Technology
can change the way students think and learn and revolutionize
education," says the CEO Forum on Education and Technology,
a five-year partnership of business and education leaders
that monitors progress toward integrating technology into
America's schools.
"The
way to obtain the maximum return on our [$43.6 billion]
national investment in education technology is to focus
technology on the key building blocks of student achievement
-- assessment, alignment, accountability, access, and analysis,"
concludes the forum's fourth report, Key Building Blocks
for Student Achievement in the 21st Century.
The
report also calls for broadening the definition of student
achievement to include digital-age literacy, inventive thinking,
effective communication, and high productivity -- skills
necessary for students to thrive in the 21st century.
"Some critics wrongly dismiss the investment in education
technology as wasted when test scores do not immediately
improve. ... This is a dangerous mistake," said CEO Forum
Cochair Anne L. Bryant, executive director of the National
School Boards Association.
"Our
nation is already experiencing some of the benefits of technology
in education," she said. "It is time to take the final steps
to integrate technology into instruction to improve student
achievement and ensure technology benefits students, teachers,
administrators, parents, and communities nationwide."
According
to the report, technology can help deliver significant results
when combined with other key factors known to increase achievement,
such as clear, measurable objectives; parental and community
involvement; increased time spent on task; frequent feedback;
and teacher subject matter expertise.
The
forum concludes that technology can help achieve "dramatic
results" for students:
*
Improved scores on standardized tests. A four-year
study demonstrated significant gains on the SAT. Students
who participated in an integrated technology curriculum
scored 54 points higher in the verbal section and 34 points
higher in math.
*
Increased application and production of knowledge for
the real world. Technology allows teachers and students
to augment the curriculum with current information and timely
study of real-world events, thus making learning more dynamic,
engaging, and valuable. Studies have shown that students
who used simulations, microcomputer-based laboratories,
and video to connect science instruction to real-world problems
outperformed students who used traditional instructional
methods alone.
*
Increased ability for students to manage learning.
In a student-centered environment made possible by educational
technology, students are able to define individual objectives
and create an accountability plan to reach them. This ownership
of and responsibility for learning encourages students to
be more directly engaged in the educational process. And
technology offers many tools for self-assessment, allowing
students to monitor their own progress.
*
Increased ability to promote achievement for special
needs students, including learning disabled, low-achieving,
special education, and gifted students.
In
addition, the report concludes, improved access to information
increases knowledge, inquiry, and depth of investigation.
No longer confined to textbooks, students can use technology
to delve more deeply into a subject and immediately find
additional materials. This increases expertise and research
skills, translating into improved student achievement
The
CEO Forum proposes
six recommendations to ensure that the nation's investment
in education technology improves student achievement:
1.
The nation should focus education technology investments
on specific educational objectives.
2.
States should incorporate 21st-century skills into their
standards by 2002.
3.
States should update their assessment systems to include
21st-century skills by 2003. Technology should be used in
assessments, so that the methods of assessment accurately
reflect the tools employed in instruction.
4.
States, districts, and schools should adopt continuous improvement
strategies to measure progress.
5.
Federal and state governments, school districts, institutions
of higher education, think tanks, and foundations should
fund research and development to determine the most effective
uses of technology to improve student achievement.
6.
All students should have equitable access to technology.
-- Carol Chmelynski, assistant managing editor,
School Board News
Jim Finne,
consulting engineer (left), and Matt Zullo tinker
with a robot they designed and built with a team
of other educators in a competition at Middlesex
County College in Edison, N.J. The competition was
the culmination of a one-week workshop designed
to provide teachers with new techniques in teaching
science, mathematics, engineering, and technology.
Supported by the National Science Foundation and
the New Jersey Center for Advanced Technology Education,
the program paired teams of teachers with engineers
from major companies to gain hands-on knowledge
of activities similar to those in student competitions.
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Disparity
persists in Internet access
Although
almost all U.S. public schools are now connected to the
Internet, not all provide equal levels of access to individual
students, according to a recent report from the National
Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Released
in May, Internet
Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994-2000
reports that 98 percent of public schools had Internet access
in 2000 -- a dramatic increase since 1994, when the connect
rate was 35 percent. In schools with higher poverty levels
and minority enrollments, however, fewer instructional classrooms
are connected to the Internet, and the ratio of students
to computers is higher.
