If you have a set ofencyclopedias on one disk, on my computer. students can gain accessto it from anywhere in the The practical implication is that thesoftware has to be building. located on both computers. Youcan share peripherals, And as for software such as printers and modems. But costs, take the same program, because you need to The Writing Center. A network have the same softwareon each individual computer, package that can reach up to 50 users at once is just 5799.95. For thecost of your software cost will be high. Instead ofpurchasing individual copies, though, six single-user programs, in otherwords. you can reach suppose you purchase a lab 50 users at one time throughout theentire building.
: N.. :7.7.0. %-:Ia.At' 72r. EEP.YOUR NETWORK SAFE AND SOUND S'itY44`....tt:11.44:**2.."tr"- . nstalling computei rietworks'ira;:whaveeav --zt-t.ett,t,td-.110*-DE:.4-fror-erts. tkup;and runrung agant,4- your schools? These securirY'Cori:-:i':tsV011oitii.',Vi'4:;:*Le'0441"...' Individual station, trackingrir :N... ' thrfilisi 'on bodi the' workitations siderations should enter intoyour "f,''..:k:.::Youi'disaster-reeSveiyplari-;(1-,,tr--4,*.i'Ind*the plans. First, be sureyou have a server itself. Seiiial other :should als6 account- krthe possible Ciiic-baSed anti-virus:programs back-up system, and be sureto loss of files due to theft, fire, or.:::-.4:7;areilsii ' back up your filesevery night. . , r. some other calamity. It's not you hi;ie to protect your Many school districts backup their enough simply to make back-up files only once a week. Butsup- ' data:from unauthorized files of data if you store theback:a;tstudents getting ini&the.teicher's-?5,4 pose your entire managementsys- ups in the same room as your file ,.7'.:;gradebook, tern runs on the network and teach-7 for example. We re- server. If someone breaks in, ihey-::r3::,.quireteachers to have pissword.;.;.F.!. ers enter grades and attendance can steal everythingback-up every day. If the network goes tapes and to change themperiodically.il., . and all. We keep allour back-ups in down (and some day it will),the (Teachers can also have unique.. a different room than our fileserverpasswords on e-mail and grading teachers have to go back andenter is in, and we have a fire wall be- - .:-..programs to providean additional seven days worth of data. Sowe ;-..tween the two rooms. That way, if....:4:10e1 of security.) We alsouse. back up every day. Andwe have there'sfire in the file seivir.roornr?.fniiftiliet an uninteruptable power. supply :of:software prOgrams tosi!Fe,3.. our back-up files will stillbe safe:,....:f:riprovide SecurityiinCluding on our network that keeps thenet r, Another security: consideratior.is:',t work up for 30 minutes if called Intruder Detection,..which we lose ziz..k.protecting your data from.Viruses;.:4.panof Novell's Netware:System.LIt.;:- power. . which can enter the network Next, you must havea disaster when.;;;wi-...I'ciirks. like this Saya student tries.'; r"-: students use bulletinboards. To to log into the network, guessing recovery plan. When we put inour guard against viruses, at we use.i feather's user nameor password. first file server, we boughtan iden- gram from Intel called LAN Protect, -:ii7:After tical one to bea back-up server for dime incorrect attempts, the an anti-virus program designedto program logs the student the whole district. Ifone of our net-sit on the file server. It out and 7- work servers goes down, monitors thetells us the station where theat-.- we can server drive and the hard drives on tempt was.mad,..D.V.L:andLC. .. UUrf AVAIL 44The 5xecutive Educator/Feeruary1994 A; of this year. every building in our school district that is made up of 16 -MBS cards.you slow the weed of has a ciient-server-based network. We have a 110-sta- the enure network downto 4 MBS. The cams must be tion network in our high school. working off a single consistent. If you want a 16-NtBs network.every carp the server. In our middle school. we have an 90- station has to be a 16-MBS card. network. and we have just put a 75-station network in Other protocols. Additional protocolsare either I our elementary school and a 10-station network in our still in the developmentstage or have not yet come central office. down enough in priceCO be affordable for most schools. One is FDDI (fiber distributeddata interface), Network protocols which is designed togive you a speed of 100 NIBS on fiber optic cable. ButFDDI cards are still in the 51,000- what determines the speed and performance of your 52,000 price range. network is not only the speed of your server and work- Another product is Fast Ethernet, whichis designed stations. but also which network protocol you select. To to provide 100 MBS performance in the 10BASE-T envi- put it simply, the protocol determines how you tie ronmenta tenfold increase in the speed. The cards computers together to form a network. Most of these cost approximately $695 each. Protocols follow standards set by the IEEE (Institute of Another future protocol for the educationenviron- Electrical and Electronic Engineers), an international ment is wireless communication. Wirelesssystems will standards committee that has defined the specifications still need to come down inprice, improve in speed and for network cabling and network cards. performance, and overcome the limitationsof school You should be familiar with the following protocols: building structures to make inroadsinto schools, Arcnet. Although it is used in both business and though. education. Arcnet is not a standard recognized by IEEE. Note the speed of the FDDI and FastEthernet proto- Network speed is measured in megabits per second.or cols. If you want to put videoon your networkand NIBS; with a speed ranging from 2.5 MBS up to 10 NIBS, you probably will, eventuallyyou'll need Arcnet can be relatively fast. It's also inexpensive: The more net- work speed than is currently availablein the Arcnet, cards cost approximately S100 each. Ethernet, or token ring environments. But be warned: Network technology is Keep that in changing mind as you make technologypurchasing decisions. rapidly, and because Arcnet is nota standard, few new For example, if you want developments are being made for this protocol. to buy $150 Ethernet cards So if today, realizing that down the roadyou'll want to go to you're looking for a network protocol thatail, grow Fast Ethernet, make and evoive. Arcnetaiihough it'sa cheap performer sure you tell the person providing m.ght not be your choice. your cable that you want it to comply with the Fast Eth- ernet standard. This would require purchasing Ethernet. Two major types of Ethernet Category networks 5 unshielded twisted-pair cable. Thatway, you can buy are used in schools. The first, whichwas made popular by IBM, is called cable today for the cheaper Ethernetand then down a baseband network. In a baseband the road move to Fast Ethernet andnot have to recable network. the cabling goes fromone computer directly an enure building. to another and then to another:this configuration is commonly referred toas a bus. Baseband networks are relatieiy cheap. buttnev are slow and are limited to Additional considerations approxur.ately 30 workstationsper segment. After we decided onour network protocol (we chose a The second type ofEthernet network :s called a 10 10 BASE -7 Ethernet environment),we still had to make BASE-T network. inschools. these networksare typi- cally designed some important decisions about networkconfiguration in a star configuration using unshie:ded and other matters. twisted-pair cat:4e. Thesenetworks. wntch arenow being used by The first question was whichnetwork software to corporate Arnenca and education.are ca- pable of noiciing use. Our choice was Novell Netware, whichaccommo- literally uo to 1.000stations, The :=7--: dates MS-DOS computers and, standard for 10BASE-T is 803.3. with a program cailed in the 10 Nerware for the Macintosh. alsoallows us to bang Mac- BASE-7 environment. ;Theme: hasa weed of 10 NIBS: the intosh eomputers ontome same file server. We have an average cost per card isaporoximate:v IBM file server that runs all S150. Andwith cne 10 BASE-T our MS-DOS and Macintosh' the entire network. you can have computers on the same network. Macintosh family andthe entire MS-DOS fam- ily on thesame network. Otner products thatare used in education include AppieShare Pro, which is designed In,: Token ringnetwork. Developed according primarily for Macin- standards. the :o tosh and Apple Ilecomputers; DigiCard. which many token rings network hasan IE.r.t. stan- dard numoerof 80').5. schools use for networking AppleIts and MS-DOS com- cording Again, there are two types.ac- puters; and SchoolMate, which is used to speed: Thefirst speed is 4 MBS. withan av- to network erageCost or S'350 Tandy-type computers. 40.IBS. at per card. The second speed is 16 Another consideration is hard approximatelyS-+50 a card. disk size. The key ad- Two things vice: Buy as much as youcan afford. We put 1.3 giga- work: First, to remember about thetoken ring net- bytes in our 100-station file vou cannotout the entire Macintosh family servers. We aren't close CO on thenemork---oniv using it all yet. but whenyou consider that one minute NuBus the Macintosh computers witha of video will take ..::pansionslot. up several megaovtes of hard disk space and software programs ecc)r,(...t you put a single 4-mBscard on a nerworis with Windows are grow- ing larger and larger. thenyou know that the larger the BEST COPYAVAILABLE hard disk in the server, the longer it's going to last you learning system or by lookingat students' files on the down the road. network. And they can tap into the networkto make Still another thing to consider is where the students use of instructional tools such as electronic grade books store their information. We originally thought they and quiz designers. should store everything on floppy disk. But many kids The networks have tremendous administrativead- can't remember to bring their lunch tickets aa school, vantages as well. In financial terms. a major benefit is let alone their floppy disks. So we decided instead that encouraging full use of the computers you've already all the students should store their information on the invested in. (The last thingyour school board wants to network. That accomplishes two things. First, wherever do is buy a S2,000 paperweight.) Inour high school, students go in the buiiding, they can get into their files. for example, 99 percent of the staff saiduse of technol- Second. teachers can check and monitor students' work ogy and computers more than doubled in the firstyear from anywhere on the network. after we installed the networks. A final consideration is staff development and sup- Record keeping is another example. Ourstate educa- port. We plan for staff development in all of our tech- tion department has estimated that tracking all the dif- nology applications, in the belief that you have to bring ferent kinds of information we'd liketo track for each staff members along if you expect them touse technol- student would take a secretary forevery teacher. But ogy in the classroom. We ask teachers to volunteer for with a good district managementsystem, we can do it some in-service sessions and provide stipends for oth- with our existing staffand pull togetherreports for ers. We offer summer training, summer check-out of administrators. computers, and preservice training, as well as training Right now, every secretary, guidance counselor, and during the school year. But support cannot stop with principal in our school district usesa computer and is training: You have to have someone available to help on a network. Talk about improved communications. people with problems when they occurnota day During our first month using electronic mail,we sent later and certainly not a week later. We've hireda full- 17,000 messages in one building alone-17,000 for time person to help the district's technology director some 35 or 40 staff members: We estimate thata third provide user support. of those messages actually saveda piece of paper, which makes some 6.000 pieces ofpaper (and maybe a The payoff small tree). What are the benefits of computer networks? Forstu- dents, the real payoff is the information thatis suddenly Gilmpses down the highway accessible to them through the CD-ROM server or the Our EdTech 20/20 plan is a vision for thefuture. Our modem. Right now, our students can search encyclope- first goal is for all our students dias on the network or reach out to be technology literate. to a number of bul- We want them to be preparedto use technology in col- letin boards. And before long, way outon the plains of lege, in trade school, oron the job. We want them to Kansas. our network will be able to tieto the Internet. be life-long learners who and students will be able to work with are comfortable with change, a vast truckload because technology will continueto change. of data on the information highway. Full integration of technology into the another benefit for students: They curriculum is get experience another part of our plan. Our goal isto make technol- they can use in the world of work. Today.some 80 per- ogy applications a pan of every subject. cent of all computers purchased are bought by busi- not just science and math. and were helping teachers findways to use nesses and put on networks. When students graduate technology applications in their classrooms. and get Jobs. they'll work on those networks,and were We envision multimedia applications, preparing them to do that. using interac- tive CD-ROM to bring the curriculum aliveand interest The networks also provide a wealth ofindividualized students in learning. We also remedial and enrichment instruction for students ar& working toward two- and way interactive video. and were within 20 milesof get- make possible valuable interdisciplinan.activities. For ting on a fiber line. Once we've accomplished that and example. social studies and English classes can team up have set up a two-way interactive studio,we can link on the network to work on joint projects. students to the rest of the worldso they can take For teachers, as for students, the real benefitis infor- courses that are currently available only in larger school mation accessibility. Imagine having more than one districts. The same technology will bea boon for staff textbook at hand as you design lessonplans. Imagine development arid a tool for the having an on-line compact disc entire community. program that gives you Our next step is a wide-area network thatwill link an up-to-date map of Eastern Europe. instead of theold all the buildings in the district.Once that's completed map of the Soviet Union in the social studies book. within the next yearwe'll be able Teachers also benefit enormously from to trade data from the commu- school to school, gather demographicinformation, and nications tools available t:irougha network. Electronic compile test data for mandated mail can go a long way toward breaking reports to the state. down isolation Already, though, we believethe hard work and plan- and opening up communicationsamong teachers. And ning involved in selecting, installing, the same cabling you put in for and maintaining a 10 BASE-T network our district's computer networks havemore than paid can be used to put in a telephonesystem as well. i. off. In fact, at the risk ofmixing ourmetaphors,we'd Finally, teachers makeuse of the networks to more say that computer networks tor student performance----either are both the heart and the on the integrated backbone of any school technoloevNan SECTION II: FUNDING OF TECHNOLOGY IN SCHOOLS
3 S Reprinted with permission from Educom Review. January/February 1992. K-1 2 Networking
rations that use networking tosup- port K-12 education and reform goals. NETWORK-BASED There could be many more, however, and the ones that now exist should extend to more participants. A persis- tent problem for K-12 educators is COLLABORATIONS: lack of access to a national network- ing system. Many schools lack the hare essentials for computer-based HOW UNIVERSITIES communications: a computer witha modem and a telephone line thatcan be dedicated to such communica- tions for at least part of the day. Even CAN SUPPORTK-12 in settings that have these basices- svuials, there are many dedicated educators who would loveto use the resources but lack the know-how. REFORM EFFORTS In several states (including Califor- nia, Florida, New Mexico, New York, MN NIS E 12CET, KT D PLAN, Texas, and Virginia), statewidenet- the Geogame. the Induction Year work connection programs doexist. project. Centennial space shuttle Elsewhere, infrastructureresources, launch simulations, the SchoolRe- training, and beginning-user helpare newal Network, the Virtual Worlds clearly needed. But thereare other project all are examples of network- vexing problems. For instance,an based collaborative projects forK-12 extensive network that connects, teachers, curriculumspec- .sts, and among others, the state mathematics students. Most of these projectsuse and science supervisors of allthe the 1ntemet. althougha couple lack Mates and territories uses proprietary even an electronic mail gate to the software and cannot provideeven national system. Let me teaseyou for electronic mail connectivityto other now with just the names, later I'llgive networks. (Active effortsare under a brief description of eachone. way to remedy this situation, arida Currently, there are many collabo- mail gateway may exist by thetime th.s is published.) Other network systemsare project specific, allowing only limitedor no By John Cle7nent electronic mail outside project-ori- ented connections; at the end ofthe Jobn Cement directs EDUCOM's X--12 project, the account is closed and the .Vetworking Project. He will be reporting regularly on educational applications connection ceases. Network-based of networking and welcomescomments and communications can become a pow- Ideas for items to include in ibis column. erful engine to support K--12 He can be reacbed at JRCSEITNICor reform, CLEMENNIEDUCOM.EDU but first a criticalmass of educators EEST COPYAVAILABLE )At;/FEB 39 199! must be connected with linkages that ing and learning. But quite often, projects must be that they %moist are permanent and generalized. rath- these experts don't have the corn students, under teacher supervision er than project specific. bined knowledge of curriculum and in gathering real. usefui 03L.1 .0. Universities and colleges could play of today's Internet, and we therefore luboration with disciplinary r h. a significant part in helping collabo- run the risk of neglecting thispoten- ers on a standing (or at st rative projects become an engine to tial avenue of communication in many long-term. multiyear) basis. Discipline revitalize the schools. To begin with, curricular areas. specialists would oversee quality con institutions can get involved by sup- Or take the notion of significant trol and provide mentonng and tram porting efforts to extend connectivi- scholarly and research collaborations ing when necessary. But leedersh ty. Why do K-12 educators need that take place among teams of edu- must be at least shared by K-I2 networking? What would they use it cators and students and disciplinary disciplinary community mernbe for? The basic reasons are, of course, specialists in universities and research Finally, these efforts must be recce communicative: for personal growth centers. Let's consider schooling as nixed as part of every teacher s jot and training, to expedite collabora- an integral part of the national enter- and each student's education, not at tive projects, to gain access to infor- prise and schoolpeople at all levels as extra credit or as a club activity mation arid to curriculum resources, a national resource. Shouldn't we be Let no one argue that students and and to connect students with each calling on them for their input on teachers are incapable of such work other and with ongoing projects. many projects? Projects such as these are important Donations of old equipment and During the 1980s. through the im- to the nation, not only as a source of software (some software companies plementation of such projects as the needed data but also as the beginning are now offering license transfers to National Geographic Society's Kids of students' introduction into the -real schools at no cost for academic pur- Network, Bob Tinker and his col- world." One of the reasons that aca- chase of upgraded software), as well leagues at the Technical Education demic schoolwork is not taken seri- as support for installing telephone Research Centers (TERC) pioneered ously enough by our students is that lines, are needed in some local situa- the notion of putting serious research it doesn't seem relevant to them. tions, In others. equipment is not the goals into the hands of student and If such projects are to be created, problem, but access. training, and teacher teams. integrated the results the roles that colleges and universi- user support are. Guest-account ac- by use of telecommunications, and ties can play in K-12 educat ill cess may he a worthy temporary created collaborations with discipline expand and so will the corn a- answer, but more important is help- experts. TERC's project areas, aimed wn requirements. Postsecondary in- ing a local system to develop its own at upper elementary grades, have stitutionscanfosterthese training and support mechanisms over included Acid Rain, What's in Our collaborations directly by encourag- time. The key role that postsecondary Water, Solar Energy, and What We ing disciplinary departments to par- institutions can play in this area is in Are Eating. ticipate. by coordinating funding providing, and supporting. the con- Now it is time to extend this idea to request preparation, and by support nection to the Internet. every curricular area at every educa- ing and rewarding faculty who partic- Much of this communication and tional level. Let's address topic areas ipate. Collaborative, scholarly protects collaboration should occur among, and issues of national interest through in the humanities and the arts and and he instigated hy. K-12 educators col laborite e protect areas. Bob Tink- sciences can stimulate learning by themselves. Howe er. some very sig er has thought of a student-run grid of otfenng long-term support for schools. nificant roles could he played by the seismic sensor stations. Here are some Seminars, summer work opportuni- university community: indeed.we other ideas. a standing collaboration ties, and sahbatical-yeer appointments can point to situations where they are bens een teachers, students. andre- can be created at both schools and being played The vision of what searchers on the genome and struc- colleges. unit ersities and colleges can do to ture of the nematode Catmurbabdtt is When your local school conies to support K - -12 network-based collab- elcvtlis. periodic "market basket'gro- ask about a guest account on the orations can extend well beyond con- cery cost surveys; assessments of lo- Internet, consider the opportunity you nectivity. cal unemployment or dropout rates: are being offered and the difference A good example is in the develop- or access to prenatal care and well your support can make in revitalizing ment of K-12 curriculum approaches baby" clinics. And how about field our K-12 schools. and materials. Many of the curricular archaeology projects or a standing The following are descnptions of experts now implementing new ap- effort to monitor water qualityor the network-based collaho proaches are in postsecondary Ye insti- ground pollution or acid rain,run by protects mentioned at the be tutions. The approaches being a school on behalf of a state or federal of this column: advocated call for a more collabora- environmental control agency? MSELNET: Mathematical Sciences tive, project - oriented view of teach- The important features of such Education Leadership Network. a
10 EDUCOSi retitli' FEST COPY AVAILABLE collaborative effort between major elementary school. School classes each simulated mission: secondary mathematics associations and a divi- send in a description of their own site; mission control, alternative landing sion of the National Academy of Sci- the coordinator scrambles the infor- sites, even the role of docking anoth- ences. Established to connect the mation in each response and sends er shuttle. Runs on the Cleveland workers who implement the curricu- out the scrambles as puzzles for the Free-Net. over the Internet. lum standards agreed to by the math- groups to solve. Runs on FrEdmail School Renewal Network. A ematics education community, and the Internet. project of the National Education including every state mathematics Induction Year project. Running Association's National Center for In- supervisor. Uses IBM's PSInet, a pro- over TENET (Texas Educational Net- novation, supporting more than twen- prietary store-and-forward system work), this project provides training ty-five site-based management currently without either Internet ac- and support for first-year teachers in restructuring projects in schools cess or gateway capabilities. Texas. Runs on the Internet. around the country using a PSInet KIDPLAN. Created by Odd de Centennial space shuttle launch link. Fresno of Norway, billed as "a global simulations. These projects run in Virtual Worlds project. Another dialog for children from 10 to 15 years conjunction with NASA space shuttle periodic effort of the Cleveland Free- old." An ongoing version of a project launches. A full mock-up of a space Net. After preliminary preparation. that was originally called KIDS-91, shuttle is available at University School classes spend a school day explonng which in May 1991 linked hundreds in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Student as- an assigned .-virtual world": examin- of children around the world. Uses tronauts crew the mock-up for up to ing drone survey data, designing ex- the Internet. 24 hours along with a real space penments. and reporting the results Geogame. Developed by Tom shuttle launch. Other schools through- back to "mission control." III Clauset of Winston-Salem,'North Caro- out the United States and in other lina, and aimed at middle and upper countries assume various roles in
