Embracing technology in a variety of ways-for enhanced teaching, cutting-edge research, and real-time communicating -will be an important focus for the UW College of Education (COE) this fall and into the future.

There's a very interesting emerging vision according to Associate Dean Stephen Kerr. "It's not just about using technology. It's about using technology to encourage kids to develop new ways of thinking, new ways of working, new ways of communicating that are going to be valuable for them personally-but also economically, and potentially socially as well."

K-12 educators have faced a "tidal wave" of technology in the past 10 years, according to Kerr. While many students and teachers have reaped great benefits from this ongoing revolution, others have struggled to keep up.

In the best case, Kerr said, technology provides powerful tools to "help us build a more connected society, in which people feel valued and work toward common goals."

To move toward that vision, COE has a "diverse, connected set of initiatives and programs underway right now." These include:

• Launch of a new, completely online masters degree program, "Adult and Distributed Learning," an M.Ed. "Study Option" under Curriculum and Instruction, with a targeted launch date of spring, 2004
• New video-conferencing capabilities to bring real-time feeds from remote K-12 classrooms into COE classes;
• Creative partnerships with leaders such as Microsoft and Intel in support of preparing new professors to use technology in College classrooms, and creating a wireless environment within Miller Hall to allow a variety of technology initiatives
• The requirement that all Masters in Teaching candidates present their final projects as online, electronic portfolios
• All COE scheduling and planning done via email
• Several specialized technology courses, including an extremely popular course in cognitive learning, in the COE curriculum
• Participation by a number of COE faculty and students in the Governor's new "Washington Virtual Learning Commons," a statewide internet-based teaching resource
• The recent recruitment of Prof. John Bransford, one of the nation's top scholars in the field of technology and learning (see sidebar)
• Several pending grant applications to the National Science Foundation and other granting organizations for technology based initiatives
• A research initiative, led by COE Professor Reed Stevens, to create a powerful new video-based teaching tool that allows students and instructors to provide and receive real-time feedback on a piece of annotated videotape. The tools can be used to critique the performance of athletes, performance artists, student teachers, or someone giving a public speech, for instance, and may ultimately be widely used outside the classroom, in informal learning environments such as art galleries or museums.

In addition, Kerr said, College faculty hope to eventually develop technology-based resources for alumni. These might include online discussion forums, moderated by COE faculty, and enhanced opportunities for COE alumni to interact and network through the COE website.

"Overall, we try to incorporate technology into our own efforts both for teaching and research," Kerr said. "We think it's important that teachers, when they get into the field, are able to use it effectively. We also think it's important both as a research tool and as a topic for research."

Perhaps the most dramatic effort among this broad array of technology initiatives is COE's planned online masters program. Kerr said there are some common misconceptions about online programs as compared to traditional coursework.

"In online courses, students often say they have an initial hesitancy to get involved because they feel they won't have as much opportunity for interaction." Kerr said. "But they often find that their opportunity is deeper and more pervasive."

In traditional classrooms, Kerr pointed out, more gregarious students can sometimes dominate class discussions, even to the point of taking them in directions not intended by the instructor. "Students feel that in an online discussion forum they get more opportunity to express their own opinion;' Kerr said. In addition, he said, "Students are encouraged to be more thoughtful," by the act of writing down their contributions to class discussions.

While there are many positives to the explosive increase in technology in education, incorporating such profound changes has created its share of challenges.

"It's a push for our own faculty," Kerr said. "Many are avid, interested, and eager users of technology. Others are not?' Kerr estimates that about 50 percent of COE faculty are high technology users, with varying levels of interest and proficiency among the other 50 percent. The same is generally true of COE students. "Many students come with a very high level" of technological proficiency, Kerr said, while others do not.

One of the biggest fears educators have about technology is that it will "dehumanize" teaching, Kerr said. They worry that technology might make teaching impersonal, devaluing the unique contributions teachers make in face-to-face settings.

"I think those fears are misplaced, simply because people have never gravitated toward that vision of technology as a desirable thing in education." Kerr said. He notes the widespread rejection of B.E Skinner's "Teaching Machines" some 50 years ago.

"The potential negatives are there, but everyone is very aware of them - trying to address them and cope with them." Kerr said.

"There's another side that's much more positive and suggests a different sort of model of teaching." Kerr said. "Teaching might become much more informed and directed by information than it has in the past?'

"We view technology as kind of a bridge." Kerr said. "It provides a way for teachers to extend their skills into other environments, and it also provides a bridge for people with other kinds of skills to bring those skills to bear in supporting K-12 teaching."

Dr. John Bransford: Leadership for Leaning Sciences

One of the nation's leading scholars in the field of technology and learning sciences has joined the College of Education faculty this fall. He will help lead the UW's effort to develop a center on the science of learning said Dean Patricia A. Wasley. In addition to the College, likely partners in the prospective center include, on campus, the Institute for Brain and Learning Science; the Center for Mind, Brain & Learning; and Computer Science & Engineering. Off campus partners include Stanford University and the Stanford Research Institute.

"John will help the University of Washington take a position of prominence in the emerging field of learning sciences." Dean Wasley said. Learning sciences refers to the study of how people learn.

Professor Bransford has been at Vanderbilt University since 1972 and served as co- director of the Learning Technology Center since 1984 which increased during his tenure from seven faculty members to 70. He was the lead author for the National Academy of Science book, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School and has tested and developed a number of well known multimedia teaching tools, including the Scientists in Action series, the Little Planet Literacy series and the Jasper Woodbury Problem Solving series. He is a member of both the National Academy of Education and the National Academy of Science.

Bransford said he is excited about the work he plans to do at the UW and the colleagues he has in the College of Education. "I've been struck by the incredible talent and collaborative spirit that exists, both throughout the university and in the surrounding community," he said. "People who have been there for a while may take this for granted but I find the atmosphere to be unique and absolutely energizing"

Bransford's appointment was effective Sept 1 His position will be funded through the end of the 2007-08 academic year by the Mifflin Professorship, a centrally administered endowment which was created through a significant gift in 1995 from Huck and Susan Huckabay. At the beginning of 2008-09, Bransford will be named the first holder of a new COE endowed chair in learning sciences, funded by a pair of anonymous donors.