Remarks of Commissioner Rachelle Chong to Douglass Policy Institute National Issues Forum: Telecommunications and Education May 15, 1996 Washington D.C. "An Information Renaissance" It is a great pleasure to be here at this National Issues Forum on Telecommunication and Education sponsored by the Douglass Policy Institute. I have been asked to "sketch a lesson plan" this morning that will set out what parents, teachers and community leaders should do to realize the promise of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. I understand that you are here to formulate strategies and action plans to promote educational opportunity, especially in the public sector. Your goal is to ensure that urban school children are able to find their way on the Information Superhighway. Education in an Information Age Let me start by congratulating you for seeing the big picture and understanding that something needs to be done. You are right on target. Telecommunications infrastructure and applications are going to play a key role in preparing our students for jobs in an increasingly global economy -- an economy that is based on information. With the astonishing popularity of personal computers and the tremendous advances in communications technology of the last decades, it seems clear that we have truly entered the Information Age. I would like to suggest that we look upon this information age as the dawning of a new Renaissance -- what I've been calling an "Information Renaissance." Why a "renaissance?" Because information enlightens, enriches and empowers every citizen. So, it is my great hope that this Information Renaissance -- just like the Renaissance that followed the Middle Ages -- will be a period marked by intellectual activity and the flowering of the arts, literature, and science. In this era, there is important work to be done by educators and those who support our educators -- our parents and community leaders. In an Information Age, students will need to be conversant in a wide variety of communications technologies. It is a fact that our society is increasingly a "high tech" one. In a typical business office these days, you will find as "standard equipment" much of the following: computers, fax machines, networked telephone systems, electronic mail, and wireless devices like cellular phones and pagers. Already 40% of American households have a personal computer. Our citizens must be technology savvy to function in this world. But are our schools -- the institutions who are shaping our future workers -- up to this challenge? As citizens of one of the most technologically advanced countries of the world, American students deserve state-of-the-art educational facilities and educational tools. This includes telecommunications technology. Just as students outgrew the use of colonial McGuffey readers, our students are moving beyond the use of textbooks and chalkboards that were the basic tools when I was in school. How do we prepare our students for a world where advanced information technologies will be as commonplace as the computer and fax machine are in today s modern office? I wanted to share with you some ideas that I have, which include a description of what the FCC is doing in this area. Infrastructure My first thought is that schools have to get connected to the Information Superhighway. Now, you've probably heard a lot of hype about the "Information Superhighway." The heart of this concept is that private industries would create a global "network of networks" -- a worldwide network of communications and computer networks that will help transmit information quickly and inexpensively across the traditional boundaries of time and space. Some go so far as to suggest that in the future, countries won't be trading natural resources or products; they'll be trading information. Knowledge will be power. Besides business applications, the Information Superhighway holds great promise to transform our educational system. One idea is to create a global digital library containing the best of the world's libraries and museums. In this way, we could literally put the world's cultural riches at every child's desktop. Imagine a child sitting at a desk here in Washington looking at records housed at the Prado Museum in Madrid. These kinds of possibilities make me believe that the Renaissance of the 21st century lies in the successful creation of an Information Superhighway. If we are successful, the Information Superhighway will allow any child -- urban or rural, rich or poor -- access to information. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, which became law in February, should help us reach our goal. It has two provisions that should be of particular interest to you. Section 254 (h) of the new Act directs the FCC to establish rules to enhance, to the extent technically feasible and economically reasonable, access to advanced telecommunications and information services for all public and nonprofit elementary and secondary school classrooms and libraries. The law directs telecommunications carriers serving a geographic area to provide communications services for educational purposes to schools and libraries at discounted rates. Further, the law makes clear that no one should not be left out, and requires that rates between urban and rural areas be generally comparable. Section 706(a) of the Act instructs the FCC and state commissions to encourage the deployment of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans, including in particular, elementary