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The Role of Technology in the Systemic Reform of Education and Training: Part 2

Goals 2000: Educate America Act

At the kickoff meeting of Goals 2000: Educate America Act, Secretary of Education Richard Riley said that " technological and economic changes have occurred so fast that even the standards that we thought were high -- just a few years ago -- have to be higher today if we want all of our young people to be properly prepared. Technology has been growing exponentially. Education is even more important. We have to strive once again for higher standards. Here, it is important to recognize that in the next ten years this nation will have more children and young people in school than ever before. That's another change. The Baby Boomers filled up our classrooms in the 1960s and '70s, and some of us still remember the enormous amount of effort it took to teach all those children (Riley, 1994b)."

"Now, we have the same dynamic and something more," Secretary Riley continued. "By year 2004, data tells us we will have approximately 55.7 million students going to school, seven million more than we have today. The majority of these young people will not be suburban kids. The majority will be Hispanic, African-Americans, Asian, and new immigrants -- children who can learn if we teach them to high standards. But we have to expect them to learn and teach them high standards. If we ignore their education, if we continue to give them a watered-down curriculum and link inner city schools up last to the Information Superhighway, we will find this country in an economic pickle of the first order. We will have a work force that simply does not know how to work in today's economy."

"Like many of you, Ray Cortines, the very fine chancellor of education in New York city, is setting an example by raising academic standards for every student in New York city. He had it right, a few weeks ago, when he announced the new academic requirement and said that, 'the easy way out is the road to nowhere.' We can all find an easy way out. For that is the heart of the matter. If we accept 'the easy way out,' it will surely be the road to nowhere for a generation of young people who need our help. It will be a great injustice to their families and costly to this great nation of our's. We must do this for all of our students - - our most talented students as well as all those young people who are in the middle, students from disadvantaged backgrounds, students whose first language is not English, and students with disabilities. Even homeless students like those who are being taught by our National Teacher of the Year, Sandra McBrayer -- San Diego children who have no one to speak up for them -- who go to college like many of Sandra's students...if we believe in them. We need to remember that good teachers like Sandra are at the heart of it all. They make the difference. If we want our children to be 'living report cards,' we simply have to honor the work and effort of America's teachers -- and listen to what they are telling us about our children. They simply have to be at the very center of our reform efforts. If you try to reform the schools in any other way, it will fail" (Riley, 1994b).

"Americans want the best for our children. They always have. They know our children need to learn more to get ahead...that the world they are growing up in is so different than the one that even all of us grew up in...more global, more knowledge-driven and certainly it's more competitive. This is why Goals 2000 is at the very center of an effort to redesign the American education system for the coming times -- to create a strategy of lifelong learning that beings with it Head Start and Even Start and many other pre-school programs...that makes our schools safer...that raises standards and expectations across-the-board at the K-12 level...that helps young people make the transition from school-to-work...that prepares many more young people for college or other postsecondary learning. Goals 2000 is your act - your victory, your achievement...and our opportunity...together...to lift up American education (Riley, 1994b).

In March, 1994, Goals 2000: Educate America Act legislation was passed and signed into law. It's preamble states: "To improve learning and teaching by providing a national framework for education reform; to promote the research, consensus building, and systemic changes needed to ensure equitable educational opportunities and high levels of educational achievement for all students; to provide a framework for reauthorization of all Federal education programs; to promote the development and adoption of a voluntary national system of skill standards and certifications; and for other purposes."

The Goals

School Readiness: By the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn.
School Completion: By the year 2000, the high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent.
Student Achievement and Citizenship: By the year 2000, all students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography, and every school in America will ensure that all students learn to use their minds well, so they may be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our Nation's modern economy.
Teacher Education and Professional Development: By the year 2000, the Nation's teaching force will have access to programs for the continued improvement of their professional skills and the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to instruct and prepare all American students for the next century.
Mathematics and Science: By the year 2000, United States students will be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement.
Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning: By the year 2000, every adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
Safe, Disciplined, and Alcohol-and Drug-Free Schools: By the year 2000, every school in the United States will be free of drugs, violence, and the unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning.
Parental Participation: By the year 2000, every school will promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children.

