Under the Improving America's Schools Act (P.L. 103-382), the Secretary of Education is charged with the development of a "long-range national plan for technology in education," with substantial input from stakeholders at the national, state, and local levels. The plan is intended to describe how the U.S. Department of Education, in concert with other Federal agencies, will encourage the effective use of technology to achieve educational goals; how Federal agencies will support technology for learning, and how they will collaborate to this end; and how the Department will work with educators and state and local educational authorities to facilitate the effective use of technology in education. In short, it will be a Federal blueprint for supporting the infusion of technology into education.

As part of the process of preparing the plan, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology is holding a series of regional forums around the country to solicit input into the national plan from educators and other practitioners, school administrators, representatives of higher education, researchers, state and local policymakers, parents, business and community leaders, and others. The sixth of these meetings was held in San Antonio, Texas on June 1, 1995.

The half-day forum was attended by over 120 persons from the Southeast region of the United States (including residents of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma), and was organized around two topical sessions on issue areas identified to be critical to the infusion of technology into education. The sessions included:

• The Human Infrastructure - Training and Support, and

• The Physical Infrastructure and Finance.

The meeting was facilitated by Dr. Linda Roberts, Director of the Office of Educational Technology, who described the meeting as one "for all of us" -- for teachers, the educational leadership, colleges of education, parents, students, and the business community. To bring the capabilities of computers and telecommunications to all students and teachers, she acknowledged, all stakeholders must learn how to work together.

Panel presentations began each session followed by statements from audience participants. What follows is a summary of participant insights and opinions, as those insights and opinions relate to the substance of a national plan for technology.1 For purposes of clarity, the summary is divided into three main sections:

• The vision for technology from the Southeast, which relates the varying perspectives that members of the business community, educational policymakers and administrators, teachers and students, and parents have on the potential impact that the use of technology in schools can have;

• Barriers to the effective use of technology in education, which describes some of the problems participants have experienced in their uses of technology, and some of the problems they expect to experience, as the nation moves to ensure that technology in education becomes more widespread; and

• Implications for a national plan, which offers suggestions for the Federal role in the national plan.

The list of participants is attached.

We are all aware of the complaints being lodged against our education system, and the concern people have that we're not doing a good enough job helping our children get ready to be productive citizens in society. Computers, technology, Internet access, and distance learning have the potential to completely revolutionize education in this country and give our children the skills they will need to succeed in life.
- David Rainey, Director, School of Science and Mathematics, Hot Springs, Arkansas

The participants of the Southeast regional forum held strong views about the potential value and benefits of the widespread use of technology in education. It increases learning opportunities, they testified, and it is a skill that is necessary for the world of work. What follows is a discussion of the visions for the use of technology in schools from the varying perspectives of members of the business community, educational policymakers and administrators, teachers and students, and parents.

Members of the Business Community

Members of the business community have used technological tools to make the best use of limited resources by increasing productivity and reducing costs. For example, Mike Lockerd, described how his company, Texas Instruments, tripled its business in ten years by learning how to effectively use technology. Given dramatic outcomes like these, members of the business community believe that technology can help educators as it has helped them by facilitating communication, assisting administrative functions, and delivering instruction in more cost-effective ways (such as through distance learning). They also spoke of the need for technological literacy among graduates of the nation's schools.

Neil Sharp from SBC Communications (formerly Southwestern Bell) cautioned that educators should take their cue from business and learn how to successfully adapt and apply technology:

It's easy to become mesmerized by all the things technology can do, and lose site of your overall goal. You should start simple, look for things you can improve, and concentrate on implementing meaningful goal-oriented solutions in a reasonable time frame. Plan up front -- have lots of people looking at your plan, and go slowly.
- Neil Sharp, SBC Communications

Educational Policymakers and Administrators

Educational policymakers and administrators of all levels recognize that the primary goal of schools is to help students learn and succeed. Educational technology, they recognized, could be used as a catalyst to enhance learning opportunities, improve instruction, and lead to increased student achievement.

However, for many in the educational system, technology is unfamiliar and hard to use -- leading some policymakers and administrators to make purchasing decisions based on the counsel of vendors more interested in selling their product than in offering useful advice. The need to remain focused on the big picture is clear, as one principal cautioned:

We must continually focus our schools on student achievement. I like technology "stuff," but we must convincingly apply the tools we use to help students in tangible ways. If we embark on yet "another experiment" with kids, the public will rightly criticize it.
- Cheryl Abshare, Elementary Principal, LA

One program administrator highlighted a new role for technology in education that has emerged. In the past, the use of technology was taught as a separate subject in schools in such areas as computer programming and numerical analysis. More recently, however, technology is being employed as a tool to facilitate and extend the learning and integration of core academic subjects, such as math, science, language arts, art, and history.

Several policymakers and administrators also talked about difficulties in schools that were multicultural and multilingual. Administrators believed that technology, properly used, could be an effective way to deal with these issues. They asserted that technology can be used to expose students to opportunities for cultural enrichment, and facilitate communication between students with different backgrounds and experiences.

One program director expressed his hope that technology could achieve equality for all students:

With technology, we have an opportunity to equalize the playing field -- it won't matter if an area has few economic resources or is isolated. If we are able to provide equal and equitable technology access in all schools, we can cure other societal ills that affect children everywhere.
- David Rainey, Director, School of Science and Mathematics, Hot Springs, Arkansas

Although the opportunities to improve teaching and learning were held to be of the utmost importance, a superintendent testified that technology can also help administrators to manage schools and districts more effectively. Several administrators suggested, for example, that schools that did not have the resources to support courses in advanced subjects would be able to offer these courses if only they employed available distance learning tools (such as video conferencing). Technological tools have the potential to enable schools to deliver higher quality instruction across a wider area at reduced cost.

Teachers and Students

Both teachers and students who are technologically literate know that learning with computers and other technological tools can be extremely stimulating, rewarding, and fruitful. One student described how classmates are excited by what they can do and learn through the use of technology. A teacher who was recently awarded the honor of "Teacher of the Year" by Scholastic, Inc. remarked that:

Even the one computer I have had in my classroom for the past year has made a big difference. The computer touches students in a unique way and sparks enthusiasm for learning.
- Brenda Collins, Teacher, Sun City School District, LA

Indeed, knowledgeable teacher participants affirmed that with technological tools that allow access to resources such as the Internet, electronic publishing, video conferencing, video-on-demand, interactive cable-TV, as well as links to students' and teachers' homes, students can:

• Increase their access to information,

• Learn at their own pace, and

• Acquire important work-readiness skills.

With technological competence, students are able to access valuable resources outside the school's walls and traditional school day, investigate real problems that interest them, and acquire the skills that will be required of them in the workplace.

Parents

Parents recognize that their children's future depends on the skills that their children learn in school. These skills must now include facility with state-of-the-art technological tools. One parent emphasized that without exposure to, and experience with technology, students will not be able to compete in the job market. Another parent described her son's high school where both the computer-aided design class and the newspaper production classes were being taught without the use of technological tools commonly used in those industries. Despite these criticisms of her son's school, she recognized the challenges facing schools:

Administrators and teachers have too much to do and think about, too little money, and too little training. If classes aren't offered on how to use computers and technology to build skills and get jobs, it is a disgrace to our school system. Think of the future and all of the skills our children will need.
- Susan Supernacato, Parent, Albuquerque, NM

To meet these challenges, schools should invite parents and other community members to help schools. Parents, she asserted, want to volunteer and help teachers and administrators cope with the changes that the infusion of technology into education brings.

Two parents spoke passionately of the unique value of technological tools to children with disabilities -- providing the help and guidance these children need to learn basic academic and vocational skills. A parent of two children with disabilities testified she was able to locate inexpensive computer software that helped one of her children to learn to read and write. Without the technology, she argued, her child would not have been able to succeed in school -- much less even communicate with his teachers or friends.

Parents and other participants described a long-term vision of technology that can address different students' special needs, and provide resources and opportunities for all students that might not be available otherwise. However, contrasted with this vision of technology as an instrument for school reform leading to enhanced teaching and learning opportunities, is the reality that there are many barriers that potentially prevent or reduce the effectiveness of the national plan for technology in education.

Putting people on the moon is the only thing the United States has done that is comparable to the issue of efficiently and successfully employing technology in education.
- Mike Lockerd, Texas Instruments

Participants agreed that technology implementation in schools is hampered by the extraordinary level of financial and human resources required to select, purchase, use and maintain these tools in the classroom. Although exciting model technology programs exist across the country, schools have not been able to replicate or "scale up" these successes for a number of reasons, including:

• The technical expertise needed to make good decisions regarding adequate or appropriate investments in technological tools and training needs;

• The difficulty of integrating technological tools into classrooms;

• The inherent complexity of the tools themselves;

• The state of the existing physical infrastructure in communities;

• The policies of the telecommunications industry; and

• The lack of compelling research that demonstrates the impact of the effective use of technology in education, as well as research that demonstrates which tools and approaches are best for which students.

