From: MFJTF Subject: Lucas Testimony: Edutopia To: Multiple recipients of list Date: Fri, 22 Apr 94 14:43:07 PDT I Thought the readers of these lists would be interested in the following testimony by George Lucas. Lucas is currently the Chairman of the George Lucas Educational Foundation and submitted this testimony to the House of Representatives. He refers to his vision as "Edutopia". Further information regarding the legislation refered to in his testimony is available by Anonymous FTP and Gopher at bell.com. Jeff Richards MFJ Task Force | Internet: mfjtf@bell.com Written Testimony of George Lucas, Chairman The George Lucas Educational Foundation on H.R. 3626 and H.R. 3636 Submitted to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance Committee on Energy and Commerce U.S. House of Representatives March 7, 1994 My name is George Lucas, and as Chairman of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, I am pleased to submit this testimony. The Foundation was established in 1991 to facilitate the innovative uses of multimedia technologies in teaching and learning. Working with students, parents, educators, and business, community, and political leaders, we are developing an exciting vision for the future of education in this country. In this testimony I will describe our vision, and the telecommunications infrastructure that will be needed to support it. I will also explain how I see H.R. 3626 and H.R. 3636 supporting the development of that infrastructure. I. Vision for Education: Edutopia When you think back to your public school experiences, what do you remember? If you are like me, you found school somewhat frustrating. I remember being bored much of the time, except with a few teachers who engaged my curiosity and got me excited about learning. Those were the teachers I really loved, and I often resented the fact that there were not more like them. Now that I understand the educational system better, I can see that there are many factors determining whether school is engaging or not. Teachers still play a central role, but there are also administrative and institutional barriers to developing an effective educational system, as well as legal constraints, the lack of a technological infrastructure, and, most importantly, a lack of common vision about what it is we want our children to learn. However, because I still hold on to my fundamental belief that children are naturally curious, self-motivated learners, I think it is incumbent upon us to devise ways to tap into that creative energy, and help students channel their excitement and ideas into productive educational experiences. Today, many people--including teachers, parents, administrators, students, school board members, community members, and business leaders are wrestling with how to transform the educational system. Educators all over the country are re-thinking the missions of schools and adopting innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Some are taking education out of the classroom and into the world; still others are experimenting with multi-age classes; others are looking at new forms of assessment. There are literally hundreds of experiments going on, and they are providing the sparks that will energize the evolution of education. As the Foundation has looked at these efforts to transform schools and talked to hundreds of experts throughout the education community, we have begun to formulate a vision of what education in the 21st Century could be for students. Education is a lifelong endeavor, involving a cooperative process of gathering, interpreting, sharing, and applying information for personal growth and pursuit of individual and common goals. Some of its elements include: 1. A student-centered approach. Students' individual curiosity and motivation need to be supported, and personalized educational opportunities that meet the needs of each student must be developed. 2. The family as an integral part of learning. Families, in all of their alternative forms, are the students first circle of information, support and motivation. In some cases this helps the student thrive; in other cases, it thwarts the students progress. The educational process must include ways for families to be a positive force in all children s learning. 3. Change in the role of teachers, from authoritarian subject matter experts to facilitators of the learning process. Teachers still need to be knowledgeable in various subject areas, in order to facilitate and motivate their students learning. However, their real gift is their ability to help students find the information they want, interpret and share that information, and apply that information to solve problems. They also need to help students develop the communication and cooperation skills they will need to learn with and from each other. 4. Communities--including local governments, non-profits, and businesses--are co-facilitators of learning for their citizens. More learning takes place outside the classroom, and community members need to contribute much more of their time to sharing their expertise and working with students and each other. 5. Schools are the gathering points of education. They are only one place where learning occurs, and they will be set up to facilitate the kind of learning previously described. There might be fewer classrooms as we know them today, and more work areas, more places for small groups of students to congregate, and more flexible scheduling. Teachers will work out of schools, but not always at schools. Schools will also be set up to serve the needs for life-long education in the community; students at various life stages will come to schools, not just young people ages 5 to 18. 