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Learning in the New Millennium

Phase One: Impact of LiNM on media debate

Download a Quicktime movie of the programme (21Mb).

The New Millennium Project began back in 1993 as a collaborative venture between Ultralab a learning technology centre research department at Anglia university and Nortel the telecommunications giant.

"Its a bit brave. We took a number of children in school, we connected them up to scientists and engineers in Nortels research laboratories and we stepped back to see what happened when we put them all together, and we added teachers into the equation."

"What sort of things did you put into the schools?"

"State of the art as was technology, fast modems and good quality computers. A pretty powerful computer interface that allowed the children to exchange information and graphics, visual material, and also to chat online simultaneously but most importantly a visual structure which allowed them to build conferences where they could talk about the things that mattered to them over a long period of time. This is a seven year project remember."

And initial evaluation of this first phase of the millennium project has produced some very interesting results.

"There were terrific outcomes in terms of parity of esteem, we had 8 year old children talking to PhD level scientists where the 8 year old knew more about badgers than the scientists so that in this debate the 8 year old was leading the research and the debate. Clearly when they were talking about thermodynamics it was the engineers who knew more. "

"They grew to respect each others perspective in a way which none of us expected. It became a learning community rather than a learning conduit, instead of pumping information to the kids they were part of the learning tapestry that was making learning happen. But I think the things I would pick out that were highlights are that children as lecturers are as exciting as children as learners. You need somebody who really knows their stuff. The teachers were crucial in this in asking catalytic questions that made learning happen fast. Probably the third key finding is that everyone, even in the corporate sector, is hungry to learn. Learning isn't just for kids, it's for all of us"

"Didn't you get teachers saying you are going to do me out of a job?"

"Well, teachers are worried about technology, people suggest that a computer will become a surrogate teacher, that somehow in a CDROM is all the passion and delight that a teacher used to bring into the classroom. Of course that's not true. Teachers did not want to end up as technicians while children got on with their learning. Teachers have a great deal to contribute and they wanted to make sure they were still contributing."

	"What sort of things did you put into the schools?" "State of the art as was technology, fast modems and good quality computers. A pretty powerful computer interface that allowed the children to exchange information and graphics, visual material, and also to chat online simultaneously but most importantly a visual structure which allowed them to build conferences where they could talk about the things that mattered to them over a long period of time. This is a seven year project remember."
And initial evaluation of this first phase of the millennium project has produced some very interesting results. "There were terrific outcomes in terms of parity of esteem, we had 8 year old children talking to PhD level scientists where the 8 year old knew more about badgers than the scientists so that in this debate the 8 year old was leading the research and the debate. Clearly when they were talking about thermodynamics it was the engineers who knew more. "
	"They grew to respect each others perspective in a way which none of us expected. It became a learning community rather than a learning conduit, instead of pumping information to the kids they were part of the learning tapestry that was making learning happen. But I think the things I would pick out that were highlights are that children as lecturers are as exciting as children as learners. You need somebody who really knows their stuff. The teachers were crucial in this in asking catalytic questions that made learning happen fast. Probably the third key finding is that everyone, even in the corporate sector, is hungry to learn. Learning isn't just for kids, it's for all of us"
"Didn't you get teachers saying you are going to do me out of a job?" "Well, teachers are worried about technology, people suggest that a computer will become a surrogate teacher, that somehow in a CDROM is all the passion and delight that a teacher used to bring into the classroom. Of course that's not true. Teachers did not want to end up as technicians while children got on with their learning. Teachers have a great deal to contribute and they wanted to make sure they were still contributing."