Re-forming education with new technologies

1. Re-forming educationwith new technologies Presentation to C.A.P.E. BoardSeptember 14, 2000by Craig A. Cunningham, Ph.D.

2. Topics • Who am I? • Why reform education? • What can new technologies do? • Some cautions • Some suggestions for C.A.P.E.

3. Who am I? • Former high school math and science teacher • Trained as a philosopher of education • Expert on John Dewey’s moral theory • A “techie” by disposition, not training • Former assistant professor of education at Northeastern Illinois University • Author of forthcoming book:Curriculum Webs: A Practical Guide to Weaving the Web into Teaching and Learning • Now director of Web Institute for Teachers and director of curriculum for CUIP (Chicago Public Schools/University of Chicago Internet Project)

4. Why reform education? • To increase: • Equity • Excellence • Ethics • Esthetics • To decrease: • Dehumanization, despair, desensitization • Digital divide • Dumbing down

5. What can new technologies do? • Computers, software, connectivity, webs can increase: • Communication • Resources for teaching and learning • Range and depth of learning activities • Inquiry/Problem-solving • Localized action • Exposure to multicultural ideas and artifacts • Interdisciplinary understanding

6. Some sample curriculum webs • A primary look into Africahttp://cuip.uchicago.edu/~pfrazier/curr.guide.htm • African Folktales in the Classroomhttp://cuip.uchicago.edu/wit/99/teams/tales/folktales.html • The Photographic Experiencehttp://cuip.uchicago.edu/wit/99/teams/photography/ • World Art Webhttp://cuip.uchicago.edu/wit/2000/teams/artweb/home.html • Once Upon a Timehttp://cuip.uchicago.edu/wit/2000/teams/onceupon/toppage.html

7. Some cautions • New technologies are not inherently good • New technologies have high costs • Structure of most schools is NOT conducive to teaching or to learning • Quality of teacher training is often terrible • Local control both a blessing and a curse • Philosophy and art increasingly marginalized by capitalism, consumerism, and massification

8. Some suggestions for C.A.P.E. • When considering uses of new technologies, always focus on CAPE belief statements: • All students have the right to equitable access to art in their lives and in their schools. • The arts are important for young people not only as a means of enlivening and deepening overall learning, but also as valuable experiences in their own right. • The arts teach learners to know themselves as capable citizens in a democratic society--observing, creating, reflecting, making choices, and taking responsibility for actions in the world. • The arts are fundamental to the development of life-long learners capable of self-expression, critical thinking and problem solving, and understanding of others.

9. More suggestions for CAPE • Use technology to: • recruit partners and support partnerships • spread news about results of these partnerships • increase teacher understanding of the arts • provide students with opportunities for formal and informal arts-oriented learning • create and sustain collaborations with other organizations

10. More suggestions for CAPE • Think about the moral and spiritual uses for art, and defend its role in schools on these bases, not just how it serves so-called “academic achievement” • Explicitly identify barriers to effective arts partnerships, and create specific initiatives to overcome these barriers • Create new programs in schools of education • Position organization as provider of teacher professional development oriented around technology integration through arts integration