Home PublicationsL&LIssuesVolume 27 (1999-2000) September (No. 1)

Ten Powerful Ideas Shaping the Present and Future of IT in Education

By David Moursund

In the September 1999 issue of L&L, I listed 10 powerful ideas that are helping shape the present and future of information technology (IT) in education. Each of these powerful ideas cuts across many disciplines, makes effective use of IT, and has enduring value.

1. Connectivity. IT has facilitated the development of a Global Digital Library as well as other huge databases that are in routine use, and IT aids in communication among people. The world is being changed by communication systems that cut across national boundaries. Mobile computing is making access possible anywhere, anytime to information and to people. This supports increased educational emphasis on understanding and on library research skills, as compared to rote memory.
2. Information appliances (Norman, 1998). We are still in the early stages of a megatrend toward computers becoming invisible—much in the same way that electric motors are built into all kinds of appliances and are no longer emphasized. When a technology reaches the appliance stage, the focus switches from learning the technology to learning to solve problems and accomplish tasks using the appliance.
3. Effective procedure. An effective procedure is a detailed step-by-step set of instructions that can be mechanically interpreted and carried out by a specified agent, such as a computer or automated equipment. Procedural thinking includes developing, representing, testing, and debugging procedures.
4. User interface. We all understand the significance of the development of the graphical user interface that includes the mouse. We are just at the beginnings of routine use of voice and virtual reality as part of the human/machine interface.
5. IT as integral part of the content of non-IT disciplines. Logan (1995) points out that IT is a language that cuts across all disciplines and is increasingly part of the content of various disciplines. Examples include spreadsheets, geographic information systems, computer-aided design, and mathematics systems such as Mathematica and Maple. This trend means that each discipline-oriented teacher needs to have an increasing amount of knowledge of roles of IT in knowing and doing the discipline.
6. IT-assisted problem solving. One of the most useful strategies in problem solving is breaking big problems into smaller, more manageable subproblems. Increasingly, IT is a tool that can solve these subproblems—thus, greatly increasing the problem-solving capabilities of computer users.
7. Modeling and simulation. The 1998 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to two computational chemists. Computer-based modeling and simulation are now powerful aids to knowing and doing all of the sciences as well as many other disciplines such as economics and business. For example, a spreadsheet is now a routine aid to developing business models.
8. Communication in Cyberspace. This includes desktop publishing, desktop presentation, e-mail, videoconferencing, and interactive hypermedia. IT has opened up entirely new ways to communicate in both synchronous and asynchronous modes that include text, graphics, sound, color, and video.
9. Empowering students through project-based learning (PBL). IT is a powerful aid to doing the work on a project and to representing the results of this work. PBL is an excellent vehicle for implementing constructivism, cooperative learning, and collaborative problem solving (Papert, 1980; Moursund, 1999).
10. Lifelong learning—anywhere, anytime. IT has added new dimensions to learning, such as distance learning, computer-assisted learning, intelligent computer-assisted instruction, and learner-centered software. Progress in learning theory, brain theory, and artificial intelligence is being incorporated in software that is designed to help people learn—often in a “just-in-time” environment.

References 

Logan, R. K. (1995). The fifth Language: Learning a living in the computer age. Toronto, Canada: Stoddart Publishing Company.

Moursund, D. (1999). Project-based learning using information technology. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

Norman, D. A. (1998). The invisible computer: Why good products can fail, the personal computer is so complex, and information appliances are the answer. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas. New York: Basic Books, Inc.

Copyright © 1999, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.