A Paper Presented in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for
ED811 The Historical and Social Foundations of Education
Capella University, March, 2001
By Diane L. Jackson
The Effect of Cyberspace Issues on Education in the 21st Century
INTRODUCTION
William Gibson first defined cyberspace in his science fiction book, Necromancer. He wrote about a hallucinatory future and a world whose people were connected by a network that he called cyberspace. The characters were,
linked to the network through their brains, experiencing an eerie feeling of leaving the body, flying, floating in another place built by binary data, digital representations of information that take on physical form. (Bennahum, p. 47)
Historically, education has focused on the type of instruction that Tapscott (1998) refers to as broadcast learning whereby the teacher transmits or broadcasts and the student receive. Based on technological changes in both learning methodology and society, this will have to change in the 21st century if educators are to offer students an appropriate education.
Old Nature of Computers
As we begin the new century and those interested in education continue to investigate new parameters for our educational system, we look to the effect of technology on education. Certainly, issues such as copyright, program legitimacy, data security, intellectual property rights, curricular topics, and characteristics of the Net generation are at the forefront of those investigations. However, a review of how the nature of computers has changed over the last 30 years offers some parallels that we must address if we are to make any progress in educational reform.
Historically, a computer was a person who computed. Those individuals spent their entire lifetimes reworking algorithmic table, dividing pi out to unimaginable decimal points, and calculating war-time firing tables for canons in different environmental conditions. As the computer-machine developed, it was assumed its primary purpose would be as a number cruncher. However, Alan Turing, a brilliant mathematician and code breaker, put forth the idea that a machine could also deal with text if that text was encoded in such a way as to be interpretable through a binary system. He foresaw a time when computers would become general all-purpose machines that would be equally able to formulate complex calculations as devise poetic sequences of text.
Subsequent technological development proved him correct. Software developers found that, with the appropriate man-machine interface, programming was equally successful for both textual and numerical data. Turkle introduced the terms 'opaque' and 'transparent' when she described the difference between different operating systems e.g. the Macintosh vs. Personal Computer (PC). Her studies found that individuals working with the Macintosh were content not to be able to manipulate the internal workings. That is, 'tweaking' was not really necessary in order for the users to successfully accomplish tasks. PC owners, on the other hand, argued that understanding all aspects of the internal working of the computer facilitated their work on the superficies. The distinction is similar to that of a person who knows how to drive a car but cannot troubleshoot vs. those who fine-tune the vehicle. This, then, was the difference between transparent and opaque: Transparency, the ability to understand both the surface and deeper meanings of an item and opacity, the manipulation of only the surface.
Mainstream computer research no long aspires to program intelligence into computers but expects intelligence to emerge from the interactions of small subprograms. If these emergent simulations are 'opaque', that is, too complex to be completely analyzed, this is not necessarily a problem. After all, these theorists say, our brains are opaque to us, but this has never prevented them from functioning perfectly well as our minds. (Turkle, p. 20)
Perhaps because of its computational background, computer programming centered on the formation and manipulation of rules. 'Top-down' program design became the norm. Programming students were admonished against the spaghetti-like code that resulted from spontaneous work. Students were taught to break every task into smaller subprograms and to build upon those smallest components. Anyone unable to think logically was thought to be incapable of learning programming languages. Although it was generally accepted that there would be more than one right answer in terms of the actual coding, the process itself was structured and planned in advance.
This methodology was passed on to the traditional computer classes as well. Computer teachers were often former mathematicians who supported the traditional top-down notation. As more and more applications became available, students were taught step-by-step how to use those applications. The rules that applied in programming were transferred to general applications. Students were instructed in the basics of word processing, databases, and spreadsheets.
This type of progression from ignorance - knowledge - mastery was similar to Piaget's developmental theories (Turkle, 1997). Piaget believed that there was a progression from that of the concrete to the abstract. A finely developed adult mind was not thought to dwell in concrete thought patterns but to have grown beyond that stage. Again, the emphasis was on developmental stages. It was thought that we learned by breaking down tasks into their smallest units and then recombining those units to make something larger until we had been able to comprehend the whole.
In other words, the bits made up the whole. Understanding the bits would, by definition, mean that the whole would be understood and mastered. However, with the advent of windows, multimedia, and the Internet, the very nature of computing changed. As Turkle points out,
On the issue of intellectual regimentation, there has been an equally dramatic change. In essence, software designers have come to agree about computers offering only one way. Instead of rules to learn they want to create environments to explore. These new interfaces project the message, 'Play with me, experiment with me there is no one correct path.' (p. 60)
New learning theories have posited that students do not, in fact, always learning incrementally. The research is providing evidence that the brain tends to group objects together and to assimilate meaning through linkages. Whereas traditional learning promoted incremental learning, modern theorists advocate experiential learning. In other words, as the computer has changed so, it would appear, has our mind. Shlain (1998) even goes so far as to write the modern brain has been rewired and that these new connections are resulting from the assimilation of technology. He states that with the advent of the keyboard and other similar input devices, the brain no longer needs to be right and/or left hemisphere dominated. And this development, he argues, has far-ranging implications on our future educational systems.