6. Technologies play an essential role in the learning environment. Alongside the traditional colored blocks and construction paper, computer-based technologies are used for processing information, communicating with others, and creating works of self-expression. The idea is not just to give students some experience with computers in order to prepare them to operate computers when they graduate--indeed, the technology they will encounter ten years from now will look very little like what they have right now. Rather, the idea is to give the students experience in adapting computer-based tools to meet their own needs and projects, which is exactly the skill they will need when they enter the word world. Technologies can also support the more traditional processes of education--gathering information, talking with experts, working in groups, etc. Many of the elements I've described currently exist around the country; they just don t come together all in one place. That is why I am helping to create the vision of Edutopia: an effective educational system in a world with ubiquitous technology. The Foundation is in the process of producing four half-hour videos that depict Edutopia. We plan to disseminate them widely to encourage discussion about new technologies and education. I would encourage members of this Committee to look at our videos and get involved in the discussions about the roles of technology in education. The George Lucas Educational Foundation is particularly focused on the technology dimension of transforming the educational system. My expertise is in filmmaking and multi-media entertainment, and I believe that the tools we use in our commercial work have great potential to engage and challenge students in education, as well. The real power of these new technologies is three-fold: o They have the ability to make more information available, and to help students sort through and interpret that information. o They have the ability to support communication--among students, teachers, subject matter experts, parents, community members, etc. o They have authoring potential: I don t want to make educational movies; I want kids to make their own movies, programs and presentations. I want them to have the experiences I have when I create; those are the experiences that help me continue to learn, and that feed my creative spirit. The Foundation s mission, then, is to create a vision of how teaching and learning can be transformed through the innovative uses of multimedia technologies. There s a revolution going on in education, and I firmly believe that the vitality of this country depends on our ability to achieve the vision of Edutopia. II. Achieving Edutopia What does the transformation of education have to do with telecommunications policy? I think it is important to demonstrate the stakes involved in the decisions that the Congress is now making about the nation's telecommunications infrastructure, particularly about universal service. We need an infrastructure that supports communication among students, teachers, parents and experts, that facilitates learning in all kinds of environments, that gives students the opportunity to express themselves and their ideas in a variety of styles, and that knits communities together into systems that support all citizens learning. A. How Far We Have Come We have already made great strides. We have a high-quality public telephone network that reaches 94% of the homes and businesses in this country. Not only do these connections support personal and business communication; they currently serve as the on- and off-ramps to the information superhighway --high-speed data networks like the Internet. Teachers, students, and administrators use modems to dial into a plethora of information services, electronic mail systems, computer conferences, computing resources, etc. In addition, educational networks that link schools and universities have mushroomed, with every state having at least one such network. With these facilities, students from around the world are cooperating to collect and analyze environmental data. Students are creating multi-media histories of their communities and using them to teach other students about their own heritage. They are participating in government forums, and learning how to be active citizens. They are learning each others languages, sharing each others experiences, and getting all the little life lessons that go along with working in teams to create a product. The technologies are supporting teachers, as well, by breaking down the isolation that many teachers feel, and by bringing new resources to the classroom. The Internet supports several computer conferences devoted to aspects of school restructuring, where teachers and administrators can share their ideas, frustrations, and successes. Teachers also use electronic communication to coordinate curriculum planning and share classroom ideas. School districts are using electronic networks to facilitate communication among teachers, parents, community leaders and volunteers, so that all can become more effective facilitators of learning. B. What Still Needs to be Done To continue to take advantage of these new technologies and the educational innovations they make possible, there is still much to be done. Below is a list of several steps that I see as essential to our progress, the most basic of which concerns universal service. As the technologies and marketplace of telecommunications evolve, we will need new definitions of universal service and a renewed commitment to protecting universal service. We should also look for ways to improve the processes through which universal service is defined and implemented, to assure that all the affected parties have an opportunity to voice their needs and concerns. We must start with telephones, which are probably the most basic technology necessary to achieving our vision. Telephones are integral to enriching the educational experience by eliminating the isolation of classrooms and by providing access to information, experts and other resources as well as enabling joint projects with students and adults around the block, across the nation and around the world. While our national average of 94% penetration is certainly impressive, it downplays the fact that about 5 million households currently lack basic telephone service. Fifteen percent of black and Hispanic households, and twenty percent of Native American households, don t have telephone service. Without this most basic form of connection, these families cannot participate effectively in the education revolution we're talking about. That's just the start, however. While we're bringing telephone service to those 5 million homes, we also need to work on our schools, where telephone service is woefully inadequate. A recent study funded by the National Education Association found that, in 1993, 52% of K-12 classrooms had at least one computer, 41% had a television, and only 12% had a telephone. Those without a classroom telephone