As evident from the above list, participants identified many important factors that could interfere with the increased use of technology in education. Three issues in particular, though, were identified as being particularly troubling to participants:

• The poor professional development opportunities offered teachers;

• The tremendous costs involved in purchasing, maintaining, and supporting technological tools; and

• The lack of technical knowledge and experience among many administrators and teachers.

Each of these three issues -- as assessed by participants -- is elaborated below.

The Poor Professional Development Opportunities Offered Teachers

How do we train teachers when we don't have sufficient access to computers?
- Carlos Athensco, Superintendent, NM

Perhaps the most strongly voiced concern of forum participants was the lack of teacher expertise in how best to integrate and use technology in the classroom. In the workforce, computers are used to facilitate research, communication, computation, and data organization. Teachers cannot effectively develop and model this kind of mastery without sufficient hands-on, day-to-day experience and practice. Indeed, one participant complained that most teachers had never even heard of the Internet, much less ever used it.

Participants voiced concerns about pre-service training offered at most Colleges of Education. Even if stringent technology training requirements are put in place, and compliance is linked to accreditation, one university professor doubted Colleges of Education would be able to deliver appropriate and effective training given their current practices and lack of experience. With regard to inservice training, participants complained that ongoing technology training is woefully inadequate. The current state of teacher training notwithstanding, participants recognized the vital need for more training:

If we do not capture the minds of our teacher force, this conversation and all our efforts are wasted. Don't put the cart before the horse -- start with the workforce and focus on what matters.
- Margaret Early, Project Director, Mayo Demonstration School, Oklahoma

The Tremendous Costs Involved in Purchasing, Maintaining,
and Supporting Technological Tools

As illustrated through their statements, participants testified that the purchase, maintenance, and support of technology for education is extremely costly and cannot be fully achieved without substantial financial support and budgeting changes. Comments like the following demonstrate the financial barriers and difficulties of a long-term plan for technology in education:

The expression "Build it and they will come" won't work. [The national information infrastructure] may be built, but then it will be closed down because we can't afford the access.
- Connie Stout, TENET

There is only so much money in the pot and if implementing technology is a priority, something else has to give.
- Cheryl Flower, Superintendent, OK

The Lack of Technical Knowledge and Experience
Among Many Administrators and Teachers

Among teachers and administrators, the knowledge and expertise to ensure the appropriate and successful purchase, implementation, and use of technology for education is scarce. While this knowledge and experience can be gained, many obstacles exist. For example, several participants cautioned that when teachers or administrators ask local vendors for guidance, they are frequently subjected to sales pitches that may not serve their needs. A university-based advisor to schools commented:

Many [teachers and administrators] will be shopping without a good idea of their needs and what they are getting into. Schools will buy equipment with grant monies based on who the best salesman is because they are not well informed. The systems they buy won't be interoperable and won't serve students as well as they should.
- Mary Fuller, East Texas State University

Successful technology implementation requires making good choices with limited resources and, quite simply, participants argued, most schools do not have the expertise to make the those choices.

Participants of the Southeast regional forum expressed through their comments that as difficult as times may be for schools, it is also an exciting and important time to be in education -- especially because of the potential difference that the infusion of technology could make in the lives of today's children.

In considering the widespread infusion of technology into education, participants expressed several broad issues that they feel would need to be addressed at a national level, including the need for efforts to infuse technology in education to be linked with other national efforts to reform education (such as GOALS 2000 and School-to-Work), and the need for planning at a national level across states to ensure that we, as a nation, are building a truly national system and not 50 incompatible ones.

Several participants described ideal scenarios where people at the Federal, state, and local levels would work together to set and reach goals by establishing joint ventures and partnerships. Participants also felt that the plan should not be too prescriptive. Based on what we have learned from business technology use, one participant argued the national plan for technology in education should provide a framework within which each school and district would be free to address the particular needs of its students.

More specifically, participants felt that the Federal role with regard to the national plan for the use of technology in education should be to:

• Encourage and support local communities to work together to assemble knowledgeable and experienced teams of stakeholders to plan for and infuse technology in education;

• Conduct research, development, dissemination, and technical assistance activities to identify, create, and promote promising uses of state-of-the-art technological tools in schools;

• Take a more active role in influencing the nature and content of pre-service training in Colleges of Education, and of inservice training; and

• Consider ways to ensure equitable access to technological tools.

Willie Calderon, a high school student experienced in the use of technology, perhaps best summarized the sense of urgency and need for a national plan:

Technology is important to all the schools across the country, because without technology we'll be down at the bottom. We'll be second to Japan all the time. We don't want to be second. We need to be number one. In order to be smarter, we need to have technology. I always say this: if you don't take risks, there is no success.
- Willie Calderon, High School Student

List of Participants | Other Forum Reports