Sections:

1. 1996 Visions Worth Working Toward Draft Paper
2. Hallowell & TLTR
3. Narrowing the Widening Gap
4. Lifelong Teaching & Lifelong Learning
5. Understanding & Improving Face-To-Face Group Work
6. Addendum: Gandhi's "Seven Blunders Of The World" That Lead To Violence...Plus 5
7. A COMPILATION OF POSTINGS TO THE AAHESGIT LISTSERVER FROM STEVEN W. GILBERT AT THE END OF 1995.

I woke up this morning thinking about how we were going to help the participants in our 3rd Annual TLTR Summer Institute work on Visions Worth Working Toward, and how your unique perspective might be especially valuable. For several weeks

I've had a growing urge to try to articulate some of my own Visions Worth Working Toward -- pictures of parts of the future that are both desirable and feasible if enough people can commit to achieving them. As usual, I've been using my campus presentations as vehicles for testing and developing new ideas. So, I'm going to make some suggestions about your role and try to articulate some of my Visions. [I hope you'll find this more stimulating than presumptuous or irritating.] I'll also describe how we seem to be proceeding to handle the participation of people in developing more useful models of Visions Worth Working Toward.

In your sessions at last year's Summer Institute and at our March conference, you've already been giving us a much better understanding and diagnosis of two important problems: "Dis-connectedness" among groups and "pseudo-A.D.D." for

individuals. Both of these problems apply widely, but seem especially and unpleasantly apt for our audience -- people committed to improving teaching and learning through more thoughtful and cost-effective uses of information technology. Our Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable (TLTR) program is aimed primarily at helping INSTITUTIONS organize and operate better for these purposes.

You helped us understand some of the ways in which more pervasive and frequent use of information technology and telecommunications may be contributing to fundamental problems, as well as to solutions. You suggested some ways of thinking and behaving that might help INDIVIDUALS cope better.

I hope you will help us go further this time. Can you make some suggestions -- or even some guesses -- about ways in which we can shape educational institutions to support "connectedness"? To reduce the spread of "pseudo-A.D.D."? Can you help us understand why it is so important -- yet so difficult -- to collaborate in colleges and universities? Can you suggest some steps we can take to make our institutions more supportive (or at least less punitive) of collaborative work? Do you see some signs that we might be able to use information technology to move our institutions in these directions? Can you speculate about uses of information technology -- some that make these problems worse, some that offer solutions or assistance to individuals and/or institutions?  I hope I'm being clear that we're interested in ANY constructive ideas you have, whether or not they happen to involve using computers, telecommunications, or other technologies. 

We also welcome your suggestions for other activities we can pursue before, during, and after the TLTR Summer Institute -- in person, on-line or whatever. I'm especially interested in what you think we could do to make our panel of 12-15 year-old students most useful (we're trying to organize that event for Sunday July 13 from about 11am to noon). What are some questions we should ask them to think about in advance? How might we make our time with these young people most interesting and valuable to us -- and to them?

Now, some of my more recent ideas.

Whose children are heading for careers and family lives in which they will NOT need to use computers at all? By whose choice? Which students do NOT need daily access to easy-to-use, reliable, computing and telecommunications tools?

Daily arms-length access to a computer is rapidly becoming the key to full participation in some of the most valuable options for communications, education, and careers.  

During the past few years many people have asked me for examples of colleges where all students and faculty members are required to have their own computers. Many have also asked about the benefits and problems associated with such requirements. More recently, I've been asked about the value and costs of institutional programs that provide computers, software, Internet access, and support services for faculty, staff, and students. I'm afraid it's time to ask some new questions:  

As the number and variety of useful educational applications of information technology continues to grow, who will find and use the most promising new options first? Who will be able to use them with the least additional effort? Who will be best prepared for jobs that rely on adjusting quickly to using new applications of information technology? Who will be the best candidates for leadership positions in which judgments must be made about investing in new technology options?

For faculty and other educational professionals, constant arms-length access to easy-to-use, reliable equipment and services opens up possibilities that were previously only the dreams of educational visionaries. [For students, some of the benefits MAY be available even with somewhat less frequent access to these same tools and resources.]

I'm finally convinced that the greatest benefits of many significant educational opportunities now depend on students and faculty having daily direct personal access to word-processing, electronic mail, and the World Wide Web. Moreover, to achieve these benefits, this access must be comfortable, reliable, affordable and compatible throughout an educational institution. [I can explain why, but I think it's getting obvious. The capabilities of these basic tools support some of the most basic educational processes: manipulating text; communicating with specific individuals and groups; finding, organizing, adapting, and presenting information.]  

