RE: Where should we start?
Corrina (corrina@cs.colorado.edu)
Tue, 18 Mar 1997 15:23:41 -0700
Hello,
I'm Corrina Perrone, and I'm a research associate with the Center for
LifeLong Learning at the Univ. of Colorado, Boulder. I work specifically
on educational software systems, two of them are: WebQuest and Mr. Roger's
Sustainable Neighborhood. (http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~corrina/mud)
In reaction to this question:
>Nonetheless, one of the big questions still appears to be what are the
>benefits brought by this technology to the classroom that are unique and
>needed?
And the follow-up reframing:
>What are the opportunities this technology opens up?
My experience with teachers and in schools has been that there is a split
between teaching students to be technologically literate - email, the WWW,
etc., - and evaluating what students really learn from incorporating these
technologies into existing curriculums (i.e. does the addition of
technology or multi-media inherently improve the curriculum?).
Like Suzanne and Stephen, we've focused on the opportunities for learning
with technology. By combining simulation games and the Internet (as in
WebQuest and Mr. Roger's, and other work at the Center), we attempt to
view technology as media, and begin to think about how this media can
facilitate exploration, expression, and sharing among learning communities.
This approach is constructivist - design is a powerful vehicle for learning,
and through physical and computational artifacts, we give learners new
ways to express themselves and explore in self-directed ways. Several of
our systems have been built with the Agentsheets substrate, which now
contains a visual programming language for end-user programming, and
the Behavior Exchange for sharing computational artifacts (simulations
or pieces of simulations) through the WWW.
(http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~l3d/systems/agentsheets/)
We attempt to bridge the gap between research and classroom practice by
allowing classroom practice to inform our research. Our district is very "rich"
in terms of connectivity - all middle schools have computer labs with Internet
connections. However many of our teachers have similar competence with
technology issues. We recognize that the "learning communities" I mentioned
above MUST include teachers as well as students. Technology advances
rapidly for all of us, and teachers must be supported in finding and learning
technologies that will assist them in the classroom.
To address this in our research, we create [project] bridges between
educational
institutions - middle schools, high schools, undergraduate colleges, graduate
schools and professional companies and institutions.
Several ongoing projects in schools take different approaches to learning-
students at one middle school build Agentsheets simulations in WWW
collaboration with a middle school in Los Angeles. This is done through an
after-school computer club.
At another school, WebQuest is used within the curriculum to help students
use the
WWW for research. We employ a high school teacher within our research group
to facilitate the creation of programs make teachers lifelong learners and
to build
learning communities of teachers. Undergraduates at CU work with Boulder
City and County professionals to inform a simulation game about sustainability
which can be used for community education. Finally, we are initiating a
district-
wide project "testbed" for pilot projects to bring technology into the
curriculum,
starting at an elementary school level. As it comes into existence, we
hope this
testbed will serve to create a learning community with educators and students
from all levels, and uncover opportunities to integrate our efforts even more.
Now that I have explained a little bit about where we are, I can say there are
many questions/issues that I look forward to discussing with the conference
participants. For example, what is the balance between content, curriculum and
constructivism - esp. within technological learning systems? How can
collaboration
between researchers and practitioners lead to a model of collaboration between
learners (students included)? How can the WWW be made as important a resource
for learning as it is for commerce? How do we make technology more of a media
and less of an obstacle for learners? Now that we are getting teachers on
board - what
do we do with administration?
--Corrina
Corrina Perrone
Center for LifeLong Learning & Design
Dept. of Computer Science * CB 430
University of Colorado, Boulder 80309
corrina@cs.colorado.edu http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~corrina/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it."
-- Oscar Wilde