Today's technological tools make it possible to teach in new ways--to do things differently or even to do entirely different things. This paper explores issues of school reform and the role of technology in designing new learning environments. We begin not with the technology but with the challenges that face schools and examine why reform is necessary. What are the problems that stimulate the call for teaching and learning in new ways? How does today's reform context lead to a greater emphasis on building learning communities as appropriate and effective vehicles for new learning for students and teachers? After building this contextual framework, we consider the role technology plays in providing solutions to educational problems and in supporting learning communities. We end by exploring how technology tools can support different forms of learning and understanding.

We open this paper with prevailing attitudes about the need for school reform, to do things differently. Technology plays a role in these efforts and at the same time can provide extension past these goals to new ideas for organizing learning.

It has been nearly a decade since a team of representatives from industry, unions, government and education studied 15 jobs in five employment sectors to find the common skills necessary for success in these occupations (SCANS, 1991). The SCANS report for America 2000 describes the skills and competencies that were identified as critical to job performance across diverse occupations. That widely quoted document called for schools to provide students with a solid foundation of skills in three areas: basic concepts, problem solving, and personal skills. It also called for schools to prepare students to work in teams to use resources, information, and technology to create shared understandings of systemic relationships and consequences. Based on this report, students need to learn how to work with people of differing talents and backgrounds, and to be able learn from and teach each other.

The SCANS report underscores the shifts that are taking place in our society. Today's journals, books and popular press remind us that we are shifting from an industrial age to an information or communication age. In our high performance workplaces, an increasing number of jobs are found in the service sector, requiring broader intellectual and interpersonal skills.

Therefore, this argument for school reform is grounded in the need to change the education we provide to match the changes taking place in the global economy and the society to which students will be contributing.

Schools are complex institutions with multiple functions. One function is to sort students into different sectors of society based on their academic skills. In reality students are often sorted by the schools they attend. Eleven million students (25% of the students in the US) attend public schools in large urban districts that do not provide the same quality of education that exists in smaller suburban districts. Urban students perform far worse, on average, than similar children who live outside central cities on virtually every measure of academic performance; the longer they stay in school, the wider that gap grows (Olson & Jerald, 1998).. Even in our better schools, , students who do not come to school prepared to perform well early in their years will be relegated into tracks that do not stress academic skills and lead only to low skilled jobs (Willis 1977; Oakes, 1986, Cicourel & Mehan, 1983).

The shortcoming of formal education to address the learning needs of all students is not a new problem; indeed, it has been a topic of concern for as long as schools have been a cultural institution (Dewey, 1902, 1916; Goodman, 1964; Holt, 1964, 1967; Sizer, 1992; Meiers, 1995; Mehan, Villanueva, Hubbard & Linz, 1996). This was, however, less of a problem when there were opportunities in manufacturing, agriculture, mining, forestry, and other fields that required minimal school skills. In those earlier times it was possible to be a productive member of society and to earn an income sufficient for a comfortable standard of living without having completed a high school education, much less advanced education or training.

Increasingly, all jobs in today's economy require the higher order thinking, communication, presentation, and collaboration skills identified in the SCANS report. The importance of assuring that all students are acquiring strong literacy, problem-solving and communication skills was underscored in a study of the skills sought in entry level applicants by major American corporations (Murnane & Levy, 1998).

 

Even the assembly line and entry level jobs required potential employees to pass written and performance tests measuring math, language, problem solving, and group work skills. They emphasized the importance of "soft" skills such as the ability to:

Recent studies identifying the higher skill requirements for success in all parts of our society make it clear that we cannot afford to ignore the learning needs of students who currently make up our lower educational tracks. With all students being held to high standards, it is important to find ways to adjust the learning environment to help all students succeed. "At risk" students need more than a social label and social worker. They need more choices learning environments, types of tools and tasks, and more academic support (Mehan, 1997).

"The fundamental and wrenching changes required to bring the vast majority of city schools up to high standards will require long-term, concerted efforts from many people: parents, teachers, principals, politicians, community groups, public agencies, businesses, and religious leaders (Olson & Jerald, 1998)."

This second impetus for school reform is the need to address the needs of all students, assuring that no student is left by the wayside . (Meier, 1995; Slaven, Madden & Wasik 1996; Shirley, 1997).

Another motivation for school reform comes from our nation's poor performance on national international comparisons. Most recently, Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) test results (Stevenson, 1998) have raised a justifiable outcry in the public and press about the way we are educating our students. These results have raised the debate about national standards, methods of instruction, and issues of how students develop mastery of content. For the most part, our schools spiral through similar curricular content many times, with the assumption that each time concepts, skills or ideas are revisited, students develop a deeper understanding. The TIMSS study raises questions regarding the success of the spiral curriculum approach, since other countries who shared this strategy also scored poorly.

