Trip Report #4: As a Member of the European Delegation of CoSN

	US Delegation to Europe, 2002: Internet Technology and Schools Agenda Working Groups Delegation Members London Briefing Materials Paris Briefing Materials Brussels Briefing Materials Bonn Briefing Materials Sponsor Background Information US Education System Review Trip Report #1: Government Demand/Resource for Education Technology/ICT Trip Report #2: Assessing ICT's Educational Impact Trip Report #3: Standards & Accessibility - SIF, SCORM, IMS, GEM, etc. Trip Report #4: As a Member of the European Delegation of CoSN Trip Photos

James Bosco
November, 2002

CoSN 2002 European Delegation Trip Report

This is a report on a trip which I made as a member of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) delegation. The trip occurred between October 4 and October 13. We visited four countries on the trip: London, England; Paris, France; Brussels, Belgium; Bonn, Germany. I, as Chairperson of the CoSN International Committee, served as one of the trip organizers along with Keith Krueger, Executive Director of CoSN, and William Gilcher, Co-chair of the CoSN International Committee and North American Media Projects, Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes. Keith Krueger and William Gilcher were also members of the delegation. Plato, Microsoft, Houghton Mifflin, an Scholastic were the sponsors of the trip.

Delegation Members

• Prescott M. Caballero, Confidential Assistant for Technology Policy, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President, White House
  
  
• Ann Lee Flynn, Director Education Technology, National School Boards Association
  
  
• Anita Givens, Director of Education Technology for State of Texas and Chair, State Education Technology Directors Association
  
  
• Eric Hamilton, Interim Division Director, EHR/REC Division, National Science Foundation
  
  
• Jim Hirsch, Associate Superintendent for Technology, Plano ISD (near Dallas, TX) and Chair of Consortium for School Networking
  
  
• Kathleen M. Hurley, Vice President, Education Industry Affairs, NetSchools, a PLATO Learning Company
  
  
• Marcia Kuszmaul, Group Manager, Product Management, Microsoft Education Solutions Group
  
  
• Robert Nelson, Director of Technology, Milwaukee, WI public schools and chair of technology committee for Council of Great City Schools
  
  
• Nuala O'Connor-Kelly, US. Department of Commerce, Chief Counsel for Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce
  
  
• Douglas A. Simon, Special Assistant, Office of Education Technology, US Department of Education
  
  
• Larry S. Snowhite, Vice President, Government Relations, Houghton Mifflin, a division of Vivendi Universal Publishing
  
  
• Donna Somma, Vice President, Business Affairs, Scholastic Internet Group, Scholastic Inc.
  
  
• Cheryl Scott Williams, President, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and Vice President for Education, Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)
  
  

Background and Purpose of the Trip

While there are important differences in the educational traditions, policies, and conditions in the U.S. and Europe which affect the way information and communications technology (ICT) is deployed and used in primary and secondary schooling, it is clear that many of the problems pertaining to the effective use of ICT in the U.S. and in Europe are similar. It is also clear that there is benefit to be gained on both sides of the Atlantic through increased communication and cooperation. For this reason, CoSN has invited a delegation of key policy makers pertaining to the use of ICT in schools from Europe - as well as from elsewhere in the world - to participate in the CoSN annual conference in Washington D.C. for the past three years. Also, CoSN was the lead sponsor of a symposium held at the French Embassy in February, 2002 dealing with the use of research to inform ICT policy. Senior policy makers from the U.S. and other countries attended the Symposium. (A second symposium is being planned for February 2003.)

In October of 2001, Keith Krueger and I accepted an invitation of the European Schoolnet (EUN) which is an organization comprised of ministries of states in the European Union and sever other non-EU states to attend a meeting of the Advisory Council of the EUN, to participate in an European Commission meeting in Luxembourg, and to meet in Brussels and Luxembourg with European Commission personnel involved with ICT.

The establishment of the CoSN 2002 European Delegation was formed as a consequence of all of the above mentioned interactions. The purpose was to help develop an action agenda for cooperation and communication between ICT efforts in the U.S. and Europe. Clearly, there is willingness on both the European and the U.S. side for moving from talk about cooperation to a concrete and substantial agenda for that cooperation. While we were open to serendipity, there were three foci for the delegation - each of which was the basis for a working group of delegates.

The three Working Groups were:

• Working Group One - Implications for US Federal & State Education Technology Policy: This group will focus on federal policies in the US that pertain to the deployment and use of education technology (ICT). Preliminary discussions have indicated that there may be feasible and valuable ways for the development of ways for policy makers in the U.S. and those in Europe (both in individual countries and also on a pan-European Union basis) to share information bearing upon policy formation that would be useful on both sides of the Atlantic. This working group will explore the development of a process of a sharable on-line resource for information pertaining to federal and state policy.
  
