Education Week
May 2002
One of Education Week's annual emanations (this is the 5th such) is its 90-page account of technology in education, the preparation of which is underwritten by the Hewlett Foundation. This year's edition, entitled "E-Defining Education," follows the familiar pattern of introductory essays, then pages of national and state data, then profiles of individual states. The most interesting items this year involve the ways that "cyber schools, online teaching and testing, and other e-learning initiatives are changing how schools operate." There's a LOT of activity on this front, though it's changing so fast that we must assume that any hard-copy publication on the subject is already partly obsolete. Also visible in these pages is the mounting resistance of traditional education groups, who doubtless see this technological change leaping right over them and gradually marginalizing them. There are worthwhile essays on what it's like to be an on-line teacher, how good is the academic content, what students (at the high-school level) think of it, and what primary-secondary education can learn from higher education's ventures into cyber-education and distance learning. Note how far we've come from our previous pre-occupation with simple access to technology-it's now nearly ubiquitous in conventional schools and in kids' lives-and how we're now focusing on what it can be used for. Along the way, of course, we find that it's beginning to redefine what we mean by school itself. If you don't already have a copy-many are in circulation-you can find out how to order one at http://www.edweek.com/sreports/tc02/.