 

Countries where students spend more time exploring fewer concepts, with a focus on deeper mastery, are the ones which score highest on these tests (Schmidt, McKnight, & Raizen 1997).

Some reform efforts, then, are driven by the view that new approaches are needed to assure that students develop deeper conceptual understandings and mastery of knowledge.

Dominant theories of learning have shifted a number of times in the past century and these shifts are accompanied by renewed interest in educational reform built around different pedagogical approaches. Over the past century, it has been the "knowledge transmission" model that has had the strongest hold on classrooms (Cuban, 1993). Behaviorist learning theory (Skinner, 1949) holds that complex skills are developed through the acquisition of simpler component skills that are sequentially combined. Curriculum has been organized in small chunks, so that the student can progress in an orderly sequence from simpler to more complex tasks. The basic stimulus/response model reinforces with the positive reinforcement of high grades for correct answers and negative reinforcement of low grades for wrong answers. These models are build on a pedagogical approach involving a transmission or broadcast of information, in which" teaching is telling and learning is listening." Much of the early computer use, from programmed learning to drill and practice of basic skills, was designed around these behaviorist assumptions. (Greeno, 1998).

Some reform efforts are built around the view that education has strayed from this pedagogical approach; for these educators, "reform" means a return to this transmission framework and a renewed focus on basics. Hirsh (1996) makes the unsupported claim that schools swayed by the rhetoric of progressive education have moved away from this model and are now failing because they lack an emphasis on the transmission of factual information. He has become the most recent and vocal cheerleader of the "back to basics" school reform agenda. Since most data indicates that schools already focus primarily on the basics in just the way Hirsh is calling for, this approach is actually an anti-reform agenda.

 

In contrast to the traditional pedagogy described above, many of today's major reform efforts are based on principles of constructivist learning theory. (Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt, 1996, Pea, 1994; Resnick. & Klopfer, 1989; Darling-Hammond, 1997). We briefly trace some of the theories that provide this framework for school reform and then list some key properties found in this pedagogical approach.

Constructivist approachs extend the educational theories of Dewey, one of the most powerful educational reformers of this century.

 

 

From his early days as a high school teacher to the creation of the Laboratory School at the University of Chicago, Dewey described effective student learning as motivated by interest, empowered by knowledge, and driven by a conceptual challenge or problem. His theories of education called for students to learn through direct experiences. He believed that schools should include complex machinery such as the printing press, the weaving loom, and laboratory equipment as well as outdoor learning environments to provide for the rich learning contexts. The reforms of Dewey are much easier to implement with the flexible portable technology of today than they were with the technology of his time.

Piaget's theories of intellectual development (1952) also provide a strong emphasis on the constructive process of learning. Learning is seen not as a reinforced repetition of what others think, but as an active process of comparing, contrasting, and creating new systemic interpretations that can accommodate multiple perspectives on both the physical and social environment. While Piaget stressed the internal cognitive operations involved in individual thinking, he does not deny that social interaction plays an important role of providing multiple perspectives to integrate into a framework for understanding:

When I discuss and I sincerely seek to understand someone else, I become engaged, not just in avoiding contradicting myself, ...but also in entering into an indefinite series of viewpoints other than my own...It is a moving equilibrium (Piaget, 1977/1963, 684).

Vygotsky proposed that intellectual construction is first and fundamentally a social process and that individual cognitive processes result from an internalization of interaction with more competent others, using cultural tools. In recent years, one of the key themes in research on cognition has been a growing focus on social cognition, a conception of thinking as a collaborative process (Vygotsky, 1978; Bruner 1973, Cole 1988, Norman, 1980; Lave, 1988; Wertsch, 1985; Rogoff, 1998).

Increasingly cognitive scientists are exploring ways in which individuals work within systems where the actions of one person only have meaning within a larger context of shared understandings as a kind of "group mind" (Hutchins, 1993). Others demonstrate how learning takes place in "construction zones;" that is, social school settings where talk and action among people with different skills motivate intellectual development (Newman, Griffin, & Cole, 1989).

Group work provides a context for the externalization of thinking. It allows for the discussion of multiple perspectives and helps all the participants realize that each person creates one of many perspectives on a topic or problem. Learning to see from the perspective of others helps create a more complex understanding of situations.

 

Learning how to use distributed expertise as a resource and to organize a team of people to accomplish a task are some of the elements that have been missing from the transmission approach to teaching and learning (Brown & Campione 1990, 1994). Finally, neurological studies of brain functioning also suggest that learning is a constructive process that engages students in active interchanges with the physical and social environment. (Conner, 1989; Caine & Caine (1996).