Technology is a vital part of Goals 2000 and is embodied as Title III. "Educational technology is a vital part of systemic reform. Electronic networks, for example, can facilitate the development and implementation of content and performance standards by allowing teachers and other educators to converse with one another across States. Instructional tools can be powerful resources in raising motivation and performance of all students. Furthermore, students must have technologies to enhance their learning and to master the skills necessary for the workplace. States, districts, and schools will benefit from examining technology issues as an integral part of systemic reform" (Guidance, 1994). Title III technology grants are awarded to state educational authorities (SEAs) to assist them in integrating the use of state-of-the-art technology as part of their State improvement plans

In Goals 2000, we address the need for equitable access to information for all learners. You know the metaphor of providing an on-ramp to the information highway for school buses. You know that our natural resources are the same as other countries. The only thing that will set us apart in the global market is the ingenuity of our work force gained through an educational system that provides the tools for learning. In the past we provided buildings, teachers, blackboards, chalk and books. Now we must add daily access to information for all learners These are major demands. If they are not met, the prediction is that we will create a new third world country called the United States. In the U.S., education has always been a third world country (Lane, 1994a).

When universal access was provided in the 1934 Communications Act, the only place that did not get access was the classroom. This can change if media connections are provided in all classrooms for voice, data and video. This is the only way to provide equitable access to information for all learners. Learners need access to resources that can be provided through telephone, cable, satellite, public broadcasting, wireless, commercial on-line services, Internet and any other technology. Learners need access whether they are in school, work or home. Providing one education cable drop and education rates for telephone service is a beginning...but it will not provide equitable access for all learners. We need more if we are to educate employees of the information age (Lane, 1994a).

There are a number of problems in the use of technology that have been seen in the schools. Most schools are not wired for telephone, cable or television access. Most schools have only two to four telephone lines. One line is usually reserved for emergencies. Teachers must go to the school office to call parents. They do not have privacy. All of the teachers in the school share the same phone lines with the principal, office staff, and school nurse. Many schools have computer labs but do not have computer modems to access information. Students go there several hours a week but may spend as little as ten minutes a week working on the computer. Computer labs do not enable integration of technology with curricula. They do not develop information gathering skills, or the application of newly found information to problems on which the children are working in class. Most schools do not have a satellite dish or access to programming through a satellite dish (Lane, 1994a).

A cable company may provide a cable drop and one channel for educational use, but the school has to wire the building, buy the equipment and buy or produce the programming. In a K-12 district, available programming overlaps for the age groups. Few get the programming that they want - even on tape. With limited funds, schools can usually get the cable signal to one classroom which they call a resource classroom. All of the classes at the school take turns using the room - usually only six classes per day can use the room. University campuses may have only one sophisticated distance learning classroom to be used by 20,000 students; it is rare for that classroom to be assigned to or built by the school of education. Teachers teaching in groundbreaking on-line programs such as the University of Phoenix On-line Program, have purchased the equipment in order to teach classes for students throughout the U.S. (Lane, 1994a).

Teachers do not have training in the use of information technologies. Funding is still too limited to provide this. Telecommunications operators seldom provide the training that is needed. Most states do not require information technology courses for students graduating from schools of education. Several require one three hour course. In K-12 schools that receive Star Schools programs, many do not have a satellite dish. Students view the programs on the cable access channel, public television station, or on tape (Lane, 1994a).

The Star Schools programs are meant to be interactive, but most schools cannot afford the telephone line. Some teachers provide interaction by taking students to the phone - in the principal's office. Some teachers provide interaction by fax with the television teacher. Most schools do not have a fax machine. One teacher gives the fax to her husband who drops it off at the high school where there is a fax machine (Lane, 1994a).