Unfortunately, although modern day theorists take the computer and technology into account, they do not always see the incredible change that must take place in education if we are to successfully educate young people to be effective, contributing members of society. Instead, we analyze the more superficial aspects that, although are important to our development as a technologically efficient society, should not be the underpinnings of a new educational outlook.
Computers now offer us simulations and it is these simulations that change us. Technology is now not just about doing things better and faster but about doing things differently and this, as the author will address in the next few sections, is not enough to substantially improve our aging education bureaucracy. We will need to look at education through the eyes of our children and not through the pages of a manual.
Copyright Issues.
Particularly relevant to future educational frameworks will be the resolution of the copyright issues. Both the legislative and judicial branches have postponed substantial work on the digital problem. Some argue this will continue until a Napster-like text based issue presses the point. Indeed, the long term significance of Napster may, in effect, be the introduction of networking capabilities without additional software. This may revolutionize networking within schools as it has already been established that a lack of technical expertise within school systems causes many problems.
Be that as it may, the issue of digital copyrights will need to be resolved, specifically, the copying of data and the rights of ownership, before a new learning paradigm can be initiated. The Copyright Act of 1976 stated that original expression is eligible for protection. These expressions (Bosen, 2000) included literary, dramatic and musical works, pictorial, graphic and sculptural works, audio-visual works, sound recordings and architectural works. The creator of the object became eligible for copyright protection once the object was in a tangible form and, once the copyright was registered, had the "exclusive right to control the copying of that expression" (Bosen, p. 38). The legal limitation to the Act became known as the 'fair use' and allowed the public to use copyrighted material for purposes such as criticism, comment, research, and education.
Since copyright revision has been slow in the past, (Christian Science Monitor, on-line) and global information delivery is increasing exponentially, sound international agreements for protecting the interests of both the consuming public and the providers of information should be expedited. As Brian Mudge, an attorney with Kenyon & Kenyon, a Manhattan based intellectual property firm stated, 'To the surprise of many, copyright and trademark laws do apply in cyberspace' (Traiman, p. 41). Although the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, passed in 1998 (Albiniak, 2001), took steps toward protecting digital content such as movies, songs, and books. However, both the legislative and judicial branches of the government appear reluctant to jump into the fray until traditional business is threatened. However, if the digital issues are not settled satisfactorily, commercial companies like TTR in Israel (Levy, 2001), Licensemusic.com (Peer II, 2000), and the Broadcast Music, Inc. will put forth their own solutions which range for charging users a user fee to employing technological features that substitute white noise for the music and/or disable the copy and cut/past functions.
In the limelight for the last two years, Sean Fenning's Company, Napster, has brought the digital issue to a head because, for the first time, the courts had to address the problem of a direct confrontation between 62 million users (Levy, p. 60) and the commercial music industry. Although the effect of Napster on the purchase of CDs has been debated, it would appear that the areas immediately surrounding universities and colleges did show a decline in CD purchases.
Specifically, the SoundScan sales report for 2000's first quarter from stores within a five-mile radius of colleges showed a decline of about 4% on a year to year basis. Those that were near the schools that banned Napster -- and thus likely had substantial download activity -- were down 7% in the same period. This is in contrast to national sales, which were up nearly 12% in the same quarter. (Peer II, p. 33)
One of the problems, of course, is that an individual who accessed material on the Internet is not free to use it in any way he or she wishes because of the limitations imposed by the Copyright Act. "Much of the debate about apply traditional copyright law to this medium has centered on the question of where copying actually occurs" (Bosen, p. 30). This is because an individual's Web browser actually constructs the page or site being accessed and, for some, this is sufficient to constitute copying of the material. Others argue that copying occurs only when the file is saved in the hard drive of one's computer.
Murray (2000) points out that in addition to understanding that computer access to anything on the Web involves copying in the technical sense, there is a problem regarding the 'first sale' doctrine of copyright law. First sale grants the right of the purchases of the copyrighted item to resell it; however, the individual does not then physically possesses the item. With respect to digitally copyrighted data, the information is still on the hard drive even if you have given it and/or sold it under the 'first sale' provision. What then is the law's position regarding that issue?