and secondary schools and classrooms. The Commission has started proceedings to implement the new law. We are committed to adopting policies that will encourage the connection of our schools to the outside world for the purpose of education. Your input in those proceedings will be very important. It will be up to you to tell us how we can best implement these provisions to help students in your communities. This new communications infrastructure may include a variety of options depending on the needs of the school. At minimum, it should include putting wired or wireless telephones in every classroom. Telephones in classrooms can help improve communications between teachers, parents and students. Telephones will make classrooms safer and create greater opportunities to enhance the teaching curriculum. Recently, I met some teachers and kids from Richardson West Junior High in Richardson, Texas. It seems that Richardson West Junior High was the first school in the country to arrange to have cellular phones in every classroom. Following up on a challenge from the FCC's Chairman, Reed Hundt, the students and faculty conducted a study to see whether the presence of these phones made a difference. I found the results of the study fascinating. For example, 96% of the faculty reported that the cellular phones helped them perform their jobs more effectively, and 75% said that the phones allowed greater access to outside resources. Slightly over 80% said the phones had enhanced the curriculum. The students agreed. About 62% of the students said the phones were helpful to their education. Now, of course, we have to recognize some potential downsides here. More than 70% of the parents surveyed reported that they had gotten a call from a teacher. Remember how we used to be able to make up all kinds of great excuses for not having our homework? Teachers with cellular phones could really cramp a kid's style. With classroom phones, a teacher can check out the story that "the dog ate my homework." A phone in the classroom also enhances the safety in the classroom. The parents, teachers and students at Richardson West Junior High all reported that they felt safer with a phone in the classroom. Infrastructure goes beyond just telephones. Making computers available to educators will allow them to communicate with each other on the Internet. Teachers can share innovative lesson plans, while administrators can share technology strategies and learning. A computer and a modem to the classroom also allows the students to connect with the Internet and explore the world outside the four walls of the classroom. Another possible application could be wired or wireless local area networks that will link students and faculty in a variety of ways. These networks could provide things like electronic mail, data sharing (say, between a central library and other libraries on campus or even another campus), Internet access and the like. This past April, the FCC proposed to set aside a large chunk of spectrum for unlicensed broadband wireless devices, capable of high speed transmissions of multimedia information. One suggested use of these so-called NII/SUPERNet devices is to provide wireless broadband networks within buildings and between classrooms. These wireless devices could enable desktop access to the Internet for students without having a tangle of wires around the room or having to string wires through asbestos-filled walls. I encourage you to consider the potential of this kind of system to enhance educational opportunities for students, especially in urban settings. New broadband networks also have the potential to provide interactive distance learning opportunities. For example, a professor at an urban university could teach rural students from afar, and the interactive broadband network allows the teacher and students to see each other and talk in real time. Distance learning is cost effective and could greatly enhance education throughout America, especially for those living in rural or remote areas. Educational Content This brings me to my second point. Educational curricula should be adapted to take full advantage of new multimedia techniques. Cable programmers, broadcasters, software developers, and others are developing some wonderful educational material that can be brought into the classroom by educators. As we all know, kids love television. It grabs their attention and can be a terrific teaching tool. I am pleased that the communications industries have taken a leadership role in developing quality educational content. I especially commend the cable industry on its outstanding Cable in the Classroom program, and CTIA on its ClassLink and MathLink programs. For example, Continental Cablevision, along with media specialists and teachers, got together to develop Kindercable curriculum and a supplemental videotape. Kindercable is aimed at kindergarten through second grade children. The main objectives of the curriculum are to give students the skills to identify different types of programming, to relate different types of programming to their experiences, and to appreciate and recognize the variety and value of TV programs. One suggested activity from Kindercable is to teach young children how to identify a commercial, to understand that the purpose of a commercial is to sell things, and to draw a distinction between commercials and programming. The curriculum has a broad variety of suggested activities in the areas of art/drama, social studies, and math to help the teacher