A New Foundation for Schools in
the District of Columbia
Foundation for Educational Innovation
Washington, DC
Almost everybody is excited about the possibility that new information technologies will transform schools. Ideas about the nature of that change, however, have evolved considerably in the last few years, as Archie Prioleau can attest.
Prioleau is Director of the Foundation for Educational Innovation, which received $450,000 from TIIAP in 1994 to help build state-of-the-art multimedia computer laboratories at schools in some of Washington, DC's poorest neighborhoods. From these "technical learning centers," students would be able to participate in "virtual visits" to remote locales such as the New York Hall of Science Museum. Cameras at the museums would follow "explainers" as they led classes through the exhibits, answering questions from students during real-time, full-motion visits.
It was an engaging vision, and the Foundation showed that it could be done. But along the way, Prioleau learned some valuable lessons. In many ways, his journey sums up what many educators are learning about the role of new information technologies in our schools.
Schools Can't Compete with Television and Video Games
First, Prioleau says, the project showed that it is very difficult for educational media projects to compete with television or video games in production quality. "For successful virtual visits, I needed more money than I could ever get," he says. "I could not give you the quality of production I needed for kids who were used to Nintendo or videos."
Perhaps more important, Prioleau adds, the original virtual visits failed to stimulate many students. As the Foundation noted it in its final report to TIIAP, "simply allowing an explainer to talk while the student listens is a passive method of learning no different from the early adventures of television. It does not work." The original museum visits failed to meet the needs of teachers and school administrators, too, the Foundation said. Without an overall educational theme, a visit to a museum whether virtual or real "does not support meaningful learning outcomes or curriculum disciplines as dictated by a school system."
New Education Strategies Create Active Lifelong Learners
These insights led the Foundation to adopt a more complex, interactive approach to learning. Rather than passively receiving information, students were asked to investigate something in the real world such as the Anacostia River running through Washington and then to exchange their findings and ideas with other students over the Internet. In this new strategy, creating new content took a back seat, and technology came to be used more as a tool to help students analyze and share information.
Prioleau learned other lessons as well. Along with many others who have pioneered the role of computer networking in education, he now stresses the importance of helping teachers use technology to achieve their educational objectives. Prioleau argues, among other things, that teachers need to have computers right in their classrooms so that they can prepare their lesson plans. He also has adopted new designs for his computer labs instead of lining up computers along the walls so that students have to face away from their peers while using them, he now seeks to encourage more collaborative learning by arranging the computers so that students can still see and interact readily with each other.
Students Graduate to Jobs With a Future
Prioleau's journey did not stop there. One day, an eighth-grade student proudly told him that she was earning money by teaching other kids how to use computers. "What's making this child feel most happy, most secure, most willing to go forward is that she's self-sustaining," he says. "The computer is a vehicle to help you learn, and the reason you want to learn is to make a living."
Building on that insight, Prioleau worked with Utah-based Novell, Inc., to develop curriculum materials to teach students at Ballou High School in Washington how to become computer-network administrators. Novell also agreed to let students who complete the course work take its standard exam to become certified network administrators. At the same time, BTG, Inc., a Virginia information-technology company and Electronic Data Systems Corporation pledged to hire graduates who successfully complete the program. The first 17 kids finished the program in the spring of 1997. Now, the Foundation is working with some 40 business, community, and government officials to establish a system that will prepare students for technology-related jobs in other industries.
By Prioleau's own account, the Foundation has traveled "light years" in its thinking about the role of technology in education since TIIAP helped it get started in 1994. Instead of using the Information Superhighway simply to bring more information to passive students, educators increasingly stress the importance of helping children use technology to become active, lifelong learners and to find their way in the emerging information economy.
Archie Prioleau
Executive Director
(202) 628-6660
prioleau@cais.com
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications
Last Modified: 18 Dec 97