The best utilization of information technologies requires a substantial restructuring of the classroom, of student evaluation, of teacher training, and of the apparently immutable external pressures from colleges and standardized tests. The likelihood of dramatic, widespread change in all these areas is remote; better schools and inspired teachers will, as always, cause changes to happen in important but isolated instances. But the vast bulk of schools will continue to ignore these wonderful resources, just as today they ignore many existing excellent print and software resources.
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:”The best utilization of information technologies requires a substantial restructuring of the classroom, of student evaluation, of teacher training, and of the apparently immutable external pressures from colleges and standardized tests. The likelihood of dramatic, widespread change in all these areas is remote; better schools and inspired teachers will, as always, cause changes to happen in important but isolated instances. But the vast bulk of schools will continue to ignore these wonderful resources, just as today they ignore many existing excellent print and software resources.”
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