  
• Working Group Two - Applications of High Speed Networking in Primary and Secondary School Applications: There is substantial involvement in both Europe and the U.S. in the development of high speed networking. This group will provide information about efforts in the U.S. and secure information about similar efforts in Europe. Of particular interest will be opportunities for partnerships between NGO's in Europe and the U.S.
  
  
• Working Group Three - Innovations in the Promotion and Assessment of the Improvements in the Learning Environment in Schools through ICT: The bottom line in the use of ICT is the improvement of learning in schools. Working Group Three will be interested in innovative approaches on using ICT in ways that show promise of making substantial improvements in the learning environments of schools. The focus will be on efforts that go beyond individual classrooms and provide us a scientific basis for research. The No Child Left Behind legislation requires intensified attention to assessment of ICT. This group will also be interested in exploring assessment efforts in Europe and sharing what is being done in the U.S.
  
  

Meetings

Sunday - October 6 - London

• Orientation meeting for the Delegation
  
  
• Meeting with British Council personnel hosted by Peter Upton, Director of the Division of Education and Training
  
  
• High Tea at British Council Headquarters and informal conversation. The British Council is an NGO which "connects people worldwide with learning opportunities and creative ideas from the UK and builds lasting relationships between the UK other countries." (www.britishcouncil.org)
  
  

Monday - October 7 - London

• Presentation on Curriculum Online hosted by Doug Brown, Division Manager of the Division for Education and Skills (DfES) of the Department for Education & Skills & Introduction by Doug Brown which is a government agency. Curriculum Online is an extensive collection of WWW instructional materials which are aligned to the curriculum in England. (www.nc.uk.net/home.html)
  
  
• Presentation on recent research in the field of ICT in Schools (including the impact of ICT on attainment), followed by discussion with Owen McConnell, Research and Sustainability Team Leader, ICT in Schools Division (DfES) (www.dfes.gov.uk/ictinschools/)
  
  
• Lunch at Jolly St. Ermine's Hotel Caxton Street, London SW1H 0QW Tel: 020 7222 7888
  
  
• John Curley, Deputy Superintendent From Glasgow, Scotland discussed an innovative ICT Project being done in conjunction with Plato
  
  
• Presentation on ICT in Schools Test Bed - Pilot Project of "clusters" of schools, and software sharing. Mark Grundy, Head Teacher Shirelands Language College. (www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2000_0440)
  
  
• Presentation on Home-School Links and GridClub. Keith Holder, ICT in Schools Division and Simeon Linstead. These two projects represent efforts to make use of ICT in out-of-school settings to enhance or compliment school learning. Home-School Links is being done in conjunction with the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) which is the British NGO which is "the Government's lead agency for ICT in education. It supports the UK Government and national organizations in the use and development of ICT in education to raise standards, widen access, improve skills and encourage effective management." (www.becta.org.uk/index.cfm) For Home- School Links see - www.becta.org.uk/technology/infosheets/pdf/homeschool.pdf For GridClub see (www.gridclub.com)
  
  
• Presentation on the Government Numeracy Strategy and links with ICT. Bob Sawyer, Regional Director, Centre for School Standards and Myf Powell. (www.dfes.gov.uk/numeracy/contents.shtml)
  
  
• Reception and Dinner in the Library Lounge at County Hall hosted by DfES and the British Council with a presentation by Lord David Putnam who has had an important career in the media as president of Columbia Pictures. He produced "Chariots of Fire," "The Killing Fields," and other motion pictures.
  
  

Tuesday - October 8 - London and Paris

• Non-disclosure presentation by the BBC
  
  
• Plenary session drawing together the delegation's visit - to include representatives from the British Council, Foreign & Commonwealth Office as well as the DfES
  
  
• Travel from London to Paris via Eurostar (Chunnel). Delegation Working Groups met on board Eurostar.
  
  
• Welcome from by Agnes Touraine, CEO Vivendi Publishing (who was listed by Fortune Magazine as one of the 50 most powerful women in Business) at Vivendi Universal Publishing Board meeting Room. (www.vivendiuniversalpublishing.com/english_index.html) Presentation on The Electronic Schoolbag by Catherine Lucet and Marie-Françoise Enslen, Digital databases by Philippe Merlet, Digital libraries by Nathalie Baudry d'Asson
  
  
• Dinner in Vivendi Universal Publishing dining room hosted by Vivendi
  
  

Wedesday - October 9 - Paris and Brussels

Meeting at the French Department of Education - Presentation on French ICT Policy for Schools


• General overview of the FDE's policy
• Emmanuel Pasquier Cunsellor of the Mnister
• Daniel Vitry, Délégué aux relations internationales et à la coopération French Embassy Ministry of foreign affairs


• Overview of national educational projects and Policy
  
  
  • Clara Danon, deputy director for ICT in Education
  • Gilles Braun head of unit technology
  • Odile de Chalendar international affairs, technology department and Marie-Christine Milot project manager
  • (Representative from the Délégation aux relations internationales pour la coopération will be Sylvie Christophe deputy head of Unit Bureau des Amériques and M. Dalmeau Sous directeur. Members of Embassy of France and United States will also attended.)
  