David Post, an associate professor of law at Temple University has, among other things, advocated the free flowing, creative nature of the Internet and has campaigned vigorously to keep the new frontier open. In an article (Post and Johnson) he co-published in the Standford Law Review, he concluded that in cyberspace,
law, defined as a thoughtful group conversation about care values, will persist. But it will not, could not, and should not be the same law as that applicable to physical, geographically-defined territories. (Greene, p. 45)
Post is indefatigable in his pursuit of cyberspace as a real place and, as such, believes the people should be entrusted with the governing of such an entity. He writes that the Internet "is a persistent social space that people can enter and leave at their option and we can talk about rules and norms in a coherent way that we cannot talk about with telephones" (Greene, p. 87). For him, it is the continuance of the Internet, its omnipresence, which should ensure distinct treatment, separate from that controlling non-digital copyright.
Once these issues are resolved, educators will be free to develop E-publishing to help ensure more up-to-date texts. While Jim Griffin, CEO for Cherry Lange Digital says the entertainment conglomerate is "engaged in Tarzan economics desperately holding on to one vine -- their old business model -- until they can grab firm hold of the next one" (Levy, p. 60), other new emerging technologies, for example, electronic books, are waiting for privacy issues to be fully addressed. Flaws in the traditional publishing industry may be offset by new on-line book publishers such as Hard Shell Word Factory of Amherst Junction, Wisconsin and MightyWords.com (Brady, 2000) who do not have high production or distribution costs and can afford to give 30% of their sales to their writers. E-publishing offers instant global reach, faster publishing dates, and more innovative writing styles.
The e-publishing push is reshaping literary culture by allowing writers to be more innovative, too. Douglas Anthony Cooper, who serialized his novel, Delirium, on the net six years ago before it was released in print, said that writing from the Web changed the form of his book. He created four parallel story strands, allowing readers to chose form alternative plot twists and shape the narrative to their own liking because of the low cost of electronic distribution, the Net allows authors to cater to smaller markets than is generally possible in print. (Brady, p. 48)
Intellectual Property Ownership
Copyright issues, however, are not the only barriers to a new paradigm. Intellectual property issues have surfaced as well. Specifically, for educators, the ownership of lecture notes in a digital environment is being questioned. It is the reproduction and adaptation rights of the copyright owner that are of particular concern for Internet users and educators. Each time a photo is scanned, regardless of the purpose, there is a reproduction of that photo. The importance that traditional copyright law has placed on the creator is one reason United States products dominate the world market according to Posch (1999). The development of digital issues was never foreseen by the original pioneers of the Internet saw the future as that of a sharing of scientific and technical data and not as a commercial enterprise. With metatags, cybersquatters, and typosquatters finding new and original ways of drawing people to their sites, Wooding (1999) says the laws must begin to address the distinctly digital nature of the medium.
Whereas authorship comprises the foundation of non-digital copyright law, authorship is not actually defined with the Law itself. And, in fact, with respect to digital information, who would be regarded as the author of a work that was developed by a computer program? Samuelson (in Search, 1999) identifies five prospects:
Samuelson further argues that unless the Western interpretation of authorship as comprising the individual physical ownership of a creative work as the critical factor in term of marketing, the legal ambiguities will continue concerning the creation and dissemination of electronic information. That this issue is important to the development of 21st century education is noted with regards to the recent controversy surrounding several Internet companies that pay university students for their notes and then post those notes for others to use.
At least two other Internet companies that post lecture notes from college classes on their Web site, Menlo Park based Versity.com Inc. and Houston based Study Free LLC are facing criticism from professors nationwide. At the heart of the debate is whether professors have the right to control the public dissemination of class notes. Professors contend that they do since intellectual property rights cover their lectures. Companies such as Colegiate Media contend they don't since notes are a student's interpretation of a lecture rather than verbatim copies. (Harris, p. 3)
Several universities have already devised policies that clearly state the exclusive ownership of lecture notes are the sole property of the professor and that these notes must be approved before being publicly distributed.
Proliferation of online learning.
While the issues of copyright and intellectual property ownership remain unresolved, companies and schools have not been idle. The proliferation of on-line courses and virtual schools has been well documented over the last several years.
A recent Department of Education study of postsecondary schools found that 58% of two year and 62% of four year public colleges offer distance education courses. Another 28% of two year and 23% of four year public colleges plan to start offering distance courses within three years. (Hodgson, p. 34)
Czubaj (2000) indicates that learning through cyberspace occurs through one of the four learning theories: general systems theory, communication theory, learning theory or instructional theory. In the general system theory, a unit of interrelated and interacting components works together toward a common outcome. Communication theorists focus on the quality of the connection in order to facilitate maximum learning. Certainly a weak or slow signal will weaken the overall learning and will not provide an optimal environment for the multimedia aspects of cyberspace learning. Although there is, at this time, no general cyberspace learning theory, current theory is more of an amalgamation of popular behavioral and cognitive learning theories that are used to elicit a response from the learner. And, finally, instructional theorists attempt to organize the learning events around anticipated learning outcomes as they lead the students toward the desired behavior.
