信息技术以及美国学校的未来（下）

信息技术以及美国学习的未来（上） http://www.etthink.com/thread-1021-1-1.html

3.2. Learning centersLearning centers are emerging to provide customized supplemental services such astutoring and test preparation, primarily for K-12 students and others interested inentering colleges and professional schools. Often these centers are associated withuniversities, such as the Open Universities in many countries. Also in many citiescommunity learning centers are available for adult education. As learning centersbecome more widespread as supplements to existing educational organizations, theymay provide alternative sites for students to legitimately obtain specific careerorientedknowledge and credentials.
3.2学习中心    学习中心的出现主要为基础学习及希望进入高校和专科学校学生的教学和测试提供附加服务。这些中心通常和大学有联系，比如很多国家的开放大学，并且在许多城市中的社区学习中心都适合成人教育。当学习中心更加普遍从而成为现行教育组织的一种附加形式，他们可为学生取得合法的职业知识及认证开设不同的网站。

3.3. Virtual schoolsMany governments have developed or sponsored K-12 virtual schools as alternativesto public schools. Like other alternative schools, virtual schools provide aflexible schooling environment for students in need of a customized educationalprogram. Virtual schools forgo physical location to provide both synchronous andasynchronous curriculum, instructional assistance, and evaluation for a wide varietyof students. The Internet provides a medium through which teachers and theirstudents exchange assignments, feedback, questions and concerns. State-sponsoredvirtual schools are controversial because they can divert needed resources fromexisting school programs and provide public-funded education options for homeschoolers who opt out of the public program. Still, virtual schools represent newpossibilities to deliver educational services beyond the reach of traditional publicschools systems (Maeroff, 2002; Morris, May 29, 2003).

3.3虚拟学校    许多国家发展和支持了用于基础教学的虚拟学校，认为其可以作为公立学校的一种替代。像其他种类的学校一样，虚拟学校为学生个性化学习需要提供了灵活的教学环境。虚拟学校突破地理位置的限制，为大量不同学生提供同步和异步课程，提供教学支持和评价。因特网为老师和学生交换作业、反馈、提问、交流提供中介。国家对虚拟学校的赞助引起争议，因为这样会从现存的学校项目中移走他们所需要的资源，并为公立教育提供了进行架通教育从而退出公众计划的选择。并且，虚拟学校超越传统公立学校系统，代表着提供教育服务的新可能(Maeroff, 2002; Morris, May 29, 2003)。3.4. Distance educationDistance education has become an increasingly viable extension of traditionalundergraduate and continuing education programs. Technologies have expandedthe range of traditional correspondence courses to provide a variety of synchronousand asynchronous learning opportunities for adult learners. The model of the OpenUniversity in the United Kingdom has spreaded across the globe. While independentinstitutions, such as the University of Phoenix, teach many thousands of students ina wide variety of undergraduate and graduate programs, traditional schools such asStanford and Harvard Extension offer a variety of courses and programs via distancelearning. The online accessibility of prestigious institutions may soon outweigh theskyrocketing costs of going away to college, permanently reforming the market forhigher education.

3.4远程教育    远程教育已经成为传统本科生和继续教育课程的一种日益可行的扩展。技术极大的扩展了传统函授教育的范围，为成人学习者提供各种各样的同步异步学习机会。英国开放大学这种模式已经传播的世界各地。同时还有独立的机构，比如Phoenix大学，培养了成千上万的学生各类本科及研究生课程，诸如斯坦福大学和哈佛大学等传统学校也提供了通过远程进行学习的一系列课程。这种在网络上与名牌大学的亲密接触会使很多人不想承担巨大的花费去上大学，从而使高等教育市场得到永久重组。

3.5. Workplace educationWorkplace education has been rapidly expanding over the last 30 years as companieshave realized the need to educate their workers to handle complex equipmentand solve novel problems. For example, Cisco Systems has pioneered a technologybasedtraining system that aligns training, instruction and assessment into anintegrated learning environment, while at Xerox technicians learn to diagnosemachine problems supported by an online system. Technology enables the efficientdevelopment and distribution of customized training opportunities for employees. Inaddition, embedding learning environments in work environments enables employeesto access relevant information, as they need it in solving problems. Just-in-timelearning systems can take the form of database systems that provide data relevantto problem-solving efforts, or knowledge systems that seek to represent and makeaccessible the collected wisdom of the organization.

