ALTP News July 22, 2000
Edited by Richard Brincefield

Recent ALTP News

Reminder: ALTP BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING (OPEN)

Thursday, July 27, 2000
7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. 

• Phoenix: US WEST, 3033 N. Third St., Room 208.09
• Tucson: US WEST, 333 E. Wetmore, Room 323

Dial-in attendance: contact tkraver@qwest.net

ACTION AGENDA         Saturday,  July 22, 2000

Arizona Learning Technology Partnership, Inc.
Governors Strategic Partnership for Economic Development

ALL INVITED TO JULY BOARD MEETING:

The July board meeting will focus on input to the first meeting of the Arizona Partnership for the New Economy (APNE) E-learning Hot Team:

7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on THURSDAY July 27, 2000

NOTE: THIS MEETING MOVED AHEAD ONE DAY TO MEET US WEST SCHEDULED NEED FOR VIDEO CONFERENCE ROOM. Since this time conflicts with major Community Link event by Steve Peters in Tucson, we may just have mostly a Phoenix turnout. I have tried to change the data but to no avail at this late date.

Phoenix: US West 3033 N 3^rd St. (Third and Earle )

Tucson: US West 333 E. Wetmore, room 323

Again, thank you US West for providing this video conference site.

TUCSON LINK FORUM AND TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE

"eBusiness: A Whole New Way Of Doing Business"

July 27, 2000

7:15 - 9:30 am

*DOUBLETREE HOTEL-REID PARK*

APNE E-LEARNING HOT TEAM MEETING

Activity around the Arizona Partnership for the New Economy (APNE) is beginning to accelerate as the "Hot Teams" begin the work of defining issues and developing strategies to address those issues. Hot Teams will convene at least three meetings throughout the course of the summer. By the end of October, teams will create action plans designed to achieve measurable objectives. The overview/best practices papers for the E-Learning Hot Team follows in text format or is available online at http://www.azcommerce.com/neweconomy/hotteaminfo.htm.

Check out the following name list of people currently on the E-Learning Hot Team. If you are not on the list and if you are needed to contribute to the E-Learning Hot Team, contact Craig Sullivan:

Craig Sullivan craigs@azcommerce.com or 602-280-1343.

APNE Project Manager

Arizona Department of Commerce

The first meeting of the E-Learning Hot team is:

Monday, August 14, 2000, from 1:00-4:00 pm

World Business Building,

Room 236 at Thunderbird (AGSIM)

15249 N. 59th Avenue,

Glendale, AZ.

E- Learning and New Talent Hot Team:

Roy Herberger of the American Graduate School of International Management and Gregg Holmes of Cox Cable Arizona will co-chair this team focused on seeking opportunities to make E-learning pervasive in Arizona's schools, workplaces, homes, and communities. If you would like to attend this meeting, please send an email to the appropriate link below and include your name, company, address, phone and FAX numbers.

E-Learning Hot Team: mailto:E-Learning@azcommerce.com

E-LEARNING HOT TEAM INITIAL LIST

Co-chairs:

Roy Herberger, Thunderbird, American Graduate School of International Management

Gregg Holmes, Cox Cable Arizona

E-LEARNING HOT TEAM BEST PRACTICES PAPER

Prepared for:.

Arizona Partnership for the New Economy

Collaborative Economics

And

The Morrison Institute

This paper was prepared to stimulate discussion by the Arizona Partnership for the New Economy and to encourage breakthrough thinking about bold steps that Arizona can take to become a leader in the New Economy.

Comments and suggestions are welcome

Contact:

E-Learning@azcommerce.com

Arizona becomes the first state in the nation to make e-learning pervasive in its schools, workplaces, homes, and communities. Through e-learning large numbers of Arizonas for the first time benefit directly from the best-rated curriculum and teaching in the nation whether it be at the K- 12 or advanced degree levels. Within a decade, e-learning will help produce significant gains in K- 12 student achievement and in the educational attainment of adults - making Arizona one of the top ten states the country for preparing its residents for success in the New Economy.

The purpose of the Hot Team is to create a "breakthrough" for Arizona, applying the innovations created by the New Economy to help people learn the knowledge and skills to participate fully in the New Economy. The term we will use to link the innovations of the New Economy with building the knowledge and skills of people is "e-learning." This paper outlines possibilities for a breakthrough in this area - a breakthrough that would vault Arizona into a position to join the top tier of leading New Economy states.

