A Vision for Using Technology

Most technologies - whether high- or low-performance - can be used to maximize engaged learning. Below, we describe how several technologies are typically used in schools, and we consider how the technologies could be used in schools to promote engaged learning.

• E-mail. By itself e-mail is an inherently low-performance technology with only one function: communication. Therefore, issues of access, operability, resource distribution, and many of the design for learning features do not apply. However, e-mail can be used effectively in schools to promote collaborative work and provide access to rich learning experiences, such as communication with a tutor or mentor. E-mail inherently involves interaction and exploration, but some interactions and explorations are more powerful than others. When students use e-mail to write to pen pals in other states, it is a good beginning but no more. While interesting and powerful learning experiences may result, they will be episodic and unplanned. Teachers can use the same e-mail system to explore complex cultural and linguistic issues or solve problems with distant peers over a length of time (e.g., Kidsnet, see Fine & Friedman, 1991); to communicate with practicing professionals and community members; or to conduct collaborative projects that will yield sustained, engaged learning and collaboration.

• Computer-Driven Software and Approaches. Computer-driven software and approaches must be considered as an interaction of the technology design and the learning context or purpose. Computer- based instruction (CBI), which is used for drill and practice on traditional objectives, promotes passive learning. Means and her colleagues (1993) argue that in CBI teachers transmit information to students so that students become passive rather than active learners. They add that CBI divides learning into discrete content areas that require only "simple" responses from students (see also Rockman, 1991). Means and her colleagues also raise equity issues: "Students at risk of academic failure - often seen as lacking in basic skills and therefore unable to acquire advanced skills - become logical candidates for CBI drill-and-practice instruction. Recent research and thinking on the needs of disadvantaged students stress a different need: . . . opportunities to acquire advanced thinking skills and . . . basic skills within the context of complex, meaningful problems."

  On the other hand, computer-based technologies derived from artificial intelligence (AI) and based on research in cognitive science promote engaged learning. Such systems are designed to help learners think through complex, authentic problems; take charge of their own learning; and develop products for teaching or use in the real world. Such systems may use integrated media to:

  • Provide sophisticated, expert tools for learning very complex concepts and procedures

  • Help students develop advanced skills, such as reasoning, summarizing, high-level self-questioning, and reflection

  • Diagnose and reduce student errors and remediate specific learning problems

  • Adjust the level or adapt the sequence of problems based on student performance; suggest directions for new learning

  • Stimulate the use of emerging technologies and decision-making to address complex, real-world problems and issues, thereby providing learning by doing and guided participation

  Consider two tools developed by the Institute for the Learning Sciences at Northwestern University. Sickle Cell Counselor was developed in collaboration with the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. This high-performance AI tool was designed for the informal learning that is characteristic of museum settings. It was designed for users of all ages who are interested in finding out more about sickle cell anemia. Users can access vitally important health information by asking experts, conducting laboratory tests, and interacting with "patients" (Schank, 1991). The other tool, Movie Reader, cannot adapt to the responses of students and has fewer high-performance indicators. However, it is a useful tool that embeds critical comprehension questions for students in video texts and allows teachers to generate questions to improve comprehension. This tool encourages students to take responsibility for learning, think strategically, collaborate, and generate deeper comprehension. Movie Reader allows teachers to act as facilitators or guides.

  Other tools assist teachers and principals in various functions. For instance, the Illinois State Board of Education (1994) developed software for school improvement planning in partnership with the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. The software allows schools to enter student outcome specifications and assessments as well as other school improvement reports that are correlated to statewide school improvement plans. The software also helps educators through the complex task of developing learner outcomes and assessments that are linked to national standards and meet state standards. The software also helps users to think through the process of gathering and analyzing data about assessments; determine the quality of assessments and assessment data; and report results to the community and state. The software will help policymakers see the "big picture" for each school, and it will help teachers use the data to improve curriculum and instruction.

