Knowledge Networks in Focused Teaching and Learning Communities: Promoting Successfull, Sustainable and Scaleable Educational Improvement

9811907全国范围内的刘易斯学院和大学哀叹招收反映全国人口的种族和语言多样化的学生团体的难度越来越大。加利福尼亚州的209号提案，德克萨斯州的霍普伍德案，以及其他州(在密歇根州和华盛顿州提出)越来越倾向于这样的立法，进一步集中了关于谁可以上大学的讨论。随着高中文凭的市场价值下降，劳动力日益多样化，其中三分之一是少数群体成员(SCANS，报告，1992年)，必须重视所有族裔群体的大学教育。在过去的一年里，兰德和Avid一直在合作开发一种名为AVIDnet的新型网络资源。他们已经完成了调查、焦点小组和系统的初步设计，这些系统将利用技术为扩大Avid计划提供支持的基础设施。这一努力是此类努力中的第一次，以证明如何直接利用丰富的、联网的互动媒体来满足中学和高中公立学校教学社区的需求。本次规划资助和未来更大规模的研究中提出的设计、实施和评估的目的是实时从AVIDnet的开发经验中提取宝贵的经验教训。预期研究结果不仅将为AVIDnet的未来使用提供信息，还将支持其他国家通过有效利用这些新媒体加强教与学的努力。

9811907 Lewis College and universities nationwide lament the increasing difficulty of enrolling ethnically and linguistically diverse student bodies that reflect the population of the nation. Proposition 209 in California, the Hopwood Decision in Texas, and the growing trend toward such legislation in other states (proposed in Michigan and Washington) have further focused the discussion of who is able to attend college. With the decreasing market value of a high school diploma and an increasingly diverse workforce, one third of whom are members of minority groups (SCANS, Report, 1992), a premium must be placed on a college education for all ethnic groups. For the past year, RAND and AVID had been collaborating on a new model of networked resources called AVIDnet. They have already produced surveys, focus groups, and preliminary designs of systems that would use technology to provide an infrastructure of support for expanding AVID Programs. This effort represents one of the first trials of its kind to demonstrate how rich, networked interactive media can directly be made to serve the needs of the public-school teaching and learning community at middle and senior high grade levels. The purpose of the design, implementation, and evaluation proposed in this Planning Grant and in future larger-scale research, is to extract valuable lessons in real-time from the AVIDnet development experience. Results of the research would be expected not only to inform future uses of AVIDnet but also to support efforts undertaken by others to enhance teaching and learning through effective use of these new media.