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Background Paper for the Expert Panel on Educational Technology--August 31, 1998
As the country strides toward the 21st century, and the nation seeks to assure educational success for all students, it is clear that methods must be established to identify educational programs that work. The Educational Research, Development, and Improvement Act of 1994 charged the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement with the establishment of panels of appropriate qualified experts and practitioners to identify, evaluate, and recommend promising and exemplary educational programs to the Secretary. Two pilot panels have been established, one in mathematics and science and one on gender equity. Due to the high level of national interest in their topics, three additional panels have been authorized: one on early reading; one on safe, disciplined, and drug-free schools; and this panel on educational technology.
Unlike the panels on math and science, which had nationally agreed upon content standards to guide them in developing criteria for determining promising and exemplary practices, the Technology Expert Panel does not have comparable, nationally recognized curriculum standards on which to build their recommendations. Recently, the International Society for Technology in Education published a document describing a set of National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Students. The NETS document outlines a set of technology foundation standards for students, divided into six broad categories (basic operations and concepts; social, ethical, and human issues; technology productivity tools; technology communications tools; technology research tools; and technology problem-solving and decision-making tools). These proposed standards provide an important starting point in helping educators plan for technology-based learning activities, but they are only the first step in what may be a long and possibly difficult process of developing national consensus. Other documents still under development in the three-year NETS project will propose standards for technology in learning and teaching; educational technology support standards, and technology assessment and evaluation standards. Furthermore, because the current NETS foundation standards cross traditional curricular and grade levels boundaries, they may be of more limited value to the expert panel on technology than were the NCTM and NSTA standards in guiding the work of the math and science expert panels.
Since the task of the Educational Technology Panel will be more open-ended and conceptually challenging than that faced by other panels, the Department convened a Technology Resource Group to provide suggestions regarding the establishment of the Technology Expert Panel. Their suggestions, along with a brief overview of research on technology effectiveness, form the basis of this paper. The paper describes the role and functions of the Technology Expert Panel, key issues for them to consider, and some lessons learned from past research on technology. It then presents suggested criteria for selection of promising and exemplary practices, with possible metrics and impacts that could be considered. While the paper has been reviewed by some of the members of the Technology Resource Group, as well as staff from the U.S. Department of Education, the views expressed are those of the authors. Furthermore, it should be noted that this paper is not intended to set the guidelines for establishing effective and promising practices; that is the work of the Expert Panel. Rather, this paper is intended to serve as a background paper to assist the Technology Expert Panel as they begin their work.
A broad-based group representing educational organizations, associations, federal agencies, and learning institutions of all levels were invited to assist the Department of Education in planning for the Technology Expert Panel. This Resource Group met on June 16, 1998 and provided suggestions regarding key issues to consider when identifying promising and exemplary programs in educational technology. In addition, they offered a number of suggestions on ways the Department could structure the Expert Panel in order to make it most effective. A list of the resource group members is attached in Appendix A.
The Technology Expert Panel, selected by the Assistant Secretary for OERI, should represent the full range of stakeholders in the educational community, including teachers, administrators, higher education representatives, members of the business and foundation community, elected officials and community members. The panel will serve as a policy-making review board to establish and oversee a valid and viable process and an effective and workable set of procedures for identifying and designating promising and exemplary programs in the area of technology. This process should help educational practitioners in making informed decisions in their efforts to simultaneously apply new technologies while staying cognizant of the new research findings in this complex and evolving field. The tasks of the Panel can be divided into two phases, development and implementation.
Development
The panel will set the overall direction for the program review process as required by the guidelines of the authorizing legislation. They will establish procedures for soliciting submissions, and establish criteria, definitions, and rubrics for designating programs as promising or exemplary. They will create the review processes, and select and train reviewers.
Implementation
The panel will be responsible for overseeing the entire program, revising the review process as necessary. The panelists will also help ensure the success of the program by encouraging developers to submit their programs for review. The panel will analyze the recommendations of the reviewers and recommend to the Secretary of Education those programs designated as promising or exemplary.
Approximately 30-40 reviewers will be selected from experts in the fields of education, technology, and evaluation. The Technology Expert Panel will train them in the rubrics, evaluation criteria and review procedures they have established. The reviewers will evaluate program submissions based on these criteria, discuss their individual ratings with other members of the review team in order to ensure an even review process, and present the final ratings to the Expert Panel.
[II. Key Issues]