The constructivist theories of Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky and others have been reinforced by the work cognitive scientists (Greeno, 1998; Scardamalia and Bereiter, 1994; Resnick & Klopfer, 1989; Brown & Campione, 1990, 1994; Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt,.1996) and educators (Darling-Hammond, 1997; Meier, 1995) who promote reform efforts with the following characteristics:

 

·         student involvement in authentic, problem-solving or inquiry tasks

·         students encouraged to question and reflect on what they are learning to construct an understanding based on their existing personal conceptual frameworks

·         students using specialized project based knowledge in a distributed expertise model

·         information flowing in many directions (i.e. from student to student, student to teacher, teacher to students) rather than just from teacher to student.

·         students employing metacognitive skills to set goals, work with human and informational resources and assess their progress towards the completion of a task. .

Constructivist classrooms have been difficult to create with past technological applications, which were better suited for a transmission pedagogical approach emphasizing basic skills instruction and rote memorization of facts (e.g. via programmed learning and drill and practice applications). In examining classrooms over time, Cuban (1993) found that student centered learning was rarely evident in more than a quarter of the classrooms. The normative form of instruction was been a single teacher in the front of the class with student recitation of lessons. Today, however, the possibility for widespread school change based on constructivist teaching and learning theory has inspired a number of educational reforms (Springfield, Ross, & Smith, 1966). These "bold plans" for educational reform use new "power" tools to build these learning environments and use communication technology to support them. We will return to the topic of power tools later in the paper, but first describe the evolution of technology-supported learning communities.

 

All of these forces for reform--the need for new skills and competencies to match changes in society, the need to provide an intellectually rich education for underserved students, the need for deeper conceptual understanding for all students, and the need to engage students in meaningful social learning contexts, have created the context for change. They also place increasing emphasis on collaboration, thereby creating a link between the concept of learning communities and school reform efforts.

For many of these reform efforts, communication tools and computer technology are viewed as effective vehicles to transform classroom learning into learning communities with students, teachers, and community members all playing vital roles in directing the course of education. These learning communities, with expanded human and technological resources, can in turn help students develop deep conceptual knowledge and necessary skills that will prepare then for their place in a shifting global economy Hewitt, Brett, Scardamalia, Frecker, & Webb, 1995; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1998)..

In this section we discuss how a learning community differs from a traditional classroom.and what it means to make students and teachers part of learning communities that extend beyond the school. First we examine new tools and practices that support this transformation and present a case study of one learning community motivated and supported by technology.

Knowledge construction in our society is rarely done in isolation. People in a field work together building on the ideas and practices of the group. Culture and cognition create each other (Cole 1985). Learning increasingly takes place in "communities of practice" (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Ruopp, Gal, Drayton, & Pfister 1993; Pea & Gomez 1994). A community of practice is a group of people who share a common interest in a topic or area, a particular way of talking about their phenomena, tools and sense-making approaches for building their collaborative knowledge with a sense of common collective tasks. These communities of practice may be large, the task general, and the form of communication distant, as in a group of mathematicians around the world developing math curriculum and publishing their work in a set of journals. Alternatively, they can be small, the task specific, and the communication close, as when a team of teachers and students plan the charter of their school.

The community of practice in schools can be a number of subject or topic specific "learning communities." Learning communities share a way of knowing, a set of practices and shared value of the knowledge that comes from these procedures.

There are ways for novices and experts to work in the same system to accomplish similar goals.

 

 

 Community members are recognized for what they know as well as what they need to learn . Leadership comess from people who can inspire others to work better to accomplish shared goals.

How is education different when students are members of learning communities? Consider these comparisons (See Table 1).

 

 

Isolated Class Structure	Learning Community
Homogeneous Groupings	Heterogeneous Grouping
Class Discipline	Community Organization
Competition	Collaboration
Knowledge Delivery	Knowledge Construction
Teachers Centered	Student Centered
Independent, individual work	Interdependent, teamwork
Expertise flows from 1-to-many	Expertise flows in many directions

Table 1: Differences between the Organization of a Classroom

and a Learning Community

 

 

Learning communities recognize that students arrive with different skills, at different ages, with different experiences and interests and build this diversity into the learning context. In a learning community, students learn to work in teams and learn how to make teams work. The accomplishment of the team is primary and each member of team contributes in some way to the outcome. This makes students in a learning community interdependent. They build from each others strengths develop a sense of competence and empowerment in areas where they are most motivated or skilled, and can pull others who are weaker in these areas up with them. Distributed knowledge is a building block for such learning communities. (Levin, Riel, Miyake, & Cohen, 1987; Brown and Campione, 1994; Pea and Gomer, 1992; Pea, 1994).