In
schools with the highest concentration of students in poverty
-- defined as 75 percent of students or more eligible for
free or reduced-price lunch -- only 60 percent of classrooms
were connected in 2000, compared to 82 percent for schools
with the lowest concentration of students in poverty (35
percent of students or less eligible for free or reduced-price
lunch). That same year, only 64 percent of classrooms in
schools with the highest minority enrollments (50 percent
or more) were connected, compared to 85 percent in schools
with the lowest minority enrollment (6 percent or less).
The
overall ratio of students to instructional computers decreased
from 6 to 1 in 1999, to 5 to 1 in 2000. A 5 to 1 ratio is
considered by some educators to be a reasonable level for
effective instructional use.
The
overall ratio of students to Internet-connected instructional
computers also decreased -- from 9 to 1 in 1999, to 7 to
1 in 2000. Once again, however, a disparity was found: The
ratio was 9 to 1 in schools with the highest concentration
of students in poverty, compared to 6 to 1 in schools with
the lowest.
The
study also looked at how schools connect to the Internet,
the accommodations they make for students to have Internet
access outside regular school hours, and what schools are
doing to prevent students from accessing inappropriate material.
NCES
found significant changes have taken place in the type and
speed of Internet connections in public schools. More than
75 percent of public schools connected to the Internet in
2000 used dedicated lines, whereas dial-up connections represented
almost 75 percent of connected schools in 1996.
To
help students who would otherwise not have access to the
Internet outside regular school hours for homework or other
school-related activities, 54 percent of public schools
provided access to their students before or after school
or on weekends in 2000.
Most
public schools (98 percent) had acceptable-use policies,
and 91 percent had in place at least one procedure or blocking
or filtering technology to control student access to inappropriate
Internet material. Typical mechanisms included teacher or
staff monitoring, blocking or filtering software, student
honor codes, and intranet systems.
The
report is based on survey data collected from a national
representative sample of more than 1,100 public schools.
NCES has conducted annual
surveys on Internet connectivity since 1994. Internet
Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994-2000
is available online. -- Ismat Abdal-Haqq,
contributing editor to Electronic School and manager,
ITTE technology publications
In
this age of computers, many educators see it as inevitable
that students will someday learn in classrooms without walls,
desks, or face-to-face contact with teachers.
Maryland
plans to open a virtual high school for accelerated classes,
remediation, and students who cannot make it to school.
Texas students have used Web-based classes to fulfill requirements
in the summer so they can take electives during the school
year. Michigan has sent teen parents to virtual schools,
and Kentucky has tested Web-based classes in juvenile detention
centers. Other states see possibilities for home-schooled
students.
Education
officials in Maryland describe themselves as relative newcomers
to Web-based learning. At least a half-dozen states have
established virtual schools, and about a third of states
either have a virtual school or plan to create one.
When
Maryland officials began studying the possibility more than
a year ago, they saw it as a way to offer Advanced Placement
classes to students who did not have them in their own school
buildings.
It
was soon clear that a virtual school could offer remedial
classes to low-performing students, or basic classes to
those who can't attend school due to long-term illnesses
or behavioral problems.
"We
looked at it from the very beginning as an accelerated or
enrichment area. Then, of course, we saw the remedial piece,''
said John Cox, an assistant superintendent in Charles County,
who is helping to plan the state's virtual school.
The
state hopes to open its online school in fall 2002. Local
schools will help the state identify students who would
thrive in Web-based classes.
Kentucky
saw many of the same uses but had to meet the needs of a
rural, agricultural state that includes the impoverished
Appalachian region.
Bob
Fortney of the Kentucky
Virtual High Schoolsaid the state has used Web-based
learning to make certain that students from small, rural
schools have the same opportunities as their urban counterparts.
Kentucky
has also used on-line classes to address teacher shortages,
particularly in foreign languages.
Enrollment
at Kentucky's virtual high school has increased tenfold
since it opened in January 2000 to about 500 students.
"What
we're starting to find out, having almost finished our third
semester, is we think we're raising the bar in achievement,''
Fortney said. "We can offer rigorous classes to students
who might not have them in their building.''
-- Sheila Hotchkin, Associated Press
Teachers
fight Web plagiarism
Before
her students write term papers, Melanie Hazen makes sure
they understand one small thing: You can't put your name
on someone else's work. Still, they don't see the harm in
borrowing from a Web site.
"Taking
something straight off the Internet and using it as their
own, they don't seem to think that's stealing at all,''
said Hazen, an English teacher at Montgomery Central High
School in Clarksville, Tenn.