41 Reprinted with permiss: School September 1993. National School Boards. reserved.
FUNDING EEC- CLASSROOMS
BY ARLENE KREBS
s committed educators work todations and corporate giving reform schools for the 21st cen-programs nave made a commit- tury, they are joined by corpo-ment to educational change. rate and philanthropic leaderssupporting local and national who understand the importanceorganizations that spearhead the of their efforts and offer supportschool reform movement. These for implementing technology ingroups award grants that help schools. educators. school leaders, par- Funders recognize that everyents, and communities work to- type of educational institution isgether. and they endorse imagi- involved in the effortnot onlynative grass-roots efforts. schools, but also museums. sci- Foundations such as Ford, ence/technology centers,li- MacArthur. and Pew support braries. and community aeen-outreach through radio and tele- cies.Likewise,theworkvision programs to inform par- touches on every curriculuments and the community about area, with math, sciences, tech - local school restructuring efforts. nology. environmental studies.Projects that have the potential multiculturalism, and literacy into become financially self-sus- the spotlight of change. taining and that can serve as Within those institutions and models regionally and nationally areas. funders recognize the receive high attention. Arlene Krebs, benefits of integrating CD- School reform is viewed as author ofThe ROMs, videodiscs, computers,the primary way to implement UsDLA Funding multimedia, televisions, andthe six national education goals Sourcebook tor telephones into new approachesendorsed at the National Educa- Distance Learn- to course content, activities, andtion Summit of 1989. Those ing and Educa- assessment. They recognize,goals are reflected in the priori- tional Technol- too, how electronic media areties among grant-givers: Em- ogy,is a 20-year changing the ways we educatephasis on preschoolers speaks educator and for a shared cultural heritage,to the goal of all children enter- president of New organize schools, and interact ing school ready to learn; atten- Orbit Communi- with students and staff. Theytion to the needs of at-risk cations, a New also recognize how parents,youth aims to meet the goal of York-based con- school districts, businesses, andboosting the high school gradu- sulting firm spe- community agencies are collab-ation rate to 90 percent; support cializing in edu- orating in new ways to trans-for the continuing professional cational media form traditional, hierarchicaldevelopment of adults ad- and telecommu- structures into democratic ones.dresses the goal of lifelong nications. Many of the wealthiest foun-learning; and emphasis on math
A20THE ELECTRONIC SCHOOL/SEPTEMBER 1993 42 Following are a few exam-libraries, and government agen- ples of such support:* cies by way of telecommunica- CATEGORIES OF The Sloan Foundation of- tions technologies. SCHOOL REFORM GRANTS fers awards in its Independent These companies often sup- Learning Outside the Class-plement videoconferences and school restructuring room program. which looks foreducational television program- school and classroom management innovative approaches to math. mingincluding new video-on- family/school partnerships science, and engineering stud-demand serviceswith teacher school/community/business collaboratives iesespecially approaches thatguides, student activities, and national standards and assessment use multimedia and computerprint and electronic resources. networks for self-education and Computer networking and ac- CURRENT FUNDING PRIORITIES FOR that increase education and ca- cess to on-line data bases serve CURRICULUM-FOCUSED GRANTS reer opportunities for minoritieslearners in rural, suburban, and and girls. Science museums and urban areas. math and science education, assessment, public libraries often serve as The telephone companies and reform network hosts in these projects, have awarded grants to muse- multicultural curricula using print, film, televi- providing families direct accessums to archive materials on sion, and multimedia to interactive learning materials videodiscs and CD-ROMs and to foreign language and cultural studies and technical information. museums and science/technol- environmental studies Grants are awarded to sci- ogy centers to create hands-on literacy projects ence/technology centers, middle interactive exhibits. They have supplementary educational materials schools, and high schools. also supported mobile vans serv- data bases and on-line resources Telephone companies such ing. as learning-resource centers that travel to low-income and EXAMPLES OF MEDIA immigrant communities. Home- SUPPORTED BY GRANTS work hot lines, an increasingly 11, popular communications link interactive television between the family and the homework hot lines, voice mail, and audio- school, are also funded. conferencing Apple Computer's K-12 Ed- computer networks ucation Grants program awards data bases $4 million annually to projects television, film, and radio programming that focus on the needs of at- CD-ROM risk students and on innovative videodiscs multimedia curricula, especially multimedia in environmental studies and facilities renovation global interdependency. Re- telecommunications infrastructure cently funded projects create equipment toisa_ new learning environments by developing student-centered materials that link classroomand learning. In the first phase learnint, and learning outside of this program, NFIE developed the classroom. For example, a guides and scenarios describing grant to San Diego's Hooverwhat teaching and learning High School helped ninth-grade should look like in the schools students create oral, written,of the future. These descriptions as Ameritech, NYNEX. Bell-and visual histories of theirwere formulated with advice South, Pacific Telesis. and GTEcommunity, using it as a "labo- from business and industry lead- Telephone Operations actively ratoryforlearning."Each ers, experts in technology, futur- support model demonstrationschool is awarded equipment ists, and educators. projects that link homes. schools. and 55.000 cash for other uses, Now inits grants phase, such as purchasing software, Learning Tomorrow operates For more information. see The USDLA Fund. training staff members, and at-regionally with support from me Sourrehmli for Docutme Lruemttv and &Its tending, conferences. local and regional foundations cuttrinul Technoiovs. by Arlene Krebs. This 272-page sourcebook. supported 1w J research The National Foundation for and corporationsespecially grant from GTE Telephone Operations. lusts the Improvement of Education the Regional Bell Operating !Landing agencies an antwriting tips and (NFIE), created by the National Companies. skills. as well as solow to help tormat propos als and keep information current Single copies Education Association in 1969, Recipients of grants in 1992 are asailable for S39 50. plus S1 25 shipping offers five grant programs. One, include the Garden City (Mich.) and handling, from New Orbit Communica- the Learning Tomorrow pro-Public Schools for a project tions. 39 Plaza St.. Brookls n. 11217.17181 gram. emphasizes creative ap- 857.3717, fax 17181 857-6335 Conte. are also using lumaphonestelephones available from USDLA. PO Roc 5129. San proaches and critical thinking that can depict photos of callers Ramon. Calif. 94583. (800i 13290-100 about technology, restructuring, on a screento connect stu- 43 THE ELECTRONIC SCHOOL/SEPTEMBER 1993 A21 ife ogy per se. Instead, they fund The best grant proposals are projects whose content areasthose that encourage collabora- .4 and activities match the founda-tion among institutions and tion's priorities. Technologywithin communities. Individual must be integral to the project'sschools should involve other goals, rather than the goal in it-schools in their districts and es- self. tablish links with local colleges For direct grants of equip-and universities. ment and softwareand some- The following program de- ; times casheducators can turnvelopment tips can lead to to corporations and equipmentgrant-winning and long-term manufacturers such as Applesuccess: News from the dents in the United States. Ger-Computer, Digital Equipment 1. Generate partnerships and stars: Teachers get Many, and Japan. A grant to theCorp., IBM, Panasonic, Sony,programs that can become eco- a briefing on the Austin (Texas) IndependentTandy, and Texas Instruments. nomically self-sustaining. latest in satellite School District supported de- In any case, it's important to 2. Match curriculum and pro- news-gathering velopment of K-12 curriculumresearch the interests of fundingject objectives with appropriate technology through units that use technology to en-agencies and to contact theirmedia and transmission sys- a GTE fellowship courage global understandingprogram officers before sendingtems. program. and world citizenship. proposals. 3. Where possible, involve The Toshiba America Foun- Competition for equipmentgroups of users, experts, and a dation, created in 1990, givesand money from both founda-consortium of sites, including high priority to math and sci-tion and corporate sources islibraries, community centers, ence classroom projects initiatedkeen. Winning a grant usuallyhomes, and museums. by middle school and highrequires much effort to develop 4. Seek funding to extend the school teachers. Most grants tar-links with the funding agencieslearning environment and to en- get enhancement of the curricu-and much time to prepare ap-hance participation through in- lum with hands-on learning ex-propriate submissions. teractive technologies and mul- periences using computers and Most funding agencies re-timedia. calculators, field trips for dataquire first a brief (two or three- Project assessment is crucial collection, or visits to museumspage) letter of inquiry. If theto funders and should be in- and science/technology centers. agency likes what it sees, it re-cluded in the program's pro- Toshiba emphasizes commu-sponds with application guide-posedbudget.ForK-12 nity-based programs and partici-lines for a formal proposal.schools, the assessment phase pation by girls and minorities. Grant-seekers can target theirof the project is a good place to Some of Toshiba's grantsletters of inquiry to variousbuild in collaboration with a link children with parents inagencies simultaneously.Iflocal college or university, school "science day" projects.more than one agency invites awhose faculty can provide the and some allow schools to par-full application, letting the agen- necessary expertise for prepar- ticipate in distance-learningcies know that fact might welling criteria and reports. The ed- "field trips," such as the Jasonenhance your chances of gain-ucational research labs funded Project for science-focused un- ing support from one of them. by the Department of Educa- dersea exploration. Still other Be certain to include profes-tion's Office of Research and grants support specialized activ- sional training as part of theImprovement can often help ities and pilot projects for at-grant request. Teacher training with assessment. risk students, involving them inaccounts for nearly 50 percent Schools can also use educa- diverse science and math learn-of total funding in materials andtion consultants who have broad ing activities. media development grants. Noexperience in distance learning For example. a 1992 grant ofmatter what their priorities,and educational technology. Be- 55,000 to Tuckers' Crossroads funding agencies recognize thatcause much of what is accom- Elementary School in Lebanon,educators must be prepared ef-plished with technology in Tenn.. supportedamobilefectively to transform class-school restructuring strategies is mathematics lab that uses visual room practices, content areas,not measurable by standardized aids, manipulative materials. and methods. test scores, educators and those and real-world applications to Funds are available for staffwho assist them must apply further understanding of mathe-development 'workshops (in-ser- new techniques, new perspec- matics concepts for students invice, after-school, and summer)tives, new models, and even a grades seven and eight. and to adapt curricula to newnew vocabulary to assess pro- interactive technologies. Grantsject results. APPLYING FOR A GRANT to develop leadership skills for Funding agencies also are in- administrators, school boardterested in disseminating infor- Foundations rarely fund the pur-members, and staff membersmation about the projects they chase of equipment and technol- are also available. fund, and they want to invest
A22 THE ELECTRONIC SCHOOL/SEPTEMBER1993 44 carefully in projects that canthan a page or two. Supportingthe next. By then, agency deci- serve as models and be repli-materials (letters of reference.sion makers know the ap- cated. Some foundations willrecommendations, vitae) belongplicant better arid, if they help their grantees disseminatein the appendix. the project, might help r findings and activities nation- One of the most importantthe application. wide. words of advice: re-apply. Only New directions, new media, Proposals should be writtena small fraction of requests areand new transmission systems clearlyand concisely andfunded, so it's essential to thinkhave emerged as crucial to edu- should be easy for readers toof applying for grams as an on-cation. You must be imaginative follow, complete with a covergoing process rather than anand hard working to secure page, project abstract, table ofisolated occurrence. An agencyfunding for the projects you contents, and headers or footersthat does not fund a proposalhave already initiated and for on each page for easy reference.one year might look on thethe possibilities and programs The budget need not be longersame proposal more favorablyyou only dream about. 0 rcuLucti.y 4.77.7. Reproduced by permission of 1111/ 111111111111M111 III III 01/ Scholastic Inc. Where to get them, how to get them, andprofiles of schools and districts that have been forever changedfor the betterafter getting them
THE RECESSION HAS BEEN THE KNOCK- school implement a new program with- do it for you, knowing about grants is out punch to many school budgets thatout affecting the bottom line. It alsoimportant. This article is Electronic were already wobbly at the knees. Asgives educators the means to attain aLearning's attempt to tell you every- businesses fail and people lose jobs,particular educational goal and, in the thing you need to know about grants: local tax revenuethe primary sourceprocess, wipe away some of those where to get one, how to increase your of many public school budgetssinking feelings among staff associatedchances of getting one, andwhyit's so shrinks. As a result, with the recession aridimportant to at least try to get one schools aren't able to By Gwen SolOmon budget slashing. even if you don't succeed. increase their annual Even more importantly, Grants for technology come in all budget, or worse, that budget gets evenaccording to educators, simply the pro-shapes and forms: some grant-givers smaller. Many districts are fighting back cess of writing a grant proposal often provide only equipment, others just by being extremely creative with theirhas a greater effect than the moneymoney, and still others a combination existing resources and personnel, itself. The planning, research, and in-of the two. The source may be the fed- implementing sound financial plans,depth writing that is required in prepar- eral government, state, or local funding and getting funds from outside sources. ing a grant proposal provides a vision agencies, or private foundations. The One such outside source is a grant, and long-tern blueprint that the schoolamount may be in the thousands or in which can, in some cases, provide hun-aught be able to implement later onthe millions. Whatever the case, the dreds of thousands of dollars to a even if it doesn't win the grant. effect is the same: The funding is short school or district in one quick shot. Every educator should know a littlelived, but the benefits are felt far into While the money must be used for abit about grant getting. Whether you the future. specific purpose, a grant does help the write the grant itself, or ask someone to To show you first-hand some of
those benefits, we highlight below a Interestingly, ACT Academy is not of the grantwillgo to renovating and handful of schools and districts that the brainstormof a grant-writing team. remodeling the building. Therestwill recently applied for, and received. The idea is an outgrowth of the dis- grants. support curriculum writing, staff devel- trict's long-range technology goals and opment, and new staff. plans. Cnucal to the creation of that While the curriculumwilldrive the New TechnologySchool plan was input and assistance from The McKinney Independent School technology, Gleghom expectsto use parents, businesses, Lid higher educa- multimedia, telecommunications, and District in McKinney, Texas.is pianrung tion. and the commurury at large. That distance learning as integralcompo- a new technology-nch scnool and has process' says Sue Gleghorn, assistant hired new staff to design nents of the program. We want to its overall pro- superintendent for instruction.is more break the mold of conventional teach- gram.Asthe sole recipient of the 1992 =cal than the plan. It is designed so ing strategies so that teachers can deliv- Department of Education Innovation in that the community will sustain the er instruction that results in superior Education grant, McKinneywas award- protect after the federal grant ends." academic achievement,' Gleghom says. ed almost 56 million dollars foratwo- To writethegrantproposal, The ACT Academywill year period. With the money the district be a year- will Gieg,hom says, 'We looked closely at round school open from 7:00 a.m. to create the Academic our technology plan and extended it: Competitiveness Through Tecnnology 10:00 p.m.; during after-school hours it we took a giant step forward to ask willserve as a, community learning cen- (ACT) Academy, a K-12 schoolwith ourselves what scnool environment we ter. Gleghorn envisions a 10 year old, a demographics thatwillrepresenta would want as a final outcome. The cross - section of the district Opening 16 year old, and a 35 year old walking in result was the ACT Academy.' together on projects. In addition, teach- September 1993, itwillfeature a world- The academywillbe housed in ers from the rest of the district can be class, technology-richcurriculum in Greer Elementary School, currentlya trained there. All schools will be linked English. mathemaucs,science. history ana geography. 400-student, K-3 campus that was bulk electronically. in the 1930s. Almost S1.2 million 6 Ls S6 million the answer for every telesommunicaticos and distance learn- In the first year, they enlisted the district?. Gleghorn is certain that the ing via satellite dishes, to allow tnem to suppon of the elementary school staff moneyand the long-range planwill anther reach out into the world. and spent all of the resources on that make a big difference in McKinney. The design team, using the grant schooL Every staff member bought into money, is creating a system that . will the plan and by the third year, the staff University Collaboration serve students in the district for many even felt that it no longer needed A high schooVuniversity collabora- years. Green plans to offer the materi- technology support person. Inst tion in Orem, Utah, is using technology als to other schools in the district. they asked to split the funds into instead of textbooks to teach mathe- stipends for 10 teacher/facilitators and matics. Thanks to a three-year, $749,000 Model Schools extra equipment. The high school Next Century Schools grant from RJR The Alhambra Unified School District began its program in the second year. Nabisco, Orem High School will have a in Alhambra, Calif., is in the final year Each year, the district not only new integrated math, science, and of a five-year state Model. Technology matched 10 percent of the grant funds English curriculum and a new home- Grant program. For each year of the but used Chapter 1 or Chapter 2 funds work assistance program. funding Alhambra received $500,000. so buy more equipment. Other schools Brigham Young University professor The money was used to create two in the district solicited support from Edward Green began planning for this model technology schools: Emory Park local businesses and parents and also program 10 years ago when he starred Elementary and Alhambra High. This wrote proposals for grants. teaching Algebra without pay at Orem year, the district received $300,000 The result of the five-year grant: a lot High. His overriding belief is that all ($292,000 in actual dollars after a recent of equipment, custom- designed materi- students should take Algebra because. cut) to maintain the program and dis- als, trained personnel, and an integrat- without it, students are often excluded' seminate the results, but thefultabyik ed technology program they probably from higher-level classes and college. A uncertain. While Gary Camow, diedret: can leverage into additional funds. bit ahead of his time. he created new tries coordinator of insuuctionaf.eA texts and designed instructional videos nology, has leveraged the Strength in Diversity to assist him. funding into additionalgrants and_ In Abita Springs, Louisiana, teacher Today, Green and Orem's principal nerships, and while the district'' Kathleen Duplantier says of these John Childs designed The schools have been supponive, Cainmeirt tough economic times: 'Louisiana will Computerized Classroom," which uses says: This is a day spell.- not notice as much as the rest of the computers, video presentations, and Camow's goal when hecame to U.S. because we've never really seen mini-texts in a curriculum that inte- district in 1985 was to put a terrific economic times." grates geometry and algebra II with in every classroom and a computes; fl The Apple Crossroads grant for Chmistry and English. They are devel- in each school. He's 80 percent thifik' S115,000 worth of hardware and soft- oping materials such as newsprint text- but not likely to reach his goal in.tlie; ware that her school received heir, books. take-home videos of classroom very near future. by providing equipment and,m instruction, and video/computer home- The five years of fundingwenrpisz importantly, the motivation to expand work aids. marily for staff development aria. instructionalcapabilities. Says The grant allows them to produce equipment. At the elementary sclio- 61;2, Duplantier, 'If you looked at the phi- and disseminate these materials and every teacher is knowledgcablEabOtit losophy of the school today and the lure additional Gem teachers and BYU technology while at the highsl'elnol philosophy five years ago, I thinkyou students and faculty to serve as consul- 65-70 percent of the staff is techically would see big changes, andsome of tants in the development, implementa- competent. The equipment"4:*11*, those changes are because of the tech- tion, and replication of the program. used and, Camowsays, "Techrl018.1ii nology and the multiculturalprogram Three quarters of the funding provides now serves as a catalyst, making: that we put in place because of the extra staff to allow them time to devei- school more interesting to student9ix. l grant." op and aeate the instructional materi- giving them new ways to explore.' While money isn't abundant, thearea als. The remaining funds are for com- addition, the two schools serveas is rich in racial diversity. Oneprogram puter hardware and other equipment. training sites for teachers from the rest has students building HyperCard stacks The key element. Green says, is the of the district and the surrounding about African-American, Choctaw, cooperation and team spirit the project area. French, and Native American cultures. generates. 'It's amazing wnat you can The original proposal, one of six that Each grade level is responsible fora get when people work together.' was eventually funded, was designed culture; students conduct researchto Green says. 'It's not just the product by district staff in contuncuon withper- learn about a particular people'smusic, but a process that lasts.' sonnel from Pepperdine University. art, drama, and much more. Guests Using CD -1'', regular compact disks, The key to ,winning, Carnow believes, come in to tell stones and share infor- computers, monitors, and networks, was the proposal's philosophical mation: students build stacks about the the team has created instructional mate- vision. They focused on student-cen- visitors and link this informationto rials that present information tostu- tered learning and proposed that tech- other stacks they created. dents in new ways. Much of it deals nology could promote it- "We are in the process ofsonic with real-world applications of mathe- other technology changes too," matics. The next step is to incorporate Duplantier says. Marty parentsare buy- ing home computers now, which often a great financial sacrifice. In adt.11, Zion, when two new wingswere built this past year, the district installed wiring for cable TV and networking. /; 7 Technology, says Duplantier, hasnew 3EST COPY AVAILABLE, importance in Abita Springs. 'What I feel we need now is not necessarily more hardware, although Gwen Solomon is director of the that would be nice, but training School of the Future in NewYork money, training time, and opportunities City. to broaden our teachers' perspectives about the possibilities of teaching with technology. It is very important to be sure that there is an =citing and mean- -7-7r-'77:7 ingful curr.culum that will be aided t*- with the use of technology.' Grant Giversi What TheyLe l
Distance Learning lhere is no inagk to vaitingwinning proposckhulthiri.are In North Dakota. Donna Schwartz. ..steps you can take that will Make granfleiderstake superintendent of schools for the Eledronk Lamingasked a panel of experts. from fundirija Diocese of Fargo. North Dakota. won des-federal, Oats; 'and foundation-oleliuswhat' a tnree-year U.S. Department of :Tor iiiiinriingliaPa.t Education Eisenhower Math, Science ;.r. grant. With the $330.000 that the dio- Notianal Sdence Foundation. Beverly flunter,programIiredt Ration' Science; cese received. 13 schools purchased Foaadcrtias'Aipliration.of Advanced Tedialogies crivision;*thallhe IIST hold for 501i;i advanced and enrichment courses staternent43art learning. Rather thaihayinga fricijan the terluscloO, from satellite -based distance learning itself ofcianakinfil minor improvements to today's educafional model, winning proPailireieducatialia ideas; providers. Both students and teacners 'We look for iiii4durei on what earn credit tnrough downlinked class- thesnataie of learning and taiirand es in numerous subject areas. Even supports thriiidiOs,',Ilitater says. 'Weviant-comPaIrnig possibtlrisi'out'pfi'Tsto teachers from local public schools advance the art and know hcier."2--a.m.y.;:,:a".-,;.F---;;:i..-.1,SfZi.i.:;._40=2 attend the telecourses. Science Foundationsupportsprojects-m many areas.7:.0year,Priter's; Students are now taking advanced lionreceived 200.1irelimipariglieposolsjlof .thes,613ihri dielapedlniojciirtilpropofd placement courses. as well as classes Grants ranged frani$50,100 air in marine science. physiology, and eventiallyiet.NRecl."..47r4=-1' " geneticsinstruction which could not be provided any otherway. Teachers Texts's. Education'Agency. Many.stati idacatiori dePortmenti pionteerinolj. grow* ed are gaming new knowledge from staff ...Tex-Ca; fore ample, the'state technology'oflotmeni this year is $30 Outudentanthy:ifilit4 development courses (not tomention it Tiro* by $S a year until It equals. $50'pes-studiatjai. jeci. college credit). totah S1013million, Schwartz appeuied to aprivate includes hardWare; software, andtrainingand tie"irkiidecto foundation iwnicn wishesto remain under the Competitive Technology Bernoratration Gratis iiragroni.44',. anonymous) for equipment and was ..:!1 The TixiiEditation Agency (11A) .sup- :nus axle to outfit each scnooi with ri.:Viihilunds are rtistribtited eqinlablY, diitricii.inusrsuba 'they frreleoiplii-for satellite receivers. monitors. and tele- ,techriokijittiikiflesi fUnees.-Soys GeoffieY Fleicher.inssouate commiioner. phones for the interactivecourses. techn'ology; :WeNbnt to sttil gosh 1....;.;* She s now writing a grant proposal of action tiiid for muiumecia ecuipment. When the tunas run out. Schwartz .fouaIation. Minnesato-haierl McKnight Fou'qdarion'Xorittis believes the schools will pick uo yearVw-orthY Colitis, a small-Li-air= of which ijoesto3duition7-4M.':-*Arjr1,4 costs memseives. 'The,: want it badly :::;.Tire:ati four Very 'dear ctherftifii4p.rog enougn. so inc'. re finding ways.' ::'.'"-sirAktiikii olcelio; Oecyf(0 sne vice' president 'first says Some scaoois have aireaav we determine that the project a Ste' s foundatioh:Secind,. the applicants must demonstrate formed planning committeesany unAsfandintot the need eir".;4! intend to renuest tunas from focal ..praem ffiay Wont to sera, and it must bea (Mimi 15116.110, there 4.rpOW*h.i businesses ono use matcning funds .vicfion that their strategy can salve the problem: And foci* thiCW.ti-itrast craals from enoowmentstocontinue kit the ability to otc.cctsli yMort They ve seen wnac a difference me -:- 4,4'.r.f114;;*.' technology can M3Ke.- U.S. Department of Education. lead .the request lorpco. iarefini.01 addressal For each grant winner. fundingpro- of the asues,' is thiadviii from Serisa 5mpsOn; o Cenorelfte DI- %iced benefits mat went tar beyond -Educafion's Fund for the Reform-of Schoili and Teoihing1HRST7;H aeacruai dollarsft encourages staff grant programs.:the Fund for Vucafion to work togetner as a team. to create paten, technology ; health, and innovation. And MT rani' Afilotirod" long -range plans. and to teachstu- schooldevelopment, and family Paittitirships.litelihioitifill. dents in new ways Pet haps most -1992, for exErie,. FIE awarded$3.5mitohtoeightiiogrcitisr imponanuy. the grant money generat- ;:-Naning propoSals,".Simison cry7simport ed excitement among Staff and stu- Pr dents. That s me lesson for noperu; application-din:dons one meet the priorities of the comPetitiktAiloa' own re grant venters? The funding was mere.:v uirements, EdUcationDepartment grants f011ov4ibirra atirlhetA :ne zataivst for cnange: the collabora- :.Education Deparnpept:Genefal ItrImiti"stratfie,RegUlationsIEDgR4locreptisi! tive planning process made:ne by Outside experts aricrrionuieiditioe iiiaiforeVAdierfiocelon..-- biggest long-term difference.
FEBRUARY 1993 ILICTION1C ISARNING SPECIAL !MOH .19 48 3EST COPY AVAILABLE SECTION III:IDEAS FOR NETWORKING IN THE SCHOOL AND CLASSROOM Reprinted with permission from ONLINE,July 1993.
mac monitor MII=2=113221:12211215=
by Edward j. Valauskas
Education Online: Interactive K-12 Computing
Imagine that I am a science teacher, experts in the field on the network and The leaders of the entire team ask managing a group of creative sixth ask them directly for their opinions. A me if one o'clock on the following grade students. I have watched them final dinosaur "squad" will synthesize Friday afternoon fits my schedule fora at lunch playing with sets of plasticall the reports and make a formalpresentation. Surprised attheir dinosaurs, reconstructing ancient presentation in the school auditorium completion ahead of schedule, I agree battles between Triceratops and for me, their classmates, and any of to the date. Invitations go out over the Tyrannosaurus [11. On their breaks, their "witnesses" or "collaborators" school network. The school is abuzz they access several compact discson from the network. with stories about the reportas I can the classroom neteto-A on dinosaurs, I have a few inklings over the next tell by the volume of electronic notes often visiting the Virtual Natural several weeks of the feverish activity of going between students during classes. History Museum. Sometimes they my charges. I find several complaints On the big day, with their computers roam on their computers through the in my e-mail from a group of paleon- hooked to the auditorium projection halls of great dinosaur exhibits in tologists at Berkeley, tired of being equipment, the show is ready to begin. museums in New York City, Chicago, I know that there are a few virtual visi- Washington DC, London, Brussels, tors, by way of the networkDave at and Berlin. Just before afternoon class I find several the University in Chicago, El ly at the begins, and while they areon recess, I Ceological Survey in Denver, and send out over the school networka complaints in my Steve in Cambridge. deceptively simple assignment. A few e-mail...tired of being The screen in the auditorium fills of my students hanging out in the pinged electronically with a clip from Walt Disney's classroom, the lunchroom, andon the Fantasia, the famous dinosaur scene playground with their computers, pick by a persistent sixth set to the music of Igor Stravinsky's up my assignment immediately InOn grader with the "The Rite of Spring." It's followed by their computers, a Quick Time clip electronic handle of an interview with Michael Crichton, appears with me as the star. For a few author of the fictional Jurassic Park. irritating minutes, ! hear my voice "Femur." around the school hallwaysat differ- Next is a summary of formerly fash- ionable theores of extinction against ent decibel levelsasking rny students a backdrop of Hollywood dinosaurs. the same question,"What happenedto pinged electronically by a persistent the dinosaurs?" The program continues foran hour sixth grader with the electronic handleand not a peep can be heard in the In our afternoon class, we work out a of "Femur." A former colleague at the large room. At the end, I congratulate plan. Groups of five students will work University of Chicago blind copiesme the team in their efforts, and their as detective units on different parts of on several large files that he sends to peers give them a standing ovation, the assignment. One group will search one of the groups. Another paleontolo- punctuated the local library, and libraries with imitationsof on the gist in Denver lets me know that she dinosaur sounds. network, to create a histoncal review of has sent some studentssummary When I return to my classroom, various theories on extinction. Another reports of her discoveries of dinosaurs group will examine how museums I check my electronic mail and find above the Arctic Circle in Alaska. It requests for copies of the students' have answered this question in their seems my students have been burning reportfrom Chicago, Denver, exhibits. A third team will search for up the network connections! Cambridge, and other academic 50 useless vocabulary, generating head- as a sheet of ice, these trips via the aches pounding with verb tenses. A computer provide a sampling of new way of learning the idiosyncrasies without risk and expense. ...they have already of a foreign language connects students For those living in northern dirne2, ,t loaded the file on the in different countries over the nets, may be impossible to understand the school server...so that allowing the exchange of electronic mail extremes of the Sahara. With their in native tongues. computers and a satellite hookup, a anyone can FIT it. Kids in Minnesota practice their group of students travelled on a 10,000 - French with a class in Bologna (for mile bicycle journey in Africa. Video .1.11.1=lainalimr. 1101 whom French is also a second langu- footage, online reports, and a newsletter locales. It seems they have been paid age). German students in Dusseldorf provide details about the expedition. the highest possible compliment on practice their English with counterparts Students have opportunities to ask the net. I am about to tell the class of in the United States. A student in Pisa questions of Africatrek's leader, and their accolades, when they inform me describes, in an electronic letter, an learn more about the geography and that they have already loaded the file annual tug-of-war over a trolley held on environment of Africa. on the school server and posted a city bridge every June. And for those Their appetites whetted, a compact instructions so that anyone can FTP it. without computers, notes are posted to disc such as "Svinga" can provide even It is amazing what a few computers encourage analog letters; a teacher in more information, in this case on the and a simple question can do fora Slovakia asks for messages for her culture and life of Zimbabwe. Built group of sixth grade dinosaur experts. students to sharpen language skills and with HyperCard, students can learn Does my fantasy sound too far- discuss issues of mutual interest, such more about the history, economics, art, fetched? Are there ways now to allow as the environment. or animals of this country, fresh from this sort of constructive, as opposed the national encyclopedia. Explore a to rote, learning? Here are a few exam- VIRTUAL TRAVEL national park, learn native phrases, ples, just so you believe me when I With KIDSPHERE, students can ask understand the value of local currency, tell you that this is not as improbable questions of researchers in the Antarctic, all with the click of a mouse. In con- as it sounds. explore the wilderness of northern junction with KIDSPHERE expedi- Minnesota, check on the progress of the tions, Svinga gives students a chance KIDSPHERE lditarod Sled-Dog Race, or trekacross to explore to their imaginative li One of the best resources available Africa. Let me elaborate. An elementary right from their desktops f3J. right now for students and teachers is school student in Washington State is KIDSPHERE. (KIDSPHERE used togo intensely interested in penguins. With ELECTRONIC SCIENCE by the name KIDSNET, but recentlywas her computer, she discovers a physicist Environmental studies are an impor- changed.) This is a list on the Internet working at a research baseon the tant part of the curriculum but often the designed exclusively to encourage the southernmost continent. The physicist focus on local problems prevents dynamic use of computers as a means to relays the questions to a biologist who students from getting a larger, even communicatein ways impossible with in turn answers her questions on how global perspective. Many children are any other educational tool. Founded in penguins breathe underwater, how long exposed to the concept of water pollu- May, 1989, KIDSPHERE connects they live, and how they reproduce. tion, acid rain, and deforestation, but students to other students, teachers with Three groups of students explore the have no idea that a given situation strad- colleagues, and opens opportunities for Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilder- dles national boundaries and even collaboration on a scale unknownin the ness north of Ely, Minnesota, communi- oceans. In one project, students collected history of education. The popularity of cating back to the network via cellular samples of rain or snow and posted pH KIDSPHERE has led to several spinoffs, phones and Macintosh Power Books. values to a bulletin board in Boston. In such as KIDS, a list for children to Reports stream back on the weather, another networked experiment, fifth communicate just with other children, fauna, flora, and survival in the climatic graders in Illinois analyzed samples of KIDS FROM KANATA, a Canadian extremes. Video cameras and faxes ground water collected by their cohorts project linking 3,000 students and 120 supplement the electronic reports with and shipped in special kits. In exchange, elementary schools that is just in its first information on gear, food, games, and fellow participants received a sample of phase, and KidzMail, a list for gifted dog sledding. Illinois groundwater, pH paper, and a students. What kind of projectsappear A school near Cleveland coordinates color chart. Another fifth grade class on KIDSPHERE? Here are some recent reports from the Iditarod Race, which polled their colleagues on environmen- examples. usually lasts 11 days. Reportson tal issues, asking students to rank air weather and standings provide students PEN PALS pollution, deforestation, extinction, on KIDSPHERE with a real flavor for water pollution, and waste disposal Perhaps the epitome of deadly educa- the experience without enduring freez- terms of seriousness. Many ex tion is foreign language learning, espe- ing winds and deep snows. For those menters received advice from scien. cially when it is practicedas exercises who have never understood wind chills that engage students in unrealistic and teachers on procedures for their and thermal shock, who havenever experiments, to ensure the validity of conversations, using lists of seemingly seen a lake motionless and windswept their results. 51 Other groups of students track migra- those struggling for funds for books, REFERENCES tory birds as they move north in the facilities, and salaries. For these institu- DI Portions of this column original- spring and south in the autumn from tions, it is merely a dream to imagine a ly appeared as my keynote address Canada and the United States to Central classroom with even a single computer, at the Conference on Information and South America. Children along a modem, and a dedicated phone line. Technology at the International migratory paths post the passage of Students and teachers lose opportuni- School in Bangkok, Thailand on Feb. different species electronically, gloving ties, leading to a downward spiral in 18, 1993. My participation was spon- students to create electronic and paper educational performance from kinder- sored by the East Asia Regional maps in class on routes, distance trav- garten through high school. Can just aCouncil of Overseas Schools and the elled, and elapsed time from start to machine make a difference? International School Bangkok. I am finish. To understand migration in the The evidence in support of tech-especially grateful to Rob and Linda very real sense of actual movement nology exists in the Internet tools like Rubis of the International School plotted on a chart, based on daily elec- KIDSPHERE. Children always answer Bangkok and Fred Brieve of the that they plan careers as astronauts, tronic comrnuniqudsis a very different East Asia Regional Council for their paleontologists, physicians, and other experience from a textbook discussion assistance. of avian navigation. scientists early in their academic careers. And there are answers for teachers Then later, the routine and boredom of science and mathematics education [2] These future student portable seeking a new way of introducing an all drive them to video games, television, too familiar topic, dinosaurs. Many chil- computers are known now as personal dren are paleontological experts, digital assistants (PDAs). See Donald knowing the names and habits of herds T. Hawkins' TECHNOTRENDS column, of Mesozoic creatures with a depth that Children along "Have You Seen Your First PDA would rival the professionals. The names migratory paths post Yet?," in ONLINE 17, No. 2 (March themselves become a secret language for the passage of 1993): pp. 81-83. students, because the alphabet soup of different species reptilian identities befuddles adults. Yet 13) For a review of Svinga, see Rebecca most of these young dinosaurian special- electronically... Jackson's analysis in the Apple Library ists do not understand the Greek and Users Group Newsletter 9, No. 4 (Oct. Latin prefixes and suffixes behind the 1991): pp. 58-60. names. A teacher in Menlo Park, CA, and sports. Access to resources like posted a note on KIDSPHERE asking for computers, decent science labs, and 14) See Jerry Booth, The Big Beast help with these prefixes and suffixes, libraries with up-to-date collections can to give her students an opportunity keep a few more students interested in Book: Dinosaurs and How They Got That Way. Boston: Little, Brown, 1988, to invent their own new dinosaurs. science and math, well into high school Remembering a recent children's book and college. pp. 42-43. My hobby of collecting chil- on these extinct creatures with an exer- Those of us who suffered a math dren's books on dinosaurs helped in this special case! cise involving these Greek and Latin teacher who could not add or a science phrases. I pull it from the bookshelf, instructor who could not bol water, find in it a list of common suffixes and remember the experience of our enthusi- [5] To subscribe to KIDSPHERE, send prefixes, and post my discovery toasm leaking away like gas from a a message to
52 1 ft" tt.. rkt ., SOURCE: Facilitator's GuLde for video-basedstaff development program, Teacia.r/LSItsritz with Technology. Copyright 1994 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Reprinted with permission.
