FREE ESSAY ON CURRENT PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION

CURRENT PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION

CURRENT PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION
It seems reasonable to begin a discussion of the future of computers in education with
considerations of the current problems of education. Then we can direct our use of
technology to improve education. I do not mean to imply that there would be universal
agreement on these problems or that this list is exhaustive; but these serious problems
deserve careful preliminary consideration in restructuring our educational systems. They
are worldwide problems that affect all levels of education.
I begin with what I regard as the root of many of the grand problems of today: the
problem of population. The number of people on earth is growing rapidly with no sign that
we will be able to stop this growth. Indeed, many powerful people and groups encourage
this growth. Educators often do not see this as an educational problem, but I believe
this view to be wrong.
World Population: The Grand Problem 
At the beginning of this century, the population of the earth, after thousands of years
of development of civilization, reached one billion people. At the beginning of the new
century we will have about six billion people on earth, and this number continues to grow
rapidly -- presently at ninety million people per year. A scenario from the United
Nations gives the world population in 2150 as 694 billion, based on current growth rates
in the different parts of the world.[1] This is very unlikely, but it shows the serious
nature of the problem.
I regard this rapid growth of population as the root problem on earth today, not just for
learning but also for many other aspects of modern society. Attempts to control
population in countries such as China and India have met with only partial success. In
most of the world there is only an inadequate attempt at population control.
A rapidly growing population means that with today's methods of learning many people will
receive no or inferior education. Schools and other educational institutions cannot
handle, in their present mode, even in highly developed countries, the ever-increasing
numbers of students, and they change only slowly. Very few of the people on earth receive
an adequate education even today.
How has our education system changed as population has increased? Unfortunately, it has
changed little in this century, in spite of the six-fold increase in population. Classes
have grown, particularly at the college level. But the educational materials have varied
only slightly, and our major learning problems remain unchanged.
Universal Education
Increasing population is not the only problem contributing to greater numbers to be
educated. A greater percentage of this growing populace needs education. This is partly
because of the rise of democratic states, and partly because our society changes rapidly.
We also have rising expectations for schools, assigning them new tasks.
We increasingly see education as a critical component of democratic society. For
intelligent decisions in democratic society we need an educated population. Furthermore,
we increasingly see the need for lifelong education. Society changes faster, so what is
learned when we are young is fast outdated.
So this need for universal education further complicates the problems created by growing
populations, by increasing the numbers we must consider. One of President Clinton's
points of emphasis in the 1996 U.S. Presidential election was that everyone is entitled
to two years in community college, again increasing the need for education.
Lack of Individualism
One aspect of education that must be considered is that all students are DIFFERENT, with
different backgrounds, knowledge, interests and learning styles. Each student should be
treated individually. But our current modes of learning provide little individualization.
Every student tends to be provided with the same learning experiences focused around an
white Anglo-Saxon curriculum. This cookie-cutter approach to learning works for a few
students, but many do not learn, or learn only partially. Our classes are already too
large to provide individualized learning.
Domination of Lecture and Textbook
The major learning modes in schools and universities are the lecture and textbook.
Lectures date at least since classical Greece, 2,500 years ago; textbooks come from a
more recent technological development, the printing press. Both textbooks and lectures
provide little individualization, so neither work well considering the wide range of
background and experience found with students today. The advantage of books and lectures
is that they can provide integrated whole courses, not just fragments.
Information vs. Learning
A major problem with learning today is the increasing tendency to confuse information
with learning. This is particularly a problem with the use of the World Wide Web in
learning, although it is an older problem, predating the Web's existence. Textbooks and
lectures are primarily sources of information, rather than learning media.
This confusion of information and learning is particularly important with areas that
depend heavily on problem solving. It is also of major concern because it is immediate
information, not problem solving and creativity, that is most easily tested.
Low Quality of Individualization
A problem often stressed is that our students are all very different. But almost all the
curriculum approaches we have now (books and lectures) treat them alike. So it is not too
surprising that existing computer learning material does the same. We need learning that
is individualized to the needs of each student. The key to achieving effective learning
is to use the interactive capabilities of modern computers.
If computer learning material is to consider and assist with individual student problems,
it must be interactive, probing to find what the student needs help with and providing
that help. Only highly interactive learning approaches can discover individual problems
and offer relevant learning experiences. As I stress, little such material exists. But
there is enough to show that we can prepare such material.
Lack of Interactive Curriculum Material
What we have so far in the way of computer learning material could best be described
mostly as bits and pieces, small isolated components of material, seldom individualized.
But full learning demands whole courses and full curricula, sizable chunks of material.
Very few interactive courses have been produced.
THE NEXT 25 YEARS OF LEARNING
How can we use computers to make major improvements in the educational process, for all
students worldwide? I argue that this is possible, but only if we consider carefully the
problems of education (already mentioned) and the capabilities of interactive technology
in solving them.
Although we have major problems in learning, we now have the technology to solve these
problems, the interactive technology provided by the computer. But new approaches are
needed; learning materials, schools and universities in their current form must change
greatly. We have not begun the process needed.
Superior Help for Individualization of Learning
The importance of working individually with the problems and potentialities of students
must be emphasized. As we have had more and more students, this has become increasingly
difficult. Our current grading system, with many students receiving poor grades,
indicates that we are now mostly unsuccessful in helping the individual student. Grade
inflation only further emphasizes this problem.
