June 1996 — Features
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Achieving Technological Equity and Equal Access to the Learning Tools of the 21st Century
One day soon the Internet may provide a huge "electronic kiosk" of student performances (as do some Web pages already), and help learners improve what they know and can do. By exhibiting their work electronically, and by inviting comment and criticism from others, students can hone their knowledge.
Leveraging Learning Reform
Our district chose early entry into the "school reform through technology" arena. We designed and introduced the innovative Saturn School of Tomorrow project back in the late 1980s and became one of the first school districts in the country to commit major resources and collaborative efforts to school reform.
Saturn's design called for equity of access to technology for all students in the school, as a part of the school's "high-touch, high-teach and high-tech" mission. We have since witnessed many successes in student accomplishment and learning. Once technology is integrated into the curriculum, and students are doing "real" learning activities, it's often impossible to return to simple lecture and listen as a means to "learning."
Teacher behaviors will change, too. Staff development is essential, not just for the new technology, but also for the new ways that teaching and learning will happen.
President Bush came to visit and recognize the Saturn School in 1991 in announcing his America 2000 (now Goals 2000) initiative. One thing our students taught him, and the thousands of other visitors over the years, is that powerful learning can happen with technology. Many are amazed at what these students do with desktop publishing, MIDI synthesizers, HyperCard, Lego/Logo and video cameras.
But the staff have had to find ways to assure that other, more traditional learning is happening, too. Saturn students take the same national, standardized and district tests that others do and must show acceptable performance.
New Places & Spaces for Learning
It should come as no surprise that better access to technology-transformed learning activities means re-designed learning environments.
Our District-Wide Technology Plan calls for moving more of our computers from labs into the classrooms. If we want our teachers to integrate technology into their teaching, it must be readily available. Further, they must know how to use it and what their students can do with it.
Broader staff training has allowed us to change our old computer lab paradigm. New designs call for lab technology stations, with many kinds of technology tools for exploration, simulations, construction and testing. Often, there's more "noise" from students and their new tools, but there's also more real learning, too. The older lab computers are being moved to the classrooms for report writing, special learning and knowledge- production uses.