Technology as a Vehicle for Transformation by Lynn Murray, Al Myers, Gary Howard, Bernard Caron, and Julie Lot gthamp-Fay
The accelerating rate of change and the knowledge explosionhave made learning to learn the most importantoutcome of education for a 21st century democracy. Technology can providea common ground where teachers and studentscan learn togetherwhere young and old can share in the development of skills, discovery of knowledge, and even exploration of feelings about "not-knowing" and learning.
In 1991. at Williston Central School in Williston, Vermont, Swift House was created to pilot a transformed educational program. Approximately 900 students, ages 5 through 13, attend Williston, withina system of 10 "houses," or families, of learners. Each houseencompasses a family com- posed of 85-100 students, 4 teachers, and associatedsupport staff. Al- though all houses demonstrate aspects of the essential characteristicsof the vision for a transformed school, the Swift Houseteam has taken the lead in piloting the vision.
At Swift House, a part of the vision was tocreate a learning environment where students direct their own learning, becomingempowered learners able to continue learning throughout the 21stcentury. To achieve this vi- sion, students need to focus on learning about the learningprocess itself and develop the skills of creative and criticalthinking, problem solving, and self-assessment. They need to communicate,as well as develop the ability to seek, access, and apply knowledge. Theyneed to use technol- ogy effectively. Finally, they need to cooperate and develop inde- pendence and confidence,
After two years of operation, the Swift Houseteam has begun to consoli- date and disseminate their experiencesso that other teams within the school might join in the challenge of creating effectivestudent-directed learning environments. The team identified threecomponents central to
Lynn Murray is pnncipal of Williston Central School, Williston. Vermont.At Myers, Gary Howard, Bernard Caron. and Julie LongchampFay are teachersat Swift House of Williston Central School. 705 Williston Road, Williston. VT 05495. Copyright © 1994 bythe Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
53 transforming the learning environment: the changing role of the teacher, the learning process itself, and the role that technology might best play. With the assistance of a grant from the Vermont Institute for Science, Math and Technology (VISMT), the team (composed of teachers, a com- puter specialist, and the principal) developed a one-week technology lab experience for Williston teachers and students who wanted to explore these components and learn more about technology.
Changing Rote of the Teacher
The role of the teacher needs to be conceived vet), differently from that of the teachers we all knew when we were in school. The Swift team coined the phrase "Lead Learner" in an attempt to capture the transforma- tion from teacher as information giver to teacher as facilitator of learn- ing. Lead Learners structure learning situations in which student-student and student-adult interactions allow students to take control and responsi- bility for their own learning. This approach dictates that the content of the learning emerges from interactions with students and their interests. Lead Learners are ready to learn right along with the students, investigat- ing unexplored areas of interest; learning and experimenting withnew re- search techniques, equipment, and materials; and constantly reflectingon what is learned and how. In short, learning is collaborative and ongoing.
Learning Process
The learning /thinking process has become a central focus of the curricu- lumfor both teachers and students. Traditional factual knowledge(con- tent) is still important, but it is subservient to the learningprocess itself. Effective learners bring frameworks for understandingto new material. These frameworks clarify prior understandings and thuspreserve mean- ing as teachers and students discovernew ideas and concepts. By show- ing students how to be aware of theirown learning styles and thinking processes and by making new learning strategies explicit., frameworks for incorporating new ideas become the focus of theclassroom experi- ence. This consciousness raises the level of effective learning, setting the stage for continued growth in the future.
Integration of Technology
The need to integrate technology into the learningprocess r nvided an ideal way to address our teachers' growth andpractices rely: 1;c1 to their changing role and its relationship to the learningprocess. Ire:ependent of the "factual material" under considerationin creating projects and con- 5 4 ducting research, technology demands problem solving. When people use technology, they have to solve problems, such as creating files, deal- ing with the vagaries of a computer network, getting onto telecommunica- tions applications, or organizing the pages of a multimedia project ina logical way. For example, multimedia applications, such as Linicway and Hypercard, allow learners to construct and reconstruct the "big picture" as they arrange, rearrange, and link pages and folders to other "big pic- tures." Such use of technology provides a strong visual communications tool for higher-order thinking. Technology provides teachers approaching their own transformation process with an effective medium for exploring their own practice.
Summer Lab
The Swift House team's technology lab hosted eight Learning Teams. Each team included one teacher and three students, ranging inage from 7 to 10 years. The eight teams participated in a week-iong investigation of technology in relation to a focus topic"Change." First, Swift House teachers modeled Affinity charting, a Total Quality tool, with which Learning Teams brainstormed on "Post-it" notes many ideas about "things that change." Each team then useda multivoting process to reach agreement on the specific topic they wished to concentrate on together. They moved on to concept mapping, with which the Learning Teamsor- ganized what they already knew and identified specificareas for farther investigation. The Swift Team then demonstrated technologyapplications that would access information, organize it, and aid in its presentationto others. Teachers also read selected articles about metacognition andtech- nology and reflected on the educational value of their experiencesand ideas. During their work together, each Learning Teamwas charged with the task of developing a multimedia presentationon the theme of change. Teams developed presentations on such topicsas the moon, the stars, di- nosaurs. caterpillars, volcanoes, and nature. Throughout the week, teams reflected constantly on their learning-to-learnprocesses.
Learning to use technology provided an excellent opportunity forteach- ers to model learning for their students as they teamed with them tomas- ter the multimedia software programs. They made electronic folders; integrated artwork: captured video, photos, and audio; animatedillustra- tions; embedded linked "buttons"; and integratedtextmany for the first time. Teachers frequently found that studentswere more adept at the process, and they allowed students' discoveries to become learningoppor- tunities for themselves, as well as the otherstudents. This was easy to do, BEST COPY AVAILABLE because most teachers started the week with thesame level of knowledge
98 55 as the students. Teachers thus were compelled to approach the task in a collaborative mode with their students--providing ample opportunityto experience and reflect on the characteristics of the role of Lead Learner.
Teachers and students alike were unfamiliar with the presentation tool, Linkway, and the concept-mapping methods used to define and organize individual thought processes. The Learning Teams joined with Swift House teachers in creating a presentation to be proud ofworkingto- ward a common goal, troubleshooting computer availabilityand malfunc- tioning, sharing lead-learner roles dependingon strengths and needs, and learning nuances of software by trial anderror. Students were heard to chuckle, "Silly Mrs. Leonard!" when she lost her file, andto exclaim, "I showed Ms. Houskeeper how to animate her picture!" Teacherscom- mented on the positive nature of the learning experience because of the "potential for so much more" in the futuresharing theirnew knowledge about technology and continuing to explore their roleas Lead Learner and their ideas about learning.
The nature of technology itself, inany application, demands the develop- ment of problem-solving skills. Troubleshooting, discovering cause-ef- fect relationships, understandingsystem operations, and finding appropriate resources (humanor otherwise) are all a part of "making it work." The presence of technology inour daily environment necessitates learning systematic approaches and interrelationships.
The Swift House teachers, the teacher participants,and the young stu- dents all enjoyed the challenge of learning andleading at different times. Because the Lab operated at three different interlockinglevels simultane- ously, participants were highly enthusiastic, andinteresting insights con- stantly emerged. Learning technological skillsserved to enhance and make explicit the reasoning and interactionprocesses used by both stu- dents and adults. Learningteams were interacting with technology, with an emerging knowledge base, and with each other.
No one had all the answers; buteveryone had shared questions and a shared desire to discover knowledge andpresent it in an effective way. During daily reflection times. participants clarifiedtheir thinking about their own personal learning styles, theirinteraction patterns, and the pos- sibilities for structuring learning experiencesto provide maximum oppor- tunity for problem solving, communication,cooperative skill development, and metacognition.
By the end of this intensive week,all participants had grown from these exploration and skill-building experiences.Both students and teachers
56 had an empowering experience with computers and multimedia,because they were able to immediately take control of theirown learning and to develop and integrate new ideas into existing thought/knowledge frame- works. Adults were treated to the additional benefit of seeing the broad view. They discovered or reaffirmed their roles as Lead Learnersadults challenging themselves to go outside their comfortzone of working with the known, experiencing and modeling what studentsare expected to do every day in school. As teachers confronted themysteries of the technol- ogy, they collaborated with their students in assimilating new informa- tion and skills, encouraging and sharing with each other ina relaxed and meaningful learning environment.
Participating teachers discovered that Lead Learning is total andunsel- fish involvement by all participants and includes shared goals,successes, and failures. It is more than the sum of cooperative learning andfacilitat- ing. Lead learning can take place without technology, butnot without communication. Technology can offer learners the link into theunder- standing and sharing of the mindsets and knowledge base of eachof the participants. The teachers' reflections and the students'responses to the projects clearly show the value of integrating adults a-d studentsinto the learning process and the value of technologyas a safe, dynamic meeting place for all learners. Reprinted with permission from Teaching ExceptionalChildren, Winter 1993.
We decided that a telecommunica- Developinga tions curriculum couldbe developedas part ofthe regular schoolprogram. We wrote a curriculum proposal and sub- mitted it to the principal, outlining Telecommunications Curriculum goals, target population, curriculum, equipment needs, and staff require- men-. for Students with The response from the principalwas positive. However, implementing the program was more of a political chal- Physical Disabilities lenge than the staff had anticipated. The administrative team from the rehabilita- tion center where the educationalpro- gram is housed was concerned that the curriculum would have major implica- Terry S. Gandell Dorothy Laufer tions for their staffing, budget, andgen- eralpolicy, and were unable to get The use of telecommu- involved at this time. All staff nications can facilitate members felt discouraged by this integration into the response, but with the support and community and the larger world. encouragement of the school prin- cipal, the program was imple- mented. Although we were unable to purchase the items requested (two telephone lines, one specially des- ignated area in the school, two microcomputers, two modems, and adaptations for accessing the
4. computer), we followed the origi- nal outline of the proposalas closely as possible. It wasneces- sary to adapt the ideal to the real- Would you like your students to MIN ity of one modem, one shared telephone line, one shared microcom- broaden their communication TheProject. horizons? Are you interested in puter system, and two teachers for four Both authors had used electronic mail periods per week_ your students' being integrated more personally and professionally for 8 fully into the community? Haveyou years. Working with students with dis- experienced resistance to implementing abilities and observing current applica- new programs in your school? The tions of electronic mail stimulateda Students If you answered "Yes" toany of these desire to see this technology adaptedfor questions, you will be interested in The students who participatedrepre- use by such students. The programwe learning of some of our expenences in sented 1 of a total of 14 classes in the envisioned was a natural outgrowth of school. They were from 15 to 21 developing a telecommunicationscur- years of a pilot project called Blisscom. Blisscom, age and had varying degrees of physical riculum for students ages 15 to 21 with which is experimental software,has physical disabilities. Telecommunica- disability ranging from mild cerebral enabled persons withsevere physical tions involves the use of a microcom- palsy with the ability to walk, tosevere disabilities who use augmentativecom- puter and a modem, the hardware that quadriplegia with concomitant speech munication to send and receive Blis- and cognitive disabilities. Some of the connects two computers over a tele- symbol messages over telephonelines. phone line. Telecommunications makes students required the use of special The success of this project highlighted adaptive equipment suchas a single it possible for two computers to talkto the importance that telecommunica- switch to operate the computer. Their each other. From the home, office,or tions holds for people with disabilities. academic abilities ranged from grade school, a person can get electronicmail, For us, witnessing the independence two to grade nine, and they had all been a variety of information, access to shop- and communication of Blisscom ping and banking, and users exposed to and used computers for many other only reinforced the idea thatcomputer options by using telecommunications. 5 years. technology is a door tomany worlds. 58 26 TEACHING .-_NCPTIONAL AVAII The Program Adapting the System ing with technology there are bound to be problems. This nonthreatening at During the first three lessons, the differ- Arctel is quite a complicated system to tude seemed to motivate the studen ent types of telecommunications sys- learn, and the procedures required persevere. In only 3 months, they opt. tems were demonstrated. The four adaptations to facilitate the students' ated the electronic mail component of systems (see Table 1) included an inter- learning and use of the system. For Arctel independently with only two 40- nal mailbox program (Mailbox), a direct example, only _rust names were used to minute periods of instruction per week. interactive communication system sign on, single letters were chosen as (Blisscom), a bulletin board system (Arc- passwords, and stacking commands Mal tel), and a mainframe system (Coin- were taught This reduced the amount puserv). The class voted on which of keyboarding strokes, thereby mini- Adapting the Program system they wanted to start with. Their . mizing the need for physical move- As the students progressed through the choice of Blisscom seemed to reflect ments. Despite these changes, not all of project, it became necessary to modify their desire to maintain communication the students' needs for alternative the list of objectives to add some that with friends who had graduated and means of physical access to the com- had not been anticipated. These addi- who depended on Blisscom for their puter could be met. All but the essential tional objectives, directly related to telephone communication. This was in commands needed for electronic mail telecommunications operation, related keeping with our global goal of main- were eliminated; specifically, the stu- to the subskills involved in the opera- taining a meaningful as well as func- dents were taught to ignore 8 of the 11 tion of the system: problem-solving, tional program. commands, which they did not require. organizing, planning, implementing, Over a period of 2 months (two 40- A procedural manual was developed to communicating, and writing. minute sessions per week), the students reinforce these strategies. progressed from practicing individually to independent operation of Blisscom. Program Evaluation Continued and frequent use of the sys- Helping the tem was not possible, because the com- Evaluation procedures concentrated on puter was located in a locked room and Students Adapt the acquisition of the skills direct was not accessible to a student who was Through problem-solving and using the related to the operation of the telec unattended by a staff member. Easy manual, the students developed skills munication system, access to the equipment would have that allowed them to use the system rather than the sub- been more likely to encourage and main- with less.and less direction. These skills skills. The original list tain consistent telecommunications. were developed through group discus- of 35 objectives (see "I felt that thi Once the students mastered Blisscom, sions and on-line instruction in prob- Figure 1) was refer-was a wonderf they gathered as a whole class for four lem-solving. One simple technique that enced in order to gen- lessons to explore Arctel, a bulletin board was effective in reducing students' anx- erate the progress thing to learn system. Although the list of objectives ieties, fears, stresses, disappointments, report. Each item was and I want addressed electronic mail, bulletin and frustrations with the systemswas recorded as either "not boards, conferences, general board explo- to defuse the situation by saying achieved," "achieved to learn more. ration, and telecommunications usage, "SNAFU" (Situation Normal: All Fouled with assistance," or the lessons focused on the electronic Up!). It certainly helped to remind the "achieved indepen- mail component as a starting point. students that any time a person is work dently." "Not achieved" usually indi- cated that the objective was never Table 1. Telecommunications Systems, introduced. Equipment, and Features Measurement and progress were Mailbox Blisscom Arctel Comousery recorded during informal group discus- Equipment Needed sions, formal on-line periods, students' Apple computer 6/ independent use of the system, and Any microcomputer written tests. An exciting part of the Modem evaluation was that it was a hands-on Program diskette Communication software examination. For example, questions such as "How long have you been on- Features line?" and "How many messages do y Interactive have waiting?" required the student Message storage/retrieval use the telecommunications system in On-line cost order to respond. Single switch built in 59 Goal attainment and student self- Single switch available reports were considered integral in eval- uating the program. All of the teachers WINT:m loon were pleased that the objectives were achieved in such a short time. Com- Figure 1. Sample Objectives ments from the students such as the fol- lowing reflected a positive response to General the program: The student will be able to I felt that this was a wonderful 1. Demonstrate understanding of the concept of telecommunications. thing to learn and I want to learn 2.List three or more uses for telecommunications. more. 3. Use two different types of modem software. 4.Retrieve information on line. It's neat! I can stay friends with Frank when I leave school. Specific Mailbox Blisscom Arctel Compusery At first I didn't understand it, but The student will be able to if you give the program a little more 1.Boot the system. time you can get the hang of it. 2.Recognize a successful connection. I imagine it will be put to good use 3.Register and sign on the system. by me when I am communicating to 4.Determine whether or not friends who have left school. he or she has any messages. 5.Edit a message.
WWI 6. Reply to a message. 7.Print a message. Conclusion 8.Access a bulletin board. The students' enthusiasm for electronic 9.Solve a problem while on line. mail is reflected in their comments. It is 10. Reference manual when needed. reasonable to assume that their enthusi- asm will be just as great when they are introduced to other aspects of telecom- home to discuss some of the "bugs" they cations. All of the original participants munications. Students made appoint- had encountered. have now graduated. We had hopes ments to use the system on a daily basis, Even at this embryonic stage of the that the telecommunications program and they regularly called teachers at telecommunications program, its influ- would be a useful tool for students not ence on and place in the lives of stu- only in school but also after leaving dents with physical disabilities has school. This has certainly been the case! become a reality. The use of telecommu- Students who were not as motivated to nications can facilitate complete inte- use telecommunications in school now gration into the community and the use it enthusiastically and frequently at larger world. Once the basic skills have home. It moved from being a basic skill been acquired with various systems, acquisition program to a necessary tool. individuals with physical disabilities will have independent access to infor- mation, education, recreation, and voca- tional pursuits. Resources Although there are many steps to be Chun Tse, Y. (1986). Mailbox (Computer program'. covered before telecommunications is Montreal: Mackay Center. Compusery Information Service. (1986). Users guide fully integrated into the curriculum, we (Computer manual( Columbus, OH: Corn- are encouraged by the implications this puserv. technology has for students with special Gandell. T, Weston, C.. & Moffatt, K. (1987). Blisscom project: Formative evaluation of prototype telecom- needs. Clearly, telecommunications can munications system. Unpublished manuscnpt. he an integral component of the educa- Montreal: McGill University. tional curnculum in the same way that Green, ). (1989). Mailbox 2.0 (Computer program]. Montreal: Mackay Center. reading, wnting, and mathematicsare. Kelso, P., & Vanderheiden, G. C. (1982). Talking Bits- It is our hope that schools and govern- sapple (Computer manual'. Madison. WI: Trace ments will support and promote the Research & Development Center. Montreal Rehabilitation Institute. (1986). Arctel development and implementation of (Computer system!. Montreal: Montreal Reha- telecommunications programs. bilitation Institute.
Terry S. Gandell is Assistant Professor, Graduate Fac- ulty of Education, Bishop's University, Lennorville, Quebec, Canada. Dorothy Laufer (Quebec Federation) Addendum is Teacher/Consultant. Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal and Your Educational Service, Montreal, Que. It has been 2 years since the implemen- bet, Canada. tation of this project. Many more stu- Copyright 1992 CEC. dents have begun to use telecommurti- 60 1AI I111 r et Reprinted with permission from theJournal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, Vol. 11, 992.
JI. of Computers In Mathematics and Science Teaching(1992) 11, 193-198 193
Doing Science in the Electronic SchoolDistrict
JAMES D. LEAMAN AND JOHN P. CAMPBELL Educational Computing & Instructional Development PurdueUniversity, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
MICHAEL HALLA University Computing Services Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
CHERIE B. LEHMAN West Lafayette High School 1105 N. Grant St-, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA
Abstract Computer networking is openingnew avenues for the conduct of education in the classroom. No longer is the classroombound by its physical walls. Using computer networking, teachers andstudents can access resources and communicate with peers as never before possible.In Indiana, a project called the Electronic School Districthas been exploring the potential of a wide area network linking K-12 schoolsand universities since 1987. Centered around a network calledSTEPS, Student and Teachers Electronic Productivity System, the project hasspawned efforts of particular interest to science educators. One ofthese, peer-mentor networking, uses the computer network tosupport communication among teachers and students. Using electronic mail, networkparticipants can exchange ideas with one another, as wellas communicate with people around the world over the Bitnet international network.In addition, computer conferences on a variety of science-related topics havebeen established that provide both resources anda forum for the exchange of views. Another effort called STEPS to Better Scienceis exploring the classroom use of microcomputer-based laboratories fordata acquisition. Via the network, data from different sites throughoutthe state can be exchanged. The emergence of computer networks likeSTEPS is provid- ing new opportunities for science education bybringing resources into the classroom, reducing teacher isolation, and providingopportunities for addressing science problems beyond thescope of the classroom's walls.
The Electronic School District (ESD) isa joint study project presently underway in Indiana. Launched in 1987, the goal of the ESDproject is to investigate the benefitsto K-12 schools of a wide area computer network linkingschools, universities in thestate, and the Indiana Department of Education. Thepartners in this venture include Purdue and
61 194 J.D. Lehman, J.P. Campbell, M. Halle, and C.B. Lehman
Indiana Universities, the Indiana Department of Education, IBM Corporation, and pilot school systems throughout the state. The result of this cooperative effort has been the development of a widearea computer network called STEPSStudent and Teachers Electronic Productivity System. The STEPS network serves as the hub for a variety of innovative projects beneficial to the entirestate of Indiana and capable of serving as a model for other states and regions across the nation and throughout the world. It represents one of a growing number of computer networks that seek to serve K-12 education (McAnge, 1990). This paper will focus on the applications of the STEPS network that deal with the enhancement of science education in the participating schools.
Background
The STEPS network is anchored by an IBM 4381 mainframe computer located on the Indiana University campus. Personnel in the University Computing Services of Indiana University are responsible for maintenance and operation of the network. As originally configured, IBM System 36 minicomputers served as regional hubs tying together clusters of microcomputers within the state. However, this configuration proved to be problematic, and the minicomputers are no longer part of the network. The five participating pilot schools in the ESD project each have laboratories of IBM PS/2 personal computers connected on local area networks (LANs) that bridge into the STEPS network. Schools that do not have direct connections to the STEPS networkcan access it using modem-equipped personal computers on a dial-up basis. About 2000 users, both teachers and students, now connect into the STEPS networkon a regular basis. The broad objectives of the ESD project are to (a) investigate the utility and effectiveness of various computer network applications foruse by students and teachers, (b) develop and evaluate network tools for distance course delivery, (c) develop andevaluate applications that increase the productivity of school administrators, (d)promote infusion of computer networking technologies in K-12 schools, and (e) evaluatecommunication protocols and network topologies for interconnecting student and teacherworkstations in a wide area network. Guided by these objectives, a number of research projects utilizing the network have been initiated by faculty at Purdue and Indiana Universities.The research component of the ESD project is directed by the Purdue University School ofEducation. This paper will focus on two projects that directly contributeto the enhancement of science education in the schools participating in the ESD project:Peer-Mentor Networking, a project involving student and teacher communication; andSTEPS to Better Science, an effort involving both network connectivity and theuse of microcomputer-based laborato- ries.
Peer-Mentor Networking
Peer-Mentor Networking involves theuse of the STEPS computer network for communication among schools, and between schools anduniversities. Teachers can interact with other teachers as well as with university professorsin their specialty areas. Likewise, students can interact with students at other schools,as well as with university students and faculty. The basic notion is touse computer telecommunications to decrease teacher isolation and increase the opportunities for interactionamong teachers and students.
62 Doing Science in the Electronic School District 195
The Peer-Mentor Networking system rests on two communications platforms electronic mail (e-mail) and computer conferencing. E-mail provides for one-to-on; one- to-many, and many-to-one communication. Computer conferencing provides a mechanism for the exchange of ideas and information on a variety of topics of special interest to STEPS users. Both e-mail and computer conferencing are enhanced by file transfer capability which allows users to upload and download information of interest. On the STEPS network, e-mail is supported by IBM's PROFS software.This multipurpose program for the mainframe environment provides the capability for many personal productivity functions including scheduling and document preparation. However, only its e-mail function is extensively used on STEPS. In addition to contacting one another, teachers and students have access to experts over the network. For example, students involved in Project SITE/INSITE, a telecommunications in education effort, are using STEPS e-mail to send science questions to pharmaceutical researchers in area companies. In addition to contacting other members of the STEPS network, users can also connect with individuals outside of STEPS over the Bitnet network Bitnet is an international network linking many universities and research institutions. The STEPS computer is a node on the Bitnet network; thus, users can send e-mail to and receive e-mail from any other node on Bitnet. The access to Bitnet greatly enhances the opportunities for interaction available to STEPS users. International pen-pal projects are already underway. Students are exchang- ing information with peers in Europe. In addition, a large number of listservers are available on Bitnet. Listservers are electronic bulletin boards residing on various computers on Bitnet. When a user subscribes to a listserver, any e-mail that is sent to it is automatically posted to all of the subscribers. Thus, an exchange of ideas from individuals all across the world is facilitated. A number of listservers are available that concern topics of special interest to science educators. Physics and environmental science listservers, for example, are being accessed by teachers on the STEPS network. Several listservers have been automatically linked into computer conferences on STEPS to permit easier access. Computer conferences, like e-mail, provide an avenue for communication among users. However, computer conferences more closely resemble electronic bulletin boards. They are public forums on topics of special interest. A number of conferences on a variety of topics, many of which relate to science and science education, have been established. Within each conference, sub-topics are established, and individual contributions are listed under each sub-topic. Contributions can include resource information, as well as questions and comments from individual users of the system. In the STEPS system, computer conferences operate within a software program called Grouptalk CONVENE. This program controls the creation and management of the conferences. Conference moderators can establish topics and organize. conferences as they see fit. Individuals accessing a conference can browse the topics and read the contributions. In addition, on most topics, individual users arc free to make their own contributions. Contributions may reference other contributions so that conversation threads can be traced forward or backward. All of the contributions are maintained within thesystem for ready access. Individuals interested in particular conferences or topics can subscribe to them. New conference contributions are then automatically posted to the subscribers' mailboxes. As of this writing, a number of science-oriented conferences have been established encompassing such topics as weather, geoscience, physics, chemistry, biology, and micso- computer-based laboratories. There is also a conference for mathematics teachers,as well as a general teacher conference. Within each conference, topics of interest to teachers in
63 196 J.D. Lehman, J.P. Campbell, M. Ha lla, and C.B. Lehma?;
the field have been established. The weather conference, for example, includes data from Hurricane Hugo and facts about weather records from throughout the world. Teachershave also uploaded a long list of weather-related lesson plans. The recently added biology conference includes a section devoted to the Indianapolis Zoo. Usersmay download animal fact sheets prepared by the zoo's education staff or post questions to the staff. The following section gives a detailed description of the physics conference.
