Reinventing Technology in K-12 Education to Make a Difference

Tempe, AZState Nets, NET@EDU

Keith Krueger CEO of CoSN

February 7, 2007

About CoSN

MissionA U.S. nonprofit organization that serve as the premier voice for K-12 technology leaders who use technology strategically to improve learning.

Audience School district Chief Technology Officers (CTOs)

Major Premise

In general, we have not yet leveraged technology to make a profound difference in education.

This morning’s topic

Why has most technology in K-12 education had minimal impact?  

Why is the U.S. no longer setting the pace globally around education technology?

…and, what can we do to change this situation?

Critical Question

Are we trying to “improve” current model of education or trying to “transform” education.

Are we building a horseless carriage, or are we trying to build something completely new?

Call to Action

We need to “reinvent” technology in education strategies so it makes a real difference.

We must reframe the policy discussion around technology in education and show its value.

“Weak Impact” in Asia Pacific

When UNESCO examined use of technology in education in nearly 30 countries throughout Asia and Pacific it concluded:

The integration of ICT in the teaching of subjects has been weak.

UNESCO report of the South-East ICTAdvocacy & Planning Workshop Dec. 2003

“No profound improvement” in Europe

Most schools in most countries, however, are in the early phase of ICT adoption, characterised by patchy uncoordinated provision and use, some enhancement of the learning process, some development of e-learning, but no profound improvements in learning and teaching.

The ICT Impact ReportA Review of Studies of ICT Impact on Schools in Europe Dec. 2006

Same is True Most of the World, including the U.S.

Typically technology has a separately defined mission which is not integral to the overall educational mission.

Technology is used to marginally improve education rather than do something profoundly different/better.

U.S. Education & Technology Experience

Typically the person responsible for educational technology (we call them the CTO) is not part of the district leadership team.

This is a recipe for making sure that technology has marginal impact.

This Was Also True In Business

In the 1980’s the economist Lester Thurow concluded technology in most businesses had “no or even negative” impact on productivity.

He changed his conclusion in the 1990’s after business “reengineered” its processes and used technology for that transformation.

History of Education Technology in U.S.

Phase I – 1995Wires & Boxes → Creation of E-Rate

Phase II – 2000Professional Development for Teachers → NCLB(Requires 25% of every federal ed tech dollar to be used for PD)

Phase III – NOWLeadership

Are We Making Progress?

63% of US teachers self-evaluate their technology skills as “somewhat advanced” or “advanced.”

CDW-G Teachers Talk Tech Survey 2006

…but in most cases technology is being used for email & Internet research, not to change how they teach.

Meta Study of Impact

Recent study by Metiri group examined all the U.S. research on impact of technology in

education. It came to two important conclusions:

1)Technology Advocates had largely OVER PROMISED technology

Meta Study of Impact

Even with that warning, it goes on to say…

2) When appropriately vision, adequate professional development implemented

(clear, leadership, etc) technology can be a powerful tool for transformation.

What do Students Think?

Major Findings:

- Students are strong believers in the power to enrich their learning experiences.- Students (and teachers) want access to up-to-date technology tools at school…and are frustrated when it is not available.

Read the NetDay Speak Up Surveyswww.netday.org

The Customer is Unhappy…

Our students…Digital Natives…arrive at our schools doorsteps and find the typical school environment does not reflect the rich technology environments they have outside of school.

Growing frustration that schools are “irrelevant”.

Current U.S. Policy Environment

1) Great anxiety that U.S. is increasingly not competitive.

2) Concern that our schools are not preparing kids with 21st Century Skills.

3) Growing sense by policymakers that we have spent huge sums on ICT in education and gotten little return on our investment.

Competitiveness is THE Hot Topic…

Commission on The Skills of the American WorkforceTough Choices or Tough TimesDecember 2006 www.skillscommission.org

A swiftly rising number of American workers at every skill level are in direct competition with workers in every corner of the globe….The core problem is that our education and training systems were built for another era.

Competitiveness is THE Hot Topic…

In Washington, a major policy topic is the need for Science, Technology Education & Mathematics (STEM) instruction - except the “T” seems to have disappeared.

Technology is not seen as a key element in preparing our students for the future.

U.S. Trends in Reading by Average Scale Scores

Trends in average reading scale scores for students ages 9, 13, and 17 1971–2004

View data with standard errors for age 9, age 13, and age 17.

