Visions Worth Working Toward: Narrowing the Widening Gap
Steven W. Gilbert
June 26, 1997

Whose children are heading for careers and family lives in which they will NOT need to use computers at all? By whose choice? Which students do NOT need daily access to easy-to-use, reliable, computing and telecommunications tools?

Daily arms-length access to a computer is rapidly becoming the key to full participation in some of the most valuable options for communications, education, and careers.

During the past few years many people have asked me for examples of colleges where all students and faculty members are required to have their own computers. Many have also asked about the benefits and problems associated with such requirements. More recently, I’ve been asked about the value and costs of institutional programs that provide computers, software, Internet access, and support services for faculty, staff, and students. I’m afraid it’s time to ask some new questions:

As the number and variety of useful educational applications of information technology continues to grow, who will find and use the most promising new options first? Who will be able to use them with the least additional effort? Who will be best prepared for jobs that rely on adjusting quickly to using new applications of information technology? Who will be the best candidates for leadership positions in which judgments must be made about investing in new technology options?

For faculty and other educational professionals, constant arms-length access to easy-to-use, reliable equipment and services opens up possibilities that were previously only the dreams of educational visionaries. [For students, some of the benefits MAY be available even with somewhat less frequent access to these same tools and resources.]

I’m finally convinced that the greatest benefits of many significant educational opportunities now depend on students and faculty having daily direct personal access to word-processing, electronic mail, and the World Wide Web. Moreover, to achieve these benefits, this access must be comfortable, reliable, affordable and compatible throughout an educational institution. [I can explain why, but I think it’s getting obvious. The capabilities of these basic tools support some of the most basic educational processes: manipulating text; communicating with specific individuals and groups; finding, organizing, adapting, and presenting information.]

Recently I’ve had too many opportunities to see and hear about the differences between the levels of access to technology for people in different parts of this country (and other countries), for people of different levels of wealth and poverty, for people trying to learn at different kinds of schools, colleges, and universities (even for people in different parts of the same institution). Those who have their own computers with good tools for word-processing, Email, and Web work are much more likely to learn to use those resources effectively and frequently than people who must make arrangements to use computing facilities available publicly or from friends and colleagues.

Public access to computing on campuses and in libraries is an admirable goal, but it is not "equal access". To see the most dramatic contrasts, watch the comfort and mastery demonstrated by those who have personal computers from an early age and who attend schools where information technology has become an integral part of the infrastructure -- visit a public or private middle school in a wealthy suburb. By contrast, think about the discomfort and unfamiliarity of part-time commuter adult students who have jobs and families and who have never owned a computer -- whose lives include little time and opportunity for visiting a computer lab.

I’m trying to be "reasonable and practical" and avoid the most dramatic conclusion. But I know that my 11 year-old daughter and most of her classmates had a little course on keyboarding skills when they were in 3rd grade. Most of them have computers in their homes. Their school has computers in classrooms, hallways, and a special computer-lab -- supported by a couple of full-time professionals. Middle-school teachers give some assignments that need to be done with the help of computers. A few days ago my daughter got a phone call from a friend inviting her to join several of her classmates in a chat room at 8:00 pm. She corresponds with her 12-year old cousin in Chicago via EMail. Computers aren’t important to my daughter and her classmates, they are simply comfortable utilities that are assumed to be available when needed. These children also confidently assume they will be able to learn to any additional uses whenever necessary.

By the time my daughter begins taking college courses, she will have had about 10 years of experience with computers and networks. Sure, students entering college with no computing experience can master the basic tools rather quickly. But I don’t believe that most of the students who have had NO experience with computers before college will really catch up. College students who must arrange their schedules and transportation to use public-access computing in local libraries or on college campuses cannot compete effectively with those who live with computers. Most important, that growing population of adult learners who are part-time commuter students with jobs and family responsibilities have the hardest time getting to campus and using the public access computing facilities. These are the same people least likely to have computers in their homes or available for their personal use in the workplace.

Many of us still believe that information technology can enable us to provide high quality education for everyone. Instead, right now the gap between the quality of education available to the "Haves" and the "Have Nots" is widening. The unevenness of the distribution of personal access to computing compounds the unevenness of access to high quality traditional education. The wealthiest and most selective educational institutions provide small classes for students whose families value and support education -- classes led by faculty members who are committed, well-educated, and who have good access to educational resources. These same institutions have moved most rapidly to make information technology pervasive and accessible to all.