  The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory is developing a multifaceted School Development Resource System. The System includes a "Professional Development Library" component through which users can access abstracts of a range of school development topics; a video-based component that allows teachers to view and analyze videos of expert teachers in the classroom, and access a powerful database of print materials that include lesson plans, articles, and resource contacts; and a multimedia database of "Critical Issues" called Pathways to School Improvement, which uses Mosaic and resides on the Internet.

• Integrated Learning Systems. Integrated Learning Systems (ILSs) are high-performance technologies, however their capacity to promote engaged learning may be limited. Most ILSs are essentially electronic basals that use traditional tasks, assessments, student and teacher roles, and approaches to instruction. ILSs are designed to provide lessons and assessments that target the basic skills required by traditional school objectives. ILSs are popular, in part, because they provide lessons, extensive teacher manuals, and assessments that are aligned with each other. Some programs are interdisciplinary and include multimedia encyclopedias. Most provide inservice training in technology and content, easy-to-use management systems, and good technology support. In ILSs, computers may be linked by local area networks (LANs). Jostens Basic Learning Systems is one example. Jostens produces numerous profiles of successful implementations, most of which show gains on standardized tests.

  Other high-performance technologies link schools and communities in wide area networks (WANs). For example, in several collaborative projects, students study and manipulate actual images from NASA and communicate with practicing scientists using the Internet. In such systems, hardware and software are configured for access to authentic, generative, and challenging data; for learning by doing; sometimes for guided participation and intelligent tutoring; and for user contributions and control. Such examples reflect the high end of several learning indicators, including authentic, challenging tasks; instruction that is interactive and deeply generative; learning contexts that involve knowledge building; and teacher and student roles that promote engaged learning.

  It is important for schools to distinguish between ILSs and more open systems. Many schools that have an ILS believe that, because it is a high-performance technology, ILS will promote engaged learning and will provide access to rich resources. Newman (1992) has criticized the way that most schools organize local area networks (LANs), especially ILSs: "Although networking technology has tremendous potential to support school restructuring, for the most part, it has been counter productive - or at best irrelevant - to any significant change" (p. 49). While most schools have the modems to link to other sources of information and educational resources, network technology in most schools is set up primarily to download instructional materials from a central repository to isolated classrooms. The problem is not the LAN itself, but the way it is designed to provide learning.

  The core of the problem, according to Newman, is that ILSs are configured only to provide information from a central source, using local area networks for communication within a school and between schools using that ILS. These local area networks (LANs) are not connected to wide area networks (WANs) that could provide access to a wealth of information and opportunities for active learning and communication. Newman contrasts this model of learning with descriptions of Earth Lab, which allows students and teachers to access resources throughout the world and engages students in such tasks as editing the school newspaper. This distributed system also helps teachers to collaborate to design integrated, multidisciplinary curricula. Students and teachers can subscribe to services such as weather reports, electronic mail, and bibliographic retrieval.

  At the same time, Means and her colleagues (1993) describe an emerging trend for ILSs to offer schools the ability to access "third-party" software and, therefore, to provide more instructional options. Some ILS companies offer opportunities for engaged learning by providing teachers with powerful multimedia production capabilities. Using these tools, teachers can create their own curricular models and curriculum development services. For example, a few ILSs are developing (1) networking outside the system, (2) more powerful instructional designs that focus on authentic tasks (in addition to "low-end" lessons addressed to basic skills), and (3) ongoing professional development support, including curriculum development services. One ILS actually owns four satellites that allow two-way video communications between participating schools and the ILS. They also provide video cameras to all of the schools. These schools can create their own videos, share the videos with other schools, seek advice from teachers at other schools, and contribute to the video resources of the system. This ILS also helps schools to create new curricular units.

  So what is the bottom line on the value of CBI and ILSs? The critics say that closed-system electronic models - such as typical CBI and ILSs that support traditional learner goals, curriculum, instruction, and assessment - offer little more than traditional, nontechnological instructional models. In particular, new research on learning indicates that traditional models of teaching and learning are not adapted to the needs of modern society. Rather, we must develop new paradigms of learning for technology designs. Critics of CBI and ILS claim that these technologies - to the extent that they support traditional teaching and learning - are misaligned with educational reform and the needs of the 21st century.