THE OPPORTUNITY

People are the ultimate resource in the New Economy. The effectiveness with which people acquire, use, and renew their knowledge base is critically important for their success in the New Economy. With breakthroughs in communications and information technologies, the opportunity is growing for transforming the knowledge acquisition process - and making continuous, lifelong "e-learning" a reality for every resident of Arizona.

E-learning is a revolution that is just emerging. As renowned management expert Peter Drucker has observed: "online continuing education is creating a new and distinct educational realm, and it is the future of education. There is a market here potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars." According to International Data Corporation, the corporate e-learning market in 1998 was $500 million, but by 2002 should reach $7 billion. No single state or region has yet to establish itself as a leader 'in this revolution. Could Arizona build on its current company and 'institutional base to become a leading provider of online continuing education-not only to its own residents but to others worldwide, creating a new high-value export industry?

Regardless of its source, e-learning holds great potential for fundamentally transforming the way Arizonans acquire education and knowledge. It holds the promise of providing direct access to educational resources and teachers worldwide, in a form and at a pace to fit the wide variety of needs of the diverse population of Arizona. And, it can significantly reduce traditional barriers to learning - from geographic isolation to under-performing local schools.

Today, Arizonans and other Americans are only beginning to capitalize on the potential of e-learning and , other online uses. According to a nationwide study conducted by Rutgers University and the University of Connecticut called "Nothing But Net: American Workers and the Information Economy," only about ¼ of adults have "participated in distance learning, which is learning where instruction was given over distance by audio, video, or computer to individuals located at one or more places." At the same time, 61% are at least "somewhat interested" in "receiving education and training by distance learning, as opposed to more traditional methods."

The study found that there are still many workers who are not active online users. Only about four in ten workers regularly go online. Another two in ten use a computer, but not necessarily every day. This group may have gone online, but only infrequently. And, four in ten workers either have not used a computer in the last month or have used a computer, but have not gone online. These findings suggest that a large percentage of Americans have yet to capitalize on e-learning and other online possibilities. It also suggests an opportunity (and a challenge) for Arizona or any other state that seeks to use e-learning to help its residents participate successfully in the New Economy.

BEST PRACTICES

Since the e-learning revolution is just underway, no state has truly emerged as the "e-learning leader"-yet. E-learning is a dynamic, rapidly-evolving field. Some states are further ahead than others in providing the basic telecommunications infrastructure for e-learning. Some educational institutions have become more adept than others in turning traditional education into e-learning experiences, or in enriching classroom teaching with e-learning resources. However, no state or region has achieved pervasive use of e-learning among its residents.

To date, best practices in e-learning are useful, if limited, examples of how states and institutions are trying to capitalize on this opportunity. The following examples suggest early trends in this field:

Established Institutions Delivering Education in New Ways

States Expanding Infrastructure and Access to E-learning

• Virginia has created Net.Work.Virginia to provide high-capacity access at the same cost regardless of location within the state, providing an even playing field for the delivery of e-learning and other services.

• Washington has appropriated more than $50 million to develop the largest educational network in the country, linking universities, colleges, schools, libraries, the Internet, and other services. Iowa has a well-established telecommunications network linking its schools.

• Costa Rica is in the process of setting up free e-mail accounts for every resident of the country, as well as wide access to computers through city halls, post offices, and other government offices. It is seen as a dramatic first step to provide immediate access, but also widespread recognition of the importance of using the Internet for social progress. much like Costa Rica's effective public commitments to health care and education.

New Sources of Educational Content and Delivery Emerging

• New sources of e-learning are appearing, like Knowledge Universe (a partnership of Michael Milken and Larry Ellison of Oracle) or the Washington Post Company (which has just launched KaplanCollege.com with nearly 500 courses across nine occupations). Microsoft is teaming with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to create an "I-Campus" to make higher education more technology 'intensive.

• AOL/Time Warner is launching AOL@School as a new online educational service providing portals that connect to educational content rated the best at various grade levels, and includes a range of resources to make the Internet integral to the classroom experience. The service is being offered free to all interested K-12 schools, and will not carry advertising or e-commerce components on the student portals.

• In Singapore, a new model of K- 1 2 educational delivery is emerging with the "learning village." The learning village is a web-based platform that combines a set of Internet applications to allow communication and collaboration both within the school and beyond, involving parents and other interested members of the community. Among the features: an online "teachers lounge" for faculty to share ideas about curriculum and reaching strategies online areas for students to work together on school projects, and links to official "mentors" outside the school as well as parents.