Eddy (in Czubaj, 2000) studied computer learning environment in Australia, Russia, and the United States. They then compiled a list of three advantages to cyberspace curricula:
They found that the various countries offered different types of cyberspace learning from that of traditional teaching techniques offered through a different medium to application based assignments utilized by students to complete homework assignments to full-scale multimedia operations where the material was presented in a new way. It was fascinating to read about this continuum of educational learning in cyberspace because it indicated that in much the same way as the computer has developed from a solitary machine to a more socializing network; technology education follows a similar pattern. That is, given a high-fear, low-experience environment, the computer and technology instruction tend to revolve around the completion of assignments on the computer. The next level would involve using the Internet, for example, to offer course material; however, that material is text based. In other words, although the medium has changed, the presentation has not and learning is offering in a linear mode. At the end of the continuum, there is full-fledged cyberspace learning where the student becomes part of the computer environment and the material is developed to take full advantage of the multimedia components available. At the present time, there are only a few individuals and a few institutions offering this type of teaching/learning environment.
One institution that has gained popular recognition is the Phoenix University (Hodgson, 1999) which uses custom made software that automates networking capabilities. All students load the software onto their personal computer, which then facilitates the downloading, and uploading of assignments and discussions. While undergoing the accreditation process, the association were quite interested in figuring out at what point the University would become financially viable.
The International Data corporation in Framingham, Massachusetts estimates that some one million students will take courses at a distance, most of them online, in 1999 (Morris, p. 90). Of course, all this cyber-education raises questions about academic standards. How will the students be assessed? Is the work of the same caliber as that offered by a more traditional university? Will the schools be economically viable given the high cost of designing and implementing an online community? But, of course, these are not the only concerns. Faculty must be able to recognize "student writing styles and not the faces in the seats" (Peterman, p. 28). Technical glitches must be overcome and new uses for existing technology must be developed for this new environment.
At the present time, the data comparing the effectiveness of an online educational program versus a traditional program are producing conflicting results. Although accreditors (on-line, p. 21) have traditionally focused on the procedures by which colleges measured student performance, this is now standing with the increasing numbers of distance learning students so that what is assessed is whether or not the student has mastered the material. Additionally, the economic viability of such institutions is of concern to accrediting organizations. In fact, when the first completely virtual university, Jones University, was accredited through the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (Blumenstyk, p. 27), the evaluation team focused much of its attention on the university's financing and ability to support itself in the future.
As we shall see later on in this paper, Tapscott (1998) suggests that the increased societal pressure for more online opportunities may be because the Net generation has assimilated technology whereas the adults responsible for teaching have only learned technology and there is a difference. Some of this attitudinal difference is reflected in a recent study conducted by Scholastic magazine whereby 48% of the children polled do not consider hacking a crime (Honeycutt, p. 174). The Net generation appears to both perceive cyberspace and learn from it in distinct ways. These distinctions should be incorporated into future educational paradigms of learning.
That the students are increasingly interested in cyberspace is indicated in recent statistics offered by the Butler Country Community College,
In only 16 months, the number of students majoring in computer science has increased nearly threefold, school officials say. Enrollment increased from 255 to 1,100 students, says Steve Cox, the coordinator of Butler's computer science program. And the number of courses offered by the department jumped from 28 to 92. Like many other schools struggling to find their footing in a high tech landscape that is constantly changing, Butler is moving away from classes on computer programming theory. It's shifting the focus to subjects such as Web site development, system networking, and graphics. (Siebenmark, p. 18)
Even as far back as 1986, Harvard administrators (Bennahaum, 42) had acknowledged that knowing something about computers would be necessary for well rounded graduates. It's interesting to note that in the ensuing years, many of the adults at the time believed the computer to be detrimental to literacy and many of these same adults have not yet adapted to the notion of the computer revolution in education. That is, they have recognized a digital revolution with regard to consumable items. These adults will happily watch a television ad promoting a washing machine that does everything so efficiently that all that remained for the user was to push the button to get it started.