At
a time when most schools and public libraries are wired
to the Internet, students of all ages are being tempted
more than ever to cut-and-paste others' work and pass it
off as their own.
For
students, plagiarism has never been easier. For teachers,
combating it has never been more of a challenge. A handful
of teachers, in Los Angeles for the National Education Association's
annual meeting in July, talked about their experiences.
They stressed that the vast bazaar of information online
requires not only eternal vigilance but a back-to-basics
emphasis on drafts, outlines, note cards, and other skills
to produce solid writing from students.
Plagiarism
is nothing new, but the Internet has made it so convenient
that the average student finds it hard to resist, Hazen
and others said.
"It's
the same thing we were doing 20 or 30 years ago -- it's
just that the Internet wasn't an option,'' said Dean Vogel,
an elementary school counselor in Vacaville, Calif., who
chairs the Web Site Advisory Committee for the California
Teachers Association. Still, he said, "The reality is, few
kids cheat.''
A
recent Rutgers University survey suggests otherwise. More
than half of the 4,500 high school students surveyed said
they'd downloaded an essay from the Internet or copied at
least a few sentences. Around 20 percent of college students
admitted the same.
If
Internet plagiarism is widespread, it's no wonder. With
a few clicks of a mouse, students can access an estimated
600 cheating sites, such as cheathouse. com or www.schoolsucks.com.
Those with a credit card can click their way to thousands
of essays on nearly any topic for around $60-$100.
Go
to your favorite Internet search site and type in "free
term papers,'' along with the title of a classic book that
bedeviled you in high school. You'll soon see a long list
of sites offering free term papers, plus many more for sale.
Most sites will e-mail, fax, or express mail the papers,
no questions asked.
Web
sites such as turnitin.com offer teachers one solution.
Subscribing teachers simply direct students to upload their
paper to the Web site, where the text is compared to an
estimated 1.5 billion pages already floating around cyberspace.
The service then produces an "originality report'' that
a teacher uses to compare the student's work with other
essays. But teachers said the most effective tool is simply
knowing one's students.
"A
good teacher knows if that student wrote that or not,''
said Nancye Jennings, a third-grade reading teacher in Fairhope,
Ala., who has also taught middle school students. "Once
you've had them in class, you can tell. You get a feel for
the way they say things, the way they put words together.''
Of
course, small class sizes and teaching loads help, the teachers
said, but so does taking the time to teach students about
how to develop their own ideas.
"If
you set up the process and go through it correctly, I think
most of the time you can end up with original work from
all of your kids,'' said Lois Delmore, an English teacher
at Red River High School in Grand Forks, N.D.
"I
think you also need to teach students that that writing
is theirs -- it's valuable -- and they do good stuff,''
she said. -- Greg Toppo, Associated Press
The
days of lovely, flowing -- even legible -- handwriting in
schools have gone the way of the Palmer Method of penmanship.
"Twenty years ago, the handwriting was much more legible,"
said Virginia science teacher Helen Wood, who also works
as a calligrapher. "Technology has changed everything, and
it's changed this." Bad penmanship can be downright dangerous:
Medication errors arising from illegible handwriting account
for thousands of deaths annually, and millions of letters
and packages wind up in the U.S. Postal Service's dead-letter
office each year for the same reason.
The
University of Nebraska (UNL) has developed a center to study
what works and what doesn't work in distance education and
computer-aided learning.
"We
have a lot of anecdotes and a lot of testimonials" about
technology in education, said Roger Bruning, director of
education for the university's National Center for Information
Technology in Education. "The niche that we're filling is
to ... look at these things systematically."
Not
much is known about how students learn with technology or
how teachers can make the best use of the technology available,
Bruning said. "I think [technology] can have a range of
effects from very bad to very, very good," he said. At their
best, computers can enhance the work of the teacher and
add to the learning experience. At their worst, they simply
take up room in the classroom.
The
newly completed center -- a joint effort of UNL's Teachers
College and Nebraska Educational Telecommunications -- hopes
to attract scholars from across the country.
When
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was in high school, he knew
much more about computers than his teachers did. So it seemed
appropriate when Gates visited Miami's Booker T. Washington
High School that senior Elie Philippe knew a couple of things
about computers that the world's wealthiest man did not.
Gates, who announced a donation of $1.1 million worth of
computers to four Florida districts, missed two of four
questions on an online quiz. Philippe knew the answers to
all four -- including the ones involving computer translation
and electromagnetic interference that stumped Gates.