convey the basic lessons, in addition to reinforcing more traditional lessons. Another initiative that I find interesting is called CyberEd. Not CyberTom or CyberSue -- CyberEd. CyberEd is a high tech 18-wheeler on a 122 day tour of distressed cities and rural areas. The truck is essentially a classroom on wheels where students and teachers can view and get hands on experience with new technology. It has six computer work stations with laser printers, videos and fax machines. CyberED will be used to train principals, teachers and parents to use computers to educate students. The great thing is that CyberED is funded by contributions from a number of communications companies. We need more programs like these and more interaction between the industry and the educational system. With these kind of corroborative efforts, multimedia curriculum will become the norm in our classrooms. And, with this very "visual" generation growing up with television and computers, it can't help but succeed. Training of Personnel My third suggestion goes to the issue of training personnel to manage the new communications infrastructure. Once the infrastructure is put in place, our schools must be able to maintain and use these communications devices effectively. Because they set budgets, school administrators will need to study and understand technology trends. They will need to allocate enough money to ensure the infrastructure is put in place, and that the equipment is maintained and upgraded as technology advances. Just as a school needs a custodian to maintain its physical facilities, it will need a trained technician to keep the communications and computer facilities working smoothly. Part of your challenge will be to convince school boards and local officials that they should invest both in communications infrastructure and training. You will want them to guard against being penny-wise and pound-foolish. It is important to make those who control the purse strings see the tremendous potential of technology. A Salute to Teachers Now, if you've got the infrastructure, the lesson plans and the technical support, you must still have teachers that understand how to integrate technology into the classroom. So my last point is that, to make all this work, you need teachers that are "in on the program." Many teachers are using educational programming from communications providers to great effect. I salute them because it takes courage, creativeness and energy to be a teacher who uses technology as a teaching tool in these times of budget problems, overcrowding, and outdated facilities. These teachers are role models to teachers everywhere. It is very important that teachers, librarians, and media specialists learn how to effectively incorporate multimedia tools into curricula. Let's face it. Many adults can't even figure out how to program their VCRs, much less figure out how to "surf the Internet!" We must encourage all educators to overcome any "techno-phobia." It may take lots of work to get teachers comfortable -- and hopefully excited -- about the benefits and efficiencies that technology can bring. I would encourage educators to put a high priority on learning how to use technology. After all, the use of information technology in the classroom is only limited by the imagination of the instructor. I want to take a minute to tell you a story about Manuel Moreno, a science teacher at my alma mater, Lincoln High School in Stockton, California. His students produced a weekly live cable program on the human body that was beamed -- via Continental Cablevision's two way interactive television system -- from the high school campus to preteen students at Brookside School. His students worked in teams to choose topics of interest to the younger students -- ranging from the skeletal system to acne -- a timely topic during adolescence! His students wrote the scripts, acted and produced the half hour shows. During the pilot program, the high school students dissected a cow's eye as the younger students looked on in amazement, and maybe, some queasiness! I'm sure the show was "udderly moo-tivating!" In his own words, Mr. Moreno wanted students to realize that "learning is cool," and to recognize the value of hands-on science. He realized that using television helped him get the undivided attention of his students. So, this is one teacher who effectively used technology to reach his students -- and, hopefully, to inspire them onwards to careers in medicine, science or teaching. It is a real inspiration to see teachers like him using such ingenious ways to reach his students. I believe that each time a teacher gets a student excited about learning, there will be a ripple effect. That is one more student who will be a lifelong learner, one more student who will be an achiever, one more student who will be a contributor to our society. It's an old saying, but from little acorns, mighty oaks will grow. It will take a partnership of government, industry and educators to get technology into the classroom. Government can encourage policies that put the infrastructure in place. Industry has stepped up to the plate to voluntarily connect the schools and provide the necessary training and content for teachers. And of course, educators are already using technology to dazzle and inspire their students. I hope that this partnership can help bring about a new Information Renaissance in the 21st century, one that will again bring us intellectual activity and a new flowering of the arts, literature and science.