Informational Technology and Its Impact on American Education November 1982 NTIS order #PB83-174664 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 82-600608 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 Foreword Over the last decade, American education has come to face a number of new demands that must be met with limited resources. Many of these new demands arise from the rising dependence of our society on technology as a basis for domestic economic growth, international competitiveness, and national security. In October 1980, the House Committee on Education and Labor, its Subcommittee on Special Education, and the Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Technology of the House Committee on Science and Technology asked OTA to examine the extent to which information technology could serve American needs for education and training. This report documents two basic sets of conclusions: 1. The so-called information revolution, driven by rapid advances in communica- tion and computer technology, is profoundly affecting American education. It is changing the nature of what needs to be learned, who needs to learn it, who will provide it, and how it will be provided and paid for. 2. Information technology can potentially improve and enrich the educational services that traditional educational institutions provide, distribute educa- tion and training into new environments such as the home and office, reach new clients such as handicapped or homebound persons, and teach job-related skills in the use of technology. The OTA report provides an overview of the issues relating to the educational applications of the new information technologies. It examines both the demands that the information revolution will make on education and the opportunities af- forded by the new information technologies to meet those demands. Rather than focusing on a single technology, it examines a wide variety of new information products and services such as those based on the combined capabilities of com- puters, telecommunications systems, and video technologies. Similarly, the report surveys a broad range of educational providers, and examines how the applica- tion of information technologies may affect their abilities to provide education and their respective educational roles. OTA acknowledges with thanks and appreciation the advice and counsel of the panel members, contractors, other agencies of Government, and individual participants who helped bring the study to completion. ///. Informational Technology and Its Impact on American Education Advisory Panel Willis Adcock Robert Hoye Assistant Vice President Director, Instructional Technology Texas Instruments Inc. University of Louisville Joel N. Bloom Judith Lozano Director Superintendent of Southside School District Franklin Institute San Antonio, Tex. Science Museum and Planetarium Maurice Mitchell Colleen Cayton Chairman of the Board Maxima Corp. National Public Radio Robert L. Chartrand Sarah Resnick Congressional Research Service President Media Systems Corp. Mark Curtis President Vic Walling Association of American Colleges Stanford Research Institute L. Linton Deck Nellouise Watkins Fairfax County Schools (Virginia) Director, Computer Center Bennett College Sam Gibbon Bank Street College Joe Wyatt Vice President for Administration Harold Howe, 11 Harvard University Harvard Graduate School of Education Informational Technology and Its Impact on American Education Project Staff John Andelin, Assistant Director, OTA Science, Information, and Natural Resources Division Stephen E. Doyle* and Sam Hale,** Interim Program Manager Communication and Information Technologies Program Fred W. Weingarten, Project Director Prudence S. Adler, Assistant Project Director*** Dorothy Linda Garcia, Analyst Beth A. Brown, In-House Consultant Susan F. Cohen, Congressional Fellow Linda G. Roberts, Consultant (Senior Associate, Department of Education on detail) Elizabeth Emanuel, Administrative Assistant Shirley Gayheart, Secretary Teresa Richroath, Secretary Jeanette Contee, Wordprocessor Contractors Christopher Dede, University of Houston Beverly Hunter, Brian K. Waters, and Janice H. Laurence, Human Resources Research Organization Sharon Lansing, Consultant Kathryn M. White, Editor, Writer Renee G. Ford, Tifford Producers, Ltd., Editor, Writer Deeana Nash, Collingwood Associates OTA Publishing Staff John C. Holmes, Publishing Officer John Bergling Kathie S. Boss Debra M. Datcher Joe Henson Doreen Cullen Donna Young v Acknowledgments The following individuals contributed as contractors or reviewers during the course of this study. Richard Ballard, TALMIS Corp. Paul Larkin, Prince Georges Community College Charles Benton, Films Inc. Joe Lipson, WICAT George Blank, Creative