Keynote Address: “Liberating Learning: Technology, Politics, and the Future of American Education”
Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 8:00 – 9:00 AM

Terry Moe, professor at Stanford University and co-author of the new book, Liberating Learning: Technology, Politics, and the Future of American Education (2009), will be a keynote speaker for the Virtual School Symposium on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 8:00 a.m.

Liberating Learning maps out a dynamic vision of the nation's educational future, showing how the ideas and innovations of virtual schools will ultimately transform public education to the great benefit of the nation and its children. Liberating Learning also points out solutions, challenges and opportunities through online learning, with special emphasis on the political forces that resist change and how technology can help overcome the limitations in our current system by providing a new delivery model.

Terry Moe is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a member of the Institution's Koret Task Force on K–12 education, and the William Bennett Munro Professor of political science at Stanford University. He is an expert on educational policy, U.S. political institutions, and organization theory. His current research projects are concerned with school choice, public bureaucracy, and the presidency. Moe has written extensively on educational issues. In 2005, Moe received the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Prize for Excellence in Education. In addition to his positions at Stanford and Hoover, Moe has served as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington, DC.

About “Liberating Learning:”

From Publishers Weekly

In this follow up to the authors' Politics, Markets, and American Schools, Moe and Chubb "think of public education not as the current institution, but in terms of its vital responsibility," in which case "technology promises to be a very good thing." When focused on this thesis, the Hoover Institution associates (Moe is a political science professor, Chubb founded an education consulting group) make a consistently intriguing case-not just for computers in the classroom, but for a full-scale system revamp. Unfortunately, they spend much time blaming teachers and teachers' unions for standing in the way, and fail repeatedly to address the realities of teaching. Many of the authors' assumptions will strike elementary educators as plainly wrong; for example, the idea that "computer-based approaches... simply require far fewer teachers per student" ignores the fact that teenagers can rarely be counted on to do what they're asked. It's also highly unlikely that parental demand will bring about a merit pay system; any school teacher will tell you that parental disinterest or neglect is rampant. Finally, and most distressingly, Moe and Chubb seem oblivious to the challenges poverty presents. Unfortunately, shallow thinking and a seeming lack of real classroom experience short circuit an important topic.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Notes on Presentation:

Honor to be here.

We are revolutionaries. We are revolutionizing public education.

He is optimistic about change in education.

We dont live in normal times. THe world is in the midst of a revolution. It is a profound changing everywhere,

It cannot help but help education.

Benefits of technology:

1. 1.Capacity of technology to personalize education for kids. Each child can move through at their own pace. They can take courses in any topic
   

2. 2.Breaks down constraints of geography. Access to the best the world has to offer.
   

3. 3.Provides enormous boost to social acumen.
   

4. 4. Substitution of technology for labor. This is a fantastic thing, Teachers are expensive, can be used for better things. Technology can substitute for labor. 30 kids in a classroom and a teacher, It could never get more productive. Historical, unique and important.
   

5. 5.Research shows that kids learn just as much online as in a classroom.
   

We have had explosive growth in 4 areas:

State level virtual schools,

Florida is the model for the nation.

Virtual charter schools. Schools do not have to start from scratch anymore.

Hybrid schools. (Rocket ship in San Jose CA)

Putting all these things together...where is it going to go?

There is a dark side:

All of this takes place in the public sector. Because technology is transformative, it threatens: Jobs and money.

Unions against this. (This was addressed last year as well.-TBH)

I think publishers are against this as well.--TBH

What is the politics of education?
#1 contributors to political education: Unions

They are more than powerful, they are in the top of all interest groups.

Unions block most reforms. Most reforms do not end up doing what they were intended to do.

Blocking is easier than passing reform. System is stacked in favor of blocking.

“They are doing the same thing with technology.”

Tried to block in PA, tried to block in Mi. Tried to block in many cases.

What we are all constrained by is the politics of blocking, because it has so much to offer.

If it were not for blocking, we would be way ahead of where we are now. (Is that why other countries are moving ahead of us?--TBH)

Information revolution is so huge that it unintentionally serves to undermine the teachers unions:

Dont need as many teachers

Dont need as many unions..less money..

Capacity can blast away the limits of geography. Easy to organize teachers in geographic locations. When they are spread out, they harder to organize.

The less money stays in the public schools because the  less students in schools.

Technology has the capacity to measure achievement, which threatens.

Current administration is more independent of unions than in the past.

So what does it mean?

Power of unions will decrease, which means less blocking, which means more technology,

Once politics of blocking is weakened, real reform takes place.

As we look ahead, we see a new era of American schools. More productive and more dynamic.

As the walls come down, the grip of special interests will be released and the nation will be able to just “do what works.”

Become politically organized is a message here.