Title of Study:  Fostering Learning in the Networked World: The Cyberlearning Opportunity and Challenge

Author(s): Christine L. Borgman, Hal Abelson, Lee Dirks, Roberta Johnson, Kenneth R. Koedinger, Marcia C. Linn, Clifford A. Lynch, Diana G. Oblinger, Roy D. Pea, Katie Salen, Marshall S. Smith, Alex Szalay

Summary:

This report explores strategies for building a cyberlearning infrastructure for science, technology, engineering, math, and the social, behavioral and economic sciences.  It discusses existing resources and opportunities for action to promote cyberlearning development, and poses research questions to guide the research and education communities in exploring the transformative potential of technology in improving education in the STEM disciplines.  Finally, the report identified concrete recommendations for action by NSF to establish a coherent approach to improving educational opportunities in the sciences through cyberlearning.

Sponsoring entity(s): National Science Foundation

Date conducted: 2008

Location of the study: The full study can be accessed through the NSF website.

Setting(s) addressed:

• National organizations for policymaking and infrastructure development
• Research universities
• Virtual and remote science laboratories
• Learning opportunities in cyberspace

Targeted population(s):

• K-12
• Higher education
• Lifelong learners

Primary sources of evidence used in the study or report:

• Literature review
• Informal interaction with NSF members
• Informal interaction with experts in education in the STEM disciplines

Primary Technology Application(s) Addressed:

• Cyberlearning infrastructure (the intersection of cyberinfrastructure and learning science)
• Internet-accessible STEM content (software, data, virtual labs), including open source
• Networked computing and communication technologies
• Internet-based virtual and “mixed reality” environments for interactive exchanges

Major education topic(s) addressed:

• Science
• Technology
• Engineering
• Mathematics
• Social, behavioral and economic sciences

Major findings/conclusions: This report made recommendations for NSF action to:

• Help build a vibrant cyberlearning field by promoting cross-disciplinary communities of cyberlearning researchers and practitioners.
  
  
• Help design and develop a common, open cyberlearning platform that supports a full range of teaching and learning activities, including assessment and analysis.
  
  
• Emphasize the transformative power of information and communications technology for learning “from K to gray."
  
  
• Adopt programs and policies to promote open educational resources."
  
  
• Take responsibility for sustaining cyberlearning innovations, so that they will continue to have impact after specific grant funding has ended.

Practical implications of the findings:

• The study points out that a nation-wide systems approach is needed to effectively infuse cyberlearning into K-12 education, integrating advances in technology with updated standards, curriculum, assessment, school leadership, school finances and professional development.
  
  
• The study points out that the challenge in K-12 education is no longer access to technology. With near universal access to personal computing devices, the challenge has become how to take advantage of the potential of cyberlearning to transform teaching and learning in the STEM disciplines.

Reviewer Comments:

This report takes a very broad view on using the potential of recent technological advances, particularly what are know as Web 2.0 tools for social networking and web publishing, to transform education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and the social, behavioral and economic sciences.

The focus is on the structural issues of building a cyberlearning infrastructure with full interoperability, transparency and openness that will be used by universities, government entities, companies and individuals to create learning products and opportunities to be shared universally.  The report calls for truly revolutionary changes in how STEM education takes place.

The report also calls for strengthening the research programs on cyberlearning so that learning research will co-evolve with the cyberlearning infrastructure.

Because of time constraints, this report did not rely on any new research, but instead reviewed published research and made informal contact with experts in fields related to the topic.