3.5职业教育   
随着公司意识到他们的员工需要培训掌握操作复杂设备从而解决新问题的能力，职业培训在过去的30年得到了快速的发展。例如，思科cisco率先摸索出一套基于技术的培训系统，并把组织培训、指导、评估整合到一个完整的学习环境中，而施乐Xerox的技术人员通过一个在线的系统学习诊断机器的故障。技术使企业可以更有效的发展、分配员工的培训机会。另外，在工作环境中的嵌入式学习环境，使员工可以在需要解决问题时获得相关信息。学习系统可以及时地利用数据库系统的形式提供问题解决的相关数据，利用知识系统寻求具有代表性的组织收集起来的集体智慧。

3.6. Adult educationAdult education is growing rapidly with more and more adults taking courses in theevening at adult education centers. Some people, who have been out of school forsome time, return to get undergraduate or graduate degrees. Many people now goonto theWeb to learn about particular topics that they are interested in, such as howto invest in stocks. Book discussion groups are steadily increasing in number. Olderpeople often go on vacations with an educational purpose, such as a retreat to discussbooks or a trip with an expert providing guidance. While much of the learning thatgoes on is recreational, it still provides valuable knowledge that sometimes may leadto a second career or the deep pursuit of a long-term interest which was put asidefor work at an earlier age. Perhaps it will turn out that some of our most productivecitizens are the older people who use their retirement leisure time to keep learning.

3.6成人教育    随着越来越多的成人选择在成人教育中心夜校学习课程，成人教育也在迅速增多。一些人从学校毕业了一段时间，又返回去攻读学士或硕士学位。现在还有很多人利用网络学习他们感兴趣的特别主题，比如如何投资股市。书籍讨论小组也在持续增加。一些年纪大些的人经常出于学习的目的出去度假，例如有专家提供指导的一次讨论书籍或旅行的会议，虽然接下来大部分学习是娱乐性质的，他仍为提供了宝贵的知识，有时可能带来再就业或对长久以来由于工作而放弃的兴趣的深层追求，由于退休的老人们利用他们的休闲时间继续学习，有可能成为我们最有创造力的公民。

3.7. Video games
Video games typify the generational split in technological learning environments.
In schools, teachers condemn games as a waste of time at best and as a corrupting
influence at worst. Meanwhile, the very students that schools have most difficulty
engaging can spend hundreds of hours immersed in a complex video game requiring
considerable literacy, social, and problem-solving skills for successful play. The
explosive growth of video gaming has demonstrated how digital technologies can
create powerful new learning environments. James Paul Gee (2003) explains that
video games are so compelling because they are built on powerful learning principles
that scaffold learning complex skills. They draw players into roles that may conflict
with everyday values and encourage players to notice the gap with their own
beliefs. In games such as Command and Conquer or Starcraft, players take the roles
of different sides in a complex war between civilizations. To succeed in the game,
players must understand the resources and capabilities of each side in the conflict
and then switch sides to take on the perspective of the enemy. Such role switching
gives players the rare opportunity to see a conflict from multiple perspectives.
Some games allow players to build characters and resources in sophisticated simulated
worlds with market economies and self-policing communities. Video gamesrepresent the cutting edge for the design of technology-based learning environments
and the frontier for how learning will be structured in the future.
3.7视频游戏
    视频游戏是两代人得以区分的技术化学习环境。在学校，老师谴责游戏，轻者说是在浪费时间，说的严重就是造成堕落的影响。同时，正是这些学校也无法调动的学生可以花费几百个小时沉浸在一个复杂的电子游戏中，要种游戏要想玩的好，必须具备大量的语言、社会、困难解决能力。电子游戏爆炸似的增长表明了数字技术能建立起具有强大作用的新的学习环境。James Paul Gee (2003)解释说，视频游戏能让人信服的原因为，他们建立在强大的利用脚手架学习复杂技能的学习原理之上，游戏利用角色使游戏者参与其中，他们可能会有价值冲突，鼓励游戏者看清他们之间利益的差别。在诸如控制、征服及星际之类的游戏中，游戏者在复杂战争中扮演不同立场的角色。为在游戏中取得胜利，游戏者必须冲突双方的资源和能力，然后站在敌人的角度调度，这种多角度的变换给游戏者难得的机会多视角看待同一种冲突。一些游戏允许游戏者在带有市场经济和自我维持政策的社区这样一种复杂的模拟世界中建立人物及资源。视频游戏代表着基于技术的学习环境设计的前沿，以及未来学习如何组织的界定。