However, these same adults do not yet realize the significance of a digital technology on education. Predictions regarding the future of education abound, including
The greatest impact and focus on education is going to come under the umbrella of accountability. some of this will be in line with the new retention policy and some for the new testing policy by the state. We will have to reevaluate how we do business There are major changes in funding which will force changes. More and more the governor and the legislature are handing out money in restricted accounts. This decreases local control and increases decisions made in Sacramento. The third big change is what will technology change? There is going to be a greater amount of individual learning on the web. We must teach our children how to make ethical choices there, and how to determine which information is fact and what is not . There will be huge changes in the physical structure of how and when learning will take place. It will no longer be restricted to the classroom from 8-3 Monday through Friday. We can have summer academies, Saturday classes. We will be in and out of the classroom and in and out of the actual day. (Mueller, p. 32)
There are, moreover, alternative positions. For example, Kirschner, Chief Executive of Fathom, an online broad knowledge web site but envisions online learning as complementary to traditional coursework. "College students are a piece of the puzzle, and the rset is working adults who need actionable knowledge" (Cantwell, p. 40). As school face the dilemma of teacher shortages, more and more are turning to distance learning as a panacea of sorts. According to the State Technology Initiatives Report (Electronic Education Report, online), at least eight states have developed a virtual high school in some form in the past two years (p. 1).
The Department of Education is testing various learning initiatives. Among these initiatives is the United Start Distance Learning Consortium which is used in two states and funded by a five year US Department of Education Star Schools Grant. Other governing bodies have opted for commercial developers like Class.com. Class.com was launched in July, 1999 and has enrolled 6,000 students from 135 countries as well as helping Kansas and Kentucky to develop state specific online high schools (Electronic Education Report, p. 2).
While cost, convenience and accessibility are driving a cyberspace revolution in education, there is also news to suggest the faculty are increasingly discovering the value of IT in enriching the classroom experience. According to a recent Computer Survey (Cartwright, 1999), a third of all college classes now use the Internet as part of the syllabus and web pages are now used as resources in approximately 25% of all college courses. However, the interest should not solely be in the quantity of high tech schools but in the quality of learning that takes place. It would appear then that the single most important IT issue in higher education today is "assisting faculty to integrate technology into instruction" (Cartwright, p. 55).
Case Study: Maryland Virtual High School of Science and Mathematics
As we evaluate the nature of the virtual school learning environment, it would be helpful to investigate a specific case. The Maryland Virtual High School of Science and Mathematics (MVHS) was first established in 1994 as an effort to provide science resources, mentoring, and support for internet collaboration by teachers and students throughout the state of Maryland (Verona, 1999). Two grants, funded by the National Science Foundation, have supported its development and research. The first grant was set up to address the question of whether or not teacher leaders can work with colleagues to integrate computational science projects/activities into the science classroom. To achieve their goal of integration of science activities into the science classroom, several subgoals needed to be addressed. These included: (1) infrastructure development which helped to develop a locally managed Internet connectivity; (2) instruction of teachers in computational technology through the use of STELLA (a simulation software) and MATLAB (a tool for large two dimensional data sets or for models that change over time); (3) collaborative and classroom projects. Collaborative projects were designed by staff or teachers and carried out by a group of interested teachers while the classroom based projects were designed by one or a group of teachers but were adapted for standalone use within a particular classroom. "Although the collaborative projects were engaging and often emphasized valuable skills and processes, classroom based projects allowed teachers to choose activities that would best meet their own instructional goals" (Verona, p. 104).
The originators of the program believe that the results of the first stage were positive. Specifically, among their success, the following accomplishments were met: (1) cost efficient networking was provided throughout the state which included the use of a student-based system operators; (2) network-based collaborative projects were visible to many outside the scope of the participating schools; and (3) teacher leaders emerged who were able to scaffold their energy and skills to others who reached others, etc.
Among the problems addressed during the first session were the following: (1) schools lacked the technical expertise in the area of networking and school servers managed by students was threatening to the adults in the schools; (2) teachers had to have alternative plans for the times when the network would go down which was difficult who for seasoned teachers could easily teach for non-technological problems but had difficulties when the technologies let them down. In addition, they were being asked to give up their omniscient role in the classroom and to instead act as guides and facilitators.
The teachers who emerged as leaders were the risk takers and innovators. With their help, support in the form of technical assistance, collaborative projects and curriculum based instructional material was put in place so that the majority of teachers advanced considerably in the use of information technology and in their understanding of computational science. (Verona, p. 111)
The second grant placed an emphasis on computational modeling to support student learning in accord with the Maryland State Science Standards. Since the teachers were ultimately successful in the first phase as overall leaders, a second question was posed. Would a more developed program of peer support, including classroom visitation, have a positive effect on classroom implementation of computational modeling? Although the MVHS project leaders indicated that three years is a minimal amount of time to make conclusions regarding the success and/or failure of a program, they were satisfied with the overall results, including the introduction of a peer mentoring program to help pass on needed skills to other educators. However, due to several factors, the peer support paradigm was, perhaps, not as successful as had been anticipated.