Recently I've had too many opportunities to see and hear about the differences between the levels of access to technology for people in different parts of this country (and other countries), for people of different levels of wealth and poverty, for people trying to learn at different kinds of schools, colleges, and universities (even for people in different parts of the same institution). Those who have their own computers with good tools for word-processing, Email, and Web work are much more likely to learn to use those resources effectively and frequently than people who must make arrangements to use computing facilities available publicly or from friends and colleagues.

Public access to computing on campuses and in libraries is an admirable goal, but it is not "equal access". To see the most dramatic contrasts, watch the comfort and mastery demonstrated by those who have personal computers from an early age and who attend schools where information technology has become an integral part of the infrastructure -- visit a public or private middle school in a wealthy suburb. By contrast, think about the discomfort and unfamiliarity of part-time commuter adult students who have jobs and families and who have never owned a computer -- whose lives include little time and opportunity for visiting a computer lab.

I'm trying to be "reasonable and practical" and avoid the most dramatic conclusion. But I know that my 11 year-old daughter and most of her classmates had a little course on keyboarding skills when they were in 3rd grade. Most of them have computers in their homes. Their school has computers in classrooms, hallways, and a special computer-lab -- supported by a couple of full-time professionals. Middle-school teachers give some assignments that need to be done with the help of computers. A few days ago my daughter got a phone call from a friend inviting her to join several of her classmates in a chat room at 8:00 PM. She corresponds with her 12-year old cousin in Chicago via Email. Computers aren't important to my daughter and her classmates, they are simply comfortable utilities that are assumed to be available when needed. These children also confidently assume they will be able to learn to any additional uses whenever necessary.

By the time my daughter begins taking college courses, she will have had about 10 years of experience with computers and networks. Sure, students entering college with no computing experience can master the basic tools rather quickly. But I don't believe that most of the students who have had NO experience with computers before college will really catch up. College students who must arrange their schedules and transportation to use public-access computing in local libraries or on college campuses cannot compete effectively with those who live with computers. Most important, that growing population of adult learners who are part-time commuter students with jobs and family responsibilities have the hardest time getting to campus and using the public access computing facilities. These are the same people least likely to have computers in their homes or available for their personal use in the workplace.

Many of us still believe that information technology can enable us to provide high quality education for everyone. Instead, right now the gap between the quality of education available to the "Haves" and the "Have Nots" is widening. The unevenness of the distribution of personal access to computing compounds the unevenness of access to high quality traditional education. The wealthiest and most selective educational institutions provide small classes for students whose families value and support education -- classes led by faculty members who are committed, well-educated, and who have good access to educational resources. These same institutions have moved most rapidly to make information technology pervasive and accessible to all.

It is time to do something about this gap -- before it gets so wide that those at the bottom have no hope of catching up with those at the top. Too many more doors of opportunity are closing to people who have no way to become familiar and competent with the use of computers. It is becoming politically, economically, and morally unacceptable to leave them out. If we cannot include everyone in he "information revolution," we may have another kind of revolution instead.

One of the characteristics that most differentiates human beings from all other creatures is the ability to learn and teach -- to create and pass along new knowledge, wisdom, and technology across generations. When our institutions and inventions support this process we improve education and the quality of life. When they interfere, we are all diminished.

I believe we all share a fundamental need to learn -- and to teach. For the past two years I've been ending most of my public presentations with a story about Gandhi and his grandson and a list of "Seven Blunders of the World that Lead to Violence." [See below.] One of the things I like best about that story is the image of a world leader whose time was sought by so many people, devoting himself daily to working with a much younger person -- someone from another generation.

It is becoming widely recognized that our world has already changed in ways that make "Lifelong Learning" more of a necessity than an appealing phrase. I believe it is also time to recognize the need for "Lifelong Teaching."

The increasing acceptance of "Lifelong Learning" is grounded in four fundamental, observations:

1. More jobs and careers require frequent learning.

2. More people change jobs and careers often and need to learn skills and knowledge to do so.

3. More people are living longer and find that learning adds to the quality of (later) life.

4. Technological and economic progress should enable fewer people working shorter hours to produce enough of life's "essentials" for everyone; therefore, more people should have more time for "non-essentials." Learning and teaching are among the healthiest candidates for people's "non-essential" time.

