The Role of Emerging Technologies for Knowledge Mobilization, Dissemination, and Use in Education
Commissioned by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education Chris Dede, George Mason University
http://www.virtual.gmu.edu

"Evidence on isolated exemplary practices in education suggests that new models of teaching and learning have the power to improve educational outcomes dramatically. As a result, many people are asking how to scale-up scattered, successful "islands of innovation" into universal improvements in schooling (Dede 1998). Undertaking "systemic reform" (sustained, large-scale, simultaneous innovation in curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, professional development, administration, incentives, and partnerships for learning among schools, businesses, homes, and community settings) requires policies and practices different from fostering pilot projects for small-scale educational improvement (Means 1994). For example, systemic reform involves moving from relying on special, external resources to reconfiguring existing budgets in order to free up money for innovation. Also, strategies for change that are effective when pioneered by leaders in educational innovation must be modified so that typical educators can implement them…."

CSCL Theories (Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning)
Jy Wana Daphne Lin Hsiao University of Texas, Austin http://www.edb.utexas.edu/csclstudent/dhsiao/theories.html

Computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has grown out of wider research into computer supported collaborative work (CSCW) and collaborative learning. CSCW is defined as a computer-based network system that supports group work in a common task and provides a shared interface for groups to work with (Ellis et al. 1991). Collaborative learning is defined as groups working together for a common purpose (Resta, 1995). The differences between CSCW and CSCL are that CSCW tends to focus on communication techniques themselves, and CSCL focuses on what is being communicated; CSCW is used mainly in the business setting, CSCL is used in the educational setting; the purpose of CSCW is to facilitate group communication and productivity, and the purpose of CSCL is to scaffold or support students in learning together effectively. They both are based on the promise that computer supported systems can support and facilitate group process and group dynamics in ways that are not achievable by face-to-face, but they are not designed to replace face-to-face communication. CSCL and CSCW systems typically tailored for use by multiple learners working at the same workstation or across networked machines. These systems can support communicating ideas and information, accessing information and documents, and providing feedback on problem-solving activities. The research of CSCL and CSCW covers not only the techniques of the groupware but also their social, psychological, organizational, and learning effects.

Multimedia Encourages New Learning Styles
David Thornburg, Ph.D.
New Horizons - Tenth Floor http://www.newhorizons.org/tech_thornburg.html

Educational technology, when used appropriately, helps the teacher and the students to create a caring, creative community of learners. -- Joan Riedl, The Integrated Technology Classroom: Building Self-Reliant Learners Modern computer and communication technology is becoming commonplace in a growing number of schools. The presence of hi-tech does not mean that it is being used wisely, however. One of the properties of most technologies is that they are as capable of perpetuating paradigms of the past as they are of setting the stage for the future. Constructivist Theory (J. Bruner) George Washington University From Explorations in Learning & Instruction: The Theory Into Practice (TIP) Database http://www.gwu.edu/~tip/bruner.html Overview: A major theme in the theoretical framework of Bruner is that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge. The learner selects and transforms information, constructs hypotheses, and makes decisions, relying on a cognitive structure to do so. Cognitive structure (i.e., schema, mental models) provides meaning and organization to experiences and allows the individual to "go beyond the information given."

A Review of Research on Project-Based Learning
John W. Thomas, Ph.D. March, 2000
Supported by Autodesk Foundation
http://www.autodesk.com/foundation/pbl/research/

This review examines research related to a teaching and learning model popularly referred to as "Project-Based Learning" (PBL). All of the research on Project-Based Learning has taken place in the past ten years and most of it in just the last few years. Since there is not a large body of PBL research, the review is inclusive rather than selective. [The full paper is downloadable in pdf format.]

Project-Based Learning with Multimedia - The Challenge 2000 Multimedia Project
Regie Stites of SRI, International January 1998
http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/topics_main.htm

What does research say about outcomes from project-based learning? This group of extensive resources, reference and writings on Project-Based Learning (PBL) includes a definition of PBL+MM and brief outline of key components; an introduction to the seven components of PBL+MM; student assessment guides; a review of the research on PBL; planning and implementation guidelines;notes on rubric development and a multimedia project scoring rubric; discussion guides for teachers and students and more.