Coming
soon to a desk near you
What's
the next best thing to having a computer for every student?
How about a touch pad on every desk?
That's
what an Idaho principal has in mind. Dennis Sonius always
believed classroom learning could be accelerated if every
student were working on the computer along with the teacher.
"But
that meant too many computers in the classroom -- you'd
run out of space," said Sonius, principal of Morningside
Elementary School in Twin Falls. "I wanted something simple,
something that kids could interact with from their desks,
and it had to be wireless."
When
he couldn't find such a product on the market, Sonius repaired
to his basement workshop. There, with the help of three
University of Idaho engineering students, he came up with
Mousenet.
The
patented system, which uses the same kind of communication
signal as a cell phone, consists of one unit for the teacher
and a 3-by-4-inch rectangular device for each student. The
teacher punches in a signal to the student of choice, who
responds by rubbing the touch pad.
Kathy
Muus, a fifth-grade teacher at Morningside, field-tested
the system in a geography lesson. Muus would project a computerized
map, ask a particular student to identify a city or land
form, and get an immediate response.
"The
kids loved the concept," she said -- and they were amazed
that their very own principal had invented the system.
Virtual
driver ed
Instead
of starting their driver ed classes behind the wheel of
a car, some students are getting started behind a computer
keyboard.
Buhler High School in Kansas
began what's said to be that state's first online driver
education program this past spring, according to Stefani
Curchy, assistant principal and a driving instructor who
helped create the program.
Students study a textbook at
home and take quizzes at any computer with Internet access.
They're required to show up for a final exam -- and to
take on-road driving lessons -- but the rest of the work
can be done at the students' own pace.
Students must score 80 percent
on each quiz to move forward in the program. If a student
has trouble with a quiz,
an instructor e-mails or calls to help, and the student
then has another opportunity to pass.
"While it's not face-to-face,
we still contact them and e-mail them," Curchy said.
"Also, most of the learning still takes place in the
car, which is similar to any other driver education
program."
Online driver education and
traffic safety programs are available in other states,
as well, including California and Indiana. The American
Driver & Traffic Safety Education Association calls
online education "an acceptable method" of delivering
the classroom component of a course but says "the behind-the-wheel
instruction phase of driver education should not be attempted
by computer-assisted methods. It should occur only in
a car."
Apple
Corp. has acquired Power School Inc., a company that
provides Web-based student information systems for K-12
schools and school districts. PowerSchool features include
student demographics, a master schedule builder, attendance,
automated reports and form letters, and student/parent access.
Apple also is in the process of opening 25 retail stores
across the United States in 2001.
The
Education America Network, a new educational e-recruitment
service, offers job seekers free access to more than 28,000
positions in education in all 50 states. The site reaches
almost 38,000 unique visitors per month. Employers pay an
annual membership according to the enrollment of their school
or district. Job seekers can post their resumes for free.
Information: (800) 823-6280.
The
Education Commission of the States has developed a Web
site designed to help educators and policy makers address
the issue of accountability. The site, which can be accessed
through the Education Issues section, is cosponsored by
NetSchools and Hewlett-Packard.
Spring
Cleaning 4.0, an uninstaller that helps users remove
hard drive clutter from the Macintosh, has been upgraded
with several new features to boost performance. Among the
new features: MailCleaner, which locates attachments hidden
by your e-mail program, and CookieEditor, which keeps the
cookies you want and removes the rest. The product is upgraded
for OS X and is available for $29.95.
Chancery
Software Ltd. recently announced it will deliver a leading
application of the new Microsoft.NET, an Internet-based
technology platform that links applications, services, and
devices and allows school districts to improve their management
capabilities. Chancery has also released Open District 2.3,
an upgraded version of its Web-based districtwide student
information system, and upgraded the Apple version (Mac
School) to be compatible with OS X.
Hewlett-Packard
Co. is now offering the HP Wireless Mobile Classroom,
a self-contained unit that houses 30 HP Omnibook notebook
PCs; an all-in-one printer, scanner, copier, and fax; and
a digital camera. It includes the MobiLAN ONE motorized
cart, which allows the mobile unit to be used in one or
more classrooms.
IBM
and Riverdeep Group
have joined forces to offer K-12 education customers a full
range of Web-based, interactive learning courseware, communication,
and collaboration tools designed to raise student achievement
while helping teachers and administrators. The alliance
includes ongoing joint projects, including codevelopment
of future enhancements to the IBM Learning Village.
