> It has been said "There are no new problems, just new undiscovered
> solutions." Technology in schools is just that: a new solution to be
> integrated into the system to solve the problem of educating our youth.

> My understanding of the purpose of education is to teach our youth to think
> critically; problem solve; work cooperatively in a productive enterprise; to
> communicate with peers, superiors, mates, children, counselors and fellow
> citizens; and make decisions both in life experiences and productive
> functionality. It is by teaching the rudiments of reading, writing and
> arithmatic in our current structured environment that we teach each person
> the tools to do these things. Too often we overlook the real pupose of
> education and leap into creatiing massive transformations of
> functionality(specific subject) which ignore the real problem: educating the
> kids. The challenge before us is to create a balance which does both:
> educating for life experiences and creating a hirable functionality in each
> individual.

> Technology is a tool which will change how we educate for life and
> functionality. How we change is encumbered by many anacharisms:
> agregarian calender, physical school building structures, organizational
> hierarchy, school day time scheduling, assessment techniques, textbook
> structure, and curriculum to name just a few.

> Technology's impact is to increase the speed of communication, the speed of
> research, reduce the drudgery of writing, increase the appeal of information
> presentation, the integrtion of sound and graphics in adddition to text. It will
> also impact the methodology of teaching. Teachers may asses students as
> part of the small group assignment rather than on individiual work. This will
> change assessment techniques and may reduce teacher drudgery of
> individual evaluations. Technology will impact the way we desing buildings,
> how we use the time when in the building. I can even see a far reaching
> impact that the importance of current cocurricular activities will increase as
> structured classtime is reduced. Text books will change, they may be more
> structured problems rather than sources of the information about the
> problems. They will probably remain the bluprints for functionality of
> education. Each discipline needs the hierarchy to maintain a focus on the
> needs.

> How do we creaate a vision of what the future will look like? we should
> look at the whole problem of eduction in the following dimensions:

> textbooks: what might they look like? more problem presentation,
> less comprehensive material to answer the problem. They will either
> have a functional purpose or life experience focus. The computer will
> supplement the textbook not replace it.

> school buildings: Media centers, work cluster areas, some functional
> orgainztion, using external facilities. Creating greater community
> participation.
> curriculum: content may not change much; but methodology,
> assessments, assignments and teaching strategies will change.
> computers: they will be more universal than we see today. The tools
> in use in 5 years have been invented but effective evolution will
> change how we use them.
> Teachers will change their strategies.
> students will both demand and create the introduction of technology.

> As I think through this challenge. I see the need to increase the importance
> of the independent study areas, such as libraries and computer labs. These
> areas may need to be created into a functional hierarchy for Mathementics;
> sciences; languages: english, spanish, asian,etc.; business skills of word
> processing, data input, file retreival, etc; transprtation education; other work
> skills of drafting, construction. Each department will need to have their own
> technology focus to determine how they should use the new tools to achieve
> the dynamic result desired.

> The school building and whole organizational architecture will have the life
> skills focus. The department structure internal to the school will create the
> success on the second requirement of productive functionality of each
> student.

> I see clusters of computers in various departments focused on their
> functionality.
> I see classrooms which are orgainized to accomodate both individual and
> group teaching techniques.
> I see improved common space use of libraries becoming where multiple
> function assignments are handled and general research is done.
> I see all students motivation improved.
>

Very interesting observations. I agree that there will be no "all or nothing" solutions... but a variety of mixes which have to be designed for the realities of age, subject matter and a variety of local realities.