Wednesday, May 04, 2005
In recent years the education sector has become an increasingly attractive market for the technology industry.
As local and national governments struggle to improve standards under ever tightening budgets, partnerships between education bodies and technology corporations are becoming a key component of policies all over the world.
In the US, for example, where Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) studies show America to be slipping down the league tables in terms of educational achievement, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is being touted as a productivity improvement tool.
"ICT investment in education will continue to grow steadily," said Jocelyn Young, public sector analyst at industry research firm, Datamonitor. "Although there is a strong focus on cost control, the prime mission of the industry - to offer an equal education to all - will remain."
Microsoft has long demonstrated its commitment to promoting digital literacy and increasing access to technologies. Its efforts over the years have included donating millions of dollars worth of software, training and support to educators, students and schools, and supporting vocational training programmes.
But lately, its education initiatives have been advancing beyond IT vendors' typical philanthropic terrain of handing out machines and training the next generation of computer engineers.
In a new partnership with the School District of Philadelphia, Microsoft is helping to build an entire school from the ground up. The "School of the Future", as the project is known, will open its doors to 700 high school students in September 2006.
The school will engage Microsoft's expertise in a variety of ways besides IT systems and support: the company will have a hand in everything from designing the building and hiring teachers to curriculum planning and improving business processes.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Jordan, in partnership with Intel, Hewlett Packard, Cisco and the Jordanian Government, Microsoft has created a "School Technology Innovation Centre" (STIC). The centre, which opened in February in Amman, is aimed at enabling educators in the region to evaluate new technologies by providing a hub for innovative practices.
Not only does the centre showcase Microsoft products and services, but the company is also working with local IT provider Menhaj Technological Solutions to develop a computerised ICT curriculum.
In some ways the two initiatives differ greatly. Whereas the Jordanian project is focused on educating teachers in the latest technological developments, the main mission of Philadelphia's landmark school is to educate students.
Microsoft's relationship with Jordan is part of the company's "Partners in Learning" initiative geared towards delivering ICT skills training, curriculum development, technical support, and research funds and resources to the education sector in 92 countries around the world.
The School of the Future is the result of an ad hoc inquiry from Paul Vallas, chief executive of the Philadelphia School District. "I've always been impressed with Microsoft's technologies and its business," he says.
"So I broached the idea of building a new school to demonstrate how technology can be used to improve education and enhance business processes. Within 10 days, Microsoft came back to me with an authorisation to proceed."
In spite of their obvious contrasts, the projects share important similarities. Both are born out of a need to diminish the digital divide. Mr Vallas called the current IT situation in Pennsylvania's public schools "vintage 1960s Soviet Union" while a World Economic Forum study shows that in 1999, there were 79 students to every computer in Jordan's schools.
While plans for both projects include the latest in education technologies the bells and whistles are about more than showcasing the latest technologies.
"Adaptive teaching and learning techniques supported with the correct technology can provide students a stimulating, interactive way to study a subject like chemistry without having to be in the chemistry lab," says Microsoft's Mary Cullinane, School of the Future "technology architect".
One-to-one student-to-computer ratios will create "a continuous environment for learning beyond the end of the school day", while digital "teacher helpdesks" provide coaching for teachers.
The projects share another equally important mission - scalability.
The School of the Future, which will cost more than Dollars 50m, is intended to serve as a blueprint for others. Mr. Vallas plans to build 28 new schools as well as modernise all existing classrooms by 2008, and will use the first as an "R&D lab".
Jordan's STIC is also a showcase for innovation. The centre is the first of five such facilities to be built worldwide - Northern Ireland, South Africa, Belgium, and the Czech Republic will follow suit.
Both initiatives share numerous challenges such as developing literacy among teachers and providing adequate systems support, but scalability remains the biggest issue.
While Microsoft is donating expertise and resources to both projects, such as funding two permanent staff at STIC, the company will not be handing out Dollars 50m cheques to school districts all over the world.
"We want to replicate the model worldwide," Ms Cullinane says.
Yet sharing best practices and promoting digital learning on a large scale could be difficult given the education sector's present financial situation.
By CHLOE VELTMAN
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