A large number of net schools – schools purporting to offer an entire curriculum – will also be created. Some of these will have curricula consisting of other network resources supplemented by professional guidance and solid evaluation. Many will be terrible, but some will be excellent, offering far better learning experiences than some local schools. The best will not be cheap, because there are irreducible human costs associated with education – essentially the cost of paying someone who understands the current intellectual level of each student across all disciplines and can prescribe experiences appropriate for each. Compared with comparable schools, quality net schools will be less expensive; they will have reduced physical plant costs, fewer administrative costs, and lower faculty costs because they use a mix of advanced students, volunteers, and low-cost international expertise.
Predictor: Tinker, Bob
Prediction, in context:In 1995, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology commissioned a series of white papers on various issues related to networking technologies. The department convened the authors for a workshop in November 1995 to discuss the implications. The following statement is taken from one of the white papers, “The Whole World in Their Hands,” by Bob Tinker, the president of Concord Consortium, he has a Ph.D. in physics from MIT and a reputation as a pioneer in constructivist uses of educational technology. Tinker writes:”A large number of net schools – schools purporting to offer an entire curriculum – will also be created. Some of these will have curricula consisting of other network resources supplemented by professional guidance and solid evaluation. Many will be terrible, but some will be excellent, offering far better learning experiences than some local schools. The best will not be cheap, because there are irreducible human costs associated with education – essentially the cost of paying someone who understands the current intellectual level of each student across all disciplines and can prescribe experiences appropriate for each. Compared with comparable schools, quality net schools will be less expensive; they will have reduced physical plant costs, fewer administrative costs, and lower faculty costs because they use a mix of advanced students, volunteers, and low-cost international expertise.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: E-learning
Name of publication: The Future of Networking Technologies for Learning
Title, headline, chapter name: The Whole World in Their Hands
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Futures/
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney