If used wisely, the Internet can transform schools and curricula, liberate educators, and unleash the full potential of every child, Steve Case, CEO of America Online, told his General Session audience at ASCD's 55th Annual Conference. "The Internet can help us transform an education system with the institution at the center to a system where learning is flexible enough to be truly centered on the child," he asserted.
Photo by Mark Regan
The Internet revolution is launching a revolution in the classroom, Case said. He cited data indicating that 95 percent of U.S. schools are now connected to the Internet, and 72 percent of U.S. classrooms are already online. "Right now 46 million American households have online access," he added, "when just a few years ago, most Americans didn't even know what online access was."
Today's students consider the Internet a given, Case noted. "When kids go home from school today, they don't play stickball or watch Gilligan's Island reruns. They get online, and they chat in real time with somebody in Senegal, or take a virtual tour of the Pacific Ocean floor, or download MP3 tunes from a garage band in Toronto."
Because today's students increasingly live in Internet time, they want to learn in Internet time, Case said. Therefore, educators "have to run schools and teach classes in Internet time and use the online experience to deepen our children's learning experience. And that's not easy."
Glimpsing the Future
Despite the challenges, we have already begun to glimpse the online medium's promise for improving education, Case said. For example, the Internet allows a much freer exchange of information between schools and families. "The Internet enables teachers, school administrators, and parents to have an ongoing electronic dialogue that's critical to a child's progress, instead of just communicating through notes shoved into a backpack," he said.
The best way this medium can help children, Case contended, is by helping turn parents from spectators into participants in their child's learning. "Give teachers e-mail and they can talk to parents all the time, rather than twice a year at formal parent-teacher conferences," he suggested. "Teachers could host regular online chats for a whole group of parents, rather than relying on a single open house in the fall. School superintendents and principals could distribute a monthly e-mail newsletter with links to material that the kids are studying. When mom and dad check their e-mail at night, wouldn't it be great to see some messages about their children's school?"
In closing, Case conceded that technology is an important thing, but it's not the only thing. "It can help us do right by our kids, but it's not a cure-all. The best education," he predicted, "will follow the path of retail establishments that have realized they need both face-to-face customer interaction and an online presence. Like these stores, the schools of the future will be built with clicks and mortar."