September 1998

The Internet: Potential for an Education of Hope

Several weeks ago, Amy Harmon (NY Times August 30, 1998) reported on a new study done at Carnegie Mellon University which suggests that on-line activity leads to a "sad, lonely world." The study found that "relationships maintained over

long distances without face-to-face contact" do not lead to a sense of psychological security and happiness. Our experience linking students and teachers around the world over the past ten years demonstrates that a combination of meaningful on-line collaboration and physical meetings enhances learning, creates a positive attitude toward education and raises levels of self-esteem.

 

These days we read daily that the Internet is the most powerful educational tool the world has ever seen, that it will transform education. Yet, the uses on which most people have focused are its massive, yet passive storage capability and its role as a research tool. These uses will not transform education. They are simply putting an old paradigm into a new technological environment. To take

advantage of its power, the Internet must be more than a larger library or place to put WWW pages--as valuable as these uses are.

The power of the Internet is in its human connective potential. By connecting us as global citizens and local community members, we learn better. We open ourselves to new ideas and in turn shape the thinking of others through

diverse input. We and our students are empowered to apply learning within our societies and in the global community in ways that can impact powerfully and positively on lives and environments.

In short, the Internet has the potential for creating an education of hope.

1. We learn more when interacting with real people.

 

For the first time in human history, we as educators have the opportunity and responsibility to prepare students for adult life through meaningful collaborative interaction with anyone on the globe. Rather than studying about another society and its people, our students have the potential for learning with the individuals in those societies. Research and our I*EARN experience tells us that learning will be enhanced and retained when it is gained through experiential interaction with real people, learning together on a reciprocal basis. Teachers in the U.S. and around the world tell us that students are more motivated to learn and that their communications skills improve through on-line work with other real students. Students voluntarily spend more time insuring that their writing is clear, grammatically correct and well-researched when they know it is to be read

by peers who will value it and respond to it with their own perspectives.

Dominick Camastro, a social studies teacher at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, New York reports that students who often skipped classes or expressed little enthusiasm for studying are now reluctant to leave a computer until they

feel their writing is the best it can be. He also points to his students' performances on New York State Regents examinations as proof that the interdisciplinary and online nature of the projects has improved his students' writing. In these exams ... students have to discuss contemporary and historical issues, demonstrate polished writing skills and explain points convincingly. "The greatest benefits of these

online projects is that they teach students to think critically and explain themselves thoroughly," reports Dominick.

2. Reciprocity of knowledge sharing

Not only do we learn more, we learn that a two-way and mutually respectful interaction of ideas and perspectives with other people is valuable and is in fact a prerequisite skill for success in the 21st century. We often read about the benefit telecommunications technology brings to countries around the world because it will give them access to the great repositories of information that resides in libraries and scholars' heads in the United States and Western Europe. We are eager to share our favorite educational WWW sites, which often are also loaded with the newest java applets and striking graphics. Corporations, with their vast multimedia and financial resources, are jumping into the market of providing visually attractive educational sites. Students quickly absorb the lesson that knowledge comes from "out there" and can be downloaded and pasted directly into research papers, rather than be the result of creative and critical thinking on their own part. Students in non-western societies are too often taught that the most valuable knowledge is in the technologically and materially advanced countries. They are not taught that they can and should be active contributors to the world's knowledge pool. Further, students worldwide receive the message that English

is the key to learning. They are seldom encouraged to see the value in diverse cultural traditions and perspectives which are both shaped and expressed by differing linguistic backgrounds. Collaborative project work via the Internet has the potential for demonstrating that knowledge exists everywhere and that valuable perspectives are also in countries outside of the US and Europe. For the first time, the content of what a person writes is conveyed without the visual packaging of

gender, race, age or national origin, which can and do influence how people receive the information.

3. Learning into action

"Knowing is literally something which we do." --John Dewey

When used interactively and toward a purpose larger than the individual learner, the Internet has the potential for delivering and transforming information and knowledge into a basis for action. The learning gained within the classroom needs to be shared through action with the broader society and world. In I*EARN we encourage students to be involved in enhancing the quality of life on the planet. It is this action/service component that gives purpose to I*EARN and empowers students to know that they as individuals can, when they join with others nearby or throughout the world, play a role in the solution to the issues that face humanity. At the 1997 I*EARN International Conference in Budapest, Charly and Cathy Bullock, two teachers from A:Shiwi Elementary School, a native American school in the U.S., met Siriluk, a teacher from Thailand, who told them about

the indigenous Karen people in her country. Six months later, Siriluk wrote passionately to her new Native American friends that the Karen people were being pushed further north into the wilderness by the Thai government. In their new environment, they suffered from cold without sufficient blankets. The A:Shiwi teachers took this need into their classrooms, generating a geography project, an economics project, a mathematics project, an indigenous students art project (which is now on the WWW) and an Asian contemporary affairs project. In the process of learning (students did not even realize that they were learning!), students raised US$1,800 to buy blankets for their fellow indigenous student

friends. They completed the project knowing that they had impacted the lives of real students. Just as importantly, the U.S. A:Shiwi students who have suffered racism and economic injustice over many years, have been able to bond and work with others who have also suffered.

4. Combining On-line Work and Face-To-Face Events

In 1994, after the first six pioneering years of on-line collaborative work, I*EARN teachers asked for an opportunity to come together to meet each other and to share how this amazing technology was reshaping their classrooms. With financial assistance from the the Argentine Ministry of Education, the first I*EARN International Teachers Conference was held in Puerto Madryn, Argentina, involving 120 educators from 9 countries. The event enabled us to realize

that physical meetings are a necessity when building an on-line community. Subsequent international conferences in Australia, Hungary, Spain and the US have confirmed this realization. In July 1998, over 400 educators from 46 countries came together in Chattanooga, Tennessee for the now annual week-long conference to share how they are integrating on-line project work in their classrooms. The were joined by students from 23 countries in the second annual I*EARN International Youth Summit. Most participants paid for all or part of

their transportation and conference expenses, clear evidence that they value highly such face-to-face interaction. After such events, teachers and students return to their countries and communities motivated to maintain and

strengthen the bonds formed in their global community and armed with new project ideas to enhance teaching and learning in their classrooms. In addition, on-line projects such as the "Faces of War," enabled students to interview members of their families and communities about war-time experiences and feelings, which were then shared globally through collaborative on-line

discussions with students currently in conflict situations. The positive experiences in these face-to-face conversations demonstrates that carefully designed on-line project work can both build meaningful global connections and "maintain

social ties with people in close physical proximity," which the Carnegie study points are are psychologically healthy. "We used to talk about young adults as Generation X," notes Rebecca Rimel, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pew Charitable Trusts. "Now we've moved into Generation Why. Why should I care? Why should I bother to get involved?" Often our classrooms are environments of alienation and in this environment, education seemingly

lacks purpose. Alienated and cynical students lack a consciousness of hope. It is our responsibility as educators to enable our students to envision and make real a world in which students are meaningfully engaged in the pressing issues

facing them. In our experience, the Internet, when combined with face-to-face interaction, can provide an environment characterized by interactivity, mutually respect and creative problem-solving around real issues. This is a vision for an education of hope. In my opinion, there is no better education/preparation for living and succeeding in the 21st century.

Edwin H. Gragert, PhD

I*EARN-USA

iearn@us.iearn.org

http://www.iearn.org