Conference Close-Up: The STEPS Physics Conference
The physics conference, like other conferences on the STEPS network, is intendedto promote a dialogue among interested users. Its primary aim is to provide a resource and communications avenue for physics teachers. Physics teachers are typicallyamong the most isolated members of the teaching profession. Many schools have onlyone physics teacher, consequently, that teacher feels isolated from his or her peers. The physics conferenceon STEPS provides a vehicle for physics teachers to stay in touch, share classroom problems and techniques, and stimulate one another's thinking. As currently configured, the STEPS physics conference contains the followingten major topics:
(1) School concerns--concerns about the curriculum and pedagogy; (2) Class demonstrationsfavorite in-class demonstration of physics principles; (3) Physics labsfavorite laboratory activities; (4) Operation Physicsa section devoted to this nationalprogram that seeks to strengthen physics instruction at the lower and middle grades; (5) High techa discussion of the use of computers and other technology in physics teaching; (6) Current affairsnews about research and funding opportunities; (7) Coming eventsa listing of upcoming events of interestto physics teachers; (8) Bio sketchesbiographical sketches of conference participants; (9) User commentsa forum for the exchange of ideasamong participants; and (10) PHYS-L--a posting ofmessages from this physics Bitnet listserver.
All of the topics in the conference have experiencedsome activity. Several favorite demonstrations and laboratory activities have been posted byteachers. However, the user comments topic clearly is the most active part of the conference. Dozens ofphysics teachers from around the state have obtained STEPS IDs and participatedin the conference. This opportunity for interaction with other physics educators hasproved to be the greatest attraction. Last year one of the physics teachers whouses the conference posted the following problem for all to consider: "A wooden cylinder hasa small lead weight glued to one end and is floating in water. Is the glue joint under tensionor compression?" What followed was a spirited debate. Different users proposed different explanations; callswere made for clarification of the exact nature of the problem; and thediscussion carried on. This example illustrates what computer conferencing is all about.For a physics teacher, this problem represented an interesting challenge anda focal point for discussion with colleagues. Without the computer conference, few of the teacherswho became involved would have had anyone with whom to discuss it. Computer conferencing essentiallyreduces teacher isolation.
64 Doing Science In the Electronic School District 197
STEPS to Better Science Project
Another major effort related to science education in the ESD is theSTEPS to Better Science project. This project involves the use of microcomputer-basedlaboratories in support of science education as well as the use of the STEPS network. The microcomputer-based laboratory (MEL) isa system that uses the microcomputer for student-directed acquisition, display, and analysis of laboratorydata. Using MBLs, students can explore, measure, and learn from the physical worldthat surrounds them and connect their understandings to a more formal scientific framework. With MBLs, students can acquire a better understanding of the scientific principles that underlie their experi- ences, a sound physical intuition, and competence in the use and interpretation of graphs (Mokros & Tinker, 1987; Thornton, 1987). The STEPS to Better Science project ustsone of the newest MBLs in the marketplace IBM's Personal Science Laboratory (PSL). The PSL consistsof a base unit with its own microprocessor that attaches to a microcomputer via the serialport. Various modules can be plugged into the base unit for data collection. The PSL currentlysupports modules for temperature, light, pH, and motion and mechanics. The hardware is controlled bya sophisticated piece of software called the PSL Explorer. Itsupports the creation and/or selection of experiments, real-time graphing of the data, andnumerous options for manipulation and/or analysis of the data (Campbell & Lehman,1991).. During the summer of 1990 teams of science teachers from the schoolsparticipating in the ESD project were trained in the use of STEPS and the PSL.Each school site received a PSL unit equipped with temperature, light, pH, and motion modules. Subsequently, these teams developed lesson applications of STEPS and the PSL foruse in the science classrooms of their schools. Some of these applications includemeasurement of acid rain, the effects of pH on plant growth, Galileo's inclined plane experiment,and others. During the 1990- 91 academic year, these lessons involving theuse of the PSL were incorporated into the science classes in the schools. Throughout the project, the STEPS network continuesto be used as a communications vehicle. Teachers in the project work with other teachersin the same content areas to exchange ideas. In addition, some experiments involving shareddata across the sites will be attempted. The acid rain experiment isone example. The rainwater pH data from the various state school sites will be posted toan MBL conference set up on STEPS so that students can collect and analyze the results from experimentsat different sites. Another planned group experiment isa repeat of Eratosthenes' measurement of the earth's circumference based upon the shadows castat noon on a particular day by identical sticks at two different locations. ThiS activity has been described by James Levinand his colleagues at the University of Illinois (Levin, Rogers, Waugh, & Smith, 1989). The use of the PSL is designed topromote students' abilities to do "real" science. The PSL provides a vehicle whereby studentsmay easily collect information about the world and rapidly sec the data expressed in graphical form. Theuse of STEPS is designed to broaden the students' views, to take them beyond the confinesof their own communities to a consideration of problems in science thatcan affect us all.
Summary
Computer telecommunications is openingnew avenues for teaching and learning in science.In the electronic school district, teachers and studentscan use e-mail to
67 198 J.D. Lehman, J.P. Campbell, M. Halle, and C.B. Lehman communicate with others across the state and around the nation. Computer conferencing offers a means of sharingresources and reducing isolation. The sharing of experimental data gives students the opportunity to consider problems in science beyond the local scope. In the electronic school district, we can bring the global village into the classroom for the benefit of all.
STEPS to Better Science, 89-COM-11, is funded through the Eisenhower Mathematics and Science EducationAct as authorizedby the Indiana Commission for Higher Educati on; James D. Lehman, Project Director.
References
Campbell, J.P. & Lehman, J.D. (1991). Detecting data with the personal science lab. Science Scope, 14(6), S19-S20. Levin, LA., Rogers, A., Waugh, M., & Smith, K. (1989).Observations on electronic networks: Appropriate activities for learning. The Computing Teacher, 16(8), 17-21. McAnge, T.R. (1990). A survey of educational computer networks.Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Mokros, J.R. & Tinker, R.F. (1987). The impact of microcomputer-based labs on children's ability to interpret graphs. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 24(4), 369-383. Thornton, R.K. (1987). Tools for scientific thinking: Microcomputer-based laboratories for physics teaching Physics Education, 22 230-238.
66 Reprinted with permission from the Journal of Research inRuralEducation, Spring 1993, Vol. 9, No. 1.
Journal of Research in Rural Education, Spring, 1993, Vol. 9, No. 1, 20-24
A Community of Learning
Geriann Marie Walker
Foreward for new ideas and a bullheaded youthful spirit. Iwas taken by the idea of self-directed students workingon Elmira High School serves the small town of Veneta projects with a community of peers linked by telecom- (3,300), the adjacent unincorporated community of munication, and I was excited by the potential for Elmira (1,500) and the outlying communities of Noti teachers to share and learn from each other using this (400) and Walton (300), total population 5,500. same tool. Veneta-Elmira is 15 miles from Eugene-Springfield, Now, nearly four years later, it is evident that a metropolitan area of about 175 ,000 . Eugene is home LabNet has been the single most important influence to the Liniversity of Oregon and major industries, and on my career. Furthermore, my experiences with tele- is separated from Veneta-Elmira by a wildlife refuge communication and Project Enhanced Science Learn- and a large reservoir. ing (PESL) have not only impactedmy students, my colleagues, and my adntinistrators,but the entire school Set in the foothills of Oregon's coasi range, these small community. As I reflect on the influence that LabNet outlying rural communities accommodate an eclectic has had on all of us, it is apparent that thetwo compo- mix of lifestyles, avocations, and tastes. Although nents of labNettelecommunication and PESL --al- they increasingly serve as bedroom communities for though inextricably linked, have affectedme and these Eugene-Springfield, their roots are still in the declin- different groups in different ways. ing timber industry and in agriculture. The area has Thinking back to that initial workshop, I recall become an important part of Oregon's burgeoning hearing someone with whom I wasvery impressed say wine industry, a variety of artisans and craftspersons that he had a class where students did nothingbut do their work in this scenic and relatively inexpensive physics projects. Therewas no other curriculum; the hinterland, and Veneta's biggest claim to fame is the students chose their own areas of inquiry anddevel- Oregon Country Fair, the largest annual counter- oped their own methods of investigation. WhenI got cultural gathering in the country, if not the world. It home in the fall I asked my principal if I couldoffer such is a place undergoing change as the tentacles of Eu- a course the following year, where students would do gene-Springfield reach farther west and highway im- projects in any field of science, includingsocial science, provements make the area more accessible and attrac- as long as they employed a scientific method of inves- tive to those with the money to build and commute. tigation. To my delight, my principal saidyes.
Nonetheless, a cow pasture still lines the quarter-mile Getting Started drive leading to the school, set againsta backdrop of tall firs and rolling hills. Students participate in 4-H, The primary challengeupon returning from that raising pigs and sheep to earn money for school clothes initial LabNet teacher training workshopwas to obtain and cars. This morning a local elementary school the necessary esuipment in orderto get on line on the principal brought in extra buses and warned parents LabNetwork. In my building, however,where funds not to let their children walk to school because a cougar have always been closely guarded, obtainingthe neces- has been spotted in the neighborhood and killed a sary equipmenta computer, phone line, andmo- family dog, and as I drove to work today I saw a pair dern meant launching a politicalcampaign to con- of bald eagles. vince my principal, superintendent, andschool board that LabNet was a program worthinvesting in. The I went to Boston in the summer of 1989to partici-plan to offer a course where studentscould participate pate in the first teacher training workshop for LabNet. in original scientific research while linkedwith a na- With only one year of teaching experience ,I broughttionwide community ofpeers doing the same was a little more to the workshop than an insatiable appetitedefinite selling point. Therewas something appealing
Geriann Walker teaches physics, physical science,and advanced science research projectsat Elmira High School in Veneta, Oregon. Her address is 512 West MStreet, Springfield, OR 97477. 67 lf1 Walker Community of Learning
in the idea that our school would be part of a national se, and those stuc'ents used the network to researci program that would put us in touch with other schools, ler prtajects and sol telt feedback on theirexperimenti other scientists, other teacherswith a community ofIvy would write neeasages and I would logon, send interested parties that did not exist in Elmira. (Eventhem, and download any responses.I had a student though we're near Eugene and the University of Or-who wanted to see if el ectrieity could be generated from egon, with an excellent library, research facilities, andthe temperature difference between ocean water and scientific experts, many of our kids think of Eugene assubsurface rocks on the shore. I suggested that he ask another town, a place that they don't think of when they iphysietst at MIT, who I knew was on the LabNetwork, think of home.) for some help in setting up his experiment. He engaged At this time, my district had a superintendent whoin a dialogue with this Professor and receivedsome was perceived as being difficult to work with. Never.good feedback on the work that he was doing. This theless, I asked for what I needed: a dedicated phonet .tudentok first place in the Engineering Division at a line in my classroom for telecommunication. He said statewide scienre fair later that spring. His project also yes! He not only said yes, but he showeda lot of interestwon a significant award from the Marine Corps, a in LabNet. My principal was also supportive, and usedscholarship to Pacific University (the host of this sci- funds from her discretionary account to purchaseaence fair), and he took fiest place at our county science modem. fair. Every judge who interviewed him wantedto Involving the school board in supporting LabNetknow more about LabNet and how he had used tele- was the most enjoyable part of this political campaign. communication as a resource in doing his project work. They were familiar with the work I had done withSince then, every project that students have completed microcomputer-based laboratories duringmy first yearas part of the projects class has involved telecommuni- of teaching and they were interested in continuingtocation (either as a major tool in the researchor as a update the district science program. When I asked forresource for information and feedback), and nearly all support for LabNet, they saw this as another opportu-projects have won awards at science fairsor competi- nity to foster a program that the community could taketions. pride in. After all, this was a national, federally-funded However, not all students' attempts at using t science education program; it would put Elmiraon thenetwork have been so successful. There have map! bee instances where student requests for help havebeen Each year I have given the school board andsuper-ignored. Also, some students have hada difficult time intendent an update on LabNet. I have demonstratedarticulating their needs, making it difficultto respond the ways that I have used LabNet inmy classroom,to their messages. One student, puttinga message on explained that LabNet has provided financial supportthe network, asked for help in designinga project to for our school's program (a small matching grant ofcompare open and closed ecosystems. She neverre- $200 and a Big Idea mini-grant of$4,200), and myceived a response.It has been my experience that student!, have made presentations on their use of thestudent messages are more apt to yielda response if network for their projects. These presentations, whichthey include specific questions that LabNetworkusers often lead to articles in the localnewspaper, havecan address, rather than requests for help or informa- resulted in long-lasting support for LabNet. Althoughtion regarding a broad topic. For example, lastyear one the superintendent who got me my first phone line isof my projects students wanted to conducta survey of gone, we've had two superintendents since then, and student attitudes about sports. She placeda request on both have been enthusiastic. My first principal is alsothe network asking teachers to distribute thesurvey in gone, but my new principal is just as supportive; when their schools and return the completed forms.Several asked to write about the star programs at our school thisteachers responded and she was ableto gather data fall, he chose to write about LabNet. I don't think thatfrom high schools in each quadrant of thecountry. this enthusiasm comes just fromme or my contact with The students in my projects classare not the only these people. They see something inherentlyimportantones who use LabNet.I have conducted short-term in linking our rural school with a broader communityprojects in physical science classes wherestudents devoted to improving science education. have exchanged messages and ideas with kidsdoing the same project in another LabNet classroom.One of Students on the Network the more exciting examples of this is theDescent of Ball activity where students mustcreate a structu It took me until the winter of 1990 to get on linefrom paper and tape that will delay the descentof a bah (about 6 months after I returned from the first LabNetdropped from a height ofone meter. A couple of years workshop). The followingyear I began the projectsago my physics students exchanged messages descsib-
21 68 Walker Community of Learning
ing their structures with students in Manassas, Vir-doing in my classes, something that rarely happened ginia. The task of describing their structures verbally,before. Physics projects are proudly displayed ata without the aid of diagrams, was quite a challenge, asspring festival, and class projects and activities are was the interpretation of the descriptions they receivedoften the feature of a student-produced weekly school from our partner class. news video that is broadcast in each classroom via My physics students use the network for ideas andChannel One. feedback when they do independent projects during the spring. They recently posted messages regarding A Teacher on the Network their projects for the third quarter. This morning we received replies for projects on holography, bridge Like my students, I also use the Lab Network to get building, radon measurement, and the strength ofideas and feedback.I've obtained many ideas for chicken egg shells. My chemistry students have usedprojects, activities, labs,and demonstrations from teach- the network to share information about soil and waterers on the network. As a new physics teacher with a studies that they have conducted in their communitydegree in chemistry but only one college physics course and the surrounding area. Although their soil andto my name, I find this resource invaluable. Last week, water study was conducted last spring, they recentlyI received a lab on friction from a teacher in Texas. Now received a request for their results from students in Ican use my computer force probes for something Georgia who were in need of some comparative data.other than dynamics experiments. I also got the idea for It has been my experience that students seem tomy second quarter physics project, the King of the Hill care more about the way that they report their projectsContest, from a LabNet teacher. (In this project stu- when using LabNet. They edit their messages carefullydents must devise cars powered by mousetraps and and rewrite themsomething they don't always dorubber bands that are capable of crossing over a hill and with the writing that they turn in to me. If they arepreventing their opponent's car from doing so from the working in groups, they all seem to want to have a sayopposite direction.)Furthermore, it was a LabNet in what their message contains; it is not acceptable to letteacher who suggested that I look to local businesses to just one person do the writing. Students delight inhelp fund student project work. (I have been raising sharing personal information about themselves andabout $400 a year by following this teacher's advice.) their school. They look forward to getting responses toAnd like my students, who feel that their work is their messages, and are disappointed if there aren'tvalidated when they are able to share it on the network, any. (I didn't even have to announce that the physicsI feel validated when I can share my ideas with others students had received responses to their messages thiswho support the work I do. morning. They were crowded around the bulletin The support that I get from teacherson the board where the messages were posted before class hadLabNetwork, teachers who share my enthusiasm for even started!) PESL, is different from the support that I get from When telecommunication is involved, they feelcolleagues in my department. While my colleagues do part of something whose significance transcends thelike to share ideas, they have seemed unwillingor classroom. They are engaged in their own process ofunable to adopt PESL methods or to makeuse of the communicating with others and evaluating their work.LabNetwork. When I received a small grant from The key is that it is their own. Students aren't justLabNet to train there in telecommunication and to turning in a project for a grade or for me to read. It isdevelop curricula, they were initially enthusiastic. something that is theirs and that they are sharing withHowever, their enthusiasm faded and their follow- a community of which they are a part. This evokes athrough with the project was marginal. They diduse different type of enthusiasm for the work theyarethe network themselves for a while, but their students doing; it validates their work and gives thema reason.never did the projects they had developed and never to respect it. They are learning to learn from others, justused the network. as real scientists do, just as we all do outside of the Unlike me, my colleagues did not get hookedon classroom, telecommunication or PESL. The technical side of Lab Net has allowed our school to becomea placethings was difficult for them. Neither of them had used where students do award-winning science projects andcomputers very much before, and they weren't familiar where any student taking science can be part ofa with Appleworks or the telecommunicationprogram telecommunication network. Student experiences withwe were using. The technology did not seem user- PESL and Lab Net have fostered a genuine school-widefriendly to them, and I'm not certain that theywere interest in the science program. Our schoolnewspaperconvinced that students would benefit from this type of now routinely reports on projects that studentsareclassroom experience.In addition, they viewed the Walker Community of Lzarning
process of engaging in a project with students andmessage.Indeed, at times my students have using the network as a big deal, something they hadrather disappointed to find that their messages w never done before, and I believe that they may haveunanswered. Last spring when my chemistry students been intimidated by this or uncomfortable with thewere doing studies of soil, water, and acid rain in our process of navigating through uncharted waters. area, they posted results and descriptions of their work My colleagues did not have the experience of work-on the network. They requested feedback from other ing with the Lab Net community during workshopsclassrooms and asked other teachers if they would like and training sessions. They were communicating withto share similar data and information. There were no strangers; there were no familiar names and no faces toresponses to any of these messages. Not only were associate with any of the messages that they received.there no responses after nearly a month of posting My experience has been that this type of connectionreports, but a week or so after our project was finished. with others on Lab Net has kept me on line, motivatedI spotted a message on LabNet by a teacher asking if me to respond to messages, and encouraged me to feelanyone was interested in doing a project on acid rain! free to post comments of my own. Those of us who haveThis teacher was a regular network user; I was aston- participated in LabNet workshops have continued toished that he had not noticed any of the postings from build upon the relationships that were forged duringmy students. Not receiving any recognition for the these summer trainings. For us, using the networkwork they were doing really took the wind out of their means continuing to work with people whom we trust,sails. After a while, they were wondering why they people with whom one easily can take risks.Theshould even bother continuing to share their acid rain familiarity that we share has allowed us to expose ourinformation on the network.Students want to be areas of expertise, as well as our weaknesses. There isacknowledged w! 'hey make the effort to use the a niche for everyone: the "techies," the philosophers,network, and whe is acknowledgment comes only the pedagogues, and the pragmatists. It is unfortunatefrom me and not from others in the LabNet community, that my colleagues were unable to find their nichethey feel short-changed. In these cases, the feelings of within this community. validation, of belonging to a larger community, are But if I'm honest, I must admit that, like my col-replaced by familiar feelings of being invisible a leagues; I have failed to take full advantage of theunimportant. opportunities that LabNet presents. I really could use Furthermore, students do not naturally or sponta- the network more. I could log on more frequently, andneously use the network. Using telecommunication I could make more of an effort to respond to otherremains a conspicuous event. Students write messages peoples' messages and questions. (Although I do quitemost often because I have assigned that task as part of a bit of this type of thing already, messages often sit ontheir project work.Because students don't my desk a week or two before I manage to send a reply).telecommunicate regularly, and because using a com- I also could train more students to use the networkputer and modem is not part of their daily routine, (right now I have only one student who checks theputting messages on the net work and articulating ideas network each week). Most importantly, I could incor-for presentation to others stands apart from otherrou- porate telecommunication into more of the activitiestine classroom activities. With the limitation of having that take place in my classroom, and I could haveonly two computer-modern work stations, I find it students post more messages about the work theyarenecessary to have students write their messages on doing. I still feel like telecommunication is somethingpaper. Once the messages are collected, I type them up that I do more than my students do. It doesn't playa myself and log on and send them. Thus students don't central role in my classroom. Projects do playa centralhave much concrete experience with telecommuni- role, and I often incorporate telecommunication intoeating, and although they can understand the concept the process.However, I feel I have only begun toof the network and have even seenme demonstrate use explore the many ways in which the network might beof the network (something I have done usingan over- used with students. head projector display interfaced with the computer), LabNet is still an entity with which they ha..te only Reflections indirect contact. Obviously there are some problems with LabNet My comments above beg the question, Why is itand with telecommunication in general. Use ofa tel that I don't do these things? I knowt ha t I have hesitatedcommunication network would be much easier ifco to have students use the network because I can'tguar-puter-modem communications weremore familiar antee that there will be an audience for their inquiries.stud ents and teachers, i1 it were second nature toevery- I can't guarantee that there will bea response to theirone, and the equipment were abundant and readily
23 y 0 Walker Community of Learning
available. But psychological barriers to network useLabNet lessens this isolation. It doesn'tovercome it are at least as significant as any barriers due to technol-completely, however, as I am still separated frommy ogy, resources, or training. Why is it that very fewLabNet colleagues by many miles. But it providesa tool Lab Net teachers have engaged in collaborative projectsfor traversing those miles and givesme access to a where students share information over the network?community that has made a meaningful difference in Why is it that new network users often fade away andmy professional development. do not become permanent members of the Lab Net Though LabNet's promise hasyet to be fully community? Why is it that students and teachersrealized, it has provided teachers and students with sometimes receive no response to their network mes-invaluable experiences in PESL and telecommunica- sages? What are the effects of using telecommunicationtion. The beauty of the project lies in its structure. Not and PESL on student learning? Are there othersuccess-only has LabNet linked teachers electronically, it has ful networks with similar objectives that could be usedlinked them in an effort to explore a new method of as a model for Lab Net? These are questions that theteaching science. To do PESL, you need ideas and LabNet community struggles with. We havea wonder-resources for projects. Telecommunication provides ful tool at our disposal, one that we believe enriches thethat. You need to trust that students will be able tocome educational experience. Much of the potential, how-up with good ideas, good ways to solve problems and ever, remains untapped. to meet challenges. You have to believe that things will LabNet's potential for overcoming the boundarieswork when the teacher becomes a facilitator rather than of place is especially important for rural teachers. Iaman authority: on the same level with students and the only physics teacher in my district, the only chem-learning along with them. This can only happen ifyou istry teacher in my district, and the only teacher inmyare a part of a community of people sharing the same department who is using a project approach to teachingteaching values and believing that learning through science. In other words, I am isolated. I'm physicallyprojects is valid and important. LabNet makes this isolated from other teachers in my subjectarea andhappen. other teachers who share my commitment to PESL. Reprinted with permission, from The Executive Educator June1993. Copyright 1993, the National School Boards Association, all rightsreserved. EDUCATION ON-LINE
By Yvonne Marie Andres
Dabbling in the Internet, callingup FrEdMailyour colleagues across the nationare learning the power of telecornputing
ANY TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ARE DIS- students participate in a wide variety of learning experi- covering that electronic communications ences and communication.' can provide a dynamic link between them- FrEcLklail is a chain of computer bulletin boards dedi- selves and their counterparts throughout cated to K-12 education: it gives schools the ability to the world. In fact, an estimated 50,000 exchange messages, documents, and even video im- teachersworldwide are using the Internet. the vast in- ages. Access to the network can be remarkably inex- ternational network of electronic networks. Using these pensiverequiring little more than a basic computer, a networks. teachers and students are tapping the com- modem, and local telephone service. puterized libraries of aniversities and other research FrEdMail grew out of a cooperative project by a centers: they are exchanging E-mail. reading news bul- group of San Diego-area school districts that began in letins. and joining -chat" groups on many topics. 1986. From those roots, the FrEdMail Network hasex- To many teachers, however, the Internet poses panded to more than 200 electronic bulletin boards. daunting challenges because of its very size, the diffi- The FrEdMail Foundation was incorporated as a not-for- cultl- of wending your way through it, the variety of profit educational consortium in 1990. computer systems that operate on it, and its lack of dis- The bulletin boardsthe "nodes' of the network cnmination. Simply put. on the Internet its hard to find reside in computers at universities, district and county the ,,,00d and screen out the bad. offices of education. individual schools, and classrooms Many schools are turning to another electronic net- scattered across the United States and in Australia, workorsimilar services that are more precisely tai- Canada, the United Kingdom. and Ireland. Individuals !urea to the needs and capabilities of K-12 education. at each site maintain the bulletin boards. Participants These schools have hookedup to the FrEdMail (Free can communicate with their local node using an Apple Eeucationai Electronic NIail) Network,a low-cost Ile or rigs. Macintosh, orIBM-type microcomputer. The teiecommunications network that helps teachers and local bulletin boards pass along messages to larger computers at regional nodes, which in turn route mes- Ionne Mane Andre,,a program coordinator at Jefferson Junior sages to the intended recipients. Last year, approxi- 1-11,4;i Schooi in Oceanside. Calif.is president of the Frid.11all mately 10,000 teachers and students used FrEdMail for Fri t Educational Electronic Mail) Foundationin Bonita, Calif. learning projects. The network also has opened a "gateway"connec- tion to a much larger network, the California Education and Research Federation Network ( CERFnet), at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of Cali- fornia at San Diego. CERFnet in turn connects FrEdMail to NsFnet, the National Science Foundation network serving the scientific community, and the Internet. These connections allow members of NSFnet and other networks to serve as regional FrEdMail hosts, poten-
72 For further information on the FrEdMail or scriulel services. contact FrEtlAtail rounuation. PO. Box 243. Bonita. C4lif. 9190S: 16191 175-idS2. E -mail: arosersdboniu.ceri.frevi.org, BEST COPY AVAILABLE The ExecutiveEducator/June 1993 21 tially allowing more than 3.000 school districts around the United States to be on the network and giving local teachers and their students E-mail access to the inter- netat little or no cost. (E-mail access to the Internet is available already through such services as CompuSery and America Online.)
