FAS Public Interest Report

By Monica Amarelo

On Saturday, 17 February 2007, FAS organized a session on the promise of information technologies in learning. Henry Kelly, president of the Federation of American Scientists; Lorne Lanning, CEO of OddWorld, Inc.; and Anne Murphy, executive director of The Digital Promise Project, addressed a crowded room filled with people who wanted to learn how to integrate digital technology and education.

Digital technology is an integral component of our daily activities, from surfing the world wide web and instant messaging with multi-media mobile phones to sending e-mail and sharing calendars with personal digital assistants.

Unfortunately the U.S. education system has not joined this digital age.The traditional “tell and test” model of instruction is still in use by a system that is slow to change and still operates on an agrarian calendar. Recent reports warn about declining U.S. competitiveness and point to an urgent need to improve work-force skills and the American education system. Powerful tools for teaching and learning need to be placed in the hands of educators. Today’s students are often frustrated by the digital disconnect they experience at school.

Last year, FAS joined the Entertainment Software Association ESA) to release a plan of action to advance the use of modern video games to strengthen U.S. education and training. The plan set forth specific steps that the federal government, industry, and the education community need to take to develop, commercialize, and deploy educational games that will help students and workers attain globally competitive skills in demand by employers. The action plan was based on deliberations from the summit on Educational Games held on October 25, 2005 in Washington, D.C. The Summit brought together more than 100 experts to examine how to harness the power of video games for learning.

There is near universal agreement that the competitiveness of American companies, national security, and our ability to meet critical needs in health care, energy, and the environment, depend on advances in technology that can only be achieved with a worldclass workforce. Holding students and school systems to high standards is necessary (the goal of No Child Left Behind) but there is widespread concern that this alone is simply not sufficient.

Henry Kelly reported that advanced information technologies have already improved our lives in unexpected ways such as through sophisticated software that helps personalize online shopping, efficient systems for answering consumer questions, and eye-popping simulations on inexpensive computer game consoles. These tools have the potential to reshape learning through interactive simulations, question management, and powerful continuous assessments.

In spite of huge investments in communications and computer hardware made by universities, schools, and training institutions, most formal teaching and learning still uses methods familiar in the 19th century: reading texts, listening to lectures, and participating in infrequent – and highly stylized – laboratory experiences. Games offer an exploratory environment in which students can engage in active, problem-based learning, receive immediate feedback, and create their own pathways to knowledge.

Speakers will address the digital disconnect, why investments haven’t bridged the divide, legislation being considered by Congress, and the corporate perspective regarding a solution.

Anne Murphy, executive director of the Digital Promise Project, lobbies Congress to create the Digital Opportunity Investment Trust (DO IT) to transform America’s education and workplace training through the development and use of advanced information technologies comparable to those that have already transformed the nation’s economy, its communications system, and the media. Digital Promise was started by former FCC Chairman. Newton Minow and former PBS President Lawrence Grossman to get Congress to create a trust fund to finance education and public broadcasting from spectrum auction proceeds. The trust fund would finance educational and public broadcasting for the nation’s schools, universities, libraries, museums, and public broadcasters to reach out to millions of people in inner cities and remote regional areas.

DOIT would support the research and development of new models and prototypes of educational content, taking full advantage of the Internet and other new digital distribution technologies. DO IT is designed to do for education, workforce training, and lifelong learning in the 21st century what NSF has done for science, NIH for health, and DARPA for the military.

Lorne Lanning, founder and CEO of Odd-World Inc., provided a different perspective on why games aren’t more widely used in classrooms today. Lanning is a game developer and animated film director. He is best known for creating the Oddworld series that includes Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee ,Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee , Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus and Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath.

Video game companies are focused on developing new products for the entertainment market. While the gaming industry has the technology and game designers have skills that could be applied to develop educational games, a poor market discourages the private sector from making R&D investments.

For example, the gaming industry uses sophisticated game engines that could be adapted for education applications. The game industry technologies also features intelligent avatars, computer-generated characters that can simulate dialogue and conversation, and detailed virtual physical environments.

Lanning emphasized that one of the beauties of learning on a computer simulation or with a video game is the student’s ability to try and try again. After 100 attempts, the computer program doesn’t say, “maybe math’s just not for you” but instead conveys the message that “it’s okay, you can do it again.”

Game designers understand how to deliver critical information while keeping the player engaged. Millions of dollars are invested to develop game engines. Lanning believes the secondary market potential for these powerful pieces of software is enormous and could probably be adapted to applications that would teach people how to lead, read, how to do physics, how to learn math, and other subjects.

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