  
• Lunch at the French Department of Education
  
  
• Presentation at the French National Library at the Tolbiac multimedia area given by François JuHel (Head of Education at the FNL) including a presentation on the French National Library's projects (classes.bnf.fr)
  
  
• Departure for Brussels via Thalys Train
  
  

Thursday - October 10 - Brussels

• Meeting at the offices of European SchoolNet with Presentation at European SchoolNet (ENU) hosted by Ulf Lundin, Director with other EUN staff members (www.eun.org/eun.org2/eun/en/index_eun.html)
  
  
• Cabinet of Commissioner Reding (Education & Culture)
  
  
• Lunch at Sheraton Hotel hosted by Microsoft.
  
  
• Flemish Ministry of Education (Host: Jan de Craemer)
  
  
• Cabinet of Commissioner Liikanen (Information Society) (europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/information_society/index_en.htm)
  
  

Friday - October 11 - Bonn

• Meeting at Deutsche Telekom Greetings and Introductions
  
  
• Dr. Andreas Vogel (Federal Ministry of Education and Research), Dr. Maik Lehmann (Schulen ans Netz), (www.san-ev.de) Equipping German Schools with Computers and Providing Access to the Internet - The Current situation (Dr. Lehmann) The "IT works" Initiative (Mr. Höllen/Mr. Ruhmann)
  
  
• New Media and Instruction -New media in education-Teaching and learning software in instruction. (Mr. Hahlen),Infoschul" ("Schoolinfo") (Mr. Koch).SEMIK (Mr. Schumacher) (www.fwu.de/semik/7_programm_info_englisch/7_2_projects/content.htm)
  
  
• Schulen ans Netz e. V, the German school networking organization, Organization and Goals (Mr. Münchow) ,"Lehrer-Online" ("Teachers Online") and "lo-net" (Mr. Welskop, Ms. Throm),"LeaNet" and "LizzyNet" (Ms. Eichen)
  
  
• Lunch Crowne Plaza Hotel Habsburgerring (NOTE: local Microsoft GmbH rep. Kerstin Beutling will ride on bus and join us for dinner.)
  
  
• Closing Dinner at Restaurant "Die Keule" Heumarkt 56, D-50667 Cologne (Altstadt/Nord), Tel.: +49 (2 21) 2
  
  

Some Observations and Impressions

It is important to preface the following with a caveat. The CoSN Delegation spent a limited amount of time in each country and the people we met with were, without exception, persons connected with the efforts to expand and improve ICT usage in the schools. Nevertheless, we had the opportunity to meet with a considerable number of persons who have considerable impact in establishing and implementing the agenda for ICT in their countries. So the following needs to taken not as established fact but as my own observations and impressions from what I saw and heard on the trip. What follows are my own thoughts and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or conclusions of the delegation.

• The rhetoric in Europe pertaining to the importance of ICT in schools is quite similar to that in the U.S. Much of the rationale is centered on the importance of ICT for national economic viability. Much less of the rationale is directed toward the quality of life of the individual. Of course, the implicit assumption may be that what is beneficial for the economic viability of the nation - i.e. a population of persons with good ICT skills is also beneficial for the individual.
  
  
• Efforts to expand the amount and quality of instructional materials often dominated the agenda of the meetings we had in the various countries. There seems to be less focus on the need to expand the infrastructure than there is to expand the ICT content available to teachers. Yet, the student/computer ratio and extent of connectivity are lower in Europe than in the U.S. In none of our visits did I hear discussion about efforts to move to one-to-one computing . In London we were told by one government person that one-to-one computing is not a goal since the image of each student sitting in front of a computer without student to student interaction is not seen as desirable pedagogy. (I did not contest this point by arguing that one-to-one computing is not necessarily each student sitting in front of a computer.)
  
  
• One of the innovative - and potentially contentious - approaches to content development is being employed in the U.K. Fifty million pounds (78 million dollars) have been allocated for development of instructional content materials. These funds, however, have been allocated to teachers who can "spend" them on purchasing the content from the providers. So, in essence, the content providers will created materials "on speculation" and will recoup their costs and make profit depending on their "sales" of these materials to teachers.
  
  
• Another development in the U.K pertains to a major content development project which would make applications available to schools at no cost. This has become controversial since the industry is objecting to the government subsidizing the development of materials which could cut into sales of materials from private sector developers.
  