The success of the peer support paradigm is qualified, however. Although center directors have visited many classrooms, few supporting teachers made more than one or two visits to the classrooms of participating teachers. Participating teachers didn't often take advantage of opportunities to observe the teaching of supporting teachers and center directors. The reasons for this included logistics, the uneasiness of participating teachers with a process that reminds them of evaluation, and a lack of understanding by these teachers of the purpose of such visits. Suggestions were made during leadership team meetings in early 1999 to deal with these problems. Providing teachers with a better understanding of the rationale behind classroom visitation is part of an ongoing discussion on student learning. In addition, an emphasis on 'peer collaboration' rather than 'peer support' and restructuring such collaboration to avoid some of the logistical problems may be helpful. (Verona, p. 120)
Ultimately, however, teachers will need to take charge of their own learning if a viable 21st century paradigm is to be met. What was interesting about the experiences faced by the MVHS organizers was the inclusion of a whole-concept program. That is, the developers built in collaborative schemes and the integration of state standards. They also realized that in order to be successful, a working community including technical support, students, facilitators, and teachers all had to have ownership. This is sometimes lacking in programs that originate at political and/or administrative levels. One of the institutional paradigms that will, by necessity, need to be established is that of ownership. As computing has become global, so must the solutions.
Net Generation.
So far, the author has addressed particular technological issues as being critical to the development of a modern educational paradigm. These have included copyright, intellectual and distance learning concerns. However, of equal validity should be a look at how students have changed. If we are unable to address and/or understand their needs, the educational system will not develop beyond the factory model established at the beginning of the industrial age. Tapscott (1998) refers to the Net Generation personality as: (1) accepting of diversity; (2) curious; and (3) assertive and self-reliant (p. 86-87). He observes that while the couch-potato generation has been lulled into the passive environment of the television, the Net Generation has not.
TV is controlled by adults. Kids are passive observers. In contrast, children control much of their world on the net. It is something they do themselves; they are users and they are active. They do not just observe, the participate. They inquire, discuss, argue, play, shop, criticize, investigate, ridicule, fantasize, seek, and inform. (Tapscott, p. 25)
Recently, the author asked a group of students how they would learn a new computer program and they responded, almost en masse, with a quizzical look on their faces, "Just do it". The question was repeated a second time; however, a change was made. This time the question was how would an adult learn a new program. They hesitated and looked at each other and, finally, some one answered, "They wouldn't"; another responded, "They'd ask me"; and another one said, "They would look it up." Interesting answers and very reflective of the current problem with technology in education.
Adults are planning the programs but adults have not absorbed technology. Students have and continue to absorb and learn by trial and error. Having watched students learn a new program, the author has observed a methodology to their learning. They instinctively appear to know what to try and what not to try. It is as if they have acquired an additional sensory perception. If they were provided with a manual, they would have problems because a manual is generally set up for as a linear tool; they are used to and require non-linear tools to learn new technological skills.
When adults plan the lessons, there is still the tendency to go from simple-to-complex -- to build upon former learned skills. The students, on the other hand, appear to leapfrog from one area to another and, in many cases, their concentration is intense or directed towards their small group only with little regard for any other group, including the teacher, in the classroom. Perhaps, our tendency to plan in discrete units is reflective of the history of computing as well as of our own learning styles.
For the first few decades of computing, most computer systems were batch -- taking input in the form of cards, tapes, or terminals and then processing the information to be output on printers or screens. The gap between input and output could be hours -- often occurring overnight. The term real time is used to describe computer systems which have instant movement of information from input to output. The human autonomic nervous system is real time -- when you touch a hot stove (input) there is an instant reaction (output). The same is true for the systems which auto pilot an aircraft. Movies and television are like batch systems. Today, video games and many other software programs use real-time animation With real time animation, a child can fully interact with the moving environment for example, turning the car to the left, etc. (Tapscott, p. 73)
SUMMARY
Tapscott (1998) suggests an interactive learning paradigm that will align more closely with the learning styles of today's technological-savvy generations. The newer learning paradigm centers around constructivism. Students regularly consult with each other, exchange experiences, brainstorm, and influence each other. However, our traditional teaching model hasn't fundamentally changed, particularly at the secondary and tertiary levels. The cycle of texts, lecture, and examinations are repeated day in and day out throughout the world. And yet, in the new economy, knowledge work will be the driving force.
Already almost 60% of American workers are knowledge workers and 8 of 10 new jobs are in information intensive sectors of the economy. In the past 25 years, the number of Americans with college degrees has tripled from 12 to 37 million. the percentage of adults who are college graduated has doubled from 1% to 22%. (Tapscott, p. 127)
The New Learning Paradigm (Tapscott, pp. 142-148)
Traditional education has often been compared to a factory-like situation with the end result being students who have studied the same material and fall into place along a learning continuum. Eventually students who have had problems at a young age, continue to have problems throughout their school years. As is pointed out in Marsh (1999),
One thing is certain: Simply putting the students who have not succeeded into the programs in place for those who have succeeded will not work; they will not do the work. Simple telling students that they will not be promoted to the next grade when they have failed the last will not by itself work; they will not know how to do better in the future what they could not do in the past. Simply threatening educators in schools that are failing will not work; it will just demoralize them and persuade capable educators to avoid problem schools. It is crucial to remember that getting all students to a high standard is a task for which the current system was never designed. If that is the goal, then we will have to design a new system to reach it. (p. 29)
There may need to be different types of teachers for example teachers who excel in small group activities; teachers skills in assessments; teachers skilled in literacy training. Dede (1998) suggests that teachers will follow a career path from entry to mentor to master and that they will be engaged in professional work both inside and outside of the classroom.
