Technology Can Help Teacher Training,
Improve Student Learning, 21^st Century Panel Learns

            WASHINGTON, D.C. - California faces a crisis that threatens education reform efforts there, according to Donald W. Ingwerson, superintendent of the Los Angeles County Office of Education. Over the next 10 years, the state will need more than 250,000 new teachers. In Los Angeles County alone, almost 17,000 teachers are instructing with emergency credentials, Ingwerson said. To solve the problem, school officials are using the benefits of technology to help train quality teachers.

            Ingwerson was part of a panel that testified today in a hearing before the 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee. The hearing highlighted successful educational efforts that use technology to assist teachers, students, and school administrators in improving academic achievement.

            “Finding thousands of new teachers is no easy task,” Ingwerson said. “Half of all new emergency credentialed teachers drop out in five years. With professional support, that figure changes to 90 percent staying in the profession.”

            Ingwerson told the subcommittee that the county used Internet-based virtual recruitment fairs to dramatically broaden traditional teacher recruiting. The on-line events connect thousands of education students worldwide to teaching opportunities through live call-ins. In addition, the “Mentoring for Expanding Reading Expertise Through Technology,” a program that provides teachers with standards-based training, uses a mix of technologies including satellite broadcast, multimedia, and the Internet. These technologies allow participants to see a master teacher in action, view classroom strategies, and review training techniques as many times as needed.

            The subcommittee also discussed the findings of the Web-Based Education Commission, which held five public hearings with more than 100 witnesses and received testimony from more than 250 witnesses via the Internet, according to Susan R. Collins, senior vice president of bigchalk.com and a member of the commission. It made several recommendations to improve the educational opportunities of the Internet, including the development of high quality content and applications; professional development for teachers; and expanding access.

            “The promise of the Internet for education, the commission found, is that it centers learning around the student instead of the classroom; focuses on the strengths and needs of individual learners; and makes lifelong learning a practical reality,” Collins said.

            America Online’s Mark Nixon discussed his company’s efforts to improve student learning. Learning in the new century will be made easier and better because of the advances in technology that improve how digital content is distributed, accessed, and updated. He described AOL@School, a free online learning tool that helps administrators, teachers, and students take full advantage of the Internet.

            “Imagine an educational experience where students can access information without limitations of location or time… where content is expandable both vertically and horizontally and can be customized based on students interest… and where, instead of passively receiving information, students can actually redirect and redesign their learning experience by manipulating information and creating multimedia applications,” Nixon said. “This is not a vision of the distant future. It’s a world that is very nearly within our children’s reach -- if we work together to make it so.”

            Denis P. Doyle, co-founder and chief academic officer of SchoolNet, Inc. told the subcommittee that technology could make the promise of mass education a reality by its power to personalize education. “…Just as the mass produced work book made mass education possible, the nearly infinite capacity to deal with complexity make it possible - using (technology) - to create an individualized learning plan for every student in America,” he said. “That is the only way we can make a reality of the mantra every child can learn, and turn it into political and cultural imperative: every child will learn.”

            President George W. Bush has proposed “Enhancing Education Through Technology” as part of his broader education reform plan, “No Child Left Behind.” The program streamlines duplicative technology programs into a performance-based technology grant program that sends more money to schools. In doing so, it facilitates comprehensive and integrated education technology plans that target the specific needs of individual schools. The plan also ensures that schools will not have to submit multiple grant applications and incur the administrative burdens to obtain education technology funding.

            “It is important to note that education technology is not an end unto itself, but rather a powerful tool in a school’s toolbox to increase student achievement,” said Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), chairman of the 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee. “However, just like any tool, if it isn’t used properly it will offer nothing in the way of student academic improvement or better teacher training. At the federal level, we want to make sure that doesn’t happen, so we want to increase flexibility and targeting dollars to those who need them most.”

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