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House Education and Labor Committee Holds Hearing on The Future of Learning

June 25, 2009—Chairman George Miller (D-CA), House Education and Labor Committee, held the first in a planned series of hearings on the Future of Learning, on Tuesday, June 16, 2009. He set the stage for the series:

“In this economy, it is more important than ever to ensure that every student in every classroom has the opportunity to grow, thrive and achieve to their fullest potential. This is becoming increasingly important as our competitiveness abroad has shifted…. Discovery and innovation are really the only sustainable sources of economic growth in the world today….

“…companies want workers who can work across companies, countries, and continents. They want the most diverse workforce in history, to assemble solutions to emerging problems stemming from the most diverse client base in history. Unfortunately… That is not today’s education system
in America.”

Aneesh Chopra, Chief Technology Officer for the White House Office for Science and Technology, carried President Obama’s message to the Committee. He said:

“President Obama is committed to ensuring all students are trained to use technology to research, analyze and communicate in any discipline. However, we must integrate technology into the classroom in ways that research demonstrates truly help students learn.”

“Promising approaches include:

• facilitating public-private partnerships in the evelopment of new curriculum incorporating emerging technologies;
• integrating technology throughout the classroom to transform the method by which we teach; deploying collaboration tools to support teachers in sharing best practices; and
• developing better student assessments to allow teachers and parents to make ‘data-driven’ decisions on how to improve performance.”

Each of the other witnesses presented his or her own examples of how technology in classrooms and schools works well to develop positive results for teaching and learning and, in many cases, on a cost-effective basis that engages students and educators. Chairman Miller closed the hearing with comments that we are in a race to embed technology into education every day so that today’s students have opportunities to develop their skills, talents, and abilities, and educators are provided the resources necessary to understand the real time needs of students, bringing out their potential and excitement of learning. More Future of Learning hearings are expected in the House education committee.

Read the testimony from the hearing and view the webcast.

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