Others have argued for a national curriculum but Allen (1992) takes it a step further when he offers a compromise with a combination national/local curriculum. Specifically, he looks to 75% of the curriculum being set up on a national level using national standards and a network of exemplar schools as well as the remaining 25% of the curriculum designed to take into account the interests of the local population as well. He argues that teachers will be unable to address some of the more pertinent issues of the day because they are locked into structures that make no rational sense. Whereas other professionals are able to spend time planning, dealing with detailed problems and solutions, the majority of teachers deal with the same problems day in and day out and are not able to work out their own solutions which, in turn, promotes the isolationist tendencies of many secondary teachers.
More irrational than the imperfections of the structure is that the teachers cannot address the problems directly. Staffing, class size, and curricula guidelines are set at the state level, largely without the input of the teachers who are implementing them. The density of decision making in education needs to be increased. In other words, more needs to be decided rather than be left to regulation, chance or circumstance. (Dede, p. 61)
One organization that is attempting to promote on-line curriculum is Apex Learning (Bellevue, WA). During the latter part of 2000, the three year old private company made deals with state Departments of Education in Washington, Kentucky, and Utah to provide Advanced Placement courses. Additionally, they have also signed up nine Houston public high schools, have an agreement with New Mexico, and are finishing up a new deal with Wisconsin. As part of the deal, Apex works with individual school districts, "offers on-line infrastructure, accredited courses and supports services. It offers an online Professional Development Institute (10-15 hours workshops for teachers) and assessment tools tied to standardized tests to help teachers identify subject areas where students are having problems." (Electronic Education Report, online)
Whether or not online learning actually improves student learning is still difficult to adequately assess, partly because many online courses have just changed the medium but continue the same types of assessment technique. Additionally, longitudinal studies have not be established for various reasons including the newness of the topic as well as disagreement as to whether or not assessment can be determined through similar processes.
Be that as it may, Earls (1999) reports that although distance education may not make the traditional campus obsolete, students have begun to expect teaching and student services via the Internet. Many institutions including: Harcourt Higher Education, Roger Williams University, Maine Education Service, Lesley College, University of Phoenix, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are just a small list of those with online future plans. Some, for example, De Rocco of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute uses a CD-ROM to teach science while encouraging small group study. "They [the students] actually did much better than those taught in a more traditional fashion" (Earls, p. 30).
Research consultant Brandon Hall, (in Earls, 1999) has found that commercial technology based training speeds up the learning process from 20% to 80%, feeling learners to put their knowledge into practice sooner, and may cost as much as 50% less than traditional, instructor-led training, pleasing the corporations that foot the bill and undoubtedly threatening providers of traditional education and training programs (p. 30). Of concern, however, is the fact that although individuals and corporations are taking to technology based learning in a big way, teacher education programs have not taken up the gambit as quickly. In fact, it was reported in the Curriculum Review (2000) that 67.5% of instructors with two or fewer years on the job were not asked to show computer proficiency to earn their certificates. Additionally, 82.9% of the new teachers said that they did not have to demonstrate their knowledge of technology to land classroom jobs (online).
Much work remains to be completed before a successful learning paradigm can be completed. Specifically, copyright issues and intellectual property ownership need to be resolved before new technologies e.g. e-publishing can be adapted to an online environment. Additionally, longitudinal studies will need to be instituted to determine the viability of online learning and new assessment tools will need to be modeled to ensure the new medium is not treated as just a new alternative but as a unique opportunity to expand learning opportunities for students.
Moreover, the nature of teaching is at stake. Educators, over the years, have become somewhat complacent, content to work on day to day issues and problems. we have not embraced technology. We have not studied it through the eyes of the experts, the students, and until we are ready to move beyond the broadcast teaching model, we will not be capable of providing our students with a unique education that will make the most of their individual skills. In other words, the effective school of the future will not just employ technology in administrative tasks and in curricular subjects. It will need to be mastered by teachers in terms of how it can be used to help us understand the process of learning as it applies to technologically literate individuals.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
(April, 2000). Virtual Schools Provide Supplementary Courses and Full Scale Diplomas to States, Individual Students, Electronic Education Report, 7(8), 1-4.