Computing Tom Loftis, Office of Personnel Management Robert C. Bowen, McGraw-Hill Book Co. Arthur Melmed, Department of Education Dee Brock, Public Broadcasting Service Andy Molnar, National Science Foundation John Cameron, Department of Commerce Richard B. Otte, National Institute of Education Sylvania Charp, School District of Philadelphia Richard Robinson, Scholastic, Inc. Richard Diem, University of Texas at Worth Scanland, U.S. Navy San Antonio Patsy Vyner, Close Up Foundation Seymour Eskow, Rockland Community College Fred Wood, Department of Agriculture Albert Goldberg, WCISD Andy Zucker, Department of Education Jim Johnson, University of Iowa Valerie Klansek, Upper Midwest Region Resource Center Photo Credits All photographs by Ted Spiegel, @1982, except for the following: Pages 17 and 31–IBM Corp. Page 36 (unnumbered) —National Science Foundation Page 150 (unnumbered) –U.S. Department of Agriculture Contents Chapter Page Chapter Page I. Summary . 3 Videotex and Teletext . 49 Background . 3 Information Networks . 50 Findings . 4 Electronic Conferencing . 51 The Information Society. 5 Advanced Business Services . 52 Role of Information . 5 5. Educational Uses of Information Information Technologies . 6 Technology . 55 Impacts on Institutions . 7 Findings . 55 New Needs for Education and Functions of Educational Technology, . 55 Training . 8 Passive Instruction . 55 Case Studies on Information Interactive Instruction . 56 Technology, ..,...,. 8 Learning Environments . 58 Potential Technological Solutions . 9 Information Resource . 59 Policy Issues and Options . 10 Administration and Instruction Issues. ...,..,...,.. 10 Management . 60 Options for Federal Action . 11 Distribute Education . 60 2. The United States as an Information Testing and Diagnosis. 62 Society . 15 Capabilities of Educational Technology 62 Findings . 15 Cost and Effectiveness . 63 Economic and Societal Impacts of 6. The Provision of Education in the Information Technology. 16 United States . 67 Changing Economic Base of the Nation 19 Findings . 67 Social Change and Education in 3. Implications for Economic Growth America . 67 and Human Capital. 25 Findings . 25 Elementary and Secondary Education . 70 Public Schools. ..,... 70 Knowledge and Growth . 25 Education and Growth . 27 Status of the American Public School System . 71 Human Capital Theory . 28 Future of the American Public Need for Technical Education . 29 Information Literacy. 29 School System . 72 Private Alternatives to Public Information Professionals . 32 Information Scientists . 34 Schools . 74 University and the Four-Year Colleges, 78 4. Trends in Information Technology . 37 Public Role of Higher Education, . 78 Findings ..., . 37 Status of American Colleges and Communications. 37 Universities . 80 Cable . 38 Two-Year and Community Colleges. 83 Satellite Communication . .,.. 38 Proprietary Education. 85 Digital Telephone Network. 39 Status of Proprietary Schools . 85 Local Distribution Networks . 40 Characteristics of Proprietary New Broadcast Technologies . 41 Schools . 87 Direct Broadcast Satellite. 41 Markets Served by Proprietary Low-Power Broadcast . 41 Schools . 88 Computers . 42 Applications of Information Desktop Computers . 43 Technology in Proprietary Hand-Held Computers . 44 Education . 90 Human Interface . 45 Future Uses . 91 Storage Technology . 46 Future Uses by Other Industry Video Technology . 47 Segments . 92 Video Cassette Recorders . 47 Education in the Home. 92 Improved Quality . 47 Status of Education in the Home . 92 Filmless Camera . .,.. 47 Libraries . 94 Video Disk. 47 Education in the Library . 95 Information Services . 48 Status of Libraries . 95 vii Contents—Continued Chapter Page Chapter Page Museums. 97 Case Study 1: Children’s Television Museum Education . 97 Workshop . 126 Status of Museums . 98 Case Study 2: Development, Business and Labor . 99 Production, and Marketing of Role of Education in the Workplace . 100 PLATO . 128 Industry-Based Training and Case Study 3: Computer Curriculum Education. 100 Corporation . 133 Trend Toward Decentralized Case Study 4: CONDUIT . 135 Instruction. 101 Training: Investment. Expense. 102 Relationship With Local Educational 8. Conditions That May Affect the Institutions and Industry- Further Application of Information SponsoredEducational Institutions 102 Technology in Education . 141 Information Technology in Corporate Available Data on Educational Instruction. 102 Applications. 141 Factors That May Affect Microcomputers and Terminals Disk . 141 Instructional Use of Technology . 103 Videocassette Recorders and Video Implications . 105 Cassette Recorders and Videodisk 143 Union-Sponsored Training and Climate for Use of Information Education. 105 Technology in the Schools. 143 Education Programs