• Distance Education Technologies. A similar analysis may be made of traditional distance education technologies. Most distance education courses still address traditional instructional goals using dated methods of delivery. Indeed, "the primary technology used for K-12 distance learning programs is based on an instructional television model which was around as early as the 1930s." (Westrum, 1994, p. 2). Most distance learning systems use one-way video with two-way audio, two-way video and audio, or two- way audio and/or audio graphics. The major distance education providers for students and for professional development include the Public Broadcasting System (PBS); TY-IN Network in Webster, Texas; the Ohio-based Satellite Educational Resources Consortium (SERC); the Arts and Sciences Telecommunications Service of Oklahoma State University (AST/OSU); and 11 of the 13 Star Schools Projects, as well as the satellite-based Star Schools Projects. In addition, many states, including South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, have developed rich resources/courses for statewide access.

  According to Russell (1992), many studies demonstrate that, regardless of the quality of the production or the specific technologies used, students in remote locations learn equally as well with each type of distance technology and they learn as well as their on-campus counterparts (see also Shavelson, Webb, & Hotta, 1987). So, what have these traditional distance education models accomplished? Analyses indicate that such models have achieved two of their major objectives: they provide instructions to many students who would have little or no instruction without them, and the instruction they provide is generally recognized as equivalent to classroom instruction. In particular, specialized and advanced placement distance courses enable many students to enter college - an opportunity they would otherwise miss. Distance education technologies also provide access to collections of rare documents and artifacts otherwise not available to remote locations (Office of Technology Assessment, 1988 and 1989).

  Some people suggest making distance education technologies more capable and powerful, which would also make them more expensive. On the other hand, asks Russell (1992), why should we invest in more expensive distance education technologies if less expensive technologies can accomplish the same goal?

  We believe this is the wrong question. What is the value of developing or supporting inexpensive or expensive technologies if they do not promote engaged learning? Instead, we must develop and support technologies and models of instruction for which learning is interactive and generative; learning contexts are more focused on knowledge building; students are engaged in authentic, challenging tasks and have more control over their learning; teachers serve as facilitators, guides, and co-investigators; and schools can access distributed resources the world over. In fact, this trend is beginning already:

  • Some traditional distance education providers are giving more priority to recent research on learning and educational reform. For example, Thompson, Simonson, and Hargrave (1994), in a summary of literature and presentations from a conference of providers, examine the cognitive and affective aspects of learning, collaborative learning formats, distance education as a system involving many subsystems, and distance education in the context of school restructuring.

  • More distance education programs use interactive and networked designs. These designs use computers, telephones, video by telephone, facsimiles, audio, graphics, and other technologies. Some particularly exciting systems allow students and teachers to take "electronic" expeditions. One example is the JASON series, a portfolio of satellite-based projects that follow the scientific activities of the world-renowned oceanographer and archeologist, Robert Ballard. Ballard takes cameras into oceans, caves, rain forests, coral reefs, and the Mayan ruins of Belize. Students and teachers can communicate directly with him, his scientific teams, and other project participants via videoconferences and computers. The JASON series provides bulletin boards, software to download text files and data from project sites, instructional materials, challenging problems, biographical information about the Argonauts, and information about procedures for using the various technology components.

• Distance Learning Using the Internet. Increasingly, we are beginning to move from a focus on distance education programs and technologies to distance learning (Karim, 1994). In part, this movement is driven by proponents of engaged learning, who ask which distance education technologies facilitate engaged learning. It is also driven by the emerging trend to understand information and data as resources - not just as programs. In turn, this trend is spurred on by the development of the National Information Infrastructure (NII) and the concept of using the Internet as a major vehicle for distance learning at all levels. Indeed, NII was designed to make "the best schools, teachers, and courses . . . available to all students, without regard to gender, distance, resources, or disability" (Gore, 1994). This dream is supported by software such as Mosaic, which has the capacity to transport video and voice images, and access to digital libraries that offer collections of art, historical papers, and other unique or rare items on demand - collections once available only by satellite, video, or actual visit.

References

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