In research on the TEAMS Star Schools Project, a new model of teacher re-education was identified (Lane, 1994 b). The research shows that teachers who watch a television teacher are presented with a role model for the new instructional methods. After using the programs for three years, the teachers report that they have changed their instructional methods so that the benefits to the children include constructing their own knowledge and become self-directed learners (Lane, 1994a).

What would help? To make the benefits of distance learning available, all classrooms must have access to information technologies - voice, data, and video - as part of a network. Just as we believe that libraries should be open to the public so that everyone can share the information, we must extend the same provision to all information providers - whether it arrives on a telephone line, coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, satellite, wireless or broadcast. Low educational rates should be available from all telecommunications entities which come under the jurisdiction of the FCC. Specifically, there should be lower educational rates for cable, telephone, satellite, broadcast, commercial on-line services, Internet and provisions made for low educational rates for future information providers (Lane, 1994a).

In order to compete we must build an educational system to match the needs of the Information Age. Being successful in the global economy is clearly linked to a strong education system. The critical natural resources of the Information Age are knowing how to learn, and access to education...which includes access to information. Because of this, it is imperative that we provide equitable access to all learners. If universal access is to mean equitable access for learners, then legislation must state this and provide methods by which it can be implemented. Providing one line to a school is not enough. Providing ten lines to a school with 600 students is not enough. If we were expected to share access to information with 60 other people, little work would get done. The same goes for children. Their job is to learn. Most new and exciting learning resources that inspire and motivate them to construct their own knowledge and prepare them to work in the future are available through learning technologies. They can't do the work of childhood - they can't learn - without access to information. The same is true for adults (Lane, 1994a).

Distance learning facilitates high performance education by encouraging new instructional techniques and by allowing electronic access to information from any location. It is a driving force in the restructuring efforts of American education. The restructured school must bring these resources to the classroom and substantially supplement or replace the dated, non-interactive material used today if we are to implement Goals 2000. Working and learning are becoming synonymous. The work world for which students are being prepared requires learners who know how to learn and construct knowledge. These learners will become continuous lifelong learners. The real superhighway, is the highway of the mind (Lane, 1994a).

Models of Learning: Constructivism, Student Empowerment and Andragogy

Constructivism

The changes that are being advocated are based on a growing body of work and research that theorizes that learners actively construct their own understanding of the world around them by fitting their perceptions of the world into their existing knowledge and understanding. The positions represented by psychological, philosophical, pedagogical and thinking skills advocates are called constructivism. These theorists (von Glaserfeld, 1987; Shapiro, 1989; Confrey, 1990; Noddings, 1990; Davis, 1990; and Cobb et al, 1992) generally agree that learners must construct their own knowledge. Each learner has conceptions and skills "with which he or she must construct knowledge to solve problems presented by the environment. The role of the community -- other learners and the teacher -- is to provide the setting, pose the challenges, and offer the support that will encourage construction."

Anderson, et al (1994) elaborate this perspective on learning and teaching.

