A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Background Paper for the Expert Panel on Educational Technology--August 31, 1998

V. Conclusion

The challenges to the Expert Panel are many. To summarize several noted in this paper:

• Technology is constantly changing and the criteria must be designed to take this into account.
• Effective technology use focuses on the problem to be solved or the learning that is required, not on the technology itself. Nevertheless, the technology use must be a key element in the change if a practice is to be deemed promising or exemplary by the panel.
• Process is as important as outcomes, and must be documented as a part of consideration of the sustainability and replicability of the program or practice.
• Multiple metrics and impacts will need to be considered as evidence of success. Many of these have not been valued in the past as appropriate assessment measures.

Clearly, the Technology Expert Panel is faced with an open-ended, complex task. There are no hard and fast rules for judging technology effectiveness. Technology is changing so quickly that it is making old styles of teaching and learning, as well as assessment, out-dated. Nonetheless, it is also providing an opportunity for educators to continually re-evaluate and refine current methods.

The panel needs to establish criteria for judging exemplary and promising practices that allow the flexibility to identify and spotlight projects that may not fit previous modes of thinking about what constitutes successful teaching, learning, and school activities. In the process of this quest, the Expert Panel will advance the state of our understanding of the links between technology and learning. We wish them well in this important, challenging endeavor.

[IV. Criteria for Selection of Promising and Exemplary Practices]

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