By Arie Dekker
While many educators and professionals seek ways to integrate technology into public schools, Microsoft”s new School of the Future sets an ambitious pace.
The School District of Philadelphia teamed with Microsoft in 2003 to implement a reform program called the Secondary Education Movement. The resulting $63 million School of the Future admitted its first students on Sept. 7, 2006, according the official Microsoft Web site.
A Microsoft spokesperson said, “Microsoft has been, for more than a decade, working side by side with education communities around the world to deeply understand their needs and challenges, so we develop the tools that can help them meet the demands of the 21st century.”
Technology will be used in classrooms to assist teachers in evaluating students” progress and in adapting lessons to individual student needs, whether remedial or advanced, according to Microsoft”s Web site.
Paul Vallas, the district”s CEO, said in a news release, “[The Secondary Education Movement is] a sweeping plan to revitalize our high schools.”
Located in urban Philadelphia, the freshman class of 170 students was chosen by lottery. The high school will eventually serve four grade levels totaling about 700 students. Reflecting the demographics of the neighborhood, minority students comprise 98.8 percent of the freshman class.
The School of the Future will feature “smart cards” that grant students access to lockers, the Internet, an Interactive Learning Center and a restaurant-style cafeteria. The card will even tally the calories that students ingest.
The school has no library. Everything is digitized. Students are given personal laptops with Internet access and a multimedia encyclopedia.
Responsibly merging technology with education can be challenging, said Charles Graham instructional psychology and technology professor at BYU. He used the term “blended learning” to describe the kind of balance that should exist between face-to-face learning and computer-mediated opportunities. He said care must be taken to introduce technology in meaningful ways that contribute to learning rather than detract from it.
“Just because something”s blended doesn”t mean it”s better,” Graham said.
Graham said public schools have been relatively slow to integrate technology into their curriculum. Though technology integration spans the country, he said, many teachers (including BYU professors) still prefer more traditional teaching styles.
“There”s a lot of faculty members that do [utilize technology effectively] and there”s a lot that wouldn”t touch it with a 10-foot pole,” Graham said.
The School of the Future project explored new possibilities in both technology and curriculum.
A Microsoft spokesperson said, “The school leaders and community designed a curriculum that makes everything the students learn relevant to their world today. It was the innovative overall approach to education and school reform that most significantly impacted the specific design, technology and curriculum outcomes.”
Microsoft made the curriculum innovations available to educators via the Internet.
“The School of the Future project allows school leaders to pick and choose the key learnings that are most relevant to them to adapt for their own organizations,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.
“The skills that students need for the 21st century will involve technology,” Graham said.
