The Technology Assessment Board approves the release of this report. The views expressed in this report are not necessarily those of the Board, OTA Advisory Council, or of individual members thereof. Foreword Over the last decade, American education has come to face a number of new demands that must be met with limited resources. Many of these new demands arise from the growing dependence of our society on high technology as a basis for domestic economic growth, international competitiveness, and national security. In October 1980, the House Committee on Education and Labor, its Subcommittee on Special Education, and the Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Technology of the House Committee on Science and Technology asked OTA to examine the extent to which information technology could serve American needs for education and training. This report documents two basic sets of conclusions: 1. The so-called information revolution, driven by rapid advances in communication and computer technology, is profoundly affecting American education. It is changing the nature of what needs to be learned, who needs to learn it, who will provide it, and how it will be provided and paid for. 2. Information technology can potentially improve and enrich the educational services that traditional educational institutions provide, distribute education and training into new environments such as the home and office, reach new clients such as handicapped or homebound persons, and teach job-related skills in the use of technology. The OTA report provides an overview of the issues relating to the educational applications of the new information technologies. It examines both the demands that the information revolution will make on education and the opportunities afforded by the new information technologies to meet those demands. Rather than focusing on a single technology, it examines the full range of new information products and services such as those based on the combined capabilities of computers, telecommunications systems, and video technologies. Similarly, the report surveys a broad range of educational providers, and examines how the application of information technologies may affect their abilities to provide education and their respective educational roles. OTA acknowledges with thanks and appreciation the advice and counsel of the panel members, contractors, other agencies of Government, and individual participants who helped bring the study to completion. John H. Sibbons JOHN H. GIBBONS Director Informational Technology and Its Impact on The following individuals contributed as contractors or reviewers during the course of this study. Informational Technology and Its Impact on John Andelin, Assistant Director, OTA Stephen E. Doyle* and Sam Hale,** Interim Program Manager Beth A. Brown, In-House Consultant Jeanette Contee, Wordprocessor Contractors Christopher Dede, University of Houston Beverly Hunter, Brian K. Waters, and Janice H. Laurence, Human Resources Research Organization Sharon Lansing, Consultant Kathryn M. White, Editor, Writer Renee G. Ford, Tifford Producers, Ltd., Editor, Writer OTA Publishing Staff John C. Holmes, Publishing Officer John Bergling Kathie S. Boss Debra M. Datcher Joe Henson *Program Manager served through February 1981. **Interim Program Manager from March 1981 through March 1982. Fred W. Weingarten has served as Program Manager since then. ***Served as Assistant Project Director since March 1982. Informational Technology and Its Impact on American Education Modern society is undergoing profound technological and social changes brought about by what has been called the information revolution. This revolution is characterized by explosive developments in electronic information technologies and by their integration into complex information systems that span the globe. The impacts of this revolution affect individuals, institutions, and governments-altering what they do, how they do it, and how they relate to one another. If individuals are to thrive economically and socially in a world that will be shaped, to a large degree, by these technological developments, they must adapt through education and training. Already there is evidence of demands for new types of education and training, and of new institutions emerging to fill these demands. The historical relationship between education and Government will be affected by the role that Government plays in enabling educational institutions to respond to the changes created by these technologies. Background Historically, the Federal Government's interest in educational technology has been sporadic-rising as some promising new technology appeared and falling as that technology failed to achieve its promise. Attention was focused, moreover, on the technology itself and not on the broader educational environment in which it was to be used. In the late 1960's, for example, the Federal Government funded a number of research and development projects in the use of computer-assisted instruction (CAI). Interest in the projects waned, however, given the high costs of hardware and curricula and the failure to integrate computer-based teaching methods into the institutional structure of the school. |