In a CNet interview, head of Microsoft Research, Rick Rashid, talks about working with MIT to explore ways to improve the classroom experience in our colleges and universitites. From the article:
CNet: What is some experimentation with technology and learning that you find promising?
Rashid: We’ve got a program we have been doing in some universities, where we developed software so that the lecture can be done with a tablet PC. The lecturer can be putting up notes, writing them while talking and showing them up in the screen. Not only can the students see what he is doing, they can be following it on their own. And they could be making their own annotations. They can be asking questions, which can get fed to a TA (teaching assistant).
The idea is to use technology to take a traditional lecture setting and turn (it) into a more participatory, shared experience.So, dynamically, during the lecture, people can–anonymously, if they want to–say: “What’s this guy talking about? I don’t understand what’s going on here?” Or it can be chatting back and forth among themselves and showing notes they’ve taken. Then they can review these, which are kept in a SQL (Server) database. You can refer to them later.
That type of thing may or may not be the precise answer. But the idea is to use technology to take a traditional lecture setting and turn (it) into a more participatory, shared experience, where people can be part of it, as opposed to sitting there listening.
I’m not sure which system Rashid is referring to–is it Classroom Presenter or some permutation of it? Maybe someone knows. Sounds like the MIT-Microsoft Research effort was very classroom centric. Makes sense. Classrooms are the center of the education experience and applying technology within them is the logical “next step.”
However, as Rashid points out elsewhere in the interview, “students teach themselves better than professors teach them, and that study groups and a participatory environment are great.” Doesn’t this suggest that a good target for new technology development would facilitate the interaction of students outside of the classroom as well as inside? File sharing, setting up ad hoc networks, sharing the desktop, making more classroom information accessible outside of the class, personal document mangement (a la GoBinder and OneNote), and so on are all good first steps. What might be the next two or three steps beyond these though? Food for thought.