3.8. Educational television and videos
Many bewail the effects of television on learning, particularly teachers who feel that
television is largely responsible for students’ unwillingness to sit still and listen to
them. Television is certainly a passive medium, compared to reading or interacting
with computers and people. But there has been a proliferation of educational shows
on television, especially over the last 30 years. At the same time a large number of
videos for kids have been produced that emphasize learning, which many toddlers
watch over and over. For kids with a special passion, such as horses or dinosaurs,
there are many videos their parents can buy them, and they can become specialists
on these topics before they can even read. Videos and television for young children
provide an access to education that is an entirely new phenomenon. So many programs
and videos have been produced in the last thirty years that many kids are
now getting a head start in their school education.
3.8教育电视及影片
    很多人都对利用电视进行学习的效果持悲观态度，特别是老师认为学生们不愿安安静静坐着听老师讲课，电视要承担很大部分责任。相对于同计算机和人们交互来说，电视无疑不是一个很好的媒介。但是有一种教育是显示在电视上的，尤其是在过去的30年。同时，为强调孩子学习制作了大量影片，这些影片被初学走路的孩子看了一遍又一遍，对于孩子有着特殊爱好的，比如马或者恐龙，他们的父母为他们买了许多影片，甚至在他们不会阅读前，他们就可以成为这些话题的专家。影片和电视节目为小孩子提供一种全新现象的教育。这么多的节目及影片在过去30年来一直生产着，为孩子学校教育创造一个良好的开端。

3.9. Technical certifications
Until recently, schools and colleges had a monopoly on the certification business.
By granting high school diplomas and college degrees, their role was to guarantee
that their students had attained a certain level of expertise. This gave them a hold
on students: either stick it out through school and get your degree or you will be
handicapped in trying to get a job. In recent years, a host of companies, such as
Microsoft, Cisco and Novell, as well as technical societies, have started to muscle in
on the certification process by offering exams that certify the mastery of technical
skill in computer-related occupations. These certification programs over the long run
are a real threat to the monopoly of schools and colleges. Because the certifications
are more specific, they are in fact more meaningful to potential employers. They
specify exactly what skills a student has acquired in a way that a high school diploma
or a college degree cannot do. Furthermore, because the certifications are so specific,
it is possible to tailor any educational program directed toward them much more
carefully. In fact, the companies and technical societies that are developing the
certifications have in many cases developed very clear specifications as to what and
how courses should be taught to prepare people to take the certification exams.
3.9技术认证
    时至今日，学校和学院一直对认证进行着垄断，学校通过授予学生高中文凭及大学本科学历，来保证他们的学生已经达到了一定的专业水平，这就使他们牢牢的栓住学生：要么坚持着得到你的学位，要么就会在求职时受到限制。最近几年，例如微软、思科、联想这些技术公司，纷纷为电脑相关的技术掌握提供测试，并给于认证。长期来讲，这对学校与学院的认证垄断是个真正的威胁。因为认证更加专业化，那些公司事实上是更为有意义的潜在的雇主，他们很清楚学生在高中或大学取得学位并不能满足他们的要求。进一步讲，由于认证的专业化，这使得针对他们制定教育计划变得更加谨慎。事实上，公司与技术社团在认证发展的很多种情况下制定了非常明确的规范，比如课程如何教授使得学习者为认证考试做好准备。

