I thought you might be interested in the passage of Digital Promise legislation passed by both houses yesterday. What will now become the chartered non-profit National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies may really prove to be an accellerant for just the types of programs, experiments and evaluation that MCN promotes. Funding will be available to museums on a competitive basis, and in some respects this program may help compensate for the demise of the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) several years ago. Some of you may know it as DOIT _Digital Opportunity Investment Trust as the proposal has been called over the six years it has been championed by Newton Minow and Lawrence Grossman, among others. Its formal "coalition" of supporters includes AAM and AAMD.
Ironically, presented with the opportunity to support this legislation several years ago, the MCN Board declined. However I am hopeful that MCN may take an assertive role in apprising members how this program may benefit its member institutions. Here is a description from their website <http://www.digitalpromise.org/>.... more below. Digital Promise seeks to establish the National Center for Learning Science and Technology Trust Fund based on the principles of Digital Promise. The Trust's goal is no less than to transform America's education, workplace training, and lifelong learning through the development and use of the revolutionary advanced information technologies comparable to those that have already transformed the nation's economy, its communications system, media, and the daily lives of its people. The Trust will enable the nation's schools, universities, libraries,* museums*, and public broadcasters to reach out to millions of people in inner cities and remote regional areas, no matter how poor or deprived, in the U.S. and throughout the world, with the best of the educational and informational content now locked inside their walls. It would support the research and development of new models and prototypes of educational content, taking full advantage of the Internet and other new digital distribution technologies. For example, the Trust will commission pre-competitive research and fund the development of prototypes to: - Demonstrate computer simulations that let learners tinker with chemical reactions in living cells, practice operating and repairing expensive equipment, or practice marketing techniques, thus making it easier to grasp complex concepts and transfer this understanding quickly to practical problems. - Demonstrate sophisticated help systems that provide accurate answers to questions using a combination of artificial intelligence and live operators. - Demonstrate new communication tools that could enable learners to collaborate in real-time on complex projects and ask for help from teachers and experts from around the world. - Demonstrate learning systems that could adapt to differences in student's personal interests, backgrounds, learning styles, and aptitudes. - Demonstrate tools that provide successively more difficult challenges with appropriate levels of scaffolding that motivate the learner while avoiding frustration or boredom. - Explore learning opportunities present in persistent, online learning environments. - Provide continuous measures of competence?integral to the learning process?that can help teachers work more effectively with individuals and leave a record of achievement that is compelling to students and to employers. - Demonstrate new tools that could allow continuous evaluation and improvement of the learning systems themselves. - Digitize America's collected memory stored in our nation's universities, libraries, museums and public television archives to make these materials available anytime and anywhere. - Show quoted text - *Digital Promise Passed by Both Houses of Congress * *President Expected to Sign it into Law!* * * On Thursday, July 31, 2008, Digital Promise was passed by both the House and Senate as part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. It is expected to be signed into law by President Bush within days. Congratulations to all members of the Digital Promise team and thank you to all of our loyal and enthusiastic supporters and coalition members! It could not have been done without you! And special thanks to those members of the Education Committees of the House and Senate whose leadership made the National Center happen: Representative John Yarmuth, of Louisville, Kentucky and Senators Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, and their dedicated staffs. The new program is entitled the "National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies." It is a Congressionally originated 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation located within the Department of Education. It will have a nine-member independent Board of Directors appointed by the Secretary of Education from nominations by members of Congress. Grants and contracts will be awarded on merit, and policies will be developed following the tested procedures of NSF and NIH. Given its status as a non-profit, independent corporation, the Center will be able to receive grants, contracts, and philanthropic contributions, as well as federal appropriations. See the National Center section of the bill<http://email.fas.org/listman/users/link.php?UserID=52846&Newsletter=418&List=2&LinkType=Send&LinkID=2059> . Our next challenge is to secure FY09 appropriations for the Center. Because of the delay in passing the Higher Education Act, it was not possible for appropriations of the, until now, unauthorized National Center to be included in the Labor, HHS or Education funding bills that were passed in Committee in June. It is widely expected that final appropriations for FY09 will not be enacted until early next year. We are working hard to have funding for the National Center included in final appropriations legislation. We are requesting $50 million for FY09. Again, congratulations and thanks to all for our success in making the Digital Promise a reality! Sincerely, The Digital Promise Team *VICTORY!*