 

 

Some reform efforts are currently experimenting with transforming graded classrooms to multi-age and ability learning centers (Springfield, Ors and Smith 1997) For example, the Los Angeles Learning Center demonstrates effective patterns of student learning in multi-age communities with differing expectations based on the evolving skills and abilities of each of the students.

The most important difference between classrooms and learning centers evolves around the control of new learning opportunities. When students are participants in learning communities that include a network of people who care about a specific issue, problem, or debate, the resources and direction of the learning are less predictable. If the learning community is exploring the origins of human behavior or the shape of an equation, they are not limited to the people who are in the room who are all at the same "level" of understanding; rather, it can include a range of people with expertise in many different areas. This inclusion of many people with differing expertise makes the direction of the community neither under the complete control of the teacher, nor under the complete control of the learner. Instead, the control of learning is an interactive process that develops as the community works together to create shared understandings. This makes all members of the community, including the teachers, learners. In this case, teachers model for their students the actions of a skilled learner.

Internet technology provides a rich format for the larger community to participate in the education of the next generation. Past technologies (print, photography, film and computers) have made it possible for many people to share their ideas with students without actually entering the school, but only in a one-way transmission mode of communication. With communication on the Internet, it is possible for students to interact with many more people and ideas, in some cases through direct interaction. Students, teachers, experts, and resources around the world can pose challenging questions to each other, point to valuable resources and provide instant responses to the questions posed. Transforming the classroom into a learning community makes it possible for many more people to be a part of the learning process in an open and continuing dialogue.

The learning community model can be as powerful for teachers and their learning as it is for student learning. On one level, technology provides the opportunity for opening up the isolated classroom and bringing in new resources to support teachers.

Communications technology provides promising opportunities for collaborative learning environments for teachers in which they can reflect on practice with colleagues, share expertise in a distributed knowledge framework, and build a common understanding of new instructional approaches, standards, and curriculum. This corresponds with a view of professional development that moves beyond skills training and genericinservice delivery models to a more flexible, continuous engagement with other experts in the field (OTA, 1995).

 

The concept of continuous professional development in which teachers are given time to collaborate with colleagues and update knowledge and skills, and are expected to assume much of the responsibility for their own professional growth and development, has been identified by teachers as a critical element in school reform (OTA, 1995).

This approach is used in projects like the Mathematics Learning Forums Projects (www.edc.org/CCT/) or PBS Mathline (www.pbs.org/webguide/webguide/mathlineweb.html) in which teachers use computer networks to link with colleagues around the country. They use these networks to reflect on practice, experiment with new content, share approaches, and provide pedagogical, technical, and emotional support to one another. These and other on-line professional development courses require the teacher to take greater responsibility for his or her learning.

The Maryland Electronic Learning Community1 is an example of a teacher development and support group built upon this notion of formal training in technology integration, linked with continuing collaboration and support. Funded in the first round of U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grants, MELC is part of a larger challenge grant to the Baltimore City schools, called the Baltimore Learning Community (www.learn.umd.edu). The MELC project is a coalition of partners who form an electronic learning community using technologies such as digitized video, Internet resources, and electronic mail to support and enhance middle school science and social studies curriculum and professional development. Central to the project is the creation of an electronic lesson plan template that is used by teachers to create on-line learning modules. This tool allows them to integrate rich and powerful on-line original sources (video, text, graphics, and images) into the social studies and science curriculum. These electronic resources have been indexed according to topic area and against state outcomes and national content standards. The teachers access the resources via a search engine developed by University of Maryland (UM) faculty and graduate students. There is no centralized source of expertise in the project: learning goes back and forth in many directions as all of the different partners work to understand the best ways to blend rich content into the learning environment.

While the technology was the original motivation for the project, it can be both an opportunity for success and a barrier that creates enormous challenges. The MELC electronic network--as opportunity-makes it possible for teachers, higher education faculty, district personnel, researchers, and students to communicate on a regular basis, to share work and collaborate, and to involve students in engaging learning activities. However, the technology can also become a source of frustration in those instances when complexities or glitches make it difficult for teachers to use it. Ironically, these instances often create a greater sense of community as participants work together to address these technological challenges.

Professional development is embedded throughout the project. Teachers, university faculty, prospective teachers, and graduate students are learning technological skills in the context of developing the modules.

 

 For some, this collaboration is the first time they have used technology in their classrooms. Although research on the project is still underway, it appears that MELC educators are moving through the five stages identified by ACOT researchers in describing teacher change in technology intensive environments or projects (Sandholtz, Ringstaff, and Dwyer, 1997).

