Lawmakers Discuss Education Technology Issues
At a hearing of the House Science Committee, Technology
Subcommittee, House members discussed the federal
role in supporting the use of technology in education.
Witnesses included teachers and experts from the private
sector and academia involved in providing technology
training, support and equipment for schools.
All witnesses agreed that teacher training -- both
inservice and the training of new teachers -- is crucial
if technology is to be used effectively in the classroom.
"We teach teachers not to look at technology as another
add on to their already busy day, but as a powerful
tool to deliver even better instruction on the current
curriculum," stated Kalani Smith, an Instructional
Specialist with the Montgomery Public Schools.
Members quizzed the panel on the federal government's
role in supporting educational technologies. Witnesses
agreed that federal support for seed grants in technology
education like those provided by the National Science
Foundation were important. Paul Reese of the Ralph
Bunche School in New York City, an educator involved
with several NSF technology education grants since
the mid-1980's, stressed the importance of NSF's role
in seeding the use of the World Wide Web as a powerful
educational tool. He also disagreed with an assessment
made by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) that the country's
effort in developing educational software should be
graded a D. Reese noted that some of the educational
software first developed under NSF support is of very
high quality and now used widely in schools.
Committee chairwoman Chairwoman Constance A. Morella
(R-MD) called on communities and parents to take a
more active role in promoting and understanding the
role of technology in schools. "While federal funding
is important, money alone is not the answer. We must
encourage communities and families to become actively
involved in the process. We must focus on the need
for teacher training in order to effectively implement
technology into the classroom," Morella said.
Kathleen Fulton with the University of Maryland at
College Park formerly of the Office of Technology
Assessment discussed the difficulty of assessing the
effectiveness of technology in the classroom. Fulton
then described a five level framework for looking
at technology effectiveness provided by Chris Dede
of the National Science Foundation. Benchmarks for
technology effectiveness include: impact on student
motivation, improvement of curriculum content, earlier
introduction of advanced concepts, improved student
interactions with the outside world, and standardized
test scores.
Panelists also discussed the need to involve the private
sector in bringing technology into the classroom and
that technology should support the educational process
not drive the process.
Other panelists included Joseph Hofmeister with the
Cincinnati Country Day School in Cincinnati, Ohio
and Tip Kilby with Computers for Classrooms of Atlanta,
Georgia.
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