Towards Transformation Education Technology Department of Education May 4, 2009 Marshall S. Smith

Table of Contents U. S. Education Policy: The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act Implications for use of Technology in the Schools. A larger vision for technology and education Some implications of that vision Moving Ahead

American Reinvestment and Recovery Act One-Time Investment Over $100 billion investment in Education Almost all resources to be released by October 1, 2009 Historic opportunity to stimulate economy and improve education

Guiding Principles Spend Quickly to Save and Create Jobs Ensure Transparency and Accountability Thoughtfully Invest One-time Funds Advance Effective Reforms

Advance Core Reforms/Assurances College and Work Ready Standards Collection and Use of Data Teacher Effectiveness and Distribution Turnaround Schools Continuous Improvement Innovation Transparency Scale

Key Basic programs for reform Stabilization: state basic formula – roughly $34 billion for K-12: (2/3rds available now) – Effectively general support / use under Impact Aid rules – Available now – obligate by 10/011: use beyond Title I and IDEA: 10 and 13 billion: normal rules: (½ now) Title I School Improvement: $3 billion: targeted to neediest and awards potentially large. (Summer) Education Technology: 0.65 billion. (Summer) Teacher Incentive Funds (0.2 B), Statewide Data systems (0.25 B) : – Competitions during summer

State Fiscal Stabilization Fund $53.6 billion Governors $48.6 billion Elementary, Secondary, and Institutions of Higher Education 81.8% ($39.8 billion) Education, School Modernization, Public Safety, or other social services 18.2% ($8.8 billion) The Secretary $5 billion Race to the Top ($4.35 billion) What Works and Innovation ($650 million) Formula Competitive

SFSF Incentive Fund: “Race to Top” and “Invest in What Works and Innovation” “Race to Top” (RTT) : $4.35 billion competitive grants to states or clusters of states to drive significant improvement in student achievement and college-going through making progress toward the four assurances + possible other areas (e.g. early childhood): States and clusters of states eligible: 50% goes to Title I districts. “Investing in What Works and Innovation”: $650 million competitive grants to districts and to districts & non-profits that have made significant gains in closing achievement gaps to be models of best practices and innovate and scale reform. Plans not ready yet – opportunity for open comment before RFPs finalized. Awards for both competitions will be made during FY10.

Potential Uses of Basic ARRA Funds to Drive Long-Term Educational Reform and Improvement Will the proposed use of ARRA funds: – Support state, district and school reform plans – Drive results for students? – Increase capacity: human and social capital and materials? – Be sustainable – Improve efficiency? – Foster continuous improvement?

Uses of Technology in ARRA Opportunities at all levels: New Standards, Curriculum, Assessments. Data systems: strategies for continuous improvement. Improving teaching and learning: professional development, improving learning.. Supporting turn-around schools. Efficiencies: Cloud Computing etc.

The Future of Cyberlearning: A vision of the year 2015… School Home Teachers Parents Lifelong “Digital Portfolio” Mobile technology access to school materials and assignments Virtual interaction with classmates Students Supplemental content Virtual Laboratory Simulations Visualizations of real-time data from remote sensors

What Is Cyberlearning? The use of networked computing and communications technologies to support learning Interactions among communities of learners across space and time Customized interaction with diverse materials, on any topic, at any age Elementary Middle School High School Undergrad Graduate Continuing

A Brief History of Technological Advances Making Cyberlearning Possible

Global Warming Recession War Poverty Epidemics Why Is Cyberlearning Important? Leverages learning through – Communication technologies – Students’ technology skills Extends capacity of educational institutions into life-long learning opportunities – Increases public understanding of science – Prepares citizens for complex, evolving, global challenges

Why Cyberlearning Now? Powerful new technologies Understanding of how people learn Demand for solutions to educational problems New, more responsive methods of development and testing New, more responsive methods of development and testing ED, NSF and other funding for interdisciplinary programs in cyberlearning Cyberlearning Credit: John Sondek, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Using data to teach geoscience thinking Credit: Tracy Gregg State University of New York Buffalo

What is OER? High quality educational content and tools Open on the Web All languages Usable and re-usable Available on any device

Great strengths of OER Open (Free) for all on the web Open for downloading, using and reusing: – Personalization, cooperation, cultural and linguistic appropriateness These strengths are particularly useful for enhancing collaboration and fostering creativity for teaching and learning. Value of content approaching zero: added value of services around content – e.g. Google/Red Hat

Universal Open World Library Books in millions: Google and other digitization projects Library collections worldwide: U.S., (Library of Congress, Smithsonian, Harvard collections) France, UK Journals: Public Library of Science, 4000 open journals Videos of documentaries and lectures: BBC, Public Broadcasting System Content

Create, Maintain and Share High Quality Materials Fast feedback loops that engage rapid cycles of improvement of teaching materials Content

Open, Dynamic Textbooks Online open textbooks available for printing parts or the whole. Textbooks could include standard text and pictures + embedded simulations, games, video, links to relevant sites. Feedback about quality and effectiveness leads to fast improvement cycles. Also include communication links for students and teacher to other students and teachers. Teachers Learning

Learn by Doing To become a scientist, architect, or computer programmer…must learn to think and practice like one Surgery SimulatorDiscover Babylon MIT iLabs

Accelerated Learning: Cognitively Informed Web- based Instruction

Open Materials for Supplemental & Lifelong Learning Give choices and control over when, where, and how to learn

UN World Food Program: Food Force Federation of American Scientists: Immune Attack Carnegie Mellon: PeaceMaker Immersive Teaching and Games Learn through structured play

Open access to a massive library of knowledge for all Learn structured education material anytime, anywhere, and on any device User-centric improvement of education materials Accelerate learning -- learn 2 – 3 times faster Motivate students by learning to be professionals Promote creativity, problem solving, control of learning through games, immersive environments Learning = f(Content, Motivation, Time) x Technology

These ideas are just the beginning. What might we do? 1.Invest in development of cognitive tutors, games, simulations and better education materials 2.R&D on more complex immersive environments to support learning by doing 3.Change incentives in the system: – Reward creative uses of technology – Give course credit without seat time – Change tests to assess creativity

Moving Ahead Department – Federal Government New Technology plan -- need it initially to be device to mobilize people around vision – multiple visions. Living, collaborative, effort.