This is the first article in a series based on our new technology in education research we conducted in August 2008. The complete study isn’t posted yet, but if you are interested in a briefing, please let us know.

For most kids, it’s back to school time with the youngest of our Lab Members heading off to middle school or junior high and our older kids attending university – some for their last year! Regardless of age, there are a few things they agree on when it comes to technology and education.

- 100% of our Lab Members want schools to allow them to use technology to help them learn.
- 79% consider computers and internet access to be vital.
- 47% specifically want their schools to use the web to make learning easier.

As usual, all their ideas were encouraging and inspiring but today I will focus on that last bullet: how the kids said using the web can make learning easier.

School 2.0: social networking for education

A number of our Lab Members wonder why schools aren’t using the same tools they are using for social networking: think Web 2.0. They see the web as an unlimited opportunity to help them learn and deepen their educational experience through a school-sponsored site that is feature rich. Here are a few feature examples they cited:

Live chat: would allow for post class discussion of key topics with help from professors or teaching assistants if the content was difficult or complex.

Online collaboration: lets student find and meet other students with similar interests to foster study (and offline) relationships.

Resource sharing: like the note cards of older days we’d pass to one another with good citations; using a website, students could post and point to content that supports their area of study; allowing them to identify more content, promote critical thinking and produce better research.

Video playback: of lectures, special presentations and more. Many of the kids talked about the challenge of taking notes that grab all the important elements the first time. With video, they say, they could go back and review the content one more time especially if the subject is complex.

No School 2.0? Then at least an Education Portal!

If a school isn’t ready for School 2.0, the Lab Members ask schools to at least have what I am calling an “Education Portal” that supports their need to get the information they require to be successful.

The portal, they say, would have key dates, assignments, and a way to post homework and grades – along with daily reminders and other vital information. But most importantly, there would be a “school standard” to ensure all teaching staff use the site in the same way so the tool would be used consistently and comparably.

Listen to what Luke, age 19 from the United States, has to say about the system at his university:
“There is no standard for how much a teacher puts on there or not, some teachers use it, some don't, and some use it inconsistently. If the school would make some practical rules about [its] use I think it would help every student and keep them informed and on top of their homework and classes.”
It’s really important to note that the Lab Members didn’t talk about these tools as a way to “slack” or be lazy, but rather as a way to improve their ability to get access to more information by helping them focus their attention on the right things. My sense is – at least as far as our panel goes – these are bright kids who are excited about learning but there is a lot of “noise” out there and anything we can do to help them tune in to the right things, will only make them better students.

This is just a portion of our new research; I will have more from this study in the next few blogs when the Alcatel-Lucent Worldwide Lab Members will talk about the role of education and the internet, how mobile phones might help if their next teacher might be a robot!



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