"CHANGING EDUCATION is sometimes like moving a cemetery," noted Milton Chen, Executive Director of The George Lucas Educational Foundation. "There are so many entrenched interests, so many deeply held beliefs, and so many special interests."
In order to engage a national strategy for educational technology, you have to get beyond the hardware and the software, he said. "It's about the teachers, the school system, and the learning environment. You're part of a movement to improve schools - not just through the use of technology - but through a whole school reform concept." Chen challenged forum participants to decide how to take what we know works to scale.
Reaching a Critical Mass
True social change occurs when it reaches a critical mass, or the "tipping point" as it is called in epidemiology. Chen pointed out several recent social epidemics: the drop in New York City crime rates, the rise in teen smoking, the popularity of Sesame Street. He related from personal experience how Sesame Street reached that critical mass using a combination of research and practice.
Against the advice of developmental psychologists, Sesame Street combined the fantasy of the Muppets with the reality of the diverse people on Sesame Street. Market research before the program aired showed children's high interest in the Muppets and animation, but not with reality-only Sesame Street scenes. Although the academics said preschoolers could not deal with a mix of fantasy and reality, the creators were challenged to "find a way to creatively include some of the high appeal concepts from the Muppets, the songs in the street they felt strongly about, with the diversity of people on Sesame Street," Chen said. That ultimately led to the birth of children's educational television and the 30+ year success of Sesame Street.
The findings of market research play a key role in helping a social movement, such as Sesame Street, catch fire, Chen noted. Determining how products are marketed is critical. And evangelists and connectors carry the message forward. Chen urged forum participants to view themselves as evangelists to accomplish school reform that integrates educational technology.
More Than a Digital Divide
"When it comes to technology, and especially when it comes to creating learning organizations, one of the greatest divides is between schools and the rest of society," Chen said. There is a divide between what is known to work and what is put into practice, and between what students are taught in schools and what they experience in their lives. "I believe education has become an irrational system. It's often more about politics than real teaching and learning," he added.
"There are millions of very dedicated people working within the system trying to do their best as prisoners of time, yet they don't have access to the kinds of professional development that we would like them to have. Students are struggling in classrooms in which they are not able to express their talents. We know there is a better way, but a lot of what we know has not been put into widespread practice," Chen pointed out.
He proposed creating an educational system that nurtures teacher quality and incorporates project-based learning and technology integration. Students need to learn how to work in teams, and classroom time must be used differently, such as block schedules to accommodate project-based activities. The educational system must also change to address 21st century needs such as workforce preparation, citizenship in a global society, and instilling a desire for lifelong learning, according to the SCANS (Labor Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) Report.
Multimedia technology can also address the disconnect between classroom learning and real experience. Chen noted the Web-Based Education Commission found that multimedia technology provides multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement for learners. "It's new ways of representing what knowledge is and what it means, such as presenting concepts in text and graphic modes, animated science simulations, and poetry read aloud and performed," he explained. Students also have multiple ways of expressing their knowledge about a topic, called "Expressive Literacy," through different uses of text, sound, images, video, and many others. And, maybe most importantly, there are multiple ways to attract the bored or distracted learner which, Chen said, is "all of us who from time to time lose interest, lose motivation. Multimedia can re-engage us in the topic."
Taking Ed Tech to Scale
Two "education technology projects that tipped," said Chen were NetDay and the Cisco Networking Academy Program. In 1996, 50,000 volunteers wired 4,000 schools on NetDay. Today NetDay has wired 75,000 classrooms in 40 states with more than half a million people involved in this effort to provide connectivity to schools. Cisco has filled a void in information technology training in high schools and colleges and now operates 8,400 academies in 136 countries.
Chen encouraged sharing success stories on the web such as the seven promising educational technology programs identified by the U.S. Department of Education Expert Panel on Educational Technology. "Share the wisdom of what works and why," he offered. "And take these stories to policymakers and show them what the future of this kind of learning looks like."
As an RTEC partner, The George Lucas Educational Foundation publishes success stories through the journal Edutopia.
