FluidArts - Dispatches From The Field, October 2000

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DISPATCHES FROM THE FIELD

Educational Technology in the World Today
By Bonnie Bracey (October 2000)

As part of my outreach work for the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council, I have often been invited to work internationally sharing ideas on the use of technology, and exploring and demonstrating global possibilities. 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 remain 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 only to understand 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 ideas, and then listen.

As I have worked internationally, I have often been challenged as to why there should be the [educational] use of technology at all. Sometimes where there is an acceptance of this idea, we have used the documents we crafted in the United States as well as other resources for thinking about national initiatives. On the other hand, we have often been confronted with age-old problems of poverty, of a lack of reading skills and health care, of limiting gender ideas, of environmental issues, and of the costs of building the infrastructure. The participants' voices have been sometimes loud! Here are the words of some of the 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."

The following are some of the resources we use:

Learning Through Technology
Perspectives on the use of technology.

ISTE - International Society for Technology in Education
Standards for implementation.

EUN - European Schoolnet Home Page
Network of networks in Europe promoting ICT for schools.

Web Teacher
A self-paced tutorial on the web and related technologies.

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.

WorLD Training Materials (also available in French and Spanish)
Topics include: Collaborative, Project-based Learning, Building a Collaborative Web Project, Reference Library, and Guide to Conducting Research on the Internet.

Sustainable Internet Training Centers

The Community Technology Centers' Network

Virtual Villages and the Developing World