Highly interactive computer material now makes this individualized attention possible. We
need programs that continually probe the student, finding out at each instant what the
student can and cannot do. Then, based on this knowledge, the program can offer
individualized assistance. This approach combines learning and assessment into one
seamless activity, not separating them as in current courses. Assessment is used to
determine what learning material is to be presented next.
As stressed, very little software of this type has been produced. We consider briefly
later in this paper how it can be generated.
Highly Interactive Software
The notion of highly interactive software has already been mentioned. Although the term
interaction is widely used, most existing software, of all types, can at best be
described as only very slightly interactive.
The widespread use of the word interaction predates the existence of computers. A good
model of interaction is a conversation between two people, where each is paying close
attention to what the other person is saying. Such an interactive conversation need not
be concerned with learning, but it may be. Thus Socrates working with a small group of
students, or three or four students working cooperatively, or a student working with an
individual tutor, give us non-computer examples of interactive learning situations.
Since there is so little experience in creating and using highly interactive software,
much further experimentation is needed.
Implementation
If the script is on paper, coders are required to translate the design into code, or to
transfer the script to the computer. With the on-line script editor, however, it
partially writes the program itself. Eventually we expect most of coding to be done
automatically by the script editor.
Visual material must be created by professionals in such material, following the
directions in the script. Note that teachers are not asked to function as professional
designers.
Many years ago, in considering the problems of evaluating learning material, Michael
Scriven made the important distinction between formative evaluation and summative
evaluation. Both are important in examining learning material. Seldom is either done, to
the scale that is necessary to assure excellent learning materials.
With both types of evaluation, the computer can play a major role in gathering the data.
Student responses, particularly when not analyzed by the learning program, can be stored
and sorted for later analysis. Human evaluators may also be involved. For material
available in several languages, which aims at a worldwide market, it is important to
evaluate it in each of the countries involved.
HOW WILL HIGHLY INTERACTIVE COMPUTER-BASED COURSES BE USED?
The new highly interactive courses discussed here allow many new possibilities. They
could be used in the conventional institutions of today, or in new forms of institutions
derived from ones that already exist, or they could imply new institutions, particularly
based on distance learning. Some of these possibilities will be reviewed in the next
sections.
Existing Institutions
The highly interactive courses discussed here could be used in conventional institutions
such as schools and universities, in whole or in part. Then they simply replace the
course already available.
But since these courses stress mastery learning, they should be much more effective than
the replaced courses.
New Forms of Institutions
A major advantage of highly interactive courses is that they make new forms of learning
institutes possible, forms that let us attempt solutions to the major problems of
education reviewed earlier in this paper. The idea of new structures for schools and
universities is not new, but still a rare occurrence. The example in the next section
dates from 1968 and was suggested by George Leonard. Then we will consider the role of
highly interactive courses in distance learning.
George Leonard's Schools
Two examples of future schools that have always seemed very interesting to me are the
schools proposed by George Leonard. The first of these appeared in a book that appeared
in 1968, Education and Ecstasy,[3] and the second in an article in Esquire in 1981.[4] We
consider only the first of these two.
Leonard splits the school into two distinct pieces, one concerned with cognitive aspects
of learning and one with effective learning.
Technology plays a major role only in cognitive learning. The learning dome is the arena
for this. Computers are placed around the perimeter of the dome, each with large screens
touching neighboring ones. Students carry an identifying electronic box as they approach
a computer.
The computer has full records of just where the child is in all subjects, and as with all
highly interactive material, these records show where difficulties are occurring. They
are updated as the student progresses. Part of the information about each child is
obtained by examining brainwaves. And neighboring children are brought together when
possible, with the double screen having activities of both children.
More Students
The worldwide need to educate far more students than we do at present, discussed early in
this paper, along with the population problem, and the need for universal education, is
an important theme of this presentation. Our current methods for assisting learning will
not allow us to work with far more students, within the bounds of fiscal realism. But
those students are there, and their numbers are increasing.
I believe that highly interactive technology is the only possibility that will allow us
to reach the individual needs of large numbers of additional students.
HOW DO WE GET THERE?
Replacing our current educational systems with ones that depend on highly interactive
technology is not a simple and inexpensive process. It cannot be done at a single school
or single university. A coordinated effort, perhaps involving many countries, will be
necessary.
CONCLUSION
The world has increasing problems in education. A reasonable possibility to explore is
the development of highly interactive computer-based courses.[8] These courses would
interact with the student in the studentis own language, finding learning weaknesses.
They would also store information about such learning weaknesses, and use this
information in helping the individual student.
I do not see that any other current proposals will meet the challenge of providing
adequate education. But we need more experimental work to test this approach.
Bibliography
References:
1.Cohen, Joel E., How Many People Can the Earth Support?, New York, NY: Norton, 1995. 
2.Bork, Alfred, Bertrand Ibrahim, Bernard Levrat, Alastair Milne and Rika Yoshii, The
Irvine-Geneva Course Development System, Education and Society, R. Atkin (Ed.),
Information Processing 92, Volume II, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., 1992, IFIP. 
3. Leonard, George B., Education and Ecstacy, New York, NY: Delacorte Press, 1968. 
4. Leonard, George, The Great School Reform Hoax, Esquire, April 1984. 
5.Bork, Alfred, Highly Interactive Multimedia Technology and Future Learning, Journal of
Computing in
Higher Education, 8(1), Fall 1996. 
6.Bork, Alfred, Distance Learning and Interaction: Toward a Virtual Learning Institution,
Journal of Science
Education and Technology, 5(3), 1995. 
7.Bork, Alfred, Highly Interactive Software for Learning, not published, available from
author.