Entry: much frustration and anxiety, with a focus on replicating traditional instruction and learning activities

Adoption: beginning to move from concern with connecting the computers to using them, but with much of the attention on how they can support established instructional formats and teacher presented lectures and presentations

Adaptation: greater focus on ways student involvement may change, and teaching style may differ (e.g., giving students more responsibility, encouraging students to use and create activity modules similar to those the teachers are creating)

Appropriation: new instructional patterns start to emerge building around interdisciplinary project based approaches, more reflection on teaching and recognizing the need for alternate models of assessment and classroom structuring.

Throughout this process, the question of support for teachers has been central. How can the learning community provide support to the "front line warriors"--the teachers working day to day with this new resource and teaching approach? In the first two years of the project, much of the support came from the University of Maryland researchers, and consisted mostly of general and technical help. Official support also came from Baltimore City public school staff and UM researchers at regularly scheduled module construction sessions. Although optional, teachers received a small stipend for attending these and were encouraged to develop modules in that supportive and collaborative environment. Gradually, however, collegial support is being provided by the teachers themselves, in these informal sessions, in sessions they have organized in their home schools, and over the project listserv.

 

What has been observed in this case study is an example of the gradual changing of both teaching style and content around technology integration. Typically, technological adoption begins with assimilating new tools to accomplish old tasks, generally in a way that is better, cheaper, faster, or done differently.

 

Technological adaptation, however, evolves through a process of active accomodation or purposeful readaptation into a new way of doing things altogether, as we gain skill over the tools. Much of what has occurred over the last two decades with technology in the classroom has been assimilation--doing the same things, but in different ways. In this final section, we look at the range of new accommodations that are becoming part of the classroom vision for the schools of the next century. We will extend our discussion of what is currently available to suggest the tools that might soon be available to students in classrooms.

Traditional instructional delivery strategies involve a combination of readings, lectures, three-dimentional models, observations, and film. In traditional models of instruction, learning is a carefully choreographed sequence designed to "cover" a broad range of material in a given discipline.Computer assisted instruction makes it possible to give students the same lessons in a different format, presented and timed for the individual student needs, speed, and progression. Microcomputer based labs provide access to multi-purpose tools for understanding science concepts and processes. Word processors enable students to write more, faster, to organize their work, make it legible and share it with more students.

These are all powerful reasons to use technology, but they are do not address the range of what is happening in schools today. As we gain expertise with tools we gain new understandings of how are they shaping educational practice, driving curriculum reform, and creating vehicles for different types of learning environments with different participants (Riel, 1998)..

Communication tools connect students to remote resources, (pictures from Mars, transcripts of global news conferences, newspapers from around the world, images from live cameras), and make it possible for students to collaborate with people who are creating knowledge. Access to collaboration and production tools make it possible for students to create knowledge products that have value for their communities. These projects would be very difficult or impossible to create with traditional classroom resources. Computer and communication technology multiplies the access to both human and informational resources. These learning tools, while very powerful, do not minimize the role of the teacher; rather, they extend classrooms by providing more resources to teachers and students.

 

 

 

 

Learning communities are developing different tasks, activities, and practices. Information connected to communities who produce and value that information help learners understand the generative power of learning. Each of these changes in instructional tools leads to new possibilities for learning. The structure of future learning environments will be determined by how we use these educational power tools (Table 2).

 

 

Past Tools for Learning	Power Tools for Learning
Textbooks and worksheets	Primary Sources and student created materials
Linear text student writing	Hypertext multimedia productions
Models and materials	Virtual creatures and simulations
Direct observations	Tools for remote observations
Educational films broadcast reality	Virtual worlds interact with reality
Teacher delivers lectures	Many "expert" voices in classroom
Student reports to teacher on learning	Student generated lessons for others

Table 2: The Evolution of Instructional Tools

Textbooks are an accommodation to economic necessity. While it is preferable to use primary source materials in classroom, neither school nor class libraries are extensive enough to contain the necessary collections. Textbooks blend many different points of view and information together into one source that can be provided to each student.

With access to the Internet, primary source data of all kinds can form the basis of instruction and research economically. With the help of these and other multi-media resources, teachers can use primary sources in their classroom presentations, as described in the MELC project example.

 

 Instead of worksheets that reinforce the secondary interpretations of textbooks, teachers can design student projects and study questions that encourage students to develop analytical and interpretive skills. All students can search libraries from around the world for primary sources that they can learn to interpret and analyze for themselves. They can be taught to use multimedia resources such as film clips, sound files, and still images can all be used to create different types of student reports.