Last updated 06 July 2005 (RF)

* Significantly different from 2004.SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), selected years, 1971–2004 Long-Term Trend Reading Assessments.

U.S. Trends in Reading by Average Scale Scores

21st Century Skills

The world has gone through a technology revolution. This revolution has led to the need for all students to be technology literate.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills(AOL Time Warner, Apple, Cable in the

Classroom, Cisco, DELL, Microsoft, NEA, SAP)

www.21stcenturyskills.org

No Child Left Behind Technology Funds - EETT

$0

$100,000

$200,000

$300,000

$400,000

$500,000

$600,000

$700,000

2003 2005 2007

EETT inmillions

• Presidents FY2008 Budge requests $0

E-Rate

Most important national funding source for education technology is the E-Rate.

The Former Chair of the House Telcom Committee said he would have killed the

program if he had the votes.

He is no longer Chair, but this is the federal environment

we have been operating.

Where is the Research?

U.S. policymakers are increasingly asking for causal evidence that investments in technology make a difference in learning.

Misperceptions…

Policymakers believe U.S. Schools are Technology Rich

The reality is that K-12 is lagging.

The lowest IT-Intensive industry is education.Digital Economy 2003 U.S. Department of Commerce Survey of

IT-Intensity of 55 Industries

Fall 2006 Work Study

From mid-September to end of October 2006 I traveled to Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Australia.

These countries generally acknowledged to be Asia/Pacific leaders in use of ICT in education.

Theory was by examining those leading countries in ICT in education, we might discover new paradigms.

“Spinning the Globe”www.cosn.org/blogkeith

Country Snapshot – Hong Kong

Population: 7 million

By 2003:- All schools had broadband to the Internet with over 60% having fiber access with 10 to 100 Mbps bandwidth;- Student-to-computer ratios of 7.4 (primary), 4.6 (secondary) and 2.0 (special schools);- All teachers (about 50,000, plus 4,600 teaching assistants) had completed IT training at basic level, 77% at Intermediate level, 27% at Upper Intermediate Level, and 6% at Advanced Level.

Country Snapshot – Hong Kong

1st National Plan for IT in EducationAn analysis of the 174 case studies found that technology is supporting “significant changes in classroom teaching & learning…In these cases, students were often actively engaged in what are sometimes called ‘constructivist activities’.”

At the school level, the success of applying IT in education lies mainly with the support of school heads as visionary leaders and agents for change.

SITES M2 study Hong Kong

Country Snapshot – Hong Kong

Current HK Master Plan The focus in coming years will be on the further integration of IT in the learning and teaching process. The strategy is a student-centered one and we look forward to enhancing community-wide support for a sustainable development of IT in education.

FutureIT Emersion

Country Snapshot – South Korea

Population: 48.5 million10,676 Korean schools/7.8 mil K-12 students

By 2004:- 86% of teachers use ICT for class - All teachers have a laptop- 98% of schools have fiber-optic Ethernet connections.- Computers per student at elementary level is 7.2; at middle school level 6.1; and at high school it is 5.6.

Country Snapshot – South Korea

IBM’s Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked them 5th worldwide in e-Learning Readiness (and first in Asia).

Clear and consistent senior policymaker support.

Country Snapshot – South Korea

Major new national Open Source Student Information System, probably K-12 effort the largest in the world.

Future – Ubiquitous e-Learning

Country Snapshot – Singapore

Population: 4.5 million316 schools and 300,000 students

2004 paradigm shift: “Teach Less, Learn More”

Shift towards a more self-directed learning processes and learning environments that promoted higher level of understanding of subject matter.

The Science & Art of Integrating ICT

in Singapore Schools by Cher Ping LIM (2006)

Funding

Comparison of Direct Funds for ed tech in three Asian countries and U.S.

Total per capita annual investment in U.S. dollars

South Korea $143

Singapore $ 53 *

Hong Kong $ 43

U.S. $ 20

* - Singapore would be $177 if include School Modernization

Cross Asia Themes

While all three countries have tradition of centralized education policy/funding and strong performance on high stakes standardized testing…

All are focusing on using ICT to encourage innovation, collaborative thinking and “21st century skills”.

Population: 20 million/10,000 schools

Major online focus on developing digital learning objects (The Learning Federation)

EdNA, their national online education and training service (www.edna.edu.au)

Country Snapshot - Australia

Leaders in ICT in education standards

Collaboration between levels of government.