usually relied on the phone in the school office to make calls, and almost half of those reported that the office phone did not allow for private communication with parents or fellow professionals. Telephone service in every home and classroom is the first step to building the learning environments I have described. The second is to begin providing teachers and students with the hardware, software, and curriculum materials to take advantage of those links to the outside world. Some schools are way ahead on this, with computers and modems in every classroom, district- and state-wide networks that link them to other schools, and software and curricula that incorporate the principles of Edutopia. Other schools are behind; the NEA study mentioned above, for example, found that 43% of teachers have no access to modems at school. The challenge of equipping classrooms with the technology that's needed and providing teachers with the curricula and operating budgets to operate that technology successfully cannot be underestimated. Many of the schools at the forefront of these innovations have taken advantage of demonstration grants and seed money, but these technologies are no longer in the demonstrations stage: they are proven. We need to come up with funding mechanisms and a policy structure that assures that all schools, not just the leaders, will have access to this equipment. At the same time that we are disseminating today's technologies to all schools, we also need to keep working on improving and expanding the multimedia technologies to be used in tomorrow's schools. For example, video cameras and editing facilities that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars just ten years ago are now available in hand-held and desktop systems for less than $10,000. As technologies like this come down in price, we need to be examining their potential uses in education, and working with teachers and students to develop appropriate supplementary materials. While I believe that it is up to the private sector to take the lead on this, policy-makers should also be looking for ways that they can facilitate such research and development, for example, by removing barriers that discourage R & D investment. We also need to find ways to give teachers the training and the time to incorporate new technologies into their lesson plans and their own professional and administrative activities. This will involve familiarizing them with all kinds of new equipment and software and helping them work together to figure out good ways to use it. It will also require a re-thinking of their relationships with their students and with each other. A recent dissertation by Scott Williams at Indiana University, for example, found that teacher isolation is a key stumbling block to school restructuring, and that teacher isolation is reinforced by all kinds of organizational and physical factors. While communication technologies could help break down teacher isolation, we will have to help teachers address those other factors as well, if we want to achieve the Edutopia vision. In addition to all of these suggestions, there are several aspects of the new information superhighway that will affect our ability to achieve Edutopia. Because the Internet now serves as the most important backbone network for teachers and students, it is essential that all schools get plugged in to this network as soon as possible. I urge the Congress to immediately adopt policies to assure that every school is provided with free long-distance calls to access on-line services and the Internet and to establish interactive learning and instructional opportunities with other schools. These connections will be stepping stones to more widespread communication and integration in the future. Furthermore, as it becomes clearer how the nations information superhighway will be provided and administered, I hope that Congress will make sure that a portion of the information superhighway's capacity is set aside for educational uses. This capacity should be available free to students, parents, teachers and communities for education-related communication. The information superhighway should also be provided according to open platform principles. Consumer groups such as the Alliance for Public Technology and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have offered various perspectives on these principles, but they share the basic concept that all content-providers should have access to the information superhighway. This means that technical standards should not be allowed to close the networks to certain types of equipment, services or content, and that network providers should treat all service providers according to the same rules. This will minimize entry barriers for service providers and maximize the innovative applications that will appear on the network. III. How H.R. 3626 and H.R. 3636 Will Contribute to Edutopia In the preceding section, I have outlined several steps that must be taken if our vision of Edutopia is to be achieved. Some of these steps will be taken by individual school districts, and others are the province of private industry and state education agencies. However, it is clear that there is an important role to be played by federal telecommunications policy-makers, as I have described. By taking a lead in planning the information superhighway, and removing barriers to private industry's investment in that infrastructure and its attendant equipment and software, Congress can help us achieve our vision of Edutopia. H.R. 3626 and H.R. 3636 are clear steps in that direction. The bills are essential because they address the challenges raised by technological change and increasing competition in telecommunications markets. One of the most pressing challenges involves universal service. Marketplace competition is undercutting the cross-subsidies that have allowed us to keep basic rates low. In addition, market and technological changes are limiting policymakers leverage over rates and service offerings. In this environment, how can we upgrade our definitions of basic service, and guarantee that level of service to all residences and schools? We need a new regulatory model to meet this challenge. H.R. 3626 and H.R. 3636 articulate such a model. They rely on competition and consumer demand to drive the development of infrastructure and