Connected Learning:A Conceptual Framework for

Re-Forming Education

The Center for Internet Research

http://tcfir.org

(720) 212-0719

A Cause for Concern

New studies of U.S. public school graduation rates reveal that graduation rates are lower than the previously accepted, nationally-averaged rate of 85%. Some studies suggest graduation rates may be as low at 60%.

Current studies conducted on the preparedness of entering college freshmen show that 30 – 40% require significant remediation in math, science, writing, research and other basic academic skills.

Current reports from the U.S. Department of Education show that approximately 20% of twelfth graders in the U.S. are “proficient” in science and mathematics based on “No Child Left Behind” standards.

A Cause for Concern

42% of all GED test-takers were teenagers in 2004, compared with 33% in 1991.

Most studies on the rate of science and engineering degrees awarded by U.S. colleges and universities show few changes or small declines over the past 30 years. However, other studies show that the percentage of foreign nations receiving these degrees has increased and, in some areas of the U.S., account for nearly 50% of degrees awarded. In addition, the ratio of advanced science and engineering degrees to country population has declined in the U.S. while increasing in nearly every other country including other developed nations.

Business and Industry: Stakeholders in the Outcome of Education

The U.S. public education system is the “prime mover” for the quality and quantity of the U.S. workforce.

The H1-B visa system and influx of foreign nationals to U.S. educational institutions and workforce have masked the deteriorating position of the U.S. education system to produce viable participants in the modern economy.

Global economic and technological change has altered what is valued by companies in their workforce as compared to the economic realities of 50 years ago… or even two years ago.

Not only is the U.S. education system not keeping pace with these changes but it is also failing to even meet basic education requirements.

While the impact of the quality of education affects all dimensions of society, business and industry are most directly affect via the state of the available workforce.

TCFIR Mission and Vision

The Center for Internet Research (TCFIR) was formed to investigate the vast intersection between Internet technology and the human experience using cross-disciplinary research practices spanning the industrial, government, scientific and academic communities.

Of particular interest is the use of Internet-enabled technologies to improve education at all levels, both domestically and abroad.

The Center has developed a conceptual framework called “Connected Learning” that is the centerpiece of our efforts to related to education.

TCFIR Mission and Vision

The Center is working to expand both basic research on the problems of education as well as the development of practicable technologies and methodologies to improve education.

We believe that many aspects of improving education in the U.S. and other developed countries are shared as well by governments and educators trying to build modern education system in developing countries. In this vein, the Center has begun a relationship with UNESCO to address the international implications of Connected Learning.

While technology as already begun to transform the educational environment, it is a shared belief by associates of the Center most of these changes are superficial and that the true potential of Internet-related technologies to re-form education is almost entirely untapped.

TCFIR Mission and Vision

The Center is working to expand both basic research on the problems of education as well as the development of practicable technologies and methodologies to improve education.

We believe that many aspects of improving education in the U.S. and other developed countries are shared as well by governments and educators trying to build modern education system in developing countries. In this vein, the Center has begun a relationship with UNESCO to address the international implications of Connected Learning.

While technology as already begun to transform the educational environment, it is a shared belief by associates of the Center most of these changes are superficial and that the true potential of Internet-related technologies to re-form education is almost entirely untapped.

Connected Learning Overview

Connected Learning is a conceptual framework for basic research on the problems facing education and the development of practicable solutions.

Connected Learning is based on three principles: Connection: Investigation, development and deployment of Internet-enabled

technologies to improve education Empiricism: Improved basic research; research-based development; data-driven

deployment; superior assessment and quality controls Learner-Centered Education: A greater degree of self-determination and

customization of the education experience

Connected Learning is not a “quick fix” for the education system, although it is the assumption of the Center that Internet-enable solutions will be “faster and cheaper” to develop and deploy than non-Internet alternatives.

The “Connection” inConnected Learning

It is easy to overstate and overestimate the transformational power of Internet technologies. However, it is equally true that current and potential Internet technologies deserve the much of the hyperbole. What has been missing is a paradigm to harness the promise of the Internet to fundamentally change education.

Simply, we believe that it is possible to encapsulate almost the entire current classroom experience within the framework of Internet technologies: Textbook, library, lecture, laboratory, testing, assessment, lesson planning, etc. We also believe that entirely new modes of education can be created and other modes which are used sparingly – such as collaborative/competitive learning – can be greatly enhanced.

The “Connection” inConnected Learning

The most radical visions discussed include a return to a Socratic teaching method in which teachers assume a mentor/enabler role to a body of students in virtually independent study and the elimination of age-grades as a feature of “promotion” through the general education curriculum. While the latter ideas may be too radical for the current socio-political environment, it is clear that body of Internet technologies that has so dramatically transformed the global economy has the potential to transform education beyond anything seen today.