Country Snapshot - Australia

In 2006, added “personalization” via ICT as the major new overall educational reform strategy. Invested £2-3 billion from 1997-2008 ($3.6 -5.4 billion U.S.)

Focused on making educators “digitally confident.”  Vision: each individual can maximize their potential through personalization of their learning and development. 

Technology as the “fly wheel” for education reform.  

Country Snapshot - UK

During the Blair investment in reforming education:

From 1997 to 2005 the % of pupils achieving level 4+ in literacy went from under 65% to nearly 80%

And they have moved from being 19th to 3rd in the world for 9-10 year-olds.

Data from PIRLS 2001 International Report: IEA’s Study of Reading Literacy in Primary Schools

Country Snapshot - UK

I. Leadership Matters

a. Critical that Policymakers provide a Vision

b. Essential that Administrators provide Leadership

International Meta Trends

II. Rethink Pedagogy with ICT

a. Need to move from skills-based professional development to new ways of teaching/learning with ICT.

b. Need to move teachers along a continuum of e-maturity.

International Meta Trends

III. Asian countries have made significant investments in broadband infrastructure, and that is paying dividends for schools, and especially for home connections.

IV. All these countries have invested

in digital content/learning

objects.

International Meta Trends

A. Moving toward immersion or “ubiquitous learning environment” (1-to-1)

B. Focus on personalization and individualizing instruction, which requires new forms of assessments. (UK, Singapore)

C. Recognition of importance of information literacy and new skills. (Critical thinking, collaboration, project-based

learning)

Other Important Trends

D. Providing vision at national level, but empowering building level implementation.

E. Focus on Administrative Data Systems. (DDD in the U.S.)

F. Innovative uses of technology to connect to parents

G. Calculating Value of Investment is gaining attention. (UK/Becta, AU, SITES3,

UNESCO)

Other Important Trends

Call to Action

We need to reframe the U.S. policy discussion around technology in education and show its value.

What can CoSN & StateEducation Networks do?

Action #1: Leadership

We need to build the skills as an education technology leader is an essential component to

powerfully using technology.

CoSN believes the greatest impediment to effective use of technology in schools is

primarily HUMAN, not technical nor technological.

Action #2: Vision

Education Technology is not a goal in and of itself.

It is, however, a powerful tool that can (and should be) used in education to accomplish the

core educational mission of the district.

State Networks are in unique position to help districts,

especially small districts

Action #3: TCO & VOI

Education technology leaders need to understand both the Total Cost of Ownership AND how to measure the Value of Investment in education

technology.

Otherwise, superintendents, school boards/policymakers and the public will not support tech funding requests.

State networks can help educate!

Action #4: Community

Parents and the business community can be the biggest advocates for ed tech. They know that the typical classroom lacks the technology

tools that are available in nearly every other setting.

Engage them in the process of defining your state vision.

And, help districts connect with business community.

Action #5: Advocate

Policymakers need to hear why E-Rate and EETT make a difference. Tell them the U.S. must invest in education technology – the world is

leaving us behind.

Join ETAN: www.edtechactionnetwork.org

Education is the only business still debating the usefulness of technology. School remains unchanged, for the most part, despite numerous reforms and increased investments in computers and networks.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige

Preface to the 2005 National Education Technology Plan

Concluding Thoughts

And finally…

In times of change, learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world

that no longer exists.

Eric Hopfer

CoSN Leadership Initiatives

K-12 Open Technologies

www.k12opentech.org

Value of Investment

www.edtechvoi.org

Taking Total Cost of Ownership to the Classroom

www.classroomtco.org

CoSN Leadership Initiatives

Data-Driven Decision Making: Vision to Know and Do

www.3d2know.org

Cyber Security for the Digital District

www.securedistrict.org

Accessible Technologies for All Students

www.accessibletech.org

K-12 School Networking Conference

Bridging Individualized Learning & High Stakes Accountability

www.k12schoolnetworking.org

March 28-30, 2007

CoSN’s K-12 School Networking Conference is the premier event for education leaders on technology and learning through the Internet! The conference attracts over 800 district, state and national education technology leaders.

Q&A

Keith Krueger, CEO

Consortium for School Networking

keith@cosn.org

www.cosn.org