Problem Based Learning - An Introduction
The National Teaching and Learning Forum
James Rhem, Executive Editor
http://www.ntlf.com/sample/pbl.htm

Problem-based learning is an instructional strategy in which students learn through finding meaningful solutions to contextualized problem sets and solutions. In this introductory piece, Rhem provides a concise overview of problem-based learning - its historical origins, roles and procedures. This introduction includes a bibliography with books, resources and online readings and tutorials.

Online Education: New Paradigms for Learning and Teaching
Greg Kearsley December 1998 http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/allen.htm

A major change in the education landscape is underway at schools and colleges across the country and around the world: the use of the internet and web for learning and teaching. While this development builds upon a couple of decades of computer networking activities (e.g., email, bulletin board systems), the internet/web has produced phenomenal growth in the extent and scope of online education. An interesting opportunity to examine the current state of the art in this area was brought about by the Paul Allen Foundation Virtual Education contest. This contest offered a prize of $25,000 for the most outstanding online course in higher education. A total of 183 entries were received from 148 institutions representing almost every conceivable subject domain. These entries were judged by a panel of four experts in educational technology: Roberto Bamberger, Chris Dede, Jon Dorbolo, and myself. [Note 1] This article describes some of the salient characteristics of these courses and the issues they raise about online education.

What Is the Collaborative Classroom?
M.B. Tinzmann, B.F. Jones, T.F. Fennimore, J. Bakker, C. Fine, and J. Pierce NCREL, Oak Brook, 1990
North Central Regional Educational Laboratory
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/rpl_esys/collab.htm

New Learning and Thinking Curricula Require Collaboration --In Guidebook 1, we explored a "new" vision of learning and suggested four characteristics of successful learners: They are knowledgeable, self-determined strategic, and empathetic thinkers. Research indicates successful learning also involves an interaction of the learner, the materials, the teacher, and the context. Applying this research, new guidelines in the major content areas stress thinking. Guidebook 2 describes these new guidelines and provides four characteristics of "a thinking curriculum" that cut across content areas. The chief characteristic of a thinking curriculum is the dual agenda of content and process for all students. Characteristics that derive from this agenda include in-depth learning; involving students in real-world, relevant tasks; engaging students in holistic tasks from kindergarten through high school; and utilizing students' prior knowledge.

Scaffolding: A model for learner support in an online teaching environment
From the Proceedings of the Teaching and Learning Forum 2000
Catherine McLoughlin, Teaching and Learning Centre University of New England
Linda Marshall Kurongkurl Katitjin, School of Indigenous Australian Studies, Edith Cowan University http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/confs/tlf/tlf2000/mcloughlin2.html

In the design of online teaching environments, considerable attention has been paid to the nature of the interface and to the streamlining of activities for learners to engage with. Much less attention has been given however to the nature of the learner support system that is created for novice users learning online. Support systems are essential for learners to engage in the processes of learning and need to be developed in response to needs. It is also imperative that a range of support systems be put in place to enable learners to become competent in learning online, and to learn to interact in a virtual environment. Such skills are now recognised as part of the lifelong learning competencies or generic attributes that universities seek to develop in their graduates. In this paper we offer a theoretical and pragmatic rationale for the development of learning support for online learning, which comprises both resources that learners can access in order to achieve learning outcomes and procedural scaffolds that support the communication process. Examples of support mechanisms are drawn from two pre-tertiary bridging units offered to Indigenous external students studying online.

Co-constructing Learning Environments and Learner Identities- Language Learning in Virtual Reality
Schwienhorst, K. (1998).
From the Proceedings of the ED-Media/ ED-Telecom, Freiburg.
Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
http://www.tcd.ie/CLCS/assistants/kschwien/Publications/coconstruct.htm

ABSTRACT: This paper describes the changing roles of language learners in a collaborative learning environment (MOO). The role of the learner is defined within the concept of learner autonomy, and we use both Kelly's theory of personal constructs and Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development to explore it. These theoretical notions, especially regarding learner identities, are supported by some concepts of virtual reality that emphasise its communicative and participatory nature. Finally, I will look at organisational issues that need to be considered when implementing learner autonomy, on the one hand the Tandem network, on the other hand the integration of MOO activities within an inter-curricular framework between Trinity College, Dublin, and the University of Bochum, Germany.

