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Educational Technology in the World Today
As part of outreach from my work on the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council, I have often been invited to work internationally sharing the ideas on the use of technology, and to explore and demonstrate global ideas. But working internationally is very different. It is rewarding to share the exploration, excitement, evaluation, and engagement of ideas in the use of technology using many different methodologies. I call it connecting the dots.
In some countries, radio and television are at this time the most important systems of delivery. But with convergence, it is important to keep eyes on all parts of the use of technology, even if just for understanding the possibilities. Even in nations where technology is mostly in the form of television, the Internet is a database for knowledge. In nations where radio is the primary means of delivery, there are ways of using the Internet to boost its value. Often the most important thing one can do is to help frame the ideas, and then listen.
As I have worked internationally, I have often been challenged as to why there should be the use of technology at all. Sometimes where there is acceptance of the ideas, we have used the documents we crafted in the United States and other resources for thinking about national initiatives. On the other hand, we have often been confronted with age-old problems of poverty, lack of reading skills and health care, gender ideas, environmental issues, and the costs of building the infrastructure. The voices have been sometimes loud! Here are the words of people in places where I am working:
"The gross disparity in the spread of the Internet and thus the economic and social benefits derived from it is a matter of profound concern. There are more hosts in New York than in continental Africa; more hosts in Finland than in Latin America and the Caribbean; and notwithstanding the remarkable progress in the application of Information and Communications Technology in India, many of its villages still lack a working telephone."
"The formidable and urgent challenge before national governments and the development community is to bridge this divide and connect the remainder of the world's population whose livelihoods can be enhanced through ICT. As each day passes, the task becomes much more difficult: "To give just one example, exploding e-commerce ties individuals, firms, and countries closer and closer together, while those who do not try to catch the "Internet Express" run the risk of being further and further marginalized. Developing countries have great potential to compete successfully in the new global market, but unless they promptly and actively embrace the ICT revolution they will face new barriers."
Following are some of the resources we use:
- Perspectives on the use of technology http://www.ncrel.org/tandl/homepg.htm
- ISTE standards for implementation www.iste.org
- Network of networks in Europe promoting ICT for schools: http://www.eun.org
- Web Teacher, a self-paced tutorial http://www.webteacher.org/ Also www.isoc.com
- The World Links for Development (WorLD) program provides Internet connectivity and training for teachers, teacher trainers, and students in developing countries in the use of technology in education. http://www.worldbank.org/worldlinks/english/index.html
- WorLD training materials (also available in French and Spanish) http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/resource.html
- The Community Technology Centers' Network http://www2.ctcnet.org/
- Virtual Villages and the Developing World http://www.cnn.com/chat/transcripts/2000/6/20/afifi/index.html
- Report on UN meeting of high-level panel of experts on ICT http://www.undp.org/info21/new/n-ecosoc.html#1
Bonnie Bracey is a former award-winning classroom teacher and technology specialist who now consults internationally with emerging and ongoing technology projects. She is a Christa McAuliffe Educator, member of the advisory board of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, and is currently working with the European Children's Television Centre on the project World Summit for Children. This is a conference which will be held in Thessaloniki, Greece, March 23-26 , 2001. She can be reached at BBracey@aol.com or by calling 202.484.0554.
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