Part One The Promise: An Educator's History of the Internet

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The Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 (Subpart 1, SEC. 3121) calls for the Secretary of Education to "develop and publish not later than 12 months after the date of the enactment of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994, and update when the Secretary determines appropriate, a national long-range plan that supports the overall national technology policy..."

In September the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) released Systemic Reform - Perspectives on Personalizing Education (ED2), eight studies sampled from a larger program of studies initiated in 1991 titled "Studies of Education Reform Program" (SERP.) "Taken together the papers spell out a prescription for change that is ultimately rooted in our ability to change the way we think about education" (Making Effective Reform: The Papers.)

In the paper by Jane L. David titled "Realizing the Promise of Technology: The Need for Systemic Education Reform," she claims the

"primary reason technology has failed to live up to its promise lies in the fact that it has been viewed as an answer to the wrong question. Decisions about technology purchases and uses are typically driven by the question of how to improve the effectiveness of what schools are already doing -- not how to transform what schools do."

She notes past efforts may have been unsuccessful, but says school reform in the 1990's is different.

"The language of this reform communicates a very different image of teaching and learning from the traditional one in which teachers 'deliver' knowledge and assign seatwork. The new image captures a much more dynamic view of schooling in which teachers guide students through individual and collaborative activities that encourage inquiry and the construction of knowledge."

Her view reflects a developing Instructional Model based on the empowerment of technology through systemic reform of schools and teaching:

"The question is no longer how to use technology to do the same thing better. Now the question is how to use technology to change practice to reach new goals".

"Numerous examples of how technology can be used to transform teaching and learning exist across a wide variety of students and settings."

"Each of these efforts demonstrates that technology can be the vehicle for significantly changing what happens in classrooms and greatly expanding how and what students learn."

"In fact, the success of these projects has less to do with technology and more to do with the philosophy of learning and conception of professional development that they embody."

She also warns of the difficulties of implementing such change:

"Creating these kinds of new practices is difficult in the best of circumstances. In an inhospitable environment, they are impossible. In the current system, such interventions run counter to a multitude of existing policies and attitudes including the curriculum, what is tested and how, the ways teachers are evaluated, the expectations of students, parents and administrators, the school calendar and schedule, course requirements, and so on. The list is quite long. Like an interlocking jigsaw puzzle, trying to change the piece in the center -- where students and teachers interact-- without changing all the layers of surrounding pieces is ultimately futile."

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