The need for "Lifelong Teaching" rests on an additional eight basic points:

1. THE GROWING DEMAND FOR LIFELONG LEARNING CREATES THE NEED FOR A GROWING SUPPLY OF LIFELONG TEACHING.

2. The old adage that "The best way to learn something is to teach it." is correct. We have barely begun to take this observation seriously and exploit it.

3. There is growing evidence [where?] that even young people enjoy and gain while they are teaching others -- who may be much younger or older than themselves.

4. Changing demographic, enrollment, and career patterns are giving more retirees (e.g., faculty, professional staff, and alumni) time and inclination to serve as student assistants and volunteers. Active retirement and feeling needed is healthier than pure "recreation."

5. Efforts to link alumni more closely to colleges are growing. Some alumni may welcome the opportunity to be more directly involved with the academic life of the institution as teachers and as learners.

6. People employed in other professions can exercise their inclinations to teach within their own organizations and as adjunct faculty for educational institutions.

7. Information technology (especially, Email and the WWW) provides new patterns of communication enabling adjunct faculty and volunteer teachers to engage more conveniently in some forms of tutorials and group work.

8. The desperate need for information technology support services (in higher education and in industry -- see writings by Gilbert and others on the "Support Service Crisis") encourages the development and growth of Student Technology Assistant Programs.

The increasing attention to and support for "Learner-Centered Education" is a healthy reaction to examples of education that were too obviously "Teacher-Centered." But letting the pendulum swing too far back in the other direction is equally dysfunctional. Education must be BOTH Learner-Centered AND Teacher-Centered.

The growing need for learning will rapidly outpace the capacity of full-time faculty who serve only within conventional educational institutions. Widespread Lifelong Learning can only be achieved together with Lifelong Teaching. Technology and the structure of institutions must support both these functions. How?

Here is a first try at listing some of the questions we need to pursue and some actions we might take:

1. What additional incentives and opportunities are needed to get more young students to serve as assistant teachers? To get more experienced teachers to organize their work to make effective use of such assistance and to serve as mentors for the young helpers?

2. What additional incentives and opportunities are needed to get more alumni and retirees to serve as assistant teachers or part-time teachers? To help more experienced full-time teachers organize their work to make effective use of such assistance?

3. What additional incentives and opportunities are needed to get more full-time employees and professionals to serve as teachers? How can institutions adjust schedules and budgets to fit?

4. How can those who are preparing to enter the workforce for the first time gain from being assistant teachers? What kinds of incentives, opportunities, and guidance do they need?

5. How must recruitment, selection, training, and supervision vary among these different cohorts?

6. How can such programs be advanced with the support of full-time faculty -- both individuals and faculty organizations?

Establish programs to recruit, select, train, and supervise:

1. current students as assistant teachers (of other students,

of faculty members, of members of the extended college community).

2. alumni as returning adjunct or volunteer faculty.

3. retired faculty as returning adjunct or volunteer faculty.

4. ANYONE WHO WANTS TO BECOME A TEACHER OR AN ASSISTANT

Occasionally when I am invited to visit a campus to make a presentation I ask if we can arrange my participation via some form of telecommunications instead. The most common reply is "Show up or we'll get someone else."

I believe we have barely begun to recognize or understand what happens in the most effective classroom interactions. We hardly grasp some of the most important elements of face-to-face group meetings. We need to identify some of the more powerful and subtle elements of human communication that can happen among a group of people gathered together in the same place, at the same time, for a common purpose.

There is greater pressure now than ever before to identify and provide those benefits possible within face-to-face classroom activities that cannot yet be captured or delivered effectively by information technology. Those faculty who fear being replaced by some combination of video recording, CD-ROM, Web Page, books, etc. most need to ensure that their classroom interactions provide something more valuable for the students than those other media.

Most education has long been a combination of face-to-face meetings (ranging from tutorials to large lectures), asynchronous telecommunications (written assignments), and guided independent work (reading, laboratory experiments).

In the last few years, information technology has been providing a rapidly increasing variety of options for enhancing or changing each. New dimensions have been added to the possibilities for asynchronous communication and for more interactive independent learning. Faculty need to learn how to assemble, make available, and evaluate the educational impact of combinations of a variety of teaching/learning options ranging from the most traditional lectures and readings to the most advanced online resources.

On their final day together, not too long before his assassination, Gandhi gave this important list to his grandson -- Arun Gandhi. Below is Gandhi's list, including an 8th "blunder" added by Arun Gandhi, the grandson. I've also added 4 of my own that focus more on teaching, learning, and technology.