For example, a teacher can use resources like the Library of Congress, a national treasure of our nation's memory, reason, and imagination. Until recently, only a small number of teachers and students have been able to take advantage of this collection. With the advent of global networks, schools across the world can access the wealth of materials--the books, photographs, sounds, videos and documents--that make up this extensive collection.

Using these resources, students can be asked to adopt the role of different historical figures and reenact discussions and debates from other periods. To understand history, students need to understand the frame of mind of the people who lived in different periods; primary sources make it possible for students to engage history directly. Furthermore, telecommunication projects invite the collaborative investigations and participation of students from around the world. These students, by nature of their various geographic locations and cultures, will have very different perspectives on historic events, and their multiple perspectives offer a richer tableau for testing ideas and theories.

Linear texts are increasingly being replaced by hypertext with links to extensive information. Students with access to encyclopedias on the computer have tools for finding information that would have been difficult to locate in the past. While traditional test-based indexes helped students find key terms or concepts, students can now find each and every occurrence of any word anywhere in the collection. Internet search tools, though still primitive for educational use, give students access to more information than could ever exist in a single school library.

Students can use hypertext to organize their learning, but they can also use hypertext as a form of expression. Writing in hypertext is a new skill. It is conceptually different then sequential writing. It allows for a different form of interaction between author and reading and larger communities of people. Writing collaboratively with a larger community of people who care about a topic is a powerful lesson in group problem solving and thinking (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1994).

Students learning how to use and compose in hypertext are participating in new evolving forms of communication (Koschmann, 1994; Pea, 1994). They are learning to write in a format that is integrated with other forms of expression including color, formatting, graphics, photography, audio, and video.

 

 

These skills are increasingly valued as the ability to work with current technological advancements require specialized communication skills such as graphic design and multi-media hypertext and video production. These are the "basic" skills for the communication age.

There is no doubt that the use of three-dimensional models in schools helps students understand concepts, relationships, functions and structures. When students have hands on experience with objects that they can touch, move, and assemble, they gain a better conceptual understanding. Math manipulatives are standard learning tools recommended in most curriculum framework or guides.

Students use blocks, dice, triangles and rulers to understand number relationships. Science labs and scaled models help students visualize what is hidden beneath skin or rotating far off in space. In social science students build models of missions, forts, castles and other communities of the past. These multi-sensory constructions serve as concrete representations of ideas that are complex and interlinked.

The computer extends our ability to model. With the ability to create virtual objects with complex properties and relationships, we can begin to simulate functions and processes that are invisible. For example, researchers at Stanford University have created The Virtual Frog Project (summit.stanford.edu/creatures/). Using the Internet to access the virtual frog, students can look inside the virtual frog and see a visual 3-dimensional rendering of different systems that constitute a frog. In classroom dissections of frogs, students can only view the remains of a dead frog. However with a virtual frog, they can make the skin transparent and watch the digestive process take place, or virtually stain some part of the frog to make viewing easier. Virtual creatures model internal processes as well as interactions in their environment. These relationships are not visible through the process of examining the skin, bones and organs of a dead frog. This technology enables students to experiment with the relationships between the structures and functions in these virtual creatures. For example, students could be challenged to breed or engineer a frog that will jump higher or further than that of their peers. Doing this would require an understanding of how size and length of bones interact with the development of muscle tissue. Hypotheses can be formed, tested, and analyzed using these virtual models.

It is and will remain important for students to use their observations of the world as part of their investigations. Dewey, concerned by the rapid growth of technology of the last century, feared that direct learning experiences would be replaced by a poor substitute, book learning:

As societies become more complex in structure and resources, the need for formal teaching and learning increases.

 

As formal teaching and training grows, there is a danger of creating an undesirable split between the experience gained in direct association and what is acquired in school. This danger was never greater than at the present time, on account of the rapid growth in the last few centuries of knowledge and technical modes of skill. (Dewey, 1916, p. 9)

Today these same words are echoed by a new generation of educators. Today, however, the new concern is that computers, rather than books, will replace direct learning experience (Stoll, 1996; Oppenheimer, 1997).

Used appropriately, however, computers, like books and other resources, can be companions in the investigation of reality. Projects designed today, using the computer as a research tool, send students into the physical and social world to collect observations, measurements surveys, and other data using appropriate scientific tools. Telecommunication networks make it possible for them to then exchange, analyze, and discuss this information with their peers from around the world. In the GLOBE project2,(Globe.gov) students from around the world collect, compare and analyze data concerning air temperature, air pressure, wind speed, precipitation, and other environmental measurements (Means, 1997). Visualization tools make it possible for their data to be displayed in the same full color maps that they download from science centers (Pea & Gomez,1994). Students in Learning Circles3 (www.iearn.org/circles)often create projects that require their peers in other countries to conduct investigations, collect surveys or design interviews with people in their communities (Riel, 1992). In the Global Lab Project4, (globallab.terc.edu) students locate, measure, and mark an open area of land near their school. They share measurements and investigations both above and below the surface of the earth with students from around the world, each working on the same size section of the earth. These examples describe learning environments supported by computers that increase rather than decrease student direct experiences with their physical and social world.

As computers become smaller and more portable they become valuable field guides and research tools in the laboratory and in the field. Students can use microcomputer-based measurement and monitoring devices for collecting and analyzing data (Rohwedder & Alm, 1997). Using laptop computers and a set of monitoring devices, students can collect, record and graph their data on temperature, relative humidity, light intensity, pressure, and voltage right on the spot5. More in-depth analysis and descriptions can occur back at the school site.

Tele-Robotics make it possible for students to direct a telescope to look out in space from their classroom6, tend a garden located in Austria7 or experiment with light and heat in a model house in Australia8. Students can also participate in electronic field trips9 using a range of tele-robotic devices to explore the ocean floor or view out into space.

 

 Scientists and researchers are reaching out to schools, inviting students to be part of their learning communities. In this past year, students were able to collectively reserve time on the Hubble telescope10, work with scientists exploring the Monterey Bay11, or follow a team of adventurers as they traversed the rainforests of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize in search of lost Mayan cities and clues for saving the environment12.

Scientists are using new technology extend their observational range- to look out in space, under the seas, and into the microscopic world. Small, inexpensive sensors may make it possible for students to place micro-sensors down a snake hole or up a tree in a bird nest. This would enable them to make observations that are simply not possible when they rely only on their own senses.

 

These observational tools would make it possible for students to share what they find locally with those in other environments in the same way that scientists share their data with distant colleagues, building knowledge in collaborative learning communities.

Photos, film strips, slides and video have given students the opportunity to learn about a range of topics that extend and expand textbook learning. While typically motivating, these are passive media. Teachers worry that students may be watching but not thinking, not actively engaged with the materials they viewing. In contrast, when students create their own films and video reports, either originally or based on their involvement with the content they have viewed, their involvement in the content area and learning process is much greater.

Virtual reality adds additional interactive options to the learning environment, making it possible for students not only to see what exists, but to place themselves in different settings. In this worlds, they can make choices, and see the consequences of their actions. For example, students can now watch dynamic videos taken by remote vehicles that explore the deep canyons of the the Monterey Bay off the coast of California. Students are encouraged to use these materials to create their own narrated explorations. In a few years, they may be able to assume the identity of one of the inhabitants of this underwater world and see if they can survive in a simulated bay13. This "Virtual Canyon" would not simply be a game. It would be a visual database of current information about this complex ecosystem in which students could manipulate objects, make choices and view consequences of their actions. Virtual environments which model real life may be, in some senses, more real than the videotape representations that we now see as real.

When given more independence and self-directed studies, students can become experts on different topics. They can share this expertise not just by completing assignments given to the teacher, but by creating resources for other's learning, using today's technological production tools.

 

Powerful examples of this can be seen in the library of websites created by students as part of the ThinkQuest Contest14. Since it 1996, students from around the world have been forming partnerships and creating educational environments for their peers. Examples include the following student-created products:

EduStock: Economics and Investment: A Stock Market Simulation. Students can create their own stock portfolios and experiment with making and losing money in real time with the free real-time stock market simulation on the Web. Once students create their portfolios they are saved and updated every 20 minute period with the actual values from the exchange.

 

 

This is a great math activity for students of all ages. It also provides an easy way for anyone to experiment with personal investments.

Design Paradise: A Simulation Game of Land Use As CEO of a major development company, students are challenged to create a balance among the needs of industry, environment, and citizens to create a stable and prosperous economy on an island. The island of Kauai, in the state of Hawaii, serves as the "laboratory." The game can be played for hours as the island takes shape. The game players are given a numerical score on their success as a developer and they also receive "happy points" based on the satisfaction of the inhabitants of their island paradise.

From The Ground Up: A Guide to C++ and The Online Point of View-Ray (Tutorial are interactive lessons that will help students who want to learn more about the technical tools that are create the web. Students who master these tools will be able to create new forms of learning and artistic expression in the networld.

Anatomy of a Murder: A Trip Through Our Nation's Legal Justice System. The drama begins with the body of an unidentified young woman found in a car on a deserted desert road by a police officer.

