Imagine my horror at reading the following sentence in Business Week recently: "To a first-order approximation, the effect of computing technology over the past 25 years on primary and secondary education has been zero." Curious about the facts, I used the Internet to find great websites with both course ideas available for teachers to help with lesson plans and supportive resources for teachers and administrators.

 

I also spoke with some of the experts located using the trusty search engine Google. That group included Jim Bosco, Professor of Education at Western Michigan University and Chairman of the Consortium for School Networking; Wendy Hawkins, Intel Director of Education Department of the Intel Teach to the Future initiative; John Bailey, Director of Educational Technology at U.S. Department of Education; and BW-mentioned study authors Cathleen Norris, Professor of Department of Technology and Cognition at University of North Texas, and Elliot Soloway, Professor College of Engineering at University of Michigan (hi-ce.org/palms).

 

Background. Despite the tremendous investment already made in the classroom for technology, the numbers are staggering. There are approximately 50 million K-12 grade children in the U.S. For them, as of 1997, there were more than 8 million computers in America's K-12 schools. In addition, technology in the classroom must be renewed, in some fashion, every 3-5 years. Finally, many teachers feel threatened that their students are more computer literate and are concerned about revealing that knowledge weakness while standing in front of the classroom.

 

There are other considerations. Many classrooms are schools are old and are not configured for the electrical and layout requirements that technology typically require. Furthermore, classroom furniture is often not technology-friendly. Combined, these present overwhelming challenges, especially in understanding findings of the Norris / Soloway / Sullivan study.

 

The study. The study, of more than 10,000 mostly public school teachers, is an ongoing effort that began in 1998 and for which results through March 2002 were compiled. The fact that the responses have not really changed over that time is troubling. The observations themselves are disconcerting:

Federal and state initiatives. Government has been responding to a variety of constituent demands relating to this need. Maine already has a program with children using laptops in middle school. Michigan is considering a program with PDA-like devices for students as young as the third grade.

 

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB.gov) has revolutionized the way government is approaching understanding best practices application of technology. Instead of asking "does the technology make a difference?," it asks "what are the conditions necessary for technology to improve student achievement?" While the technology in the classroom piece of this Act is just one aspect of it, even that has two pieces. The first is pushing additional funding to the states. The second is commissioning longitudinal research looking at applications and conditions in the classroom that make a difference.

 

This is different than many studies to-date that have nearly a predetermined outcome based on the difficulty in knowing what variables and outcomes to measure. For example, The Heritage Foundation's conclusion, that students who use a computer once a week do not "perform better on the NAEP reading test" than those who do not, is of questionable meaningfulness.

 

The private sector. Intel's (Intel.com/education/index.html) focus on giving teachers 40 hours of hands-on instruction on how to integrate technology into the classroom is refreshing. In this process, it is filling a vacuum in training to accompany the other investments being made in the classroom.

 

In a global effort that is under 3 years old, over 600,0000 instructors have already participated in the effort. The training addresses the associated change in education that becomes more project-based than the older lecture-based approach. Additionally, it prepares participants for some of the realities of success, including classroom layout and intellectual property (cut and paste) issues that can become tempting morality challenges for students. Finally, recognizing that over 50% of teachers currently in the classroom are expected to leave over the next decade, Intel is augmenting the in-service training with pre-service training of future teachers.

 

Conclusion. Talking with the experts has made an impression. I now understand that there can never be a black and white answer about the impact of any new technique or initiative in education is progress as well. Technology in the classroom is no different than the high profile debates about the effectiveness of Head Start programs or more subtle discussions about shifts in presentation format of textbooks will never be universally resolved. The complexity of variables influencing outcomes and even the very identification of specific outcomes that matter will likely always be subject to controversy.

 

A 1:1 ratio of computer to student is a pipe dream with current economics. As new and cheaper alternatives come to the forefront, this may be possible. What matters is that technology is changing the creative expression of many of our children and giving new learning opportunities to others. As Bosco points out, schools are not working well for a lot of kids and technology may be part of the solution.

Technology will continue to be a more integral part of the classroom. Combined state funded programs and private sector initiatives like those by Intel Corporation and the Gates Foundation will make better define how to use it best. We all have a vested interest in watching the progress and even becoming involved personally and financially. What are you doing to prepare the next generation of Americans.
 
CHAIM YUDKOWSKY, CPA, CITP is Chief Information Officer at Textilease Corp., a uniform and first aid services company serving the Southeast. He may be reached at 301-937-4555 or cyudkowsky@ByteofSuccess.com. Chaim is available to speak to your group or business on a variety of technology topics.

Read more of Chaim Yudkowsky's "Byte of Success"