What it offers The resources FrEdMail offers include well-organized data bases on a variety of subjectsinformation on grant and funding sources; vast collections of scientific. mathematical, geographical, historical, and literary doc- uments; solutions to technical oroblems; experts in vari- ous fields who are willing to provide assistance; and teachers interested in trading ideas. The network does not limit users to E-mail and text files; graphics, sound bites, and video clips can also be exchanged. Teachers have found that using the network can mo- tivate students to become better learners and writers. Teachers themselves can discuss experiences, teaching materials, and curriculum ideas with colleagues and can obtain information about workshops, job opportunities. legislation affecting education, and other current topics. For many educators, in fact, FrEdMail has served as the training wheels for telecommunicationsa low- cost, accessible, effective avenue for technology novices to gain their first experience with the incredible power of telecomputing technologies. Unlike most of the commercial or academic networks on the Internet. FtZdMail is easy for teachers and students to use. Ease of use is a crucial feature for the many schools that lack technical expertise. A school's system opera- tor, who tends the computer that is the school's con- nection to FrEdMail, typically is a classroom teacher who had no special technical skills before takinga 15- hour training course. The system operator does, how- ever, need the interest and enthusiasm to become an advocate who trains other teachers, provides technical help, and recruits other participants. Each schoo' !istrict that serves as a node can tai- lor its use of ti,network to its local needs. Some dis- tricts emphasize using the bulletin boards for instruc- tional or administrative purposes at the district levelconnecting students at different schools, for ex- ample. Other sites have students use the network for samoiwide projects or at home. By setting up and maintaining the node, the school or district essentially can offer a subsidized service to students who could not otherwise afford telecomputing. Schools quickly re- alize that the network is more useful when it has more participants, so each site has a vested interest in ac- tively recruiting new participants and training teachers. The FrEdMail Foundation supports the network by loadinit with learning projects and classroom activi- ties. The foundation also hosts dozens of electronic conferences for teachers and students that are focused on various curnculum areas and specific projects. (The network may be used only for educational purposes.) Using the network, students have studied Soviet and American cooperation in space, acid rain, and litera- ture- --just to name a few of many protects. In the acid rain project, students measure the acidity of rain sate-73 from their own community, exchange data with schools an interactive market for ideas. resources, op- 'xes1)1 across the United States and Canada. plot the portunities, and informationwithout the extraneous national data, and exchange their conclusions and es- and sometimes offensive distractions found on other ;3% s on the causesand effects of acid rain. newsgroup services. Another project, the Global Authors' Literary Anthol- FrEdMail's projects and discussion forumsand the oov. compiles student essays on monthly themes, such new links to the Internetbring the information age di- ,;; oersonal memoirs, liberty and patriotism, holiday rectly to schools that otherwise might have to wait menus and recipes,and mathematical puzzles. Selected years for the infrastructure to reach them. Now any works by studentsoriginal articles, editorials, essays, 'school district can use the network to involve teachers interviews, one-act plays, and artappear in an elec- and students in the broader world of learning. ill tronic anthology published every semester. Iii another project, called Experts Speak, students in .1%, one group assumethe personalities of various historical -.HOW TO USEFREDMAIL-i,e-:_. (inures. and a group from another school interviews . , -4.4;;;I: them electronically to determine their identities. Other - sc. . ^ ---- 1J'..0.7:41M7f-TA174""1,a " : "."4: '41'; 17' . - ;.1 protects involve cultural exchanges. statistical data col- _a' Only L; Fr5dMailI Valuable''.'resdurce forwits lection and analysis. scientific experiments and observa- (*ors( itJeasy..fo,use, too; tion. and mapand globe skills. Potential projects are turn :ort voile stair. I-7; limited only by the ingenuity of the teachers and stu- :fiyour.,,COmmunications programlthi -sis the program =: dents on the network. dataerV:eFthe-miiclem; any, ot... A new proiect, called the Global Schoolhouse, com- do).TI'ype.in the telephone bines problem-solving skills, environmental issues, riiiinSer!of the eloSefs..frEdMail bulletin board' If global consciousness, and modern information tech- Ly.01111:4100OS:friCt. network (Or if:: noiogies to accomplish a common goal. Four class- btojj46-rie4F.,j6-iii).;:tscr.ii.fo-r.turiate=it'sa local teleH roomsin California, Tennessee, Virginia, and London, .:phOfie--;=i1LcittierWise,rtd'sairejtibney you miihe:. Englandare investigating the environmental problems wainto dial:isp FrtdMaif41iting low-rate hones.::::' created by water run-off. The classrooms communicate hi,...itie."145tinect.2eO;und; th7 . o with each other using FrEdMail, the Internet. and video turn:key 16activate FrEdMail b6aittjhe..:, teleconferences over the Internet using Cornell Liniver- Jot :youi:useknaneand piss- says CU-SeeMe software on Apple Macintosh comput- irNIUeliou:iere.aSsignedwheh ers, iThe software is available free on the university's [r'klibeZ:to FrEdMail -3 TS: electronic bulletin board: to use it. computers must be *-117Now th&neti.tolieSpain'mentrappe:irs equipped with a "video spigot" board, which costs scr giyE.,2yoU.a series .ofirltenu. en ices. about S300.) the;mai-nitienbalso "sign` ;=E mail messages suice;your List +?sit.iFed: Spreading the news lt6reac1 them iiacLiefl.f..If :4Messageis-t:: .knother feature of electronic networks is their ability to pfoal!f, let users exchange news and host discussion forums on ink- topic. Last fall. the foundation started the SCHLnet e copposetl-tfrllet.-N 7esiag .Fay.it? 1:*; newsnroup service, a system to help teachers with spe- the nodeCoinputerlAntiT'atter'Inicimgh.(-3vlien.tele-:-?::. cif:c ;nterests build collaborative learning protects .1ph6ne rates ire 16west; then thgnetwork distribtites; the nation or around the world. SCHLnet, which ; them, thrOugh regional hubk to. dieil destination:S.. ismodeler.l. after the USENET discussion groups on the After leaving E -mail, you.migift select one of FrEd- interne:. can sift through thousands of messages and : Mail's news groups on a subject of interest. You can eiect only those on topics chosen by the user. choose to read about new ideas for science projects, :nlie USENET, though, SCHLnet is aimed specifically for example, or the daily lesson -plan from the Cable atK-I2 teachers and their students. Although freedom News Nerwork.baserlon the day'sheadline.i..bther of expression on USENET generally allows material that groufis carry information on Curriculumdevel-::.-. 1 is controversial, offensive, or even pornographic, opment,.;profe:ssional meetings;ana either topicS: You SCHLnet actively moderates many electronic discussions can contributelo the .discussionby sending the news Ind monitors the rest to ensure professional standards :.group "' of eNpression and etiquette. (SCHLnet covers the costs plight check the 'features ie:ction,'WhiCh of munaginsz and moderating the network by charging :.stores a*ideringe-of.how4ciandrefeienciariicles: tees cased on the size of a school or district network or f_.In addition, OlirSchO8I "or. distiicfcan:Sef4 a. Icical the rturnoer of users. Annual fees for the largest districts bulletin board todisplay announcements iir;infOrrii:":' .ire no more than 5700; fees for small districts are sub- or3ion,or...td Serve-OS archive. school'irriPrairetrient antiailv less.) Olans or the.,tiiii tite3.Of school bOard Meetings, Using the standard USENET message format, SCHLnet simPli.6:4:13;.6.1aO; the can :Jeliver messages directly to a school network file "good -bY.e.-4yOuhaVe ,e'v'er. From mere. a school or district bulletin board or problem or query, leave a message for the system ;tie or local-area network car. distr.bute messages to operator on your way out. Y.S1A. .erS and snidents. In this way, SCHLnet will give BEST COPY AVAILABLE 74 'hA F ar.1,13 CA ,Ags "201 11 Telecommunications: Avoiding the Black Hole
411/ by Margaret Riel
Will electronic networks infuse your classroom with new learning opportunity,or merely pul away your time and energy? Your planning will make the difference.
Our project provided a vehicle for prailicing thinking skills... Through messages from classroom learning will be of much more ed their peers around the world. students learned to distinguish facts from opinions and became cational value. alert for signs of bias and prejudice within their own work and the writing of others. Ron Oastler, Lord Strathcona Public School. Kingston. Ontario. Canada Network with more than oneor even two other classrooms. The enjoyable part was watching them take control of their own learning and education. As I say this with full knowledge of the time
they worked on their projects on global peace. Gulf region politics, community profiles. takes to find even one reliable partner for. textile industry. drug abuse, and self-reflective essays... found that I. too, was touched by the electronic exchange. Here is my reason magic of being able to 'talk' with my peers in distant places. this advice. The projects that areplanneda ---William Burrall. Moundsville Junior High School, Moundsville. West Virginia, USA likely to take a great deal of work and orgar zation. Even if teachercommitment remai Through contact with schools throughout the U.S.. Canada and Saudi Arabia. students high. teachers work in settings that are high learned metric conversions and money exchange rates and had a meaningful lessonon time unpredictable. A sudden shift in the scho :ones.... My students wrote, rewrote. proof-read and rewrote. Because their writing was population might result in change ina teat important to them. this process was meaningful. Complaints were at a minimum and their ing assignment. An opportunity may arise th writing was at a premium. and learning was interesting and fun for them as well as for me! necessitates a change of schools. comput Iwish it could always be this way. equipment might be reassigned or break dov. Sharon Kubenka. Ingram Schoolingram, Texas. USA The additional schools will enrich the actiN ties by providing a range of perspectives. Thi will also provide the added insurance that project will not fall victim to the deafenit sounds of electronic silence. Ideally, work wi These comments by teachers voice the ex- swers to this question but I would like to offerfive to 10 classes on a networking project. V citement of both students and teachers as they four general recommendations. have found in years of matching schools in participate in distant learning facilitated by Learning Circles on the AT&T Learning Ne computers and phone lines. But this excite- Avoid pen-pal-only projects. work that this range provides the maximu ment can be deceiving: it makes distant learn- With the conviction that comes from per- diversity at a size that is still small enough f ing seem as easy as dialing a phone number. sonal experience. I would recommend teach- an intimate level of exchange. Even the most informal educational activity ers a oid any attempts to match their class of on a network represents many hours of plan- students one-to-one with students at a dis- Have awell-defined group project with a ning and organization. tance for the task of exchanging friendly let- beginning and ending date and a written When computer networking projects are well ters. The cost in terms of teacher planning product. planned. the results are extremely impressive. time and student learning time in establishing Computer networks designed sothat bu. as indicated by these comments. However. and maintaining the electronic coordination is people can share their general concerns ofti computer networking can also be a "black far greater than any educational gain that oc- fall silent. Scheduling is one of the bigge hole" into which one of most valuable and curs. For teachers who feel that this form of problems for organizing activities acrossclas limited educational resource vanishes leaving direct communication has a place in the class- rooms. A beginning and ending date with e no discernible trace. That resource is teacher room. I recommend that they give their stu- plicit description of the type of information planning time. Teachers can spend countless dents class time to write letters to their distant be exchanged is critical to the success of II hours either searching for projects that are friends, cousins or grandparents. Letter writ- project. When students work towardsa wr. appropriate for their students or in trying lc ing encourages writing fluency and can be ten summary ofthe work or an anthology organize projects of their own. personally rewarding for some students, but the shared writing they have a goal that giv, How can teachers avoid the black hole of because it is essentially a pnvate channel of meaning to the exchanges. This final public networking and achieve the promise that ad- communication, it is difficult to use as a ve- t ion phase helps students reflect on their share vocates of computer networking describe with hicle for classroom instruction. Messages that work and learn to present the most importa such missionary zeal? There are many an- are sent to the whole class on topics related to ideas in a written format.
16 December/January 1992 The Computing Teacher 75 slake yournetwork projects part of a that fought in the Civil War were asked toers who may be interested in the students' 1.0.er framework of classroom activities. send two letters that fighting soldiers in their work. When distant students have invested An effective way to integrate networkinglocation might have written home to their their time in helping on a project. they are classroom instruction is to select a partfamilies Students who lived in places not di- excited to see the outcome and learn fro of the instructionalunit that can be enriched rectly involved in fighting the Civil War wereanother. If their parents or community I hy informationfrom different locations. How-asked to write two letters that people in theirread their work with genuine interest, stu- ever. it isunlikely that others classes will becommunity might have sent to a friend ordents come to see their work as important and ready and waiting to work on issues in yourrelative involved in the war. are motivated to work hard. curriculum without some reciprocal arrange- Each of these projects exemplifies the fol- ment. If you expect other classrooms to en- lowing three criteria that teachers on the AT&T From promise to practice. rich your students work, remember to extendLearning Network are asked to consider as Computer networking is an exciting new 3 similaroffer in return. they select projects to sponsor in their Learn-tool for extending classroom learning into the This reciprocal teaching and learning ap- ing Circles. community and utilizing peers around the proach characterizes Learning Circle interac- 1. The networking project should take ad- world as teachers for one another The cost of tions on the AT&T Learning Network. Classes vantage of the cultural or regional diversity telecomputing is very reasonable if it is used are matched together based on a choice of represented by the network partners.When in ways that result in real gains in student similar curricular themes into groups called students are working with students from across learning. Learning Circles. Each of the classes in a the nation and/or around the world, the in- Students are not the only learners in this Circle is invited to sponsor a group project crease in the communication costs needs to be new distant forum. When teachers work to- drawn from their curriculum. The whole class offset by the educational gain that comes from gether to help each other extend classroom works on their sponsored project incorporat- these cross-cultural exchanges. If project re- learning they benefit personally and profes- tng the information received from distant class- sponses from students in one location are vir- sionally from these partnerships. Recognition rooms. Students are grouped into teams totually identical to those from the other for well-designed network lessons motivates collect and send information to distant classes locations, the participants are not taking full teacher creativity. This type of collabora- for their projects. Here are some examples of advantage of this educational tool. Having tive work among teachers provides them a the way teachers have extended student learn- students investigate their own location, envi- channel for the discussion of many issues ine using telecommunications. ronment, history. social problems, or cul-related to school reform without leaving the A New York teacher was doing a science tural attitudes in relationship to others is a classroom. unit on nuclear energy. One part of the projectvery effective way for students to learn about The infusion of new ideas and strat involved studying the risks associated withthemselves as well as about people in distant from across a shrinking world is the p nuclear energy. Her students asked their Learn- locations. of new communication technologies. Fultsit- ing Circle partners (students from three U.S. 2. The request for information from distant ing the promise will require careful planning cities and two international cities) to shareclasses should he reasonable in scope. A of this new educational context. The technical information about the location of their near-teacher cannot expect teachers at a distanceconnections to are a necessary but far from suf- est nuclear power plant and to describe localbecome completely involved in their instruc- ficient part of the process. The cost/benefit community debates over its location and safetional units. Each teacher has specific teach- ratio is complex. The goal is to create an operation. ing constraints. But a reasonable request,a educational program using computer telecom- A teacher in Australia was teaching a unit small part of the whole classroom activity, is munications that maximizes the educational on a local aboriginal tribe. A part of his lesson an excellent way to extend the learning in new benefit while minimizing cost in terms of our plan involved having students read legends ways. Students' requests for surveys, local limited educational resources: teacher plan- from this u-ibe. This classroom activity was information, observations, opinions, descrip- ning time, student class time. and school funds. extended by sponsoring a Learning Circle tions, or student essays can be accomplished Good education is never free. But a range of project that involved the sharing of local leg- either as a class or homework assignment different partnerships among software devel- ends from indigenous people from each of the without placing a heavy strain on the required opers, communication providers, and schools seven states or countnes represented in the curriculum. The teacher onginating the project are currently making it possible for teachers Learning Circle. might be spending a month or more on the and students to connect their classrooms with Students in a German class were exploring theme or lesson. But the distant teachers should new worlds of learning. alternative programs for the conservation of be able to organize a response to enrich this energy. particularly the effectiveness of recy-lesson in one or two class periods. cling programs. They sent a survey to their 3. The information collected should he of (Margaret Riel. Ph.D., Education Program US. French. and Canadian partners asking interest to a wide audience of students, teach- Manager. AT&T Learning Network. 943 San them if or how they sort household trash. ers. parents, and others.When students are Diequito Drive. Encinitas, CA 92024.) v. here trash is taken, and what recycling engaged in activities that adults value, stu- programs. if any, were in place in their com- dents take care and pride in their work. After For more information about the munities. the information is received, students and teach- Learning Network, call800/367-7225.. A class in Louisiana was studying the Civil ers work together to collect, orga:;'ze, and sion 4158, or write to: AT&T Learning Net- War. Their project involved composing a set present the information in a final project sum- work, P. O. Box 6391, Parsippany, NJ 07054. of letters that might have been writtenat the mary. This report can be shared with those time of the Civil War. Students from states who participated in the project and withoth- 7 6 The Computing Teacher December/January1992 17 Reprinted with permission from the NorthwestRegional Educational Laboratory Report: Learning Online, February 1994. pis
Many Northwest schools Oregon's education service tional telecommunications sys- districts ultimately will be con- now have or soon will -BIG SKY TELEGRAPH IS tem serving teachers and stu- nected to one node or the other, AVAILAB LA/ ANYONE, dents, operated by Seattle's pub- have convenient access and will share the cost of ANYWHERE:ANYTIME." lic broadcasting station KCTS. In A , -h to the worldwide com- hookup with local districts. . Washington and British Colum- number of districts already are puter network through bia, 125 school districts have ac- plugged in, according to Tom cess to Learning Link, according state education agencies Cook of the state education de- to Art Johnson of KCTS. Learning partment. In Lane County, for ex- Link offers email, online discus- By Lee Sherman Caudell ample, 4,000 staff and students sion groups, daily lesson plans already are active Internet users. to CNN Newsroom, curriculum District personnel from around information, databases, and In- Nationwide. about 60 per- the state are helping to set direc- ternet access, among other serv- cent of states now oper- tion and policy, tackle technical ices. ate a statewide computer questions, and develop training Washington schools also par- or telecommunications network. and materials. And the educa- ticipate in a number of smaller Many of these networks offer tion department is providing networks around the state. schools economical access to workshops to help schools the "mother of all networks," get started on the Internet. "In- fnnk Alaska: The state recently the Internet. In four of the five 14515rjeregraph. terest is growing by leaps and launched a new plan to give all Northwest states, the education bounds," says Cook. "I'm averag- Alaska schools access to the in- department or another state edu- ing five or six calls a day from cessing Cooperative (WSIPC), an formation superhighway. The cation agency has established a people who have read some- independent cooperative provid- University of Alaska Computer statewide telecommunications thing or heard something and ing computer services to its 275 Network (UACN), which links system, and many school dis- want more information." member districts. Originally universities statewide, has tricts are plugging into the In- Oregon educators can also formed by the state's education agreed to expand network ac- ternet through these s)stems. In plug into the Internet through service districts to transmit ad- cess to the K-12 community addition, there are several sub- Oregon ED-NET. Created by the ministrative data to and from the through the Department of Edu- state or subregional systems, Legislature and seeded with lot- Office of State Superintendent of and many local bulletin board cation. Right now, the depart- tery money, Oregon ED-NET pro- Public Instruction, WEdNet isex- ment is paying ;25,000 annually systems operated by teachers or vides an electronic information tending its reach into class- other community members. for unlimited network IDs for service called COMPASS, which rooms locally and internation- schools, according to Lois Stiege- NWREL will use the existing net- includes access to the Internet. ally by connecting schools to the works to provide access for meier. But next year, participat- There are 1,500 to 2,000 sub- Internet via ESDs. A recent $4.7 ing districts will begin sharing school personnel to education scribers on the network, many million legislative allocation for the cost, paying $400 to $500 to information, and to enhance the of them students or educators, technical restructuring in Wash- use the network, which picks up capability of Laboratory staff to according to ED-NET's Nancy Je- ington schools is helping sup- have dose contact with teachers Internet through the Seattle- suale. For schools in remoteor port the cost of the connection. based regional network North- and others. Here's a look at rural areas lacking leased lines, About 30 districts are currently what's happening in each state. WestNet. A lot of districts are COMPASS offers easy, inexpen- connected, according to Dennis "raring to go" on the Internet, sive dial-up access to the In- Lampson of WSIPC. Dennis Oregon: With an $80,000 grant Stiegemeier says. But she cau- te-net for a yearly subscription Small of the Office of Public In- tions that inadequate training from the U.S. Department of Edu- fee of $75 per person. "Com- struction predicts it will be three may stymie some of the enthusi- cation, the Oregon Department pass has local dial-up in 22 to five years before all or most of Education has launched asm. "We're not providing any an cities in Oregon, such as John of the state's 296 districtsare ambitious plan to make Internet training here at the depart- Day, Burns, Pendleton, and The linked to the network. Mean- ment," she says. "The districts available to all schools through Dalle.," says Juale. while, the state office is "work- will have to provide the hand- NorthWestNet. The grant funded ing to give people a reason to be the installation of two nodes, holding and the training." Stiege- Washington: Washington's online," says Small, by offering meier says the department will one in Washington County and statewide network. WEdNet Internet workshops for teachers. encourage educators to take on- one in Lane County, and an In- (Washington Educational Net- Another service available to line courses in navigating the In- ternet subscription for all public work), is operated by the Wash- Washington educators is Learn. ternet offered by the University K-12 staff and students. All of ington School Information Pro- ing Link, an interactive educa- of Alaska Southeast in Juneau. 77 Montana: All Montana schools from Annenberg/CPS and the US have free access to electronic West Foundation, is funding a bulletin boards, databases, project to design math and sci- email, and public conferences ence "telecurriculum" for rural through the Montana Educa- schools (see the story beginning tional Telecommunications Net- on Page 1). work (METNET). Supported by Another Montana network, the state Office of Public Instruc- EDUNET, provides distance- tion, METNET consists of 17 learning courses to 30 rural sites across the state, of which schools via email, file transfer, nine are school districts serving and interactive testing. a specific set of schools. Schools have access through local lines Idaho: The state is served by or toll-free dial-up. Created in Idaho Public Television (for- 1992, the network uses Fido soft- merly the Idaho Education and ware, transferring messages Public Broadcasting System), around the state through the cen- one of the original PBS stations tral site at the Office of Public In- that formed a Learning Link struction, which coordinates co-op. Learning link, an 800 - message traffic. Internet access number service provided to provided by NorthWestNet every Idaho school through the through a gateway at Big Sky Idaho Board of Education and Telegraph (described below) Idaho Public Television, gives provides email only, but the edu- schools access to electronic bul- cation department is looking letin boards, databases, and In- into getting full Internet access. ternet email. But many of the "We'd like to do it, depending state's 13,000 teachers lack the on the cost and legislative sup- equipment and/or expertise for port," says Bob Morris of the using the network. Just under 15 Office of Public Instruction. percent of Idaho's teachers cur- Big Sky Telegraph is run rently use electronic communi- from Western Montana College cations, according to Bob Pyle in Dillon through the Montana of Idaho Public Television. The University System Educational 100 newsgroups offered through Network (ML1SENE1'). Primarily the network are monitored "to serving rural schools, Big Sky is keep them dean," says Pyle, available to "anyone, anywhere, who points out that pornography anytime," says the networks or off-color messages are inevita- founder Frank Odasz. Big Sky ble on a network open to mil- was created to tie together the lions of users. state's 110 one-room schools Although no statewide plan and link them to resources exists to hook schools directly around the state. For $50, sub- into the Internet, Rich Mincer of scribers get access to Big Sky, in- the state Department of Educa- cluding Internet email. In just a tion says the agency is looking few weeks, Big Sky will offer the into the question. The likelihood full range of Internet services that Idaho's schools soon will be bulletin boards, file transfer, tel- widely wired for networking got netting, and emailto educa- a big boost in January when Gov- tors and other subscribers, ernor Cecil Andrus proposed thanks to a $38,000 grant from spending $7 million to conned US West Communications. An- schools to the information super- other grant to Big Sky, $880,000 highway.
78 SECTION IV: ISSUES EN TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION
79 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Reprinted with permission from Ike Coleman. Article appeared Could Computer Use in Education Week, April 17, 1991. Be a Form of Tracking?
By Ike Coleman
at local high school the other day, I watched as a friend of mine who teaches there unpacked a brand Anew CD-ROM drive to add to the Ma- cintosh SE and laser printer she already has in her classroom. I couldn't help but notice that the drive, like the other pieces of the Macin- tosh equipment, was by district policy re- served for use by the gifted and talented pro- , gram. And I know that almost all the students 'ho make up the gifted and talented program are the children of parents who are fairly af- fluent, many of them faculty members at nearby Clemson University, where I work. By district policy, then, the sons and daughters of the significant population of poorer parents in the area are not to have access to the best of the school's equipment. My friend, like many of the best teachers, ducks policy. "Have ynu ever seen a student who isn't gifted?" someone once asked her. "Never," she said. Even so, even with the best of intentions on the part of teachers, the district policy is an obstacle. Lions. Recently, I walked through another teacher's "basic" class (read "children of poorer parents") to a small room in the back, where the teacher and a few Advanced Placement students were producing a school publication on une of the district's Macin- toshes. The "basic" students, waiting pa- tiently for the teacher, had probably never used the computer, and knew they never would. Like tracking, computer use divides along socioeconomic lines. But, because mastering the machines has become essential to success in the world beyond school, computers complicate the question of which kids will eventually make it. Though the issue ismore complex than we'd like to believe, we can tell ourselves that with perseveranceany student can do well in school. At least the tools for successbooks, pens, and paperare cheap. Butwe can't even make the pretense about computers: Poor people cannot afford them. On the other hand, many students grow up with computers at home, computers theyuse for everything from electronic games. to word processing, to computer-based telecommunica- tions. Just as children surrounded by books at home are at an advantage when theycome to school, the students with computers at home obviously have an advantageover students whose parents can't afford the machines. The issue of how computers are used at school, then, is pressing. But accordingto the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition in a 1989 article in the Harvard Educational Review and as expected, given schools' tendency to track students alongsocioeconomic linespoorer students are allowed neither the quantity nor the quality ofaccess to computers as are more affluent students. Surprisingly, the relative prosperity of the district makes little difference: Poor students in wealthy districts get littleaccess to the machines, just as they would in poor districts with fewer computers. But even when poor kids 2_re given access to the machines. theways they are allowed to use them differ radically from their use by more affluent students. While advanced studentsuse desktop-publishing software to produce literary publications, for instance, in low-trackand remedial classes, populated mostly by poorer students, kids whouse computers use them largely for so-called "skill and drill." In his book Insult to IntellTence, Frank Smith has made thecase against skill-and-drill computer work far more completely and eloquently than I can. "Drill and kill,"as it's justifi- ably nicknamed, whether on worksheet or computerscreen, teaches little that it's supposed to teach. A computerised vocabulary test, for instance,may or may not prepare students for iU BEST COPYAVAILABLE Has Computer Use Becomea New Form ofTracking? Continued from Page 32 schools will find jobs that ask for little pensive experiences, rich in reading,California. ... Other subs= talent and offer little reward. I can't writing, and thought. washed into the creeks with th standardized tests by which the help imagining that such jobs might BreadNet supports, for studentsThe sediment has lots of organic teal school and district will be judged, well involve obedience to machines and teachers, what is called asyn-inorganic matter in it, along with but it has almost no relationship to one skill the workers will have chronous computer conferencing,pesticides and other pollutants. real language use. As theorists of learned well. which simply means that a numberProbably the most harmful is acid language and learning from James Kids, in short, who had no chance of sites send writing to a centralfrom pit and strip mines...." Britton on have known, students do- to use current technology for their "conference" to be read by all mem- These students are communicating ing such work learn nearly nothing own purposes at school will likely bers of the conference at their conve-knowledge to a wide and diverse au- that will transfer to the real spoken not have the chance at work. They'll nience. Unlike electronic pen-paldience, and in the process are prob- and written language of their lives. have low - paying jobs, and they'll be systems, such conferences allow aably synthesuang information they What skill-and-drill software does unable to afford to expose their chil- great deal of collaboration, amonghad not fully formulated for them- teach is more frightening than what dren to technology in constructiveclasses and groups within classes,seises before. In addition, they are it doesn't. Students performing ex- ways. Thus, schools are probably before writing is sentand a great learning infinitely more about the ba- ercises involving isolated skills are deal of communication, oral andsic skills than basic-skills programs not the masters but the slaves of the written, for the amount of writingteach. And they are learning compu- computers. I've often seen students actually transmitted. ter technologyvery cheaply. with programs that tell them things In one short-term conference on Most importantly, from their work like: "John, you're a genius. Now try That for poorer BreadNet, called "World Class," stu-on 'World Class,' students kern all the next. question." With such soft- dents and teachers in all parts of thetracks and all socioeconomic back- ware students learn, for one thing, students 'skill and globefrom Wilsall, Mont., to Lon-grounds learned that their learning to be obedient to a machine, a ma- don, to Limadescribed for others onand their writing could not only affect chine that, like something out of drill' is often the the network environmental problemstheir lives, but also had the potential 1984 impersonates a human being. only exposure to in their country and region, and thento change the world. After intensive But even without the bells and whis- discussed global problems and possi-reading and writing about global en- tles-, students who do computer mul- computer ble solutions. In addition, studentsvironmental problems, students in tiple-choice exercises for countless composed questions for U.S. Senator many schools began to take action, hours of their school lives learn not technology should Albert Gore's senior legislative assis-starting recycling centers and lobby- to be critical thinkers. They learn disturb us deeply. tant on global environmental issues,ing at the local level. not to weeder why the world of the Rick Adcock, and sent those ques- This is only one example of the computer screen has no relationship tions to the computer conference. Mr. kind of learning students can do to their world. Adcock answered the questions oncheaply with the power of That for poorer students skill and helping to cement in place an under- tape, and his answers were tran-ogy. Every district in the U drill is often the only exposure to com- class, subservient to technology in- scribed and posted on the network. States could probably afford to mdse puter technology should disturb us stead of mastering it. Here is a description of local prob-work like this available to all stu- deeply. As Technology and the Ame 'l- But if we want to, we can give all lems from Randy Boyd, Chad Hall, ean Transition, a report by the U.S. dents. And students who have students access to powerful technol- and Greg Johnson, students inlearned to be the masters of comput- Office of Technology Assessment, ogy that is not expensive. Several in- Wheelwright, Ky., a town in one ofers, to use them for their own pur- points out, business will adjust to the teractive educational networks, such the poorer regions of the Unitedposes, will not only be better pre- workforce it has available. If a seg- as BreadNet, a network for teachers States: "Much of our water is beingpared to enter the Information Age, ment of the working population has and students sponsored by the Bread destroyed or harmed by people and not learned the flexibility and cre- they will have the power to make Loaf School of English, require only major corporations here in Ken-the world more humane. ative thinking necessary for the ideal the cheapest machines a use a $500 tucky. The problem is a difficult one economy of the very near future, busi- But if we don't treat them hu- clone). And though on-line time 13 not because the pollution.comes frommanely, if we prevent a segment of ness will just have to make do with free, teachers who have been given several sources. Because of all the wnat it has, creating tracks for the the population from exposure to the time and the support necessary to mining that takes place here, whentechnology for such uses, that power workforce available. People who grew learn to use networks wisely them- we have hard rains, we also have up poor and were badly served by will be lost, for this generation and selves can give their students inex- mud slides, like those that occur infor generations to come.