 

 The officer has to secure the scene and wait for a team that will begin the work of collecting evidence from this crime. While you read, optional mood music plays. Each chapter of the story provides the foreground. Fact sheets give the background legal work that explains what is taking place at the scene, in the police station, the lawyer's office, or the court system. Every detail of police and lawyer work has been researched to help the readers understand what happen behind the scenes from the time the murder is committed to the end of the trial. While the story is fiction, the education is real.

 

 

 

Students and teachers of music, art, chemistry, history, culture, war, math, and physical education will find that students have provided high quality educational experiences that other can share. These contest winning entries show what students can create using computer tools, and how they can be creators of information, teachers as well as learners. And, as every teacher knows, teaching is one of the best ways to learn.

When students take part in programs like "Facing History and Ourselves" and the Holocaust/Genocide Project (www.iearn.org/iearn/hgp.html), they learn to look back into history and then look at their own actions in a new light. This provides a resource for teachers and students to study conflict and effective strategies for conflict resolution.

Cyberfair (gsn.org) involves students in "service learning" as part of a worldwide contest. Students form partnerships with different segments of their community and help them by designing a web site for them. Students learn about their community and how to use technology in the service of community goals. As part of the contest, students must evaluate web sites created by other schools. Participating in this process of peer review helps student to understand the process of evaluating and validating information placed on the Web.

These projects and web sites, created by students from around the world, represent the best efforts of students working collaboratively to teach each other. But there are many ways students can help teach within their local communities as well. Students who are comfortable with mathematics and understand mathematical concepts quickly can help students who need additional time and assistance to help them see a relationship. Often these exchange are helpful to both parties.

 

 

A students who finds it easy to create ideas but harder to edit themcan be paired with a student who is a better editor than creator, creating a symbiotic learning relationship. These relationships within the learning community can both increase the human resources for teaching and expand the possibilities for learning.

Communication tools make it possible for people anywhere in the world to be a part of a classroom lesson. Increased human resources extend the topics that students can explore. Electronic field trip opportunities15 make it possible for students and teachers to join teams of researchers, scientists, technicians exploring a distant region such as Mars, a rain forest, or Antarctica. Additionally,teachers can invite distant "team-teachers" from any field, with any expertise, to work in the classroom16. For example, subject matter experts are matched with teachers in programs such as the "Electronic Emissaries." and adult mentors are matched with students to provide suport and direction in school learning through the Hewlett-Packard Mentor Program. The Writers-in Electronic-Residence program matches professional authors with classrooms providing students with feedback on their writing.

In Passport to Knowledge projects, scientists schedule regular videoconferences to discuss ideas and concepts over live broadcasts and in online projects .

Distance education is providing flexible online materials that share information in a different format than traditional classroom lectures. Videotaped demonstrations and explanations give learners have a high degree of control over the time, location and method of study, and make it possible for teachers to work with students in many different locations. Multiple modes of delivery can augment time spent in class and communication technology can make it possible for group work to take place from individual terminals. For example in the Collaborative Visualization Project (Pea, 1993) students can get help from scientists by clicking on their images. Using videoconferencing, they can share their computer display and discuss their data and ideas.

The call for educational reform is voiced by many educators for many reasons. The most immediate ones voiced today include global comparisons of student learning, changing demands of society and the workplace, the loss of low skilled job opportunities, and compelling theories about the most effective learning approaches and environments. Moving beyond these immediate concerns, we find that the approach of the second millenium--an almost mythical step into a new an unknowable future-- invites further speculation regarding the skills we will all need to suceed in the tomorrows we must build towards today. Among the key ingredients found most often on lists for tomorrow's skills are the ability to think quickly, adapt to changing conditions, build alliances to address large scale challenges, and work comfortably in a global information environment. Can our educational institutions change course and send students into the next millenia with the skills and attributes they will need for success?

In this paper, we have suggested learning communities as a strategy for educational reform that involves all participants--parents, learners and teachers or all ages, community members, intellectuals, and political leaders-- in a continual process of evolving education. By establishing connections both inside and outside of the classrooms, where experts of all ages can be a part of the resources for learning, we can help all students establish life-long patterns for learning, and encourage all learners to take an active role in the construction of knowledge.

 

We suggest that technology plays a major role in bringing about effective learning communities for many reasons. These include its potential to increase our ability to work and learn from others who are distant in time and location (Riel & Harasim, 1994). Technology supports and expands the socio-cultural links that help give us intellectual identity (Vygotsty, 1978) . It also provides a new set of power tools for learning that will enable students to develop the interpersonal and intellectual skills necessary to construct shared understandings of their world. These power tools are the key for creation, collaboration and communication of ideas and products.

 

 Learning communities powered with evolving tools provide a way to develop an instructional system that can help students learn to work in a world culture to shape their destiny in the shrinking, interdependent world of the 21st Century.

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