“Empiricism” in Connected Learning

Improved basic research: It is significant that even simple facts such as the actual high school graduation rate are the subject of debate.

Research-based development: Given the stakes, development of education reforms must be driven by data not speculation, tradition or opinion. New research must be conducted but there is also a wealth of under-utilized but peer-validated research than must be brought to bear as well from research areas as diverse as educational psychology and game theory. In addition, corporate training programs and vocation-oriented education institutions (e.g. ITT Tech, Regis University, etc.) have produced successes that may find application in the general education environment.

Data-driven deployment: Any prototype education reform must be vetted by good data gathering and analysis.

“Empiricism” in Connected Learning

Superior assessment and quality controls: Modern education theory is significantly based in Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory, two theoretical perspectives largely untouched by debate for decades. Timely and accurate testing, assessment and grading are reinforcements in the Behaviorist model and are critical to both determining student performance and encouraging academic success. However, there are numerous questions the current means and methods of testing and assessment.

An Alternative Assessment Paradigm: Confidence-Based Assessment

All current evaluation methods are statistical samplings of a student’s knowledge of a body of material. Each method in use, from essays to true/false questions, has advantages and disadvantages. Forced choice methods (multiple choice, true/false, matching) are used most commonly because they are the easiest to grade but are also subject to guessing and strategies that defeat evaluation of the actual state of a student’s mastery. In addition, evaluation is used infrequently and episodically, usually at the end of a learning unit or because of calendar-driven traditions such as mid-term or final exams. Infrequent evaluation means that both educators and students can “drift” through materials for days or weeks before the first signs of a problem with the material are noted.

An Alternative Assessment Paradigm: Confidence-Based Assessment

Confidence-based assessment, integrated with the learning process through information technology, has the potential to allow educators and students to evaluate progress through material in real- or near-real-time while also capturing a student’s self-evaluation of the confidence with which they hold newly learned material. Evaluation is transformed from a purely summative paradigm into a formative one as well.

While continuous evaluation alone has a great potential to enhance learning, capturing “confidence” adds a qualitative dimension to evaluation data that can help educators and students “hone in” on problem areas to produce real mastery of material rather than a superficial, one-time success on a test.

Learner-Centered Education

The goal of any education system is to produce well-enculturated adults adapted to the needs of their society and able to participate in a productive, meaningful way. This is as true in hunter-gatherer cultures as it is in Post-Industrial nations.

The education model of the Post-Industrial world is based largely on an attempt to mimic the efficiencies of the factory: Utilization of a broadcast model of knowledge distribution in the form of lectures,

textbooks, class-based curriculum design, etc. Promotion through a grade system predicated on the assumption that similar

ages represent similar stages of development and material mastery Classrooms with large numbers of students Reliance on summative evaluation Little time allowed for individual tutoring or mentoring; etc.

Learner-Centered Education

Given the millions of students that the U.S. education system must handle each year, it is easy to see why a mass-production paradigm of education would be used.

However, the student population is diverse along every dimension that can currently be measured. Education systems designed for one standard deviation among a few student traits will, inevitably, fail those students in the shoulders of the curve. Rather than ad hoc “bandaids” applied to a mass-production model of education, student diversity must be confronted directly to ensure that no child truly is left behind… or to languish in the study of materials they have already mastered.

Learner-Centered Education

Prior to the advent of Internet-enabled technologies, a mass-production paradigm was the only practical solution to accomplish the Herculean task of educating millions of students each year. But now we have an opportunity to re-form education in a way that will deal with the complexities of student variation.

Learner-centered education shifts the focus from educating classes to educating students. Research-driven technology can individualize lessons, measure the change in student knowledge and skills on a continuous basis and still allow the education system to meet the demands of educating millions of students in a timely, cost-effective manner.

It should be noted, too, that solutions developed to deal with student diversity in the Post-Industrial world will, to a large extent, generalize to the needs of the developing world.

Learner-Centered Education

As a final note, the education system plays a significant role in helping students determine their adult vocation. Given the amount of education required in a knowledge-based economy for most well-paying jobs, the pressure on young people to choose wisely is enormous. The current education system fails to help students with this discovery process. In addition, public education, particularly at the high school level, has shifted to preparing students for college when many students have neither the interest nor traits for college level education. Even in a knowledge-based economy, there must be a place in education for the non-college bound because it benefits societies as a whole to enable all members of society to participate in a constructive way.

The learner-centered model of education enhances the journey through the standard curriculum as it provides much better feedback to students and educators alike on the abilities and aptitudes of the student. As the saying goes, “Knowledge is power”: Better assessment of a student’s capabilities can only enhance a student’s vocational choices.

How Companies Can Help

Supporting the Education Summit – 2006 October 2 – 4, 2006, Vail Cascades Resort in Vail, Colorado

Providing both R&D and grant support to TCFIR