Learning is dependent upon the unique prior conceptions that the learner brings to the experience. Old knowledge is the foundation into which the new knowledge must be integrated.
The learner must construct his or her own meaning. Students must organize and reorganize knowledge themselves until it fits with prior conceptions and has meaning within the learner's overall system. Learning is not memorizing or taking in knowledge in a form designed by someone else.
Learning is contextual and should be based on concrete experiences that. The meaning that new knowledge has is highly dependent upon its context; it should not be presented in the abstract, independent of any meaningful context.
Learning is dependent upon the shared understandings that learners negotiate with others. Learners and teachers bring individually held knowledge, beliefs, and feelings to the classroom and through daily interaction, they negotiate shared understandings of knowledge. These intersubjective meanings, "consensual domains," increase the importance of discussion and cooperative learning.
Constructivist teaching involves understanding students' existing cognitive structures and providing appropriate learning activities to assist them. Teachers need to attend to students' existing cognitive structures and provide learning activities accordingly.
Rote learning is often used because it is easier than dealing with the learners preconceptions and misconceptions. It is easier to memorize facts because it does not build on prior learning, and therefore, is not influenced by misconceptions. Students when exposed to rote learning for several years come not only to accept it but to actually prefer it. Learners must be made aware that meaning is something they construct, not something given to them by the teacher.
Teaching can utilize one or more of several key strategies to facilitate conceptual change depending upon the congruence of the concepts with student understanding and conceptualization. Models include some variation of awareness, disequilibrium, and reformation. Awareness is based on the student working with information sources which link prior knowledge and construct meaning. In disequilibrium, learners evaluate the new constructs for consistency (agreement) or dissonance (disagreement) with prior knowledge. To reformulate their thinking, during the reformation phrase, students may be presented with formal concepts that lead to the resolution of anomalies and to the dissipation of cognitive dissonance.
The key elements of conceptual change can be addressed by specific teaching methods which address awareness, disequilibrium, and reformation.
Constructivism leads to new conceptions of what constitutes excellence in teaching and learning and in the roles of both teachers and students. The classroom is no longer teacher-centered but is student centered. The teacher serves as a facilitator, pathfinder, guide, clarifier, and maintains the environment. Students shift from that of a passive receptacle to that of an active participant, exploring, investigating, discussing, and constructing his/her own knowledge. These role changes are among the most difficult to attain.
In constructivist teaching and learning, more emphasis is placed on learning how to learn than on an accumulation of facts, creating a philosophy of content in which "less is more."

Student Empowerment Model of Learning

Cummins (1989), in a synthesis of research and theory on successfully learning by language, cultural and ethnic minority students, provides the model of student empowerment. At its core are four components, each with a major shift from the traditional educational paradigm to an empowered paradigm. The four core components are:

Cultural - Linguistic Incorporation: moving from additive rather than subtractive; where students' languages and cultures are incorporated into the school program rather than being seen as hindrances to their learning
Pedagogy: interactive/experiential pedagogy, rather than one of transmission of information; promotes intrinsic motivation on the part of student to use language in order to formulate meaningful questions and generate knowledge; based on the work of Paolo Freire and others
Community Relations: inclusive rather than exclusive; full community participation encouraged as an integral component of children's education
Assessment: advocacy oriented rather than legitimization oriented; professionals involved in assessment become advocates for students by focusing primarily on the ways in which students' academic difficulty is a function of the interactions within the school context rather than legitimizing the location of the "problem' within students

Andragogy

Malcolm Knowles identified a model for adult education (1975) which he called andragogy and defined as "the art and science of helping adults learn." According to Knowles (1983) the media have not been used effectively for adult education because they have been seen as one-way transmissions of teacher-controlled instruction which does not result in optimal learning; they are based upon the pedagogical model of education and the entertainment model of media use. Knowles recommends the andragogical model of learning and the educational model of media.

Knowles makes the distinction among the andragogical and pedagogical models of teaching based upon sets of assumptions about learners which teachers make. The teacher who makes one set of assumptions will teach pedagogically whether he or she is teaching children or adults, whereas the teacher who makes the other set of assumptions will teach andragogically whether the learners are children or adults (Knowles, 1975). The key features of the model are interaction, task-centeredness, individualization, and self-directedness. Knowles states that learning is most effective when learners engage interactively in the inquiry process. Interaction can be introduced between the learner and the program using interactive video disc, computers, and interactive reading materials. There are many striking similarities between andragogy and constructivism.

