PREFACE
Urged by the President and the Vice President, federal officials have been exploring how to encourage greater and more effective use of modern computers and communications in the nation's schools. In July 1994, RAND's Critical Technologies Institute (CTI) completed a broad investigation of educational technology in education and training for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science and Technology Council. This work examined the nature and level of existing federal efforts.Based on this work, the U. S. Department of Education asked CTI to assist the Department as it responded to new provisions in the 1994 GOALS 2000: Educate America Act, provisions calling on the Secretary of Education to develop a strategy for effective utilization of the new technologies in the nation's classrooms. With an original deadline of March 1995, submission of the plan to the White House and the U. S. Congress was delayed by later legislation until September 1995.
This report summarizes the fourth of five workshops organized to learn from those already involved in implementing use of the new technologies in the schools. The first examined the educational software market from the supply side; the second issues of professional development; the third local planning and financing; and the fourth the educational software market from the demand side. This workshop was primarily concerned with issues of cost, effectiveness and evaluation.
1. Technology, School Reform's Opportunity
Introduction
The last in a series of workshops held over a period of 18 months, this two-day workshop on June 1-2, 1995, was organized primarily to gather information and expert opinion on the potential benefits and effectiveness of the school use of computer technology. Over the course of two days, workshop participants heard and considered 14 presentations, including summary reviews of the implementation and benefits of the school-wide use of computer technology in five pioneering technology-rich schools; four reviews of experimental and empirical data on the use of computer technology in order to implement a familiar curriculum component or realize a well-defined goal in K-12 and adult education, and military training; a prepared paper on the technology related cost1 for technology-rich schools; and a prepared paper discussing factors affecting what can be learned about technology in education from traditional evaluation methodology.Discussion among workshop participants covered the important issues of ...
- benefits: important educational outcomes attributable to using information technology, e.g., preparing students for the world of work;
- costs: front-end and recurring, for hardware, software, teacher training, curriculum preparation, technical support staff, etc.;
- effectiveness: teaching and learning familiar school coursework better, e.g., elementary arithmetic skills, using technology;
- implementation: planning, buy-in by teachers, and financing; and,
- evaluation: what's different about technology.
No effort was made to reach any formal workshop conclusions, but a consensus readily emerged among workshop participants on the technological opportunity that exists to improve student learning and school effectiveness at a significant but acceptable price. In addition to the prima facie benefits of motivating students to higher levels of educational attainment and preparing them for the world of work, computer technology (with suitable software) can:
- guide students to the improved acquisition of certain basic and advanced skills and knowledge;
- aid students in the conduct of projects, including projects that may require resources outside of and even remote from school, which lead to the acquisition of other advanced skills and knowledge; and,
- assist the student and teacher to track and maintain a record of the student's learning progress and performance.
A copy of the workshop agenda appears in Appendix 1; a list of participants in Appendix 2. A summary of the workshop proceedings follows.
1 There are costs for equipment, materials, infrastructure (e.g., cabling), and technology related training. The costs may be supported either by addition of new resources or substitution for existing activities.
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