Ike Coleman is director of the South CarolinaRural Writing Network, a project sponsored b) the Bread Loaf School of English and the Clemson UniversttyEnglish department. He teaches at Clemson.
61 Reprinted with permission f Electronic The Constr Professional
Professional development that changes the local culture is critical to the transformation of schools, Mr. Watts and Ms. Castle aver, and one highly successful tool for such professional development is dialogic networking.
BY GARY D. WArrs AND SHARI CASTLE
There is something new here, some- thing not at all 'prominent in early re- search on the diffusion and adoption of innovations; the belief that teachers have minds. It is as though. in the Wiz- ard of Oz, the Scarecrow knew all along that he had a mind, while the Wizard came late to this conclusion. Well, the Wizards of Research know now that teachers have minds, and that teachers are pretty confident of that as well.
IN THE LATE 1960s the U.S. De- partment of Defense, through its Advanced Research Projects Agen- cy (ARPA), established the first large-scale computer network. That network, known as ARPANET, was de- signed to link computer scientistsat universities and other research institu- tions to distant computers to which they GARY D. WATTS is senior director of the to National Center for innovation, National Edu- canon Assoaanon, Washington. D.C.. where SHARI CASTLE is coordinator of research and development.
684 PHI DELTA KAPPAN would otherwise not have at cess.2 One Some networks provide the capaci-served and studied the change processni minor feature of the network was a fa- ty to send messages to other users. Thisthe Mastery in Learning and Natio cility known as electronic mail (E-mail). E-mail function greatly enhances com-Center sites. Schools involves in these Electronic mail soon became one ofmunication by eliminating the barriers ofprojects have documented a progression' the most popular features of ARPANET. time and distance. not necessarily linear, neat, or discrete While some network administrators ob- A few networks are designed to al- from teaching as a "craft" to teaching jected to electronic mail because they did low a community of users to carry on aas an art or science, from teacher de- not see it as a vital use of computer time, discussion or participate in a conferencevelopment to student empowerment. A the demand for improved E-mail carriedwith all the other members of the com-"theory of action" for school transforma- the day. Scientists used ARPANET to ex-munity. Users of these dialogic networkstion has emerged.3 change ideas casually. Graduate students read, contribute to, and follow strands This progression toward school trans- discussed problems and shared skills. of conversation on individual topics. Asformation often starts with individual af- Project heads coordinated activities andwith E-mail, the barriers of time and dis-firmation. As teachers discoyer the pow- communicated with funding agencies. A tance arc eliminated. er of their talents, strengths, and voices network of collaborators formed without Our focus in this article is on dialogicwithin and beyond the classroom, they regard for physical location. networks specifically those designedbegin acknowledging to themselves and In an article in Sciennfic American, Leefor use by adults in educational environ-others that they are important profession- Sproull and Sara Kiesler assessed the im- ments. These networks have the powerals who can make a difference in their pact of this new way of communicating:to change not only the user but the en-schools. As they begin to share their "Managers are often attracted to networks vironment in which the user works. knowledge and experiences with others, by the promise of faster communication a sense of faculty-ness emerges. Educa- and greater efficiency. In our view, the tors begin to believe that their schools can real potential of network communica- FROM REFORM TO TRANSFORMATION change and that they, as faculties,are tion has less to do with such matters than The traditional approach to schoolresponsible for and capable of accom- with influencing the overall work envi-change involves top-down initiatives inplishing that change. Teachers begin to ronment and the capabilities of employ-which needs are assessed, one option issee that it is popible to look to research ees? Based on our experience, we heart-selected, teachers are told to implementfor options and that it is okay to take ily agree. The development by the Na-it, and the effectiveness of the implemen-risks. As faculty-ness grows, a culture. tional Education Association (NEA) oftation is evaluated at the end. While theconducive to change is born. "We've al- the School Renewal Network over theaim is to transform the system, theactu-ways done it that way" is no longer a past four years has confirmed the pro- al results usually fall far short of thesufficient reason to continue doing it that found potential of this technology to re-mark. One reason for such failures is thatway. The faculty begins to "challenge the duce teacher isolation by building com-local practitioners and stakeholdersareregularities. "" munities of learners without regard toseldom involved in all phases of theproc- Many of the National Center's projects location. Networks designed for such aess, from initial vision to evaluation. have moved along this continuum, chang- purpose are capable of providing signifi- The National Education Association cant opportunities for professional de- ing the day-to-day lives of adults in the (NEA) initiated a different model inschools. Few have significantly trans- velopment, new learning, the dissemina- 1985, when it established the Mastery informed the day-to-day lives of students tion of research, and tile transformation Learning Project. The effortwas con- of schools. yet. We now see that teacher develop- ceived as a bottom-up, grassroots, fac-ment is a critical precursor to meaning- ulty-driven initiative. A great deal of ef-ful change in schools. But it is notan end FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION fort was put into a needsassessment fol-in itself. True school transformation will lowed by the use of research to develop Networks can be thought of be measured not by how involved teach- as analo- localq appropriate options.Twenty -six ers are in decision making but by how gous to highways. While everyone under- schools were selected froma very com- stands generic references to highways, teachers, empowered as professional de- petitive list of applicants. cision makers, are able to empower their most people also perceive the distinctions When the NEA National Center for In-students as learners. between limited-access interstates, statenovation was created in 1989, the size It highways, and "blue highways." In the is our observation that education and scope of the effort expanded signifi-reformers cannot skip the phases of in- world of electronic networking,how- cantly. The National Center nowencom-dividual affirmation and the development ever, few understand the distinctions be- passes the Mastery in Learning Project, tween different types of networks. of faculty-ness and go directly to testing the Learning Labs Initiative, the Masterythe options. To do so doomsa reform to To oversimplify, networkscan servein Learning Consortium, the Teacher Ed- tI ree distinct functions. becoming another top-down mandate of ucation Initiative, and the Excellencein limited duration because the implement-Aft Most networks are "resourcenet- Action programs. There aremore thaners the teachers have little owner works." They exist to providedata anda hundred projectsites,including information to a user who reads the ship and few of the necessary skills for in- schools, school clusters, districts, andchange. Teachers merely close their formation from data files maintainedbyteacher preparation institutions. the network. classroom doors and their minds to Over the past six years, we have ob-the innovation.
n 3 MAY 1992 685 sustained interaction among practitioners phone costs, it does require compatible NETWORKING TO SUPPORT across a broad geographical area was SCHOOL RENEWAL computers equipped with hard disks. needed so they could share practical wis- Another feature of PSInet that influ- One of the tools we developed to sup- dom; interaction between researchers and enced our selection is that it permits both port all phases of the change process ispractitioners was needed to make the messages and conferences. The users of the NEA School Renewal Network. This knowledge base useful in diverse settings. the School Renewal Network continual- dialogic network electronically links allOnly with such communication could re- ly design and redesign the conference the National Center's project sites. Thesearch and practice be integrated for the structure in response to real needs and sit- results are powerful. purpose of transforming schools)) uations. The current conference structure The Mastery in Learning Project was Because of the geographical disper-includes 10 topics deemed critical to unique in that sustained attention was giv- sion of the schools in the project and the school restructuring- thinking, instruc- en to decision making supported by aNEA's successful experience with a re- tional strategies, school/classroom or- knowledge base including theory, re-mote bulletin board service, electronic ganization, curriculum, positive school search, good ideas, and the wisdom ofnetworking seemed the logical way to climate, at-risk students, parent/commu- practice. Our original (and limited) in-facilitate the crucial interaction. In 1988 nity involvement, networking/technology, tention was to provide access to thiswe began to examine available software restructuring, and student assessment. knowledge base through the project of- There are several subtopics under each fice. In response to queries from the par- category and, within each subtopic, hun- ticipating schools, we packaged research, dreds of strands of dialogue on various model programs, bibliographies, and lists issues, problems, and ideas. of other schools with similar questions A year into the development of the and mailed them using the U.S. post- al service. Networking has School Renewal Network, we added 10 prominent researchers to the dialogue. Problems exist, however, in using re- influenced the One researcher was assigned to each search in school settings and in sharing con- ference on the network. This innovation the largely uncodified wisdom of environment in prac- has been extremely significant. Although tice.' Even with the project staff provid- many of the par- ing resources and assistance, particular both the resealthers and the practition- ers had misgivings about this step, the obstacles persisted once the mail from the ticipating schools linking of research to practice has be- project office arrived at the school. Some and is supporting come much more natural, flowing from faculties experienced difficulties apply- school renewal. the needs of the users without the trap- ing generalized findings to their particu- pings of status and hierarchy. Put a lar situations. Others found that research re- searcher on a podium delivering a pack- in their particular areas of inquirywas scarce. A lack of skill in interpreting or aged address, and the teachers soon tune out mentally. Make a researcher a peer conducting research became apparent in participant on a network, and both the some schools. For example, teachers often and struggled over the practicalities of had difficulty making sense of conflict- researcher and the teachers grow from using phone lines to connect our sites. the interchange. 12 ing findings in the research, and they of- The problem of phone lines cannot be un- We have found that it is possible to ten felt that the research did not adequate-derstated (and deserves separate and spe- ly address the complexities of school- alter the culture of schooling bypro- cial attention elsewhere). We hadgreat-moting nonlinear, multidirectional inter- wide restructuring. Finally, lack of time er problems securing school phone linesactions among stakeholders in reform. for reviewing and summarizinga body that were available to teachers thanweThese "virtual" communities of collabo- of research was consistentlya problem.'did securing computers. In addition, fac- In studying the project schools, Joanne ration capitalize on the "distributedex- ing the problem of who wouldpay thepertise" of the participants. Explorations Schnesk and Gary Rackliffe found that long-distance charges convinced us thatof research, reflective dialogues teachers used their experienceto medi- ore pro- the best software would make thenet- fessional issues, and the sharing ofex- ate between generalized findings andspe- work as inexpensive to the useras possi- cific situations, yet neither the wisdom perience are now everyday events on the ble. School Renewal Network. Networking has of teaching experiencenor the process of We selected IBM's PSInet (Peopleinfluenced the environment inmany of applying research had been codified.9 Sharing Information Network) software Teachers generally lack opportunities the participating schools and issupport- because it uses a batch processingsys-ing school renewal. It is clear from the to share their thinking and toconstructtem and does not depend on "real time" new knowledge about their teaching following posted messages that thenet- prac-. phone connections. All reading andcom-work is fostering individual affirmation, tice.10 Children learn vocabularybest in posing of papers and maintenance of filesa sense of faculty-ness, and informed de- the context of ordinary communication is done with the 'phoneon the hook." and have many opportunities cision making. to do so, but PSLnet allows the user to transmitauto- teachers have been building theirteach- matically at any time of day or night. ing knowledge in isolation. Wesaw that The [School Renewal Network) con- While the batch processing methodsaves ference really got me reconnected to
686 PHI DELTA KAPPAN 84 my life's work in education. My ener- lation has been the prevalent culture in ly difficult on a large, :-npersonaln- gy and enthusiast:: for all aspects of the schools. The creation of faculty-ness has job are far beyond what they were. I work. The best solution is to formstn not been a priority of teacher preparation really believe that school renewal is a er affinity groups Small, personalL result, at least in part, of personal re- a. supervision. Therefore, teachers aregroups are more likely to find a common, newal. not accustomed to engaging in reflective manageable focus for in-depth dialogue. 4. « dialogue with peers. With the addition of 2. "High touch' must be emphasizedas I wn't help but realize how far we've the beginner's discomfort with new tech-much as 'high tech. "In The Third Wave, come. We were a good school when nology, it is little wonder that teachersAlvin Toffler warned that mechanization we began, but, with the support of all do not drift naturally into in-depth dis-needs to be balanced with personaliza- of you, we have fine-tuned curricula, cussions with strangers via computer net-tion. 13 We find this to be true. While not honed teaching strategies, and trans- works. Support and trust have to be builtalways practical to arrange, we discov- formed our school into a much more if reflective dialogue is to occur. Once child-centered place. Best of all, ered that face-to-face meetings of site I a supportive climate is established, par- think we're better educators. We usere- coordinators were one of the most power- smrch, self-evaluate our own teaching ticipants begin to challenge one anotherful stimulators of community building and school practices, and work hard to to ask bigger and harder questions. and dialogue. A network researcher came make school a fun, exciting, and safe Our experience with bulletin boardup with the idea of sharing photographs place for kids to be. networks generally shows that bulletinto build and maintain connections. Occa- boards are dominated by small cliques ofsional phone calls and hand-written notes -techy" users and are intimidatingto the ENGAGING TEACHERS IN further contribute to the humanization of NETWORK PARTICIPATION average teacher. Inexperienced networkthe technology. users tend to call in only a few times and 3. Qualified facilitators must be avail- After four years of experience with the then lurk in the background. We noticedable. We find that three kinds of network School Renewal Network, we find that the same pattern during the early phasesfacilitation are needed. First, technical six conditions are necessary toencourage of the School Renewal Network. Only and facilitate dialogic networking. assistance is essential to help beginning when they felt part of the community didusers get started, learn the software, and 1. The network must encourage the de- teachers become active participants. Cre-deal with the numerous small problems velopment of affinity groups. Teacher iso- ating that sense of community isextreme-that frustrate novices. Our goal is to bring teachers with-Out technological experi onto the network. A friendly voice on other end of the telephone line will he., assuage fears, solve problems, and dis- pel discomfort. The more technicalas- sistance available, particularly at the be- ginning, the better. Second, conversational facilitation is needed to help participants talkacross role groups, frame issues, followup on unanswered questions, summarize dis- cussions, engage reluctant contributors, develop conventions (general rules for common use), and deepen the dialogue. For example, inexperienced networkusers tend to send requests for information that are cryptic and nonspecific in scope: We arc concerned about instructional group- ing in our school. Please giveus all the information you have on grouping." Be- cause responding to such a request is so difficult, the sender receives few, ifany, responses. Conversational facilitation is particu- larly important in a dialogic network be- cause the network's strength rests in the regular, reflective contributions of each participant. The conversational facile tor needs interpersonal and group velopment skills; rather than tech:Lica,. 55 knowledge. On the School Renewal Net- work, different individuals provide tech-
MAY 1992 687 nical assistance and conversational facili- and strengthened the dialogue. All par- tation. ticipants share as peers, so appreciation Third, local outreach is needed to in- grows for the particular knowledge and volve colleagues at the site level. Theexperience of each individual. Users com- challenge is to move dialogue back andmunicate across the worlds of research forth between the network and a sig- and practice to learn with and from one is essential nificant number of school faculty mem-another. Practitioners learn about the use It bers, so that the information truly affectsof research and its adaptation to local to develop cre- site-based restructuring. Structures andcontexts. As practitioners describe how ative ways of processes must be developed for training, they apply research, the wisdom of prac- disseminating information, reading, dis- tice gets recorded. Researchers learn making time avail- cussing, and contributing to the network. about the myriad factors that discourage able for all The greatest danger is that one teacherthe use of research in schools. They also will become the "computer person" and gain insight into the learning and teach- teachers to use that other faculty members will fail to be- ing issues that confront teachers regularly the network. come involved in the dialogue. but have not been addressed by research. If the local facilitator can empower 6. Access to the network must be max- faculty members to discuss and use net- imized. Many factors affect the degree of work information, then results related toparticipation in the network. A sense of the network's purpose and the school's purpose, a belief in the network's rele- restructuring agenda occur. If a localvance, and a willingness to take risks aregrow and change as facilitators and users facilitator just gets information without important predispositions for active par- acquire sophistication. During the first engaging others in discussing or using it, ticipation. Perhaps most crucial, how-year, the users focused on technical is- then little or nothing happens. ever, are the location of the hardware and sues, learning the software, writing pri- The difficulty of involving a significant the amount of time available for network- vate messages, and sending public re- number of people is compounded when ing. The closer the computer is to thequests of a very general nature ("Tell me access to the network is limited by theuser's daily pathways, the more it will be everything you know about. . ."). Dur- number of computers available. Whenused. Fear of theft caused some sites to ing the second year, participants turned only one computer workstation is avail-lock the computer away where it could their attention to building relationships able for an entire faculty (as is the casenot be used easily. In other sites, some("high touch") and developing interac- with most sites on the School Renewalteachers had to walk 10 minutes fromtions. Requests became more specific, Network), local outreach is critical. one end of the building to the other. Hav-with rich contextual details included. The 4. The structure of the network must being the computer in or near the facultynumber of responses surpassed the num- empowering. The structure of the net-room proved one of the most successfulber of requests.1 In our third year we work and its database must be developedarrangements, because everybody goes focused on increasing the length of the on principles that empower the users. there. conversations and broadening their sub- First, the network must be easy to use. Time for additional tasks in schools is stantive and reflective content. is During Second, the focus of the network topics a problem, and few teachers have the lux-the fourth year, we have been working must be clear. Third, all users should be ury of casual time to experiment with and on developing smaller focus groups for considered equal in terms of their con-learn about networking. It is essential, school-based action research projects. tributions to the dialogue, their accesstherefore, to develop creative ways of Planning from the start for formative to information, and their input into net- making time available for all teachers to assessment over time will enhance the work development. We do not use posi- use the network. In several schools, anetwork's growth and quality. Using the tion titles such as professor, principal,committee or small group shared respon-"action research" spiral of continuous in- supervisor, or teacher. Participants onsibility for training, workstation main-sight and action ensures development in the School Renewal Network often men-tenance, and local outreach. In otherconcert with the network's purpose and tion the importance of talking with an- schools, small groups took responsibilitythe participants' needs. other person who is equally committedfor monitoring and participating in par- Users have different styles. As in any to school transformation rather than toticular conferences. Arms' to home com-other arena, people have different skills, someone with a certain position or title.puters also increased participation. concerns, and styles. For example, we 5. The network must take advantage of observed that some users focus on re- the principle of distributed expertise. As sources, while others focus on dialogue. EXPECT THE OBVIOUS one participant said, "None of us is as Some have a facilitative style, while oth- smart as all of us." The involvement of Network developers should expect toers are more confrontational. Some are multiple stakeholders allows numerousexperience three phenomena. While they analytical; others are more emotive. We perspectives and knowledge bases to in- seem obvious, anticipating and planningsee differences in preference for theoret- fluence restructuring. On the School Re-for these givens greatly facilitate dialog- ical versus practical discussions. Some newal Network, the inclusion of both re-ic networking. participants act as leaders, while others searchers and practitioners has enriched Networks are developmental. Theyfollow. Some are self-starters; others
688 PHI DELTA KAPPAN 06 need nudging. Some try to solve techni-cur than when resources are simply called with one another and are willing to ac- cal problems themselves, while othersup in isolation. cept feedback positive and not so call for help. Styles of network use are Breaking down of institutional and positive in the spirit of professional greatly influenced by whether one viewshierarchical barriers. The participants in colleagueship. Teachers are experi- the network primarily as an informationthe School Renewal Network now talk as menting with the new not totally dis- source or as a problem-solving tool.peers. They report increased comfort and carding the tried and true but serious- ly questioning the persistent dilenunas Flexibility, sensitivity, and personaliza-a blurring of the distinctions between inherent in being a teacher. tion are needed to involve everyone fully.researchers, administrators, and teach- Users have different levels of technicalers. Participants have gradually taken experience. People with technical ex-on new roles. For example, some teach- perience and expertise are at least par-ers are becoming action researchers in 1.Chades L Thompson. "Knowledge. Power, Pro- fessionalism, and Human Agency,' in Carol Living- tially motivated by their interest in thetheir schools. ston and Shari Castle, eds., Teachers and Research technology. However, the majority of Eliminating barriers of time and in Action (Washington. D.C.: National Education teachers are nontechnical users who mustplace. The School Renewal Network Association. 1989), p. 93. be motivated by the nontechnical aspects 2. Lee Sproul? and Sara Kiesler, "Computers, Net- covers more than a hundred sites in ex- works, and Work," Scientific American, Septem- of networking, such as access to researchtremely diverse settings. Dialogue is con-ber 1991. pp. 116-23. and the sharing of experience. For net-tinuous and recorded. One can participate3. Ibid.. p. 116. work participation, we believe that neu-daily or weekly and still be a full part- 4. Maxine M. Benzes, Changing Schools: The trality toward technology is sufficient:ner. The time spent playing "telephone Magic Feather Principle (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974); and Seymour B. Samson. The Predicable I'm not afraid of the technology, but Itag" is significantly reduced. Failure of Educational Refer's* (San Francisco: don't have to love it I just have to use lossey-Bass. 1990). it." The fOcus should be on carrying on 5. Robert M. McClure. From Reform to Trans- a dialogue with peers, not on using tech- formatioe: Daises & Cersainnes: Newskner of the nology. ASUCCESSFUL change proc- NEA National Oyster for husownion, Washington, ess moves through teacher de- D.C., Novernba/December 1991, pp. 4-5. velopment to student empow- 6. Theodore Size.. 'Challenging the Regularities.* speech presented at the eternal meeting of the NEA POSITIVE OUTCOMES erment. Therefore, profession- Mastery in Laming Project, Minneapolis. 1987. al development that changes the local cul- 7. David C. Bearer, 'Readings in Educational Re- Our four-year experiment with theture is critical to the transformation ofsearch: A Series for Educators,' unpublished man- NEA School Renewal. Network has pro- schools. One highly successful tool for uscript; Lee S. Shulman, "Knowledge and Teach- duced several positive outcomes. ing: Foundations of the New Reform," Harvard such professional development is dialogic Increased teacher professionalism. If Educational Review, vol. 57. 1987, pp. 1-22; and research is to be applied in schools,networking. An enthusiastic network par- Douglas S. Fleming. 'The Literature on Teacher ticipant summarizes the powerful effects Utilization of Research: Implications for the School teachers must develop and trust in their of the School Renewal Network: Reform Movement," paper presented at the annual own voices. One teacher said she thought meeting of the American Educational Research As- she had nothing to say, only to become sociation, New Orleans, 1988. a major participant in a discussion of in- Network teachers ate onto something 8. Shari Castle. Beverly Johnson, and Carol Living- big something unique, in my ex- ston, 'Beyond Access: Use of R & D Resources terdisciplinary team-teaching. Teachers perience. They have learned and are in the NEA Mastery in Learning Project," paper on the School Renewal Network moved practicing the an and science of de- presented at the annual meeting of the American from isolation in classrooms to collegial- Educational Research Association, Boston, 1990: liberation, of consensus building, of 9. Joanne Schnesk and Gary Radcliffe, "Faculty De- ity with other networkers to collaboration discussion of ideas and concepts. They cision Making: Sources of information," in Living- on issues of substance. possess and are continuing to develop ston and Castle, pp. 90-96. Increased dialogue between research- the. power of a profession, power that 10. Shari Castle, Robert M. McClure, and Mark ers and practitioners. While practition- can be put to good use as they continue G. Gillingham. "Audience in Schad Renewal: Elec- tronic Networking in Schools. Across Schools, and ers developed their voices, researchers re- tollearn and to teach. They are putting intellectual, emotional, and physical Across Groups.' paper presented at the annual meet- fined theirs. A shared language beganto ing of the American Educational Research Associ- evolve. The resew -chers report learning energies into transforming schools into ation, Chicago, 1991. about the exciting places for adults and young 11. Shari Castle et al.. 'Linking Research and Prac- schools and, con- people. They are linking with good tice for Site-Based School Renewal; paper present- sequently, refranung research questions. people, good ideas, good activities, im- ed at the annual meeting of the American Educa- A synergistic knowledge base,greater portant controversies, perplexing is- tional Research Association, Boston, 1990. than the sum of its parts and valuableto sues. They are creating contexts for 12. Castle, McClure. and Gillingham. op. cit.; both groups, has been the result. Carol Livingston, 'Examining the Evidence: No- themselves and for their clients that tation and Reflection in Network Communication," Greater possibility of substantive overcome the constraints of business as paper presented at the annual meeting of the Ameri- change through the use of information. usual. can Educational Research Association, Chicago. The School Renewal Network isnot a re- The network schools are becoming 1991; and Virginia Heckel. 'Does Networking En- places in which everyone is expected courage the Sharing of Practical Wisdom?: paper source network, but a dialogic network. presented at the annual meeting of the American When information is adapted to grow and learn. And the learning, to fit the whether for children or youths or Educational Research Association, Chicago, 1991. user's school context and is internalized 13. Alvin Taller. The Third Wave (New York: adults, is not conventional. Teachers Morrow, 1980). through dialogue and reflection,school are learning from one another. They restructuring is much more likely 14. Castle a al., op. cit. to oc- are offering to share what they know IS. Livingston, op. cit.