3.10. Internet cafes
All over the world Internet cafes are springing up, where people can go and log on to
the Web for a small fee. These cafes are the libraries of the future. They particularly
attract young people who spend hours on the Web, engaging in conversations and
games, reading about what is happening in the world, learning how to program, or
exploring different sites that relate to their interests. More and more of the world’saccumulated knowledge is spreading to the Web. Hence, with access to the Web
in many locations, people will be able to educate themselves. This is the role that
libraries have played in the past. As people all over the world see the necessity of
an education to prosper in a technological society, they are likely to start teaching
themselves through the resources of the Web.
3.10网吧
    遍布世界各地的互联网网吧如雨后春笋，人们可以使用少量的费用登陆到网络上。这些网吧是未来的图书馆。特别是他们吸引了大医用交谈、游戏或者了解世界上正在发生的事情，学习如何编程，或者根据自己不同的兴趣浏览网站。越来越多的世界上所积累的知识在网络上传播着，因此，在很多地方，上网就可以充实自己。这是过去图书馆的职责。众所周知，在技术社会中教育繁荣的必要性，人们很可能开始利用网络资源进行自学。

3.11. Implications
The seeds of this emergent system may not be an improvement on current public
schooling systems in the United States. Customization and adaptation come
at a significant cost. The goals of a public schooling system to create a common
sense of civic responsibility will be further fragmented as people with means opt for
individualized programs of study. Information technologies can also lead to the fragmentation
of knowledge. While standard curricula in schools aimed to establish a
common knowledge base for all citizens, technologies afford learner-directed curricula,
which may focus on what students choose to learn instead of what institutions
claim they need to learn. Large companies are entering the market to make information
widely available, thus potentially increasing the commodification of knowledge
and the corporatization of the learning process. Each of these pieces point out how
a new system driven by the demands of local circumstance can come at the cost of
social cohesion.
3.11影响
    这种系统的出现对当今的美国公立学习系统未必是一种改进。系统的制定与适应是个巨大的消费。公立教学系统的目标是建立一个共同的公民责任感，而这种责任会随着个人的学习而进一步零散。在学校内的标准课程为了建立全体公民共同的知识基础，而信息技术也会导致知识的零散。 技术会使得学习者导向学习他们关注的课程，而不是学校要求他们掌握的课程。大公司进入市场使得信息随处可得，这就潜在的增加了知识的商品化与学习的公司化。所有这些指出，在新系统在当地环境的要求下，会以牺牲社会凝聚力为代价。

How does this analysis of technology and American schools help inform studies
of Asia-Pacific schools? Many Asian nations have rebuilt their education systems
in the past fifty years to emphasize tightly coupled linkages between curriculum,
teaching and testing. Countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Japan
use centralized, national control to improve educational quality by reducing the
variation in instructional practices (Chon, 1995; Stigler & Hiebert, 1999). National
policy makers in these countries have recently pressed for significant investments in
low-priced learning technologies that may help their education systems “leapfrog”
some of the developmental steps taken by developed economies (Osin, 1998; Singh,
1999). Technology investments in these tightly-coupled national education systems
are likely to play out differently than in the United States. Centralized control over
the curriculum and teaching practice means it may well be more likely that the
kinds of technology changes emerging throughout the US could be mandated in
Asian schools. However, there may be a more subtle force at work here. As we
have argued, the American tradition of local variation sanctions the emergence of
alternative educational practices that initially challenges, then comes to form a
parallel track to the overall education system. The nationally controlled education
systems of South Korea and Singapore, for example, seem less likely to sanction
the emergence of grass-roots innovations that arise outside the education system.
Recent research by Arphattananon (2005), for example, describes the difficulty of
Thai governmental reforms to shift budgeting and personnel decisions from the
national to regional control, while Woon-ha (2005) describes the struggle of SouthKorean teachers to influence their incentive and salary schedules. These accounts
demonstrate the difficulty of allowing local variation to influence national policy
directives. The strength of the American educational system is the ability to adapt
to the pervasive demographic and economic shifts of American life. As Asian economic
development continues to reach new levels, experiments with American-style,
decentralizing reforms may result in the kinds of emergent practices that are contributing
to the second educational revolution in the US.
这种技术和美国学校帮助亚太地区学校的告知研究是怎样的状况呢？许多亚洲国家在过去五十年中对他们的教育进行了重建，强调了在课程、教学、测试之间的紧密联系。如新加坡、韩国、日本等国家通过减少教学实践的变化，利用国家集中控制来提高教学质量(Chon, 1995; Stigler &Hiebert, 1999)。这些国家的政策制定者最近迫切需要大量的资金投入发展低价位的学习技术，从而这些发达国家的教育系统实现蛙跳式、有步骤的发展(Osin, 1998; Singh,1999)。在这些耦合紧密的国家教育系统中的技术投资，很可能会与美国有所不同。亚太国家对课程与教学实践的集中控制，意味着在美国广泛出现的革新技术在亚洲学校中授权。然而，这里有着一种微妙的力量起着作用，正如我们先前所说的来自美国对另一种教育实践制裁的传统的挑战，最后这种实践同原来的教育体系同行并进。而韩国和新加坡这种国家控制的教育系统，却不会对基层革新的出现进行制裁，从而出现在教育制度之外。例如最近在Arphattananon2005年做的研究指出泰国政府打算将预算和人事决定权从国家控制改到区域控制改革的难度，Woon-ha在2005年指出韩国老师努力想改变自己的激励机制及工资所作出的努力。这些都表明了当地的变化影响国家政策指令的困难。因此，美国教育体制加强，才可以适应美国人口统计及经济变换的影响。随着亚洲经济发展达到新的水平，美国式的实验及权力下放的改革可能会导致美国出现第二次教育革命。

