Technology Cornered Education

As education administrators defy stagnant teaching traditions by wedging technology and group learning into the daily curriculum, employers will begin to face a new work force.

According to Windows on the Future by Ted McCain and Ian Jukes, a futuristic book about education, the key to success in the emerging culture of the 21st century is being able to make a radical mind-set shift.

Rogers Superintendent Janie Darr studied McCain and Jukes’ work, and she said students raised in front of glowing computer screens will make waves in the labor pool.

“Things change so quickly that experience won’t be as important as it is today,” Darr said. “Students must be able to adapt.”

Rather than look for employees who have stayed in the same job for 10-12 years, employers could find themselves hiring workers who change jobs often. Darr said that proves an employee’s ability to adapt.

Employees of tomorrow should expect to change jobs often as well as vocations, Darr said. Consequently, the changing culture will prompt higher turnover rates, and businesses will have to recruit constantly.

McCain and Jukes indicated that the top jobs of the next 10 years have yet to be invented.

Out with the Old

Revolutionaries in education have their work cut out for them.

The Carnegie system of grading is a typewriter among laptops. First introduced in the 1900s by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Carnegie units represent the completion of high school courses. They make 90-100 percent an A, 70-80 percent a C, and less than 60 percent an F.

In classrooms that equip students with a world of resources and limitless information, straight A’s aren’t what they used to be, Rogers High School Principal Bill Stringer said. Students can achieve a perfect grade point average and still be unprepared for the demands of today’s work force.

“The question is, do they have the skills and knowledge they need to make it in the world?” Stringer said. To find the answer, he asked every high school senior to name the most important skill they think they’ll need after graduation.

“Technological skills” swept the survey. Right now, Rogers High School, like most others, doesn’t require students to take any technology classes to graduate. The school offers technology-based electives, but every year, kids graduate without any tech courses on their transcripts.

Today, almost all businesses depend on technology, said Gary Day, tech director for the Rogers School District. He said even a muffler shop — traditionally an industrial service with little or no computing requirements — can use a Web site and e-mail to develop its business.

Many business owners currently outsource their Web design or e-commerce storefronts, Day said, but a recent graduate who could change a muffler and manage the site would be ideal for the shop’s owner.

Rewriting the Gradebook

Aside from technology electives, independent study courses in almost any subject are available to launch students past the core class requirements, Stringer said. But, few students sign up for the courses.

Stringer said students have been led to believe — by colleges, high schools and the business world — that good grades and solid standardized-test scores are the tools for success.

Those are “false standards,” Stringer said, and if students want to outrun the standards set by Carnegie units and core classes, they have to make it happen.

“Students will be the key component of reaching the next level,” he said. “This is their school. Once they know that, they’ll demand it.”

Administrators agree that moving away from the established system will be difficult.

Schools will change more in 5-10 years than in the last 50, Darr said. “Educators will have to change to keep up. Change is hard in education because it’s been the same for many years.”

Convincing experienced teachers to add a daily dose of technology in the students’ curriculum initially posed a challenge, Day said.

So, administrators broke the ice several years ago by restricting all interoffice communication to e-mail. Day said the introduction worked, and many teachers even use electronic grade books now.

As of Oct. 1, more than 11,300 students attend school at 22 locations in the Rogers School District. More than 4,000 computers, 405 of which are wireless laptops, are available. Teachers reserve the laptops and incorporate them into classroom research.

Wireless remotes allow students to access filtered Internet and word-processing programs from their desks.

Electricity is overtaking paper-based learning, Darr said. Educators must teach students how to access information, solve problems and think critically, she said. Blindly memorizing dates in history is becoming less useful.

“The new mindset is to prepare students for their futures, not our past,” Darr said.

Day said students need general knowledge about different programs that will allow them to adapt as programs evolve or college and career demands shift.

To some degree, business leaders have accepted the pending changes and have begun to sharpen the skills of current employees. The University of Arkansas Small Business Development Center and Center for Continuing Education offer training courses for developing basic computer skills.

Educating current employees could help bridge the gap between today’s work force and that of the future.