87 MAY 1992 689 Reprinted with permission, from The Executive Educator March 1994. Copyright 1994, the National School Boards Association, all rights reserved. BLINDED BY SCIENCE
By Tom Snyder
Computer marketers have latched on to the progressive agenda of teaching andif we're not carefulhave the potential to devalue education
O MATTER WHAT WE DO, A HUGE INFUSION liberals like me get a little bit embarrassed when we of technology is coming to education. It think about some of the language of progressive educa- doesn't matter if it works or not, whether we tion. Progressive education has essentially failed us, and make mistakes or not. It's coming because that's hard for a liberal to say. so much money is behind it. And because Certainly, conservative education failed us at the end that infusion of technology is inevitable, it would be of the 19th century. Consequently, John Dewey came nice to start adding some new perspectives about tech- along and said we must have active learners, and we nology in the schools. must have less frontal teaching. But, by and large, the It's just possible our decisions about technology in progressive agenda has been pretty much of a disaster. schools are not being guided by the instincts of our Unfortunately, classroom computers came along in best teachers. In fact, it's hip sometimes to try to get rid the early '80s, just at the time when progressive educa- of that pesky teacherthat egomaniacal, full-frontal tors were scratching their heads and saying, "Is this re- teacher who stands up there and exploits everyone by ally working ?" Computer marketers have latched on to imposing the tyranny of his personal point of view on a the progressive agenda of teaching. Technology in whole class full of children. schools today exists on the last gasp of progressive ed- Right now, we run the nsk of being blinded by sci- ucation. ence. Without teachers dnving this whole technology What do I mean by the progressive era and teachers? revolution, were in trouble. And that's what I want to Well, a researcher named Allison Davis went around talk to you about. How we can make sure teachers' in- the United States and England and asked teachers to stincts are fully integrated into our decisions about identify the primary influences on how they think about technology in schools. teaching. A huge majority identified one manJean Pi- I think most educators have an image of themselves aget. as being progressive. Trouble is.I also think we're com- According to Davis. that's because in every school of ing to the end of a progressive era. I've sensed this for education, when you're studying to become a teacher, a while now, beginning when I mirrored in education you learn about Piaget. He's been phenomenally im- back in 1970, and then when I went on to graduate portant to the way we think about education in this school in the mid-70s, and then when I was teaching at country. He was from Switzerland. He was a quirky, the Harvard School of Education in the '80s and '90s. kindly, sweet, old fellow, who by the end of his career Believe it or not, I see a real trend away from the pro- had an incredible impact on all of us. gressive era. When Davis asked these teachers what Piaget's be- One of the problems With progressive education is liefs were, most teachers said something like this: "Oh, that it's not what everyone wants it to be. Even sloppy he's the guy who poured the water from one container to another." I've based my whole career on that. But Tom Snyder is chairman of Tom Snyder Productions in Water- other than pouring water back and forth, Piaget did town, Mass., which produces educational software, videotapes, something else that left an indelible mark. Some of the andCD-ROMmaterials. This article is adapted fromterminology remarks most essential to progressive education made at the National School Boards Association's Tth annual grew out of Piaget's work. Technology and Learning Conference in Dallas last October Take the term "active learners," for examplethat's
36 The Executive Educator/March 1904 88 straight our of Piaget the computerthe ul- and John Dewey. Kids timate Piagetian ma- should be active learn- chine. The computer ers. Theyshould slides that next manip- move. They should do ulauve experience in things. They should front the student just push buttons. They when the student is should explore on ready for it. And their own. (Hence the as term "discovery learn- soon as the child is developmentally ready ing.") They pop out of to do the next thing, the womb ready to in it comes, thanks to learnallby them- selves. 7.- a mouse or some Student-cen-. other interface device. tered learning, then, You can manipulate becomes important. blue cubes on top of OrconsiderPi- redcubeswithout aget's distrustif not moving the yellow disapprovalof the cube more than three role language plays in .:,paces. You can be teaching. Language, working hesaid,confuses indepen- things. If you ask chil- dently while the com- drento tell you what puter's tracking you they know, they might and setting out what not be able to tell you you should do next. in words. They could (With some so-called integratedlearning show their knowledge better, the reasoninggoes, using systems, you can log on at age 3 and log off at 18.) The manipulative materials. So language playsa lesserand computer always gives you just the right problemjust somewhat more suspectrole in learning. at the time you need it. Then take the idea that casks should be"develop- Which is pan of the problem. In mentally appropriate." or appropriate a funny way, the to the child's progressive education movement has devaluedteach- level of intellectual development. The classicactivity ing. And the computer, appropriating the from Piagetfamiliar to virtually all same lan- teachersinvolves guage and the same ideas, has the tendencyto do the pouring a certain amount of water froma narrow con- same thingif were not careful. tainer into a wider one. Of course, the level of the water is lower in the wider container than itwas in the narrow container. Then the teacher asks the child, 'Is A guide to the buzzwords this more water, less water,or the same amount of Let me give you some examples of the water?" Kids up to a certain agesomewhere ways in which between the progressive movement's key phraseshave become 5 and 6will say it's lesswater, even though they lust today s buzzwords for saw you pour all of the water from one computers in the classroom. container to me Such buzzwords sound fine, ofcourse, and normally ocher. To use P:aget's nomenclature, kidsat this age we are willing to go along with them and don't understand the idea of accept their conservation of volume. use. Computer vendors surf on this specious level all This is important not becaise the specific skill is im- the time: it's that easy. portant but because Piaget was showing that children Frontal teaching.Now that's a term I kid about, have certain developmental levels,and if you force but you hear it frequently them to go beyond these levels, at computer conferences: you are violating an "We've got to reinvent the school andget rid of that important pnncipie about how kids learn. You haveto frontal teaching." know how a child's mind worksthenyou have to We all know where the make sure you are giving manipulative term comes from, of experiences that coursefrom the traditionalautocratic teacher who are appropriate to that child's level ofdevelopment. would get up in front of the You can't teach beyond that level: classroom and lecture and you have to wait have no relationship with thestudents. The progressive until children reach theage at which they m capable of agenda opposed that kind of teaching. understanding the concepts you'retrying to teach. Then they're off. In fact. there's a myth abroad thatsays we should If Piaget were alive today, he would hate or distrust any kind of lecturingbecause it is auto- be thrilled with cratic and doesn't let children do theirown thing. Put
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another way, lecturing has become anathema (to some) where in the middle because I just felt likeit. And then because it isn't student-centered. But consider this: I started at the beginning. But my attentionspan was When John Scully came to Apple Computer in 1990, he too short, and I kind of jumped forward." wasn't a computer expert. He'd workedat Coca-Cola Or consider my experience preparingto teach a and had a marketing background. Suddenly, he hadto class on technology with a colleagueat Harvard. The learn about physics and electronics andnew forms of course wasn't coming togetherwe couldn't organize data and communicationthings you'd haveto take a what we were going to teachwhen anothercol- graduate course to learn. And he had to learn all this in league suggested, "Because thiscourse is about tech- about six months. nology, why don't you do your wholecourse in hyper- Shortly after Scully started at Apple, The Wall Street text" Journal asked him, 'How did you learnso much about The idea was compelling, becauseat that point we technology so quickly?" The interviewers asked that had 3,000 index cards all overmy kitchen floor listing question with sort of a knowing grin, expecting that the all the points we wanted to make. My colleaguekept answer would be something about hypermedia, which saying to me, "We have to figure out what we're going we hear so much about today and which was already to sayand how we're going to present it." Nowa doable on Apple and IBM computers. wave of relief and laziness passed over us: With hyper- But Scully didn't use hypermedia, with its high-tech text, we could take those 3,000 index cards, hook them ability to jump around from film to photographsto up in hypertext, and let the students navigate through books. Instead. he rented videotapes froma service that all these points of view at will. So offered great lectures from the we started doing just great lecturers in the thatonly to realize we had totally abdicatedour re- world. Scully sat down at home and watchedthese sponsibility. We had to sit down and figureout what videotaped lectures because he had to learn fast and he we were trying to say in the course. Itwas hard work, had to learn well and he wantedto be inspired. And but we had to do it. one of the things about great lecturers is that they love Sometimes when I look at hypertextreports students their subjects. They insist on communicating theirideas have put together, I see something similar:a complete because their subjects are of passionateinterest to lack of commitment on the child's them. partor on the teacher's pai to say something,to make a commit- Apple's developer conferencesat whichpartici- ment to an ugly, linear point of view. pants have to learn a lot of technical things aboutnew But linear thinking isn't boringany marketing opportunities quicklywork the more than a same way. Shakespeare play or a Beethoven symphonyis boring. Appie does use computersat these sessions. But the Linear thinking can have all kinds of computer is used as a demonstration tool for contusions and a lecturer paths in it. Linear thinking is somethingwe should who loves the topic. Everyone elsesits by taking notes. value. and no one feels devalued or abused.Except for when Computer equity. That's a term people talked the company is teaching its developers aboutCD ROM about a lot in the 1980s. Whatare we going to do updates. Apple never uses a bit ofinteractive technol- about the fact that rich white kids ogy in its corporate classrooms. are going to own all the technology and are goingto have an advantage, es- Linear thinking. That s anotherterm taken from pecially in schools? Piaget. In the computer world. -linear" implies not But that's not what's happening. Instead,poor black branching, which is not entirely desirablebecause com- kids are getting the largest puters can be highly nonlinear in the way they work. amount of time-on-task on At a branch in a computer circuit. for example. computers. That's because big Chapter 1programs in you can desperate inner-city schools have broughtin integrated make one choice to go one way andanother choice to learning systems to solve their problems. go anotherthat's what the computer does well. Twenty years from now, whenan employer inter- Branching is at the heart of hypertext.In hypertext. views an applicant from an inner-city school, that you create your own path through a book. Instead em- of ployer's going to say, 'Oh,you were taught on the starting at the beginning and workingyour way me- computer," and maybe hire that student for thodically through to the end. a job on you create your own the production line. But if that employeris talking to a knowledge and your own understandingbased on the kid who grew up in the suburbs, way you learn and what you need and what he's going to say, you think. "Oh. you were taught bya teacher," and hire that stu- Hypertext, the book of the future,is totally interactive dent for a management position. in this way. It is almost a kind of reverse equity. We have decided to solve the problem After reading a bookon hypertext from a prominent of bad teachersor author, not enough teacherswith com- I wrote the man a letter andsaid, "Dear puters. (ignore his name). I've read your book. Very But the solution to bad teachersis not computers; it's confused. Don't understandany of it. Of course, I did good teachers. And the solution start on the last page. And then I read to not enough teachers a page some- is got computers: it'smore teachers. It's that simple, 38The Executive EducatortMarce 1994 !-J I to t III II I li t o " 0 I
Talk about talk talk: talk about the social nature of learning, talk about narrative and context, talk about all those things that Back in 1980, I had my first TRS-80 computer (with all graduate schools of education are finally beginning to of 4K memory), which I used in class not for instruction take seriously with the work of people such as Howard but to help me keep things straight. We were doing Gardner and Jerome Bruner. It's no longer a question of group activities in that classold-fashioned paper-and- a couple mystics out there talking about this. Today, pencil simulations of kids running .factories or doing we're beginning to pay more attention to the science of archeological digs or searching for oil or sailing across language and the science of the social side of teaching. the oceanand I started using the computer as a secre- Let me give an example that debunks the old Piage- tary. tian world. Piaget's experiment with pouring water It was great. I had a paperless desk. and I did all my from one container to another is one of those classic writing on the computerreports home to parents. cur- metaphors that helps keep the progressive movement riculum ideas. and the like. It was like having a alive. But most of us are a bit suspicious when we hear teacher's aide to whom I could say, "Take a letter," or about that experiment. We think. that's something my `Get me that report on Timmy right now." 3-year-old would understand. But if you check the data, One day, we had an important visitor who had come you'll find that yes, this same experiment has been to observe my class and sat in the back of the room. done over and over in very controlled circumstances We were doing a simulation that was going extremely and using very controlled language to make sure no well, I thought, with groups of kids each running their false variables sneak in. own factory. The computer was keeping track of how But then a researcher did what's called the "cracked many energy units they had and how much money beaker experiment." It was a stroke of genius. Trained they had and what technology they were using. As the as a classic Piagetian. this woman knew how to do the reacher. I was enormously proud, because the kids original experiment. and she knew that. out of 100 6- were talking with each other about kilocalories and year -olds, only 10 percent understand the principle British thermal units and so on. What's more, when the conservation of volume. But her experiment is differe period ended, they were actually talking to each other She tells the children. "I'm going to do a little experi- about the problem and planning what they were going ment with this beaker that's got some water in it." And to do and how they were going to call each other that while she's describing this fun thing they're goingto do night. and swirling the water around in the beaker, shesays, In short. the computer had helped me create a dv- "Oh my. look at that. The beaker's cracked. I don't namic experience I couldn't have created on my own. think this experiment is going to work with a cracked The activity was too time-consuming, and paper and beaker. Let me get another one." So she gets a second pencil couldn t handle it. beaker, one that's wider than the firstone, and she But the man in the back of the roomyes. hewas pours the water from the cracked beaker into the wider from Harvardhad read one issue of CreativeCOMptti- one. And of course, the water rises to a different level. ing and all of Seymour Papert s book. Minctsiorrns. And "It's not going to work. because now there's a differ- at the end of the class. he came up and told me the ent amount of water." she says. And most of the 6-year- class was a disaster. (As John Holt. the education olds say, -No. it's the same amount of water." philosopher. said. every teacher lives inconstant fear Then this researcher and her graduate studentsran that the administration will find out what's reallygoing another experiment that I find delightful. They thought. on in your classroom.) I felt terrible. And when I asked "Maybe our findings had something to do with cracks." him why he thought the class wasa disaster. he said. So instead. they designed the -naughn: puppet experi- -Because you re pushing all the buttons and the kids ment." It's basically the same. but instead of the crack, wren t pushing any." At mat moment I realized: He must there's a naughty puppet who says. "No, you can'tuse have read Mindsrorms. because Seymour Paper( always that beaker. I hate that beaker. You've gotto use my fa- said we must put computer power into the kids. hands. vorite one." And the results are the same. get the kids pushing the buttons. What Piaget's original experiment did is systemati- The defensive part of me wanted to shake him and cally remove language and context to make theexperi- say, "Didn r you see what was happening in that class? ment fair and scientific. It was very fair, very scientific, We had some serious learning. Therewas social inter- but it was drained of story, context. narrativethe action between the kids. Languagewas being ex- human component. The kidswere trying to outsm changed." But for him, the moreimportant thing was that experiment. When the Piagetian that the kids e:cpertmentet eren t pushing the buttons. That is not asked if the amount of waterwas the same in both con- going to be a useful guideline for us as we make deci- tainers, the kids were thinking, "Gee. that'sa stupid sions over the next decade about technology in question. Maybe they want me to say it'sa different schools. amount of water." What's missing in such an approach is talk about IContext, it turns out. is not sucha small factor. The) TRV".N.C. ik,4, 1. 4 Oa 4la Complaining about computers is aboutas smart today as complaining- about the printingpress would hare been in the 1500s
Jerome Bruner, the man who has turned me around that cost a thousand bucks each for 50years so they more than anyone else, goes so far as to theorize that can do experiments that require interpretation and data. parts of our brain are hard-wired to make sense of the But computers are a vital tool in science and engineer- world through narrative. Indeed, hegoes so far as to ing as well, and every kid in every sciencecourse say that humankind probably wouldn't have survived ought to have access to them. It's not that expensiveto when the world started getting complicated fiveor six put computers in school science labs. We've been mak- thousand years ago if we didn't have the abilityto ing that kind of expenditure for years, and we know make sense of the world through narrativestructures. how to do it. It fits in the infrastructure of schools. Anyone who works with children recognizes that. Finally, and most controversially, we have to puta With children, ; ou explain a list of stuff, and they only computer on every teachers desk. I said that once in remember some of it. But read them astory about a Tennessee to a group of administrators, and a guycame monster with red socks and then read it again later and up to me afterwards and said, "We don't talk like that change the color of the socks, and the children willcor- around here." But putting a computeron every rect you. This narrative sense is an ignored part of what teacher's desk is essential. because we haveto find out makes us great and human and smart; strippingour how technology is going to work in schools. And the world of its social context and itsstory context is a fun- way we're going to find out is through the teachers. damental mistake. If you simply take an innovation and plunk it down At times, though, the world of hypertext seems al- in an institutionbe it a hospital, a government,or a most antinarrative. You click on Martin Luther King, and schoolthe innovation won't take hold. Instead,you you hear the beginning of a speech that can make you have to go in like an anthropologistor a sociologist and cry because it's so beautiful. Then the speech ends. and understand how the institution really works. Andwe you're back at the menu. And yousay, "Wait a have done precious little of that in education. The minutedon't stop me in the middle of nowhere. What RAND Corp. did a study in 1978 trying to figureout why about Selma? Fit this in for me. I'm onlya kid (or only some teaching machineslike language labsthat an adult). I need context." were tested in Texas back in the '60s were no longer The computer is threatening to be likeMTV with no used. Test scores rose every place these deviceswere beginning, middle, or end. All the simple logicis break- used. They were cost-effective,too, and administrators ing down. loved them. But they disappeared. Why? A no-brainer, said RAND, whichgave two rea- A must-do list sons. First, any time you inject an innovation intoa school without taking into account the complexsocial Complaining about computers is aboutas smart today nature and workings of the institution, that innovation as complaining about the printing press would have will fail. Period. Every time. been in the 1500s. It's not useful. Computersare an ab- And second, whenever you solutely enormous revolution. How do try to introduce a new we make that technologylike a stirrup or a plowintoan existing revolution work for us? I'd liketo suggest a list of three absolute musts. institution, you'll fail unless that technology directly benefits one or more adults whoare central to the insti- I'm not being facetious or speakingmetaphorically. tution. It's not enough to improve people I: would be great to give or make them every child a laptop word- more efficient. They ye got to like the new technology processor.- But that's not going to happen: we simply better than what they had before; it'sgot to feel better don t have enough money. Lets say we ve earmarked a to them in some way. couple of billion dollars for technology.thougn. Here s We skipped that point when what I would do with it: we first started intro- ducing computers into schools. We might thinkwe've First. every single disabled child in thecountry done that. but we haven't. We keep thinking, would have full-time access to "Yes, a computer at school. A were making cools for teachers." Butwe don't really computer can be arms, legs. mouth. ears.or eyes to a make tools for teachers: in fact, we've disabled child. It figured out a is the most heartbreaking.moving, way to keep the teacher pretty much out of the loop. and magical thing to see whata microprocessor with an We can get technology to fit interface can do for a child who's in schools, of course. otherwise totally But we have to think aboutputting people's magical or physically or emotionally disenfranchised.We have spiritual or personal instincts enough computers right into play so the technol- now to give one to every dis- ogy will have a place there. To do that,you have to get abled student in our schools and letall these students feel great about themselves. the technology into the hands ofyour teachers, and It's almost embarrassing you have to say, "Here. It's yours. Youcan use it to that we haven't done so already. write letters to your old boyfriends if Nexton a somewhat more mundane you want. It's levelI'd yours. We are trusting you just the waywe trust middle argue that we should use computersas tools. Science managers and executives and every other workingper- labs have been buying microscopesand lab balances2son in this country with the technology." 40The ":XeC'jtiVe F.Sit:'.*.a..""Marrl +00d . Reprinted from Electronic Learning, January 1993. Reproduced by permission of Scholastic Inc. COVER- STORY I E
PUTTING TECHNOLOGY TO THE TEST
BY ISABELLE BRUDER
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING BEST measures what a student has learned? a.) standardized or multiple choice tests b.)portfoliasofthe student's bestwork c.)performance -based assessments d.) all of the abotv If you picked d.) all of the above. you're among a growing number of educatorswhorecognize that as school reforms change cmnculum and instruc- tion, how we assess teaching and learning must change as well. For decades, schools and communi- ties in this country have relied upon standardized tests to measure how effi- ciently a teacher teaches or how ade- quately a student learns, usually with- out considering whether or not the stu- dent could apply what was learned beyond taking the test. In fact, even though individual teachers for years have evaluated students using a variety of methods, formal assessment has barely changed. Until now. Today many people agree with alternative assessment expert Grant Wiggins who says.the proof of a person's capacity is found in their ability to perform or produce, not in their ability to answer on cue." In changing from an industrial to an Information Age nation, we have moved from placing disproportionate
4 At Brooklyn (N.Y.) Technical High School, videotapes of science project presentations 9 3 give teachers a closer look at how students explain their knowledge to others BEST COPY AVAILABLE
PHOTO ANDREW tiViNE value on rote memorization of decon- is that you want to know if people textualized facts to highly valuing thecan use their knowledge intelligently. ability to solve complex problemsTo find that out you have to get them through critical thinking and commu- to produce or perform with it." nications skills. Arnold Packer of Johns HopkinsPerformance-Based Assessment University directed the U.S. Labor In fact, performance-based assess- Secretary's Commission on Achievingment, in conjunction with existing Necessary Skills (SCANS), whichtesting methods, is becoming increas- issued a report that calls for studentsingly popular strategy for evaluating to be able to perform a number ofstudent learning. In the assessment. a -workplace skills" and to -solve life'sstudent performs a task that requires problems." He sees little connectionin-depth understanding of a skill and between traditional standardized testsis evaluated by how effectively he or and real life skills. she communicates that understanding "Tests were driving schools to teach to others. (For a glossary of assess-. to the answers of multiple choicement terms, see box this page.) questions," says Packer. -The world is Educators are exploring how tech- more complicated than that:it nology can be used in evaluating stu- requires a different kind of thinking.dent performances. There are a num- The problems the world will serve upber of ideas on the table. Wiggins to you don't look at all like the prob-describes what he envisions as an lems on a multiple choice test." example of low technology" for per- formance assessments: a teacher using Technology's Potential a bar code reader on a scoring sheet, The problems the world will servewalking around the classroom coding up to our students will also most like-in assessments of student work as it ly involve technology. So it would fol- occurs. "It's a natural," he says. low that technology could play a In fact, this technology isn't itiSt an major role in alternative assessmentsitem on Wiggins' wish list:It already in schools. However, exactly whatexists. It's called Learner Profile Tbe technology can do for assessments is Observational Assessment Tool. not vet clear. Released in December by Wings for There are a number of immediateLearning/Sunburst, of Scotts Valley, and existing applications for technolo- Calif., the Mac-based system costs less gy in assessmentsuch as computer-than 51.000 and includes software. adaptive tests like those given by bar code reader, 16K credit card-sized Educational Testing Services. scanning device, and a disk- drivelike Pnnceton. Ni. So far these are basical-computer attachment in which teach- ly the same tests adrturastered by pen- ers download the scanner data. cd and paper put into a new comput- Teachers walk around their class- er wrapping. The difference is that the rooms and scan bar codes that relate computer-based test responds to theto their observations of the students individuals learning speed and style.work. such as -mastered"or -develop- mo% mg on to more or less difficult ing" for a given skillTeachers can Questions as indicated by the student s customize bar codes to reflect the previous responses. learning obiectives they have planned But the skills tested remain the for a lesson. Once they've download- sam e And as Marc Tucker. co-director ed student data, the program's rela- of me New Standards Protect whichtional data base lets teachers create a calls for national education standards variety of reports that do everything and assessments, recently cautioned:from listing the names of all students "We don't need to createa morewho have not yet mastereda particu- sophisticated way of measuring thelar skill to viewing group datausing current levels of failure." graphs and charts. Technology can certainlyminimize Marge Capp°, president of \X'ings the labor-intensive tasks associatedfor Learning, says that "a lot of the with assessment (namely. paperwork). ways we assess are ways that are easy says Grant Wiggins. but the process to test. Technology can bring in more still requires human judgment. The sophisticated assessments of skills and jargon aside." he says. "what matters (Continued on page 26)
BEST COPY AVAILABLE 94 JA Jan Hawkins: "This culture is wedded to numbersas a gauge of how we do. It's such an emotionally charged indicator. We all remember our SAT scores.'