CREATING A BREAKTHROUGH FOR ARIZONA

The purpose of the Hot Team is to create a "breakthrough" for Arizona, building on best practices and applying the innovations created by the New Economy to help people learn the knowledge and skills to participate fully in the New Economy. The section that follows outlines possibilities for a breakthrough in this area - a breakthrough that would vault Arizona into a position to join the top tier of leading New Economy states.

STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS FOR ARIZONA

What can Arizona do to use e-learning to help Arizonans succeed in the New Economy? The scope and potential of e-learning is so vast that identifying a bold, but focused and achievable step for Arizona will be a challenge - the challenge facing the E-Learning Hot Team.

To choose a focus, the Team should determine the most important outcomes that e-learning can help Arizona achieve. For example, e-learning could be used to:

• Revolutionize the delivery of K-12 education - by enriching curriculum and teaching methods in the classroom as well as provide access to knowledge and experiences outside the classroom. Today, for example, nationwide only an estimated 1/3 of students use the Internet for school projects, despite the fact that 95% of schools and 72% of classrooms nationwide are wired. Only 20% of teachers report feeling well prepared to integrate educational technology into classroom instruction.

• Transform the lifelong learning process for adults - by proving universal access to education and knowledge regardless of location or socioeconomic situation. Today, the educational attainment of Arizona's working age population is about average among U.S. states. It is below average among young adults compared to the nation. Perhaps online continuing adult education could be used to help change this situation.

• Stimulate creation of a statewide electronic infrastructure that is accessible to all Arizonans in their homes, schools, or community centers. Arizona is already reasonably well-positioned, ranking 14^th in online population. However, the state ranks 33^rd in educational technology - a composite measure of the percentage of classrooms wired for the Internet, teachers with technology training, and schools with more than 50% of teachers having school based e-mall accounts.

• Use e-learning as a catalyst to achieve specific leaning objectives, such as improving literacy of elementary school students, increasing awareness of New Economy careers among middle and high school students, growing the pool of people with high-demand skills in software or semiconductors, and the like.

• Use e-learning to help create new learning environments and teams. E-learning could help link in Arizona companies and their employees with K-12 students, connect teachers in one location with groups of students in another location, etc. In fact, e-learning should be able to facilitate the creation of non-traditional teams of learners across the state.

• Create a new intermediary in the e-learning marketplace by playing the role of "consumers guide" 'in identifying the highest-quality content available, and helping people connect with those sources.

• Become a national test-bed for the latest innovations in learning by actively recruiting providers and making Arizona attractive for testing new products and approaches. Become one of the leading e-learning providers to worldwide markets.

The Team may decide, for example, that the real opportunity in e-learning is not universal access to web-based education, but rather widespread use of the highest-quality educational materials, experiences, and teachers drawn from locations inside and outside Arizona. Alternatively, the Team may decide that using e-learning to grow the talent pool for specific occupations is the most important place to start. Or, using e-learning to deliver new curriculum to improve basic reading skills of youth is the first priority.

To begin the Hot Team's dialogue, we have defined a "breakthrough for Arizona," one that combines key strategic directions and builds on best practices:

Arizona becomes the first state in the nation to make e-learning pervasive in its schools, work places, homes, and communities. Through e-learning large numbers of Arizonans for the first time benefit directly from the best-rated curriculum and teaching in the nation---whether it be at the K- 12 or advanced degree levels. Within a decade, e-learning will help produce significant gains in K- 12 student achievement and in the educational attainment of adults---making Arizona one of the top ten states in the country in preparing its residents for success in the New Economy.

This breakthrough would make Arizona the first state in the nation to truly capitalize on the rapidly growing e-learning opportunity. It would use e-learning to deliver the most proven curriculum and teaching to the people of Arizona, on their terms, regardless of the barriers they may face. And, it would do so in a way that improves the state's performance in two areas necessary to ensure that Arizonans participate in and benefit from the New Economy: educational achievement of youth and educational attainment of adults.

Whether it is this breakthrough or some other, the Hot Team has the opportunity to create an initiative that propels Arizona to the forefront of the e-learning revolution --- and ensures that the people of Arizona are among the first to benefit from innovations in learning for the New Economy.

LIFE’S WISDOM REDUCED TO A FEW WORDS

Beauty is not diminished by being shared.

• Robert Heinlein

A fool hath no dialogue within himself, the first thought carrieth him without the reply of a second.

• Lord Halifax

The only meaning of life worth caring about is one that can withstand our best efforts to examine it.

• Daniel C. Dennett

The ALTP News/Action Agenda is produced by the Arizona Learning Technology
Partnership http://altp.org, and edited by Richard Brincefield rbrincefield@softrain.com.

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