  
• One of the most captivating persons I met on the trip was Lord David Putnam. He has relinquished his career in the motion picture industry and is devoting his time and energy to the improvement of the use of ICT in schools. I found his comments refreshing because unlike the cheerleading/boosterism which too frequently afflicts conversations about ICT, Putnam was quite blunt in acknowledging that ICT has not realized its promise in schools. He presented this less as an accusation than a challenge.
  
  
• The issue of professional development of teachers was another theme of our conversations. In each country this was something which was introduced by our hosts as a continuing issue of concern.
  
  
• There was much less mention about professional development of administrators. Indeed, the way that this often entered into the conversation was as a result of questions about it being asked by the Delegation. In one-on-one conversations in Germany, France, and the U.K. it seemed to me that this was no less an issue there than it is here. Yet, it did seem as though professional development of administrators was receiving less attention in the countries we visited than it is in the U.S.
  
  
• Pre-service teacher education in the teacher training institutions pertaining to the effective use of ICT in the classroom was raised in every country as an area of concern. In no instance did we hear that commendations for it.
  
  
• Broadband came up in every country we visited. Again, the conversation was similar to that in the U.S. There was concern about the need for school applications that will take advantage of broadband. There was variation in opinions from country to country about how close or distant broadband was from wide-spread usage in schools. Those in London seemed more optimistic and those in France more pessimistic. It was not always clear to me how broadband was being defined.
  
  
• Assessment was also a topic which was frequently introduced by our hosts. It was difficult getting a clear sense of what was actually being done along the lines of assessment at the national level. The National Grid for Learning in the U.K. has done a series of studies which are helpful both in terms of results as well as in terms of methodology. There are six reports in this series which were issued in 2001. It would be useful to have dissemination of these reports in the U.S.
  
  
• The work being done in the U.K. on home-school links could be quite useful for comparable efforts in the U.S. We had a demonstration of "Grid Club" which is an on-line resource for students and parents. (The URL for Grid Club is given above.) Also, The National Grid for Learning reports mentioned in the bullet above contains an assessment of the use of ICT to enhance home-school linkage. There is also interesting work along these lines being done by LizzyNet which was funded by the German ministry is an on-line community for girls and women in Germany, while it has a relatively small number of members (16,000 and 8,000 daily users) is another example of a well conceived resource.
  
  
• European SchoolNet (EUN) has developed a wide range of programs for the member nations. There is also a high degree of willingness on the part of the leadership of EUN to collaborate with CoSN. One specific opportunity for collaboration is the ICT database which EUN is developing. This database will contain information that is relevant to policy makers pertaining to the ICT activities and initiatives in member nations. The U.S. has been invited to participate in this effort. Incorporation of information from the states into an international perspective could extend the value of such data from the U.S. and could be a concrete measure to enable state directors of technology to draw upon international linkages.
  
  
• I was particulary impressed with Gallica (gallica.bnf.fr) which has been developed by the Bibliotheque nationale de France. This is a multimedia collection which span the period from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. While it may not fit within CoSN's mission to help get collections such as this before teachers in the U.S. who could make use of them, CoSN could play a role in helping bring such information before those persons or organizations in the U.S. who could help to bring major resources such as this one to the attention of teachers who could make use of it. ( I did a survey of several major web sites for teachers of French and was unable to find reference to this site.) The work being done by the Bibliotheque was also of interest in terms of the way in which they were doing real time real place professional development with teachers pertaining to the materials they developed. As mentioned, we heard repeatedly about the need for good instructional content and that is a legitimate concern. Yet, in each of the countries visited we saw quite significant free educational sites which probably have little visibility in the U.S. but which could be useful to teachers and students.
  
  
• The SEMIK Program (Information and Communications Technologies in Teaching and Learning) appears to be a well crafted R&D program which is operated by the German Ministry of Education and Research. There are five areas of focus for their projects. They are: teacher education and training, school development, development of instructional concepts, development of curricula, preparation of technical tools. The work being done by SEMIK touches on fundamental issues which have direct analogs in the U.S. Communication between those involved in this program with counterparts in the U.S. would be beneficial.
  
  

All of the above left me with an even stronger belief in the need for and value of the effort to find structural linkages for increased communication and cooperation. Everywhere we went we found a high degree of receptivity for increased communication and cooperation, and while there seems little doubt that those who told us about their work in London, Paris, Brussels, and Bonn have had contacts with colleagues in the U.S., I left Europe with little reason to feel that there were in place other linkages between educational ICT professionals in the U.S. and Europe that made any efforts which we might undertake redundant. Rather the key problem might be that given the extensiveness of opportunity and need to settle on a doable number of feasible activities which advance the agenda for cooperation and communication between leader ICT personnel and organizations in the U.S. and Europe.