4. Conclusion
We are neither advocates nor opponents of computers in schools. Rather we are
observers of what is happening and take a historical perspective on the relation of
schooling, learning, and technology. What will happen with the relation of computers
and education is not in any sense inevitable. In fact it is at critical times of
change that the actions of particular individuals and groups have the most impact.
The advent of the industrial age opened a window for visionaries such as Horace
Mann and his contemporaries to shape the education system of today.We again find
ourselves at such a window of opportunity, where there is a battle raging between
conventional and revolutionary venues for learning. There are many educational
visionaries alive today. The dreams of most of them are likely to fail, but a few
may capture the moment with the right idea and the right approach to implementing
their idea. What we are trying to do is to describe the context in which they
are working, in order to give some idea of what that context makes possible to
accomplish.
4.结论
    我们既不提倡也不反对计算机在学校中的应用。我们更关注现在正在发生的事情，以及利用历史的观点看待教学、学习和技术的关系。计算机与教育的关系将要如何发展并不是必然的。事实上，这是一个个人和团体的行动都能产生很大影响的变革的关键时代。工业时代的来临为HoraceMann及同时代的幻想家塑造当今的教育体系打开了一扇窗口。我们再次找到这种机会之窗，而进行的传统与改革的学习情景之争。当今很多的教育幻想家，大部分人的梦想很可能不会实现，但还有少部分人可以利用正确的观点与方法实现他们的想法。我们努力要做的就是描述他们工作的背景，为使他们的观点在时代背景下容易得到实现。

The changes we see happening in education are neither all good nor all bad. We
see many benefits to the kinds of education that technology affords, such as the
ability of learners to pursue deeply topics of interest to them and to take responsibility
for their own education. We also see many benefits in the successful history
of traditional public schooling which has provided extraordinary access to learning,
status, and economic success for millions of students over the course of the past two
centuries. But, at the same time, the roads to dystopia are also open. In particular,
the new technologies can undermine both the vision of educating citizens who can
make sensible public policy decisions and the vision of a society where everyone can
succeed by obtaining a good education. Increasing the ability to personalize educational
opportunities gives a natural advantage to those who can afford the services.
Our fear is that citizenship and equity may be undermined by the technological
revolution. We hope that by revealing the larger pattern of what is happening, we
will make it possible for society to ward off the dangers and exploit the possibilities.
我们看到在教育中发生的这些变化并不全是好的或坏的。我们看到这种技术带给教育的很多好处，例如学习者能继续学习他们感兴趣的话题，为自己的学习负责。我们也看到在过去两个世纪，传统公立的学校教育成功的为数百万学生提供学习机会，使其在经济及地位都非同寻常。然而同时，技术对dystopia也同时开放，新技术对公共政策制定者与想取的良好教育的人们的视野都有所破坏。个性化教育机遇的提高，对那些能负担起服务的人来说是天生的优势。我们担心这种技术革新会带来公民的不平等。我们希望通过揭示社会发展的大趋势，为社会抵御危险和剥削提供可能性。