services, while instituting appropriate consumer safeguards. The bills will enhance competition in the telecommunications industry, especially in local and long-distance telephone service, giving consumers and school districts more choices for equipment and services and greater access to the information superhighway. Because the bills remove most of the barriers separating sectors of the telecommunications industry, it will be easier for school districts to find packages of services tailored to their needs and to develop the multi-media applications that I have described above. In addition to enhancing competition in local and long-distance telephone service, the bills will introduce more competition in telecommunications equipment manufacturing. This will bring us more innovative tools, and it will make them available more quickly. The regional Bell companies are already active in many education- oriented projects, and their experience will allow them to build network equipment and customer premises equipment that meets the needs of educators, students, and communities. H.R. 3626 contains language requiring the regional Bell companies to invest resources in education-oriented research and applications projects. Other manufacturers and software developers will also be able to partner with the Bells at all stages of the development process. By removing barriers to these strategic partnerships, the bills not only encourage innovation; they also help provide the financial incentives needed to encourage investment in the telecommunications infrastructure. When the nations largest telecommunications companies are working together to develop telecommunications products, services, and infrastructure, other firms can jump on the bandwagon, knowing that there will be demand for their products and services. This will speed development of the infrastructure, and the sooner that we can bring digital, interactive, broadband connections to every home and school, the sooner our vision of lifelong, student-driven learning will be realized. The same logic stands with regard to competition in long-distance service and video programming and transmission. If more companies are allowed into these industries, their entry will help jump-start the infrastructure-building process. While the Foundation, and most educators, don t personally care which providers bring those interactive, broadband connections to homes and schools, we do want to make sure that someone does it. I believe that allowing the largest telecommunications companies into those sectors is essential to creating the momentum and markets that will build the infrastructure we need. We look forward to working with a variety of providers, and I firmly believe that we cannot continue to lock out any companies that possess the experience, the R & D capacity, and the capital to help make the information superhighway a reality. IV. Conclusion As an expert in filmmaking and multimedia technologies, I long ago became convinced of the power of new technologies to excite peoples imagination. In recent years, I have devoted some of my energies to bringing the power of these technologies to education. The George Lucas Educational Foundation is committed to the belief that, with the innovative use of new technologies, we can infuse education with the energy and spirit that children naturally bring to learning. With the help of hundreds of education professionals, parents, students and others, we are developing a vision of education that is focused on the learner and is technology-rich. I have sketched that vision here in hopes of demonstrating the high stakes involved in this Committee s decisions about our telecommunications infrastructure. At the same time that we are witnessing this revolution in telecommunications and multimedia technologies, there is a revolution going on in the telecommunications marketplace, as well. To expand and protect universal service, we need new a new model of telecommunications regulation, one that relies on competition while safeguardinq consumers interests. Throughout my testimony I have made many specific suggestions for how our vision of Edutopia could be achieved in this environment. They can be summarized in one, over-arching recommendation: that the Congress formulate policies to encourage the development of a telecommunications infrastructure that is based on building an interactive, broadband public network that connects every home and school in this country and allows for free long-distance phone calls for educational purposes. The two bills currently before the Committee, H.R. 3626 and H.R. 3636, are blueprints for creating the marketplace in which our vision of Edutopia can be achieved. They free the regional Bell companies to participate in the manufacture of needed equipment and software, and they remove barriers that keep the Bells from investing in infrastructure improvements. They open up local telephone service to new competition from cable operators, long-distance providers and others. They also assure that the nation s largest telecommunications companies will be active in the long-distance and cable television businesses, giving educators more choices of providers and more outlets for their educational programming and communication. H.R. 3626 and H.R. 3636 set the stage for modernizing telecommunications policy by allowing it to keep pace with the whirlwind of marketplace and technology developments that leading to the convergence of heretofore distinct sectors of the telecommunications industry. The old ball park refrain, "you can't tell the players without a program," is increasingly applicable to the industry. Hardly a week goes by that we do not read of a new merger, acquisition or partnership aimed at developing the infrastructure for of the applications of the information superhighway. AT&T-McCaw, US West-Time Warner, MCI-Jones Intercable; old competitors are becoming new allies. H.R. 3626 and H.R. 3636 modernize telecommunications law and promote the public interest by lifting antiquated barriers to competition and defining the universal service obligations of all industry players. I strongly encourage the Committee to support these bills and incorporate our recommendations for free and open access for education to ensure that the information superhighway is the road to educational excellence in America.