(December, 1996). Cyberspace, Christian Science Monitor, 89(12), 20.
(February, 1999). On Line, Chronicle of Higher Education, 45(23), 21.
(January, 2000). Technology Update, Curriculum Review, 39(5), 4-6.
(October, 2000). Apex Learning, Inc. Expands in Cyberspace as Builder of Virtual Schools, Electronic Education Report, 7(21), 4-6.
Albiniak, P. (January, 2001). Protecting Digital Content, Broadcasting & Cable, 131(2), 70-72.
Allen, D.W., (1992). Schools for a New Century: A Conservative Approach to Radical School Reform, Prager, Westport: CT.
Bennahum, D.S., (March/April, 1999). Coming of Age in Cyberspace, Educom Review, 34(2), 42-56.
Blumenstyk, Goldie, (March, 1999). In a First, The North Central Association Accredits an On-line University, Chronicle of Higher Education, 45(28), 27.
Bosen, J., (June, 2000). What are copyright Rules o the World Wide Web?, New Hampshire Business Review, 22(13), 29-31.
Brady, D., (July, 2000). Story of E, Business Week, 0(3691), 47-50.
Brown, D., (December, 2000). Cyberlaw Scholar, Inter@ctive Week, 7(50), 86-88.
Cantwell, R., (June, 2000). Pushing Education into Cyberspace, Inter@ctive Week, 7(23), 40.
Cartwright, G.P., (March/April, 1999). IT in Higher Education, Change, 31(2), 52-55.
Clayton, M., (January, 2001). Universities Prepare for Era of 'Star Professors', Christian Science Monitor, 93(40), 14.
Czubaj, C.A. (March, 2000). Cyberspace Curricula: A Global Perspective, Journal of Instructional Psychology, 27(1), 9-15.
Dede, C., (Ed.), (1998). ASCD Yearbook, Learning with Technology, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria: VA.
Earls, A.R., (Fall/Winter, 1999). E-colleges: New England Institutions Marry Traditional Strengths to Cybertools, Connection: New England's Journal of Higher Education & Economic Development, 14(3), 28-32.
Emerson, D., (January, 2000). Going the Distance? CityBusiness: The Business Journal of the Twin Cities, 17(33), 11-13.
Greene, E., (October, 2000). David Post: Freeing Cyberspace from the Rule of Law, Chronicle of Higher Education, 47(8), 14-16.
Harris, (November, 1999). Latest Web Debate: Who Owns College Notes?, Business Journal Service San Jose & Silicon Valley, 17(29), 3-4.
Hodgson, P., (May, 1999). How to Teach in Cyberspace, Techniques: Making Education & Career Connections, 74(5), 34-37.
Honeycutt, V.B., (September, 2000). Site Teaches Young Web Surfers Cyberethics, Electronic Engineering Times, 11(30), 174.
Levy, S., (February, 2001). Playing Fair with Copyright, Newsweek, 137(9), 60.
Marsh, D.D., (Ed.), (1999). ASCD Yearbook, Preparing our Schools for the 21st Century, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria: VA.
Morris, K., (August, 1999). Wiring the Ivory Tower, Business Week, 90-93.
Morse, J., (March, 2000). Digital Dreamer, Time, 155(12), 86-87.
Murray, Jr., J., (July, 2000). Online Commerce and the Law, Purchasing, 129(1), 66-69.
Peer II, R., (July, 2000). Cyberspace: Copyright's Friend or Foe?, Billboard, 112(29, 6-8.
Peterman, T.W., (January, 2000). Elements of Success at a Traditional/Virtual University: Lessons Learned from Three Years of Growth in Cyberspace, Journal of Academic Leadership, 26(1), 27-33.
Posch, Jr., R.J., (January, 1999). Will Intellectual Property Rights Diminish in Cyberspace?, Direct Marketing, 61(9), 29-32.
Shlain, L. (1998). The Alphabet versus the Goddess, Penguin Books, Inc., New York: NY.
Siebenmark, J., (May, 2000). Keeping Pace with Cyberspace, Wichita Business Journal, 15(20), 18-20.
Tapscott, D., (1998). Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation, McGraw-Hill, New York: NY.
Traiman, S., (August, 2000). Cyberspace Rights Protections Sought, Billboard, 112(33), 41.
Turkle, S., (1997). Life on the Screen, Simon & Schuster, New York: NY.
Verona, M.E., (1999). Maryland Virtual High School - Integrating Technology and Teacher Professionalism with Science Education Reform, Journal of Education, 181(2), 91-122.
Wooding Jr., W.C., (May, 1999). Intellectual Property Law Confronts Issues in Cyberspace, Houston Business Journal, 29(51), 42.