It is time to do something about this gap -- before it gets so wide that those at the bottom have no hope of catching up with those at the top. Too many more doors of opportunity are closing to people who have no way to become familiar and competent with the use of computers. It is becoming politically, economically, and morally unacceptable to leave them out. If we cannot include everyone in the "information revolution," we may have another kind of revolution instead.

Visions Worth Working Toward: Lifelong Teaching and Lifelong Learning
Steven W. Gilbert
June 26, 1997

One of the characteristics that most differentiates human beings from all other creatures is the ability to learn and teach -- to create and pass along new knowledge, wisdom, and technology across generations. When our institutions and inventions support this process we improve education and the quality of life. When they interfere, we are all diminished.

I believe we all share a fundamental need to learn -- and to teach. For the past two years I’ve been ending most of my public presentations with a story about Gandhi and his grandson and a list of "Seven Blunders of the World that Lead to Violence." [See below.] One of the things I like best about that story is the image of a world leader whose time was sought by so many people, devoting himself daily to working with a much younger person -- someone from another generation.

It is becoming widely recognized that our world has already changed in ways that make "Lifelong Learning" more of a necessity than an appealing phrase. I believe it is also time to recognize the need for "Lifelong Teaching."

The increasing acceptance of "Lifelong Learning" is grounded in four fundamental, observations:

1. More jobs and careers require frequent learning.
2. More people change jobs and careers often and need to learn skills and knowledge to do so.
3. More people are living longer and find that learning adds to the quality of (later) life.
4. Technological and economic progress should enable fewer people working shorter hours to produce enough of life’s "essentials" for everyone; therefore, more people should have more time for "non-essentials." Learning and teaching are among the healthiest candidates for people’s "non-essential" time.

The need for "Lifelong Teaching" rests on an additional eight basic points:

5. THE GROWING DEMAND FOR LIFELONG LEARNING CREATES THE NEED FOR A GROWING SUPPLY OF LIFELONG TEACHING.
6. The old adage that "The best way to learn something is to teach it." is correct. We have barely begun to take this observation seriously and exploit it.
7. There is growing evidence [where?] that even young people enjoy and gain while they are teaching others -- who may be much younger or older than themselves.
8. Changing demographic, enrollment, and career patterns are giving more retirees (e.g., faculty, professional staff, and alumni) time and inclination to serve as student assistants and volunteers. Active retirement and feeling needed is healthier than pure "recreation."
9. Efforts to link alumni more closely to colleges are growing. Some alumni may welcome the opportunity to be more directly involved with the academic life of the institution as teachers and as learners.
10. People employed in other professions can exercise their inclinations to teach within their own organizations and as adjunct faculty for educational institutions.
11. Information technology (especially, Email and the WWW) provides new patterns of communication enabling adjunct faculty and volunteer teachers to engage more conveniently in some forms of tutorials and group work.

The desperate need for information technology support services (in higher education and in industry -- see writings by Gilbert and others on the "Support Service Crisis") encourages the development and growth of Student Technology Assistant Programs.

The increasing attention to and support for "Learner-Centered Education" is a healthy reaction to examples of education that were too obviously "Teacher-Centered." But letting the pendulum swing too far back in the other direction is equally dysfunctional. Education must be BOTH Learner-Centered AND Teacher-Centered.

The growing need for learning will rapidly outpace the capacity of full-time faculty who serve only within conventional educational institutions. Widespread Lifelong Learning can only be achieved together with Lifelong Teaching. Technology and the structure of institutions must support both these functions. How?

Here is a first try at listing some of the questions we need to pursue and some actions we might take:

QUESTIONS

12. What additional incentives and opportunities are needed to get more young students to serve as assistant teachers? To get more experienced teachers to organize their work to make effective use of such assistance and to serve as mentors for the young helpers?
13. What additional incentives and opportunities are needed to get more alumni and retirees to serve as assistant teachers or part-time teachers? To help more experienced full-time teachers organize their work to make effective use of such assistance?
14. What additional incentives and opportunities are needed to get more full-time employees and professionals to serve as teachers? How can institutions adjust schedules and budgets to fit?
15. How can those who are preparing to enter the workforce for the first time gain from being assistant teachers? What kinds of incentives, opportunities, and guidance do they need?
16. How must recruitment, selection, training, and supervision vary among these different cohorts?
17. How can such programs be advanced with the support of full-time faculty -- both individuals and faculty organizations?