An End to Student Segregation: No More Separation Between Distance Learning and Regular Courses
Murray Turoff, New Jersey Institute of Technology
http://eies.njit.edu/~turoff/Papers/canadapres/segregation.htm

ABSTRACT: Are we denying the regular student in face-to-face classes the same quality of education that we are providing the distance student? Are the group communications technology and the collaborative learning methodology that it supports producing courses that are better than face-to-face classes? Is it time to stop mistreating the face-to-space student and eliminate the learning inhibitions that the face to face student faces!? In the view of the author these are the important questions and asking the right question is what leads to the best solutions.

Technology in the Classroom: Tools for Doing Things Differently or Doing Different Things
Margaret Riel, University of California, Irvine
http://www.gse.uci.edu/vkiosk/faculty/riel/riel-fulton.html

"Today's technological tools make it possible to teach in new ways--to do things differently or even to do entirely different things. This paper explores issues of school reform and the role of technology in designing new learning environments. We begin not with the technology but with the challenges that face schools and examine why reform is necessary. What are the problems that stimulate the call for teaching and learning in new ways? How does today's reform context lead to a greater emphasis on building learning communities as appropriate and effective vehicles for new learning for students and teachers? After building this contextual framework, we consider the role technology plays in providing solutions to educational problems and in supporting learning communities. We end by exploring how technology tools can support different forms of learning and understanding."

The Future of Technology and Education: Where are we Heading? Margaret Riel, University of California, Irvine http://www.gse.uci.edu/vkiosk/faculty/riel/wt6/

New Designs for Connected Teaching and Learning
White Paper for the U. S. Department of Education Secretary's Conference on Educational Technology, 2000
Margaret Riel, CCRE, UC Irvine
http://www.gse.uci.edu/mriel/whitepaper/

INTRODUCTION: Technology is not the solution to the complex problems that face our schools but it can dramatically increase the community of participants designing solutions. Fundamental change in the next decades will come from the work of the people who the Internet brings together rather then from simple access to this technology. This is because education is a human enterprise. It is dependent on the relationship between teachers and learners in a specific social, political, and historical context. My testimony will focus on that context and ways in which changes to the learning environment will alter the relationships between teachers and learners and between school and society. I frame my testimony on the role of technology in education by using four dimensions of the learning environment identified in a book edited by John Bransford, Ann Brown and Rodney Cocking (NRC, 1999). This book, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School, is the report of the Committee on the Development of Learning Sciences to the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and the entire contents are available on the Internet.

Collaborative Hypermedia in Virtual Reality Systems
Murray Turoff, Jerry Fjermestad, Ajaz Rana, Michael Bieber, Roxanne Hiltz
http://eies.njit.edu/~turoff/Papers/CHinVR.htm

ABSTRACT: "The objective of this effort is to integrate aspects of technology from Computer Mediated Communications (CMC), Virtual Reality and Hypertext/Hypermedia to demonstrate a new potential to facilitate human communications via computer. This integration, we believe, will result in a new type of Collaborative Hypermedia System, one that can cure a number of significant usability and applicability problems that have plagued these technologies on an individual basis. These include lack of customization and information overload (Hiltz & Turoff, 1985)."

Virtual Communities
Chris Dede, George Mason University http://www.newhorizons.org/article_dede5.html#communities

In his section from his "Testimony to the US Congress, House of Representatives Joint Hearing on Educational Technology in the 21st Century Committee on Science and Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities" [October 12, 1995], Dede outlines increasing influence virtual communities will have on K-2 education during the next two decades.

The "No Significant Difference Phenomenon"
Thomas L. Russell http://cuda.teleeducation.nb.ca/nosignificantdifference/index.cfm

This site provides selected entries from Thomas L. Russell's 1999 book "The No Significant Difference Phenomenon" as reported in 355 research reports, summaries and papers - a comprehensive research bibliography on technology for distance education. Its primary purpose is to provide access to appropriate studies published/discovered after the release of the book. This site is database driven and referenced quotes are organized by year and keyword searchable by quote, author, article, journal or institution. a companion site features comparative studies which DO document significant differences at http://cuda.teleeducation.nb.ca/significantdifference