New Book Examines Integration of Information Technologies in Classrooms around the World

(03 Jun 2003)

EUGENE, Oregon—How are information and communication technologies being integrated in classrooms around the globe and what can we learn from the scope and variety of approaches? A team of international education experts explored trends and effects in 28 countries and presents its findings in Technology, Innovation, and Educational Change—A Global Perspective, a timely new book published by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

Sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), the Second Information Technology in Education Study: Module 2 (SITES M2) collected and analyzed 174 case studies from exemplary classrooms around the world. The study's findings, published in Technology, Innovation, and Educational Change—A Global Perspective, document the countless ways integrating educational technology in classrooms resulted in richer curricula, stronger links between schools and society, enhanced pedagogies and impressive student outcomes.

Using quantitative and qualitative data-gathering techniques, the authors provide both an idea book for innovative best practices and a model of science-based educational research. The book's editor and co-author, Robert Kozma, is emeritus principal scientist and Fulbright senior specialist at the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. He notes, “The study results provide teachers all over the world with outstanding examples of how technology can change classroom teaching and provide policy makers with guidelines to increase the impact technology can have on their educational systems.”

Additional contributing chapter authors include Ronald E. Anderson, Richard M. Jones, Raymond McGhee, Ronald D. Owston, Willem J. Pelgrum, and Joke Voogt

According to Hans Wagemaker, executive director of IEA, “This report focuses on innovation and the ways in which the case studies are exemplars of pushing boundaries within national contexts. IEA hopes this book will help teachers, schools and learning communities more fully realize the potential of technology to transform the learning experience.”

Don Knezek, ISTE's chief executive officer, explains, “Education decision makers need inspiration AND evidence to drive effective change. With its rigorous approach and wealth of case studies, this important new book provides both. It's an excellent resource for administrators, policy-makers and teacher educators.”

View the new book's table of contents online. A free excerpt will be available June 10 at www.iste.org/bookstore/. Technology, Innovation, and Educational Change—A Global Perspective can be purchased online for $31.45 for ISTE members or $34.95 for nonmembers.

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), a membership organization, provides leadership and service to improve teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in education. ISTE members include teachers, technology coordinators, library media specialists, teacher educators and administrators as well as representatives from key corporate, governmental, and policy organizations. Home of the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), the Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology (CARET), and the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC), ISTE meets its mission through knowledge generation, professional development and advocacy.

For additional information on ISTE's publications, projects, and activities, visit www.iste.org/. For information about purchase orders and special member and bulk discounts, call 1.800.336.5191.

About the Editor

Robert B. Kozma is an emeritus principal scientist and Fulbright senior specialist at the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. Among the more than 30 projects he has directed are a project for the World Bank to evaluate the impact of networked computing in high schools in six countries in Africa and South America, the evaluation of the Virtual High School project (a U.S.-wide project to offer high school courses via the Internet), and research and development in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve science learning, especially in chemistry. He has consulted with ministries of education in Thailand, Chile, and Singapore on the use of ICT to support education reform. He has authored or co-authored more than 40 articles, chapters, encyclopedia entries and books, and his work has appeared in such publications as Learning and Instruction, Journal of the Learning Sciences, Review of Educational Research, Cognition and Instruction, Annual Review of Psychology, Journal of Higher Education, Education and Urban Society, Journal for Research in Science Teaching, Journal of Research on Computing in Education, Computers in Human Behavior, Academic Computing, Computers and Composition, Educational Technology Research and Development, and the International Encyclopedia of Education.