practical portfolio." Most simulationsissues of Equity enable teachers to see afinal product, One of the big advantages ofusing and do not provide a detailed record ofvideo in assessments is that the tech- the student's decision-making process nology is readily available to most along the way. Giving teachers thatschools. That access. saysDennie kind of information would be clearlyPalmer Wolf, is a critical issue in ensur- valuable in a performance-baseding equity in assessment. Wolf is the assessment environment executive directorof PACE (Perform.- One of the most obvious technolo- ance Assessment Collaboratives for gies for performance-based assessment Education), a Harvard program that's is video. For example, at Brooklynsetting up portfolio-based protects at Technical High School in New York rruddle schools in six cities. City, science students work in groups Designers of alternative assessment to design a product, then give 10-strategies and products, she says, minute presentations about the productshould use technologies that are readily design to an audience of their peers, available to schools. like slide projec- other teachers. and outside observers, tors and VCRs."If werequire laserdiscs many of them experts in various sci- or CD-ROM," she points out, -we'll end ence-related fields. So when a groupup hitting only privileged kids." presents their design of a car wash, In fact, equity was one of the prima- they have to explain to a physicist in ry goals of setting up standardized tests (Continued from page 23) the audience why they decided to use in the first place,as Jan Hawkins points make it easier to do. Most of our a pulley system instead of gears. out. -It's really important not to trash assessments up to this point concen- Videotaping plays two distinct roles themultiplechoice test.It had a very trate onlyon [finished]product this lets in the evaluation process. First, thedemocratic goal: It allowed students you look more at the process." teacher videotapes a series of inter-from different places to compete in the Many people point to computer sirn- views with students while they aresame way. It was trying to make equity ulauons--where students are thrust into planning and creaung their product to possible," she says. real world kinds of environmentsas allow evaluators a closer lookat how CCT has been working with science another way to assess how students the kids are explaining their knowledge and math classes in New York City to apply their knowledge. Simulationsto other people," says Hawkinswho, find out where 'technology can make have some [assessment] value,- reports with CCT, has been working with thecontributions to assessment. "One of Jan Hawkins. director of the Center forBrooklyn program. Then, the presenta- the things that always comes up in our Children and Technology (CCT)at uon is taped to provide a record of theteachers' groups," says Hawkins, "is Bank Street College in New York City. performance and serve later on as athey don't want Ito assess) just final But its not clear vet to anybody what basis for evaluation for the teacher andproduct, because its not fair to com- the key parts of the process are for a a self-assessment tool for the students. pare our (city] kids to wealthy kids in . r-75. .rarry,--1 "1:: t7-77:7Z;77ct- ;nr.777. ThiRoles of DifferentMedia in Alt,iitnieit
it's next to impotstille, not to mention extremely costly, to objectively. torneosure diflivfmt skills: Each mecGu.m.. hale (excerpted from CIEs score everything a student doei That's why the Center for radiology in7.kchRixf tefv-stf 112) tan be iisiiiii:44:41fewirobikies.`officid4, Education at Bank Street College, NI, suggests institutinga testing syk...an overall assessment strategy To'Orderfietetiort, contact the-Bonk remthat measures rorve.of student °Wes wing :1-11:-112P1:4;#21:11-1212L6,4*-16.--iii54-14.111.1. r. deo -?..:;611.IJAA-,- mid le strength of the convuter s Rs toodt..4.1r Ote.fe04,09003 -4; f4re,, -e :.:3haproces of rand Itialiii iitii.' ..iioikiiirictietotlbii . A..sitl3ents -4\4%st. : t`.. pa wfth students, ills Pi fir . . ,.- fecal, --,i4.t.,,w ,y...- ' .; '-`',"':: ..- " .:...10tapinto aspects otStUtients".0 ' li-.,.. answer: I 11. I Other media cannot.CcinputeG an nic(d;.:,:ni:. "ilidelittini rigIVi: ::how students leorn.witifeedboi-10-}et-' licTvi snit:lents, how-- Wet Stud pint . student's abilities to deal with reoishc sriuo._. hoili.studeritiicitout tasks ontriedirrn - - 4" -aXpergnent0.1..:.r...... 1....2.:2, fiortsa problerrs.... . ir . -. - perfoimances1, 4. 1.4'0 r BEST COPYAVAILABLE," 26ELECTRONIC LEARNING JANUARY 1003 114010 tl ANDREW LEVINE Dennie Palmer Wolf: Technologies used in assessment should already be in 10. ..schools. if~^ we require CD-ROMs, ...... we'll end up only hitting the rich kids.' suburban schools." displays rather than how he or she dis- But. the fact that technology can helpplays it is a -complicated issue. and the students create different kinds of prod- presence of technology in assessment ucts that reflect different kinds of abili-is going to push it to the front," Wolf ties holds -enormous promise for equi-says. Districts might need -to start orga- tably promoting" a student's display ofnizing technology S.W.A.T. teams or knowledge, says Wolf. start rotating teachers who can go Frank Betts, who directs technology around and help each other learn how projects for the Association forto use the technologies." Supervision and Curriculum Develop- ment (ASCD), agrees. He says that onePortfolios of the distinct purposes of assessment Peri aps one of the earliest and most is to encourage the myriad talents kidsobvious uses of technology for assess- possess. Few children," he adds, -veryments has been with writing portfolios. few human beings, in fact, do a2; things In fact, portfolio-based projects have well. So finding the talent and lettingcome to represent alternative assess- kids express it and feel good aboutment in many schools. Many of those themselves" is an important componentschools, however, do not manage the of assessment. And it's one that tech- portfolios with technology, and tech- nology can address. nology can ease the physical burden of For instance, rather than being limit- storing massive amounts of informa-computer-generated, video, or audio." ed to pencil and paper presentations, tion. says Dennie Palmer Wolf. Bowan says the imaging system will students can use multimedia tools to National Computer Systems (NCS), also be used in national programs, such create an entire presentation that the largest provider of standardized testas NAEP tests, to help store everything exhibits their understanding of thescoring hardware and forms for K-12.from written essays to traditional bub- topic in a number of ways. But, Wolfsees a role for new technologies in ble test answers. points out. since the students are gen-portfolio management. We are adding In addition to storing portfolios. t erally much more adept at technologyelectronic imaging to our instructional nology can also help in transfer . manipulation than teachers, the teach-management system," says NCS vicematerials from one school to another. ers might be impressed more by thepresident of education. Robert Bowan. I don't think we can start to make technological display than by the stu- -Teachers can use it to build portfolios decisions about kids' lives based on dent's knowledge. by capturing student work in whateverportfolios unless we have stable and ,Measuring the knowledge a studentformat it's producedhandwritten,transportable storage of those portfo- 992 National - *,':.:g.'..4effellifirriteigiiisloo 2 'ado.ew a the tecen (41:22`k' :-.,t4.11.--,,;; .:.. agog is Altrikai iskisg. de Right Cleeilfass;Oftte - Frail Galeitiper to Gateway': T ,Testieg Astences. Technology Asseisminf, U.S..Pkwars. Two caritioctu(reportitara.fet.tiPri...flakidCoilrisko at Testrg ad flik Pc4.1'surray thipciforg- projedare directly relatertia technology and assessment. They we -Coinixtie:. Crteitig restructakrtannamiaacia, ciiititivi says testing rectiorkstexid in Educational Assessmentla Oppaturity to Restructure Edaaroriel Proclicifti-f beodecter: flan orreelare on chili tests tooted citonans kars alter; from the Institute for Computer Uses in' Education; and .*Applications .meat. (mad rne tlalited Ceronission cei Testirired ?sic Loky, A1/46aii SA:. E d u c c r t i o f r a l A s s e s i n i e d F ut u r e T e c l u i l o g i a " f r o n s the Centg-for O W : m i n d B a s t a k C e l e g e,Chao ge,02161 ($6):'':15V-;.:*!:;'.";fri:':'74$7,102,5.- Technology, Bank-Striittolegi jefonnkeiCla 4g' Notional Technical hif oirnation (103) 481-4650,.The:iiipleta!4oarin9 for irgisPiiferii to Secilafs ; leper t; Testing ricariS 001j va i lab! Or !tic-array U.S:Drit. of. leliiiinkFreplit: kikrderif 1irpetintendenrei ti.Ockintiir.011ak-3119StlfttsbaniVit315150:1yesitiasion . ($14)::' sack cosariac kriesi Oleic-Oa frig*not fdrii05) The Influence oftestlajito Math SaucetiaZolcainiiis;?.0..Bni ritsbitliA152SPBC.7.:.-.2''0 4-IZ Sdente fainriefiri for fti %kik Tea EviliatiOri, and Ethiokaol PolirysThis reioiriOniudis;*portfar baiVslartiValiing fkiii;iicoi* dairtzed.'and feitbilk testi itnpitoiii'red led*reinfoire Testing. De 'Card . and Ithowleciiisiiiiehtsclaisiairaiiii0i'high. rainorifj vat i Irk; rairldreijihnici 1.166 Tip pit' litertS4akadera, SO/6MP, 323 Co* tfoll,loston Coke, Chestnut111, MA 02161.; Offa; Waslive, DC 10402-932S.. " . 4 . . PHOTO BY BOB ADLER 96 JANUARY 1993 ILiiC7RONIK WANING 27 BEST COPYAVAILAR>t 7
Arnold Packer: "The problems the world serves up don't look like the prob- lems on a multiple choice test. We need assessment for a thinking curriculum." Professional Development ,:onneaicut are involved in develop - Changing educators' views big. administering, and scoring assess- of assessment, and helpingments. -You have to engage teachers them use assessment to pro- every step of the way." Baron says. mote learning, is essentially a professional developmentNational Attention issue." says Jay McTighe of The alternative assessment move- the Maryland Assessment ment has gained momentum in recent Consortium. years. and Arnold Packer believes this In Maryland. a statewide is in part because education recognizes technology-based staff devel- that teachers. students. and communi- opment project, combinedties only pay attention to what is with state changes in testing, assessed and recorded. "got everyone's attention" -But the assessment Ishouldl become says McTighe. Much of that part of the process." Packer says. "In attention was focused on the any natural learning, feedback is con- inevitable crossover from staff stantwhether sailing, playing the vio- lios," Wolf says. The reality is that development to assessment. lin, or using softwareif you make a kids are moving around with. their par- The project includes a multimedia mistake you find out about it quickly. ents." data base that offers to teachersIt's assessment for a thinking curricu- In the Littleton, Colo., Public Schoolsresearch on teaching and learning, lum, and in the last few years it's got- there is a distnctwide move to perfor-organized by subject area, levels, and ten more and more attention." mance-based assessment, and technol- specific techniques, such as coopera- National attention notwithstanding, ogy -plays a huge role in keepingtive learning. The framework is also alternative assessment is not guaran- track of portfolio data," according to linked to METNET, a statewide online teed a place in schools. Jan Hawkins Elliot Asp, the district's curriculum andsystem with room for teacher discus- reminds us that "this culture is wedded assessment specialist. The assessmentsions. e-mail, and announcements. to numbers as a gauge of how we do. includes video portfolio protects in Although this framework is technolo- It's such an emotionally charged indi- areas such as public speaking. Thesegy-basedforstaff development. cator; we all remember our SAT scores. video portfolios not only assess stu-McTighe points to plans -down the But what does it mean?" dent progress, but show the communi-road" to include performance assess- Using new methods to assess student ty what the school is accomplishing. At the O'Farrell Community School s,1741-M;717413, 1/Mic'13-/MR. in San Diego. Calif., an innovative1C. Ihifiluitadtpai,Jestrrig restructuring effort includes creating an thanativeassessmatiailieslileo M umiff cheap: The. electronic folder for each student in giOfficei Iiiikigierhai.fistikt1990.91 cost"2:1 the school Throughout the year. the 4**itig :sifriiiaBirititariiii portfolio amasses a diverse picture of (gismo rem fifliktrp- bokntifoldaiiltvetiesikid.:' the student s progress. 7444461torcitili Toiga USArgailitec Wisitairie; TitRSCq, CAIOSOVt P4IPV- 1:t4e1:4-: For example. Jeanette Barrozo. an m f a m i l m s paid ffS, b41 61.4111t (401).,24-1317AS eighth grader. has in her electronic sz-Itiiiriksistiii *hi "iciaNaiti hying reu.irik portfolio: a HyperCard stack called -PresentingflyLife";another ment tasks on the data base that teach- learning -means destabilizing that con- Flyer Card stack featuring a problem- ers can use. Videotaped examples ofnection of how we know what we solvtng simulation about money: a log teachers using performance assessment know," she says. "We're asking people of her Oregon Trail tourney; four sepa- might also be included. to disconnect from a deeply held belief rate documents investigating essential In Connecticut, where performance- about what's an adequate indicator." questions in the thematic units she'sbased assessments have been used for In addition, integrating technology studying; and a poster she createda decade. -you cant avoid the teacherinto alternative assessment, says about keeping the school clean. redevelopment issue.- says JoanHawkins, will require "a major rethink "We wanted students to see the ease Bovkoff Baron, coordinator of the all over schools about what assessment of using electronic media to keep trackstate s common core of learning assess-is and what it should do in relation to of their work." says O'Farrell teacherment program. Baron emphasizes that instruction." But it's important that edu- George Munoz. -Last year. we took a"if you don't change how teachers are cators start rethinking. "The big picture year s worth of work. put itintoteaching, it won't work to change the is that technology can make some pret- ltpe RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP111 THEELECTRONIC COMMUNITY duration and computers... one of the most By Sally Webster and static institutions and one that represents a dynamic technology. The former is steeped Frank W. Connolly in tradition and slow to accept change. The latter is so fluid as to have few standards, much less traditions. As computers perme- ate more areas of our life, including educa- tion, some proclaim that education will be radically changed. The environment of a classroom is dy- SOME OF THE namic; it changes as technology brings new tools and techniques to teaching and learn- FUNDAMENTAL VALUES ing. But the basic values on which education is based must remain constant, Some peripheral values may change OF EDUCATION ARE AT RISK AS becaiise our requirements or needs change. For example, working independently has, over time, become entrenched WE INTEGRATE COMPUTERS in our educational system. Today, collaboration andgroup activity are more important in research, manufacturing, and INTO OUR SCHOOLS services. Computers and networks facilitate such collabo- rative activities, nurturing a change in values that is already AND COLLEGES under way. Some of the fundamental values of educationare at risk as we integrate computers into our schools and colleges. in drafting the Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Electronic Learners, we have tried to identify those values andensure that they not get lost. The values to be protected include: equality of access to resources active, responsible citizenship control over personal information EDUCOM 11111eW 98 freedom of speech do no less with information stored incomputers. respect for the work of others Providing equal access does not mean giving everybody responsibility to conserve and protect limited re- the same equipment, software, or time. Althoughwe try to sources ensure equal access to information resources for students and facplty within individual institutions, we recognize that institutions have unique missions and financial constraints. EQUALITY OF ACCESS Institutions already allocate their other resources (e.g., Within schools and colleges, all students and teachers library materials, laboratory equipment) accordingto their ideally have full access to resources that enhance teaching missions and finances. Institutions have the right1to allocate and learning. School districts and institutionsare already access to information resources, so long as the allocation committed to giving students and faculty open and equal scheme recognizes the right of individual access in the access to institutional libraries. As more information is held same way as other allocation schemes do (cf. Article III, in electronic form on fileservers on or off the campus, Sec. 3). students and faculty need the same kind ofaccess to it as to information committed to paper, film, and tape (cf. Article I, Sec. 1). ACTIVE, RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP We teach students to read and then how touse a library. Teaching good citizenship is a common objectiveat all If we had not learned to use libraries, there would be little levels of education. Not only do we talk about it, but als demand on them. In the same way, we must teach students we model the appropriate behavior and expect students t, to use information held in computers. Enabling access behave in similar ways. We expect members ofa commu- requires training learners, not just installing hardware (cf. nity to recognize the role they playat times contributing Anicle I, Sec. 2). to the common good. at times drawing on the contributions Equal access to resources applies not only to individuals of others, at times working to advance thecommunity by but also to entire. school districts, individual schools, enforcing norms, and at times sharing information with the and colleges. Technology can help educationto lessen community. Citizens of electronic communitiesmust be inequalities by giving both individuals and institutions informed and active as well. with limited finances access to anduse of resources Whereas institutions are responsible for providing equal without having to replicate them. We share limited access and training, individuals in the electroniccommu- resources through interlibrary loan programs; we should nity are personally responsible for actively makinguse of MAY/IUNE 1993 99 Educational institutions collect and retain many kinds of By their nature, information about their students and employees. With the right to collect and archive such information (cf. Article III, informationresources invite Sec. 1) comes the responsibility to appropriately control its disseminatic n. As institutional members of the electronic active participation and a community, they must put into place the policies and procedures that protect information stored electronically commitment to learn (cf. Article IV, Secs. 2 & 3) and ensure that individual privacy of and control over personal information are a and explore. practical reality. Institutions must also secure personal information by instituting security measures that protect the information they have collected. both access and training to further their own educational objectives (cf. Article II, Sec. 1). By their nature, information FREEDOM OF SPEECH resources invite active participation and a commitment to Academic freedom is a long-standing tradition in educa- learn and explore. Information resources foster active, tion, based in part on the guarantee of free speech in the lifelong learning, especially as information resources be- U.S. Bill of Rights. Insofar as free speech is protected at any come available to all citizens. institution in the electronic community, these guarantees should extend to expression using an electronic medium (cf. Article I, Sec. 4). We should not discriminate between CONTROL OVER PERSONAL INFORMATION regular communication and the new forms in the electronic In modem society, much information is collected about community simply because the medium of exchange is each of us: SAT scores, income levels, race, grades, different. subscriptions, library records. Society recognizes that indi- As with all rights, the right to free speech is not absolute. viduals should be informed about personal information Freedom of speech in any. medium does not imply the right held by an institution and should have at least some control to slander or harass other members of the community. The over the ways the information is disseminated. These rights introduction of computers changes only the medium. Com- are embodied in the Privacy Act of 1977 and the Buckley puters may spread inappropriate messages more rapidly or Amendment limiting access to students' records, among. widely, but the fundamental principles and guidelines for others. Extending that kind of control over personal institutional action ought to be the same as for abusive informs Lion stored in computers is easy to understand, messages delivered in traditional ways. Citizens, should because the only difference is in the medium used to store respect the privacy of others, respect diversity, and gener- it (cf. Article I, Sec. 2). ally behave ethically toward others (cf. Article II, Sec. 4). We shouldnot discriminate between regular communication and thenew forms in the electronic community simply because the medium of exchangeis different. RESPECT FOR WORK OF OTHERS RESPONSIBILITY TO CONSERVE AND PROTECTRESOURCES Intellectual property committedto electronic media is When many people must share protected in the same ways as other intellectual scarce or expensive re- property is sources, there is value in using them responsibly,in protected. Citizens of the electroniccommunity whose conserving them. In times of limited budgets, intellectual works are committed more re- to or stored on file sources become sharedprojectors, laboratory equip- servers, in electronic mail messages, or on bulletin boards ment, demonstration materials.. have the same ownership rights . and information re- to those works as if they sources (cf. Article II, Sec. 5). Responsible sharing of had been committed to the traditional scarce media (cf. Article I, resources requires us to put limits on the Sec. 5). By law, a work is protected amount of time by copyright as soon they can be used. In thesame way, members of the as it is committed to a medium, includingan electronic one. electronic community of learners It isn't enough to agree in principle must recognize their that creators of responsibility to the community andnot squander precious intellectual property have ownershiprights to it. Users of disk space, central processing unit cycles,or other informa- electronic intellectual worksmust actively honor that right tion resources. by giving credit to thecreators when credit is due (cf. Article II, Sec. 2). When a work is in the formof books and articles, we have no trouble understanding plagiarism.We enforce THE BILL AS A GUIDELINE the letter and spirit of copyright by punishing those who Computers will continue to change theway we teach plagiarize. Electronic intellectualworks deserve the same learn, and conduct research. Even respect and are covered by the though technology same traditions. enables change, however, it ought Another fundamental value of education not be the driving force. is that works The expanding role of andour dependence on computers should be honest andaccurate. As educators, we are committed to the value of need to occur within the traditions andvalues of education. protecting the integrity of data Both the change and the valuesit threatens must be and information. Works storedin computers are so easily examined so as to protect the criticalvalues of education. changed or interchanged withother information that The Bill of Rights and Responsibilitiesfor Electronic citizens of the electronic communitymust be vigilant, lest the information Learners constitutes a guideline forconsidering the place we all depend on be manipulatedor of computers in educational corrupted to the point that it is useless institutions. Because each (cf. Article II, Sec. 3). school, district, and college isunique, the results of this analysis may be different for each.The important point is to ensure that the values underlying educationgeneral and individual institutions inparticular are furthered by the increased adoption of technology.II 101. SECTION V:7, SOURCES IN NETWORKING TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES FOR ON-LINE LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES: NETWORKING IN THE CLASSROOM COMPANIES PROVIDING ON-LINE 'ERVICES FOR EDUCATIQN America On-Line Provides E-mail, encyclopedia services, education programs, weather, world news, business information, live conferencing, and product and technical information. 8619 Westwood Center Drive Vienna, VA 22184 (800) 827-6364 AT&T Long Distance Learning Network A curriculum-based program through "learning circles" of classrooms that exchange and discuss work and publish reports of their work. Cultural and international issues, science, math, and literature. P.O. Box 6391 Parsippany, NJ 07054 (800' 242-6005 Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc. Martin Huntley National School Network Testbed A research and development resource in which participating schools and organizations are provided with training and support in using the network resources to bring educational benefitto teachers and students. 150 Cambridge Park Drive Cambridge, MA 02140 (617) 873-3000 FrEdMail FrEdMail Foundation An electronic network designed especially for classroom-based collaborative projects, linking kids fromone place with kids in another place. P.O. Box 243 Bonita, CA 91908-0243 (619) 475-4852 GTE Education Services, Inc. Provides network access with electronic data collection; specialized databases on special education,human services, early childhood, and reference/research material. West Airfield Drive P.O. Box 619810 D/FW Airport, TX 75261-9810 (800) 927-3000 103 IGC Networks EcoNet, LaborNet, ConflictNet, and PeaceNet offer discussions on peace, the environment, human rights, and social justice issues. Institute for Global Communications 18 DeBoom Street San Francisco, CA 94107 (415) 442-0220 Kl2net Inexpensive school-based electronic Bulletin Board System connected to schools world-wide. Wayne-Finger Lakes Teacher Resource Center 703 E. Maple Avenue 10 Eisenhower Hall Newark, NY 14513-1863 (315) 331-1584 National Geographic Kids Network A K-12 network for investigations of the environment. Students conduct experiments in their local environments, upload their data and then read, interpret, and analyze maps, charts and data from other classrooms. National Geographic Society Educational Services P.O. Box 96892 Washington, DC 20090 (800) 368-2728 PRODIGY (not available for Macintosh users) Access to Bulletin Boards, Classroom-to-Classroom projects, Reference materials, monthly "Nova" and "National Geographic" featuring topics in science geography. Prodigy Interactive Personal Service 445 Hamilton White Plains, NY 10601 (800) 776-3449 Scholastic Network Provides K12 resources suchas authors online, teacher-to-teacher math exchange, science research online, human rightswatch, worldwide current events exchanges betweenstudents, bilingual/ESL teacher exchanges. Scholastic, Inc. 555 Broadway New York, NY 10012 (800) 246-2986 104 OPZUAILEDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES Alliance for Technology Access Forty-five technology resource and demonstrationcenters offer funding referrals and training opportunities. 1128 Solano Avenue Albany, CA 94706 (510) 528-0747 (voice) National Information .Center for Childrenand Youth with Disabilities Provides free information and referrals. P.O. Box 1492 Washington, DC 20013 (800) 999-5599 (voice) (703) 893-8614 (text) National Institute on Deafness andOther Communication Disorders Clearinghouse NIDCD provides free literature searches andpublications. P.O. Box 37777 Washington, DC 20013-7777 (800) 241-1044 (voice) (800) 241-1055 (text) National Institute on Disabilityand Rehabilitation Research NIDRR offers information, referrals,access to databases, including ABLEDATA on assistivetechnology and its applications. c/o Macro International Inc. 8455 Colesville Road, Suite 935 Silver Springs, MD 20910-3319 (800) 227 -0215 or (301) 588-9284(voice and text) Telecommunications for the Deaf This clearinghouse suppliesfree database searches and printed information and sells videotapesand in-person training. 8719 Colesville Road, Suite300 Silver Springs, MD 20910 (301) 589-3786 (voice) (301) 589-3006 (text) FUNDING ORGANIZATIONS ANDIDEAS For Rural Schools Annenberg/CPB Science and MathProject Program to support ruralteachers' math and science teaching efforts. Scott Roberts, Project Officer The Annenberg/CPB Project 901 E Street Washington, DC 20004 (202) 879-9641 105 General A+ America Companies sponsored by A+ America have redeemable proofs of purchase on their products which can be converted to A+ points for the purchase of technology equipment for schools. 139 Billerica Road Chelmsford, MA 01824 (508) 256-9469 _BM_AMPA=LUON TEE INTERNET Ethical Uses of Information Technologies in Education, by Jay P. Sivin and Ellen P. Bialo (1992) Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice. To order, write: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice. Washington, DC 20531, or call 800-851-3420. Global Quest: The Internet in the Classroom: Internet Background Information, by the Imaging Technology Branch of the NASA Ames Research Center, 1993, and Distributed by NASA'S Central Operation of Resource for Educators, Lorain County JVS, 15181 Route 58 South, Oberlin, Ohio, 44704, 216-774-1051. This text is directly from the Internet and comes with a video. This is a very concise and detailed resource on networking and includes a list of resources for educators. Incomplete Guide to the Internet and Other Telecommunications Opportunities Especially for Teachers and Students K-12, NCSA Education Group, 1993. For a hardcopy contact: Chuck Farmer NCSA Education Group, 605 E. Springfield Avenue, Champaign, Ill, 61820. A Teacher's Guide to Fellowships and Awards, by Karen O'Connor is a guide to fellowships, funding, and award programs thrpughout the country including information on several programs that are technology-related. For $2.00, order from: State House Bookstore Room 116, State House, Boston, MA 02133 Telecommunications and K-12 Educators: Findings froma National Survey, by Margaret Honey and Andres Henriquez, Center for Technology in Education, Bank Street College of Education, 1993. "Telecommunications," in Bread Loaf News from Middlebury College, Fall/Winter, 1992. Bread Loaf Office, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont 05753-6115. The Technology Age Classroom by Terence R. Cannings and LeRoy Finkel, Wilsonville, Oregon: Franklin, Beedle, and Associates, 1993. 106 TERC' Global Laboratory Project A worldwide network of student scientists studying the environment. Students share the data they collect, develop research plans, conduct collaborative research and publish the results. Access is throaqh EcoNet network. 2067 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02140 (617) 547-0430 World Classroom Worldwide network for information in most content areas and teachers can select from wide variety of online projects. Global Learnikig Corporation P.O. Box 201361 Arlington, Tex 76006 (800) 866-4452 TEACHERS AND ADMIWSTRATORS ONIABN BreadNet/International Telecomputing Consortium Nonprofit corporation helping teachers and studentsuse new information technologies. 1:.150 24th Street, N.W., Suite 600 Washington, DC 20037 (202) 466-0533 or email: [email protected] ATLIS (America Tomorrow Leadership Information Service) for NASSP members A network dedicated to education, training, and workforce development with calendar listings, list of services and resources, list of employment opportunities, database on topics related to schools, and bulletin board electronic mail. (800) 456-8881 INFORMATION RESOURCES Center for Children and Technology Informative articles on technology implementation inschools. 96 Morton Street New York, NY 10014 (212) 807-4200 Consortium for School Networking (COSN) For information on state and regional networksand the Internet. Organization overseeing the work of NationalResearch and Education Network(NREN) which providesaccess to electronic information resources for government, industryand the education community. P.O. Box 65193 Washington, DC 20035 (202) 466-6296 107 Educational Technology Canter Informative articles on educationaltechnology. Harvard Graduate School of Education Nichols House, Appian Way Cambridge, MA 02138 (617) 495-9373 International Council for Computers in Education 1787 Agate Street University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 (503) 686-4414 Internet Society The international society of Internet cooperationand coordination. 1895 Preston White Drive, Suite 100 Reston, VA 22091 (703) 620-8990 MCET (Massachusetts Corporation for Educational Telecommunications) Direct resource for Massachusetts. 38 Sidney Street Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) r21-0290 ADTERNAT/VE JOSESSMENLAND TECHNOLOGY Northwest Regional EducationalLaboratory A Database and Catalog of AlternativeAssessments for MS-DOS a nd Macintosh sytems Marketing Office 101 SW Main Street, Suite500 Portland, OR 97204-3297 National Center for Researchon Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST) Alternative Assessement inPractice Database on disk in Macintosh Hypercard CRESST UCLA Graduate schoolof Education 405 Hilgard Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90024-1522 (These databasescan be downloaded from both organizations cost on Gopher: at no NWERL's Pilemaker Pro versionat gopher.nwrel.org CRESST's HyperCard versionat gopher.cse.ucla.edu) 108 Reprinted with permission from the Northwest RegionalEducational Laboratory Report: Learning Online, February 1994. TELECOMMUNICATIONS TERMINOLOGY Bulletin board. A computer- Local area network (IAN). ized forum that allows network A group of computers linked to- users to ask questions, offer gether within a limited physical ideas, and receive feedback space, usually to share printers, from other network users. Often software, and the like. organized around a topic of Modem. A desice that en- common interest. ables computers to communi- Conferencing. Online te telephone lines. "meeting" of a designated group Network. A group of com- of people to discuss a topic of puters that can communicate common interest. electronically. Database. A collection of Node. A single computer information organized to allow within a network. users to search and retrieve con- MEN (National Research tents that interest them. and Education Network). Download. To use telecom- A proposed "electronic informa- munications software and a mo- tion highway" or national net- dem to copy a file of information working infrastructure that will through a network for use at a support communication across local computer. the scientific. government, de- Electronic mail (email). fense. business. academic, li- Messages sent through a commu- brary. and X-12 communities. nications network from one Protocol. The rules govern- computer user or group to ing network interaction: used to another. determine where, when, how, File server. A computer and in what format information used primarily to store files and is transmitted. provide network users with ac- Telnet. An Internet protocol cess to those files. enabling a user at one site to FTP (file transfer prow- gain access to the commands col). Aprotocol allowing a user and programs of a host at an- linked to one Internet host to ac- other site: also refers to the pro- cess and transfer files from an-. grain that allows this remote other host over a network. login. Gateway. A computer that Upload. To use telecommu- connects two or more networks nicauons software and a modem using different protocols or al- to transfer files from a local lows incompatible applicauons computer through a network to to communicate. Also used in a another computer. general sense to refer to provid- Wide area network (WA.N). ing, direct access to other re- A long-distance computer net- mote networks or services. work that enables computers Gopher. Client/server soft- not physically linked to commu- ware developed at the University nicate with each other through of Minnesota to provide flexible telecommunications. access to resources such as data- bases available via the Internet. Source:ERIC Review, C.S.De- Internet, The unemotional partment of Education. OER/. network of networks based on Educational Resources Infor- the TCP/IP protocol. mation Center. Winter 1993. 109 BEST COPY AVAILABLE journals Related to Technology in Education This list is not exhaustive. Libraries will have current subscription addresses. Computers and Composition Computers and education Computer Education Computing Teacher Computers in Schools Educational Technology EduCom Review Edutopia: Newsletter of the George Lucas Educational Foundation Electronic Learning Electronic School Journal of Computer-Based Instruction Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching Journal of Educational Computing Research Technological Horizons in Education Journal (T.H.E. Journal) Technology and Learning The Writing Notebook Journal 110