Concept of the learner: The learner is self-directing. The psychological definition of adult is "one who has arrived at a self-concept of being responsible for one's own life, of being self-directing." Adults who have arrived at that point develop a deep psychological need to be perceived by others, and treated by others, as capable of taking responsibility for themselves. In situations where others impose their wills on the adult without allowing the adult to participate in making decision which affect the adult, he/she will often experience a feeling of resentment and resistance. Adults entering a situation labeled "education" or "training" hark back to their conditioning in school, assume role of dependency, and demand to be taught. However, if they really are treated like children, this conditioned expectation conflicts with their much deeper psychological need to be self-directing, and their energy is diverted away from learning to dealing with this internal conflict.
The role of the learner's experience: Adult enter into an educational activity with both a greater volume and a different quality of experience from youth. For many kinds of learning, adults are the richest resources for one another, and hence the greater emphasis on group discussion, simulation exercises, laboratory experiences, field experiences, and problem-solving projects that make use of the experiences of the learners. Because of the vast difference in learners' experiences, emphasis is placed on individualized learning plans through self-directed learning contracts. Adults derive their self-identity from their experience; if this is ignored, not valued, or not made use of, it is not just the experience that is being rejected - it is the person.
Readiness to learn: Adults become ready to learn when they experience a need to know or do something in order to perform more effectively in some aspect of their lives. Chief sources of readiness are the developmental tasks associated with moving from one stage of development to another; but any change -- birth of children, loss of job, divorce, death of a friend or relative, change of residence - is likely to trigger a readiness to learn. To induce a readiness to learn, learners can be exposed to more effective role models, engaged in career planning or provided with diagnostic experiences in which they can assess the gaps between where they are now and where they want and need to be.
Orientation to learning: Because adults are motivated to learn after they experience a need in their life situation, they enter an educational activity with a life-centered, task-centered, or problem-centered orientation to learning. For the most part, adults do not learn for the sake of learning; they learn in order to be able to perform a task, solve a problem, or live in a more satisfying way. The chief implication is the importance of organizing learning experience (curricula) around life situations rather than according to subject matter units. Another implication is the importance of making clear at the outset of a learning experience what its relevance is to the learner's life tasks or problems. One of the first tasks of a facilitator of learning is to develop "the need to know" what will be learned.
Motivation to learn: The most potent motivators are internal -- self-esteem, recognition, better quality of life, greater self-confidence, self-actualization, and the like. These intrinsic motivators are superior to external motivators such as a better job, a salary increase, and the like.
The basic format of the andragogical model is a process design which assigns a dual role to the facilitator of learning; first and primarily, the role of designer and manager of processes or procedures that will facilitate the acquisition of content by the learners; and only secondarily, the role of content resource. Besides the facilitator, other resources include peers, experts, media, experiential learning, and field experiences. It is the facilitators job to link the resources and the learners.
Climate setting create a climate that is informal and conducive to learning. The physical environment may be one large circle or several small circles of chairs. The psychological climate includes mutual respect, collaborativeness, mutual trust, supportiveness, openness and authenticity, pleasure, and humanness.
Involve learners in mutual planning as people tend to feel committed to any decision in proportion to the extent to which they have participated in making it.
Involve participants in diagnosing their own needs for learning. This involves meshing the needs of which the learners are aware (felt needs) with the needs their organizations or society has for them (ascribed needs). Using a model of competencies allows learners to identify the gaps between where they are now and where they need to be.
Involve learners in formulating their learning objectives. Learning contracts provide structure for this. Goals are set by mutual negotiation.
Involve learners in designing learning plans which help learners identify resources and devise strategies for using the resources to accomplish their objectives.
Help learners carry out their learning plan. Knowles sees the model as being a process design rather than a content plan so that there is no attempt to cover particular content areas; instead the student samples content in relevant problem situations. It is useless to have a stockpile of content information without having a process or method by which to handle it.
Involve learners in evaluating their learning by judging the quality and worth of the total program and their learning outcomes. The evaluation of the learning which has occurred is done through mutual assessment of the evidence which is prepared by the learner

For media programs to be effective with adult learners, Knowles states that they must be organized around the acquisition of the knowledge, skills, understandings, attitudes, and values that are applicable to performing the life tasks with which adults are concerned. Knowles (1975) states that one of the most significant findings from research (Tough, 1979) about adult learning is that when adults go about learning something naturally, rather than being taught, they are highly self-directing. He finds that evidence is accumulating to support that what adults learn on their own initiative - through planning and constructing their own learning - they learn more deeply and permanently than what they learn by being taught.

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updated 3/3/96

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