 

ACTIONS

Establish programs to recruit, select, train, and supervise:

18. current students as assistant teachers (of other students, of faculty members, of members of the extended college community).
19. alumni as returning adjunct or volunteer faculty.
20. retired faculty as returning adjunct or volunteer faculty.
21. ANYONE WHO WANTS TO BECOME A TEACHER OR AN ASSISTANT TEACHER ANYWHERE

Visions Worth Working Toward: Face-To-Face + Telecommunications + Independent Work

Steven W. Gilbert
June 26, 1997

Occasionally when I am invited to visit a campus to make a presentation I ask if we can arrange my participation via some form of telecommunications instead. The most common reply is "Show up or we'll get someone else." Why do people believe it is so important to gather together in the same place at the same time?

I believe we have barely begun to recognize or understand what happens in the most effective classroom interactions. We hardly grasp some of the most important elements of face- to-face group meetings. We need to identify some of the more powerful and subtle elements of human communication that can happen among a group of people gathered together in the same place, at the same time, for a common purpose. WHO IS BETTER EQUIPPED THAN THOSE IN HIGHER EDUCATION TO DO THE RESEARCH TO IDENTIFY AND UNDERSTAND THE SUBTLETIES AND DIMENSIONS OF FACE-TO-FACE COMMUNICATION?

Delivering a visual image and audio recording is useful, but not the same thing as the experience of being there. For some purposes, for some people, participating via telecommunications is entirely adequate. For some purposes, for some people, participating via telecommunications is preferable. As the power and variety of telecommunications options increase, so does the number of situations in which "being there" is not the only or most attractive option.

Consequently, there is greater pressure now than ever before to identify and provide those benefits possible within face-to-face classroom activities that cannot yet be captured or delivered effectively via information technology.

Those faculty who fear being replaced by some combination of video recording, CD-ROM, Web Page, books, etc. most need to ensure that their classroom interactions provide something more valuable for the students than can be captured and delivered in other media.

Most education has long been a combination of face-to-face meetings (ranging from tutorials to large lectures), asynchronous telecommunications (written assignments), and guided independent work (reading, laboratory experiments). In the last few years, information technology has been providing a rapidly increasing variety of options for enhancing or changing each. New dimensions have been added to the possibilities for asynchronous communication and for more interactive independent learning. New tools can enhance the depth and variety of interaction possible among people in the same room. Faculty need to learn how to assemble, make available, and evaluate the educational impact of combinations of a variety of teaching/learning options ranging from the most traditional lectures and readings to the most advanced online resources. [And so do the learners! The power of these choices can be increased by engaging the learners as thoughtful collaborators in the selection process.]

Who has the expertise to help faculty make these new choices? To help faculty learn how to use new combinations of face-to-face meetings and telecommunications? To make the most of what can happen when people are in the same place, at the same time, for a common purpose? And when they are not?

Gandhi's "Seven Blunders of the World"

that lead to violence

...plus 5.

Steven W. Gilbert, Director, Technology Projects

American Association for Higher Education

Headquarters office hours:   10AM to 6PM Eastern
Directions to:  One Columbia Avenue, Takoma Park, Maryland 20912 USA
phone (301) 270-8312 fax:  (301)270-8110 e-mail: online@tltgroup.org

Mohandas Gandhi's list of "Seven Blunders of the World" that lead to violence was described in an article in the Christian Science Monitor on February 1, 1995 (page 14). In his final years, "...the elder Gandhi kept his grandson close at hand and set aside an hour every day to be alone with the boy." I like the image of a gifted world leader devoting so much time to a young person, affirming the fundamental human urge to connect to future generations -- to teach -- and, perhaps, to learn.

On their final day together, not too long before his assassination, Gandhi gave this important list to his grandson -- Arun Gandhi. Below is Gandhi's list, including an 8th "blunder" added by Arun Gandhi, the grandson. I've also added 4 of my own that focus more on teaching, learning, and technology.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

BLUNDERS OF THE WORLD THAT LEAD TO VIOLENCE

Wealth without work

Pleasure without conscience

Knowledge without character

Commerce without morality

Science without humanity

Worship without sacrifice

Politics without principle

Rights without responsibilities [Arun Gandhi]

Technology without direction

Connection without community

Teaching without joy

Learning without hope

Our Challenge: To use information technology to improve education and shape a future that avoids these blunders.