New from the 'star wars' front: Edutopia, the radio series

Internet Strategies for Education Markets: The Heller Report, Sept, 2002

The George Lucas Education Foundation (GLEF, San Rafael, CA, www.glef.org) has been around for more than a decade, but this fall, it takes its multimedia message one step further with a weekly online radio show premiering on September 5 (www.voiceamerica.com). The idea behind the Edutopia radio series is to encourage a national dialogue on educational innovation. It will feature key educators and students, as well as business, government, and community leaders and will be hosted by GLEF executive director Dr. Milton Chen.

The new radio series is just the latest effort by the staff at GLEF to get people thinking about the good things happening in education. While Edutopia does not focus on specific educational products and services per se, recent articles such as 'Handhelds go to Class' identify creative ways that products such as the Palm Pilot can be used in the classroom, and offer others in the education community a great way to see products in action. Edutopia is a brand that actually means many things at GLEF--it's a website featuring articles, interviews and professionally-produced movies showing the best of the best stuff happening in schools across the country. It's also a twice-a-year newsletter, as well as a new book. According to Sara Armstrong, Ph.D., director of content, the Foundation will use any means possible to get the word out.

"That's one of the things that I'm excited about at GLEF," Armstrong notes. "My background is in writing and text. Here, we ask what's the best medium to get the message across? And, how can we bring the best of all these media together to tell a story. Because obviously, George Lucas thinks film should tell a story."

In a time when so much emphasis is being placed on methodology and accountability, it's nice to be reminded that every classroom is filled with real, live 'protagonists' with interesting and inspiring stories to tell. And Armstrong emphasizes that all the online materials at GLEF are free and meant to be picked up and used by any educator who likes what they've seen.

Media is the Message

The Edutopia website is broken into three categories: innovative classrooms, skillful educators and involved communities. Armstrong explains that her small staff of 20, with the help of an outside production house, has been creating about four video packages a year, but is pushing to increase that number. The idea is to create a clearinghouse of educational models that include the videos, feature stories, lesson plans and rubrics, taped interviews and other tools that can be used as resource material. The story ideas come from a wide variety of sources, including GLEF's work with others in the dot-org sphere, such as ISTE, and the California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP), as well as the National Labs, WestED and others. Armstrong's team does major research around each topic, and then the group comes together to decide what the best medium is in which to present the information.

The look and feel of the presentations is very important to GLEF, and has changed over the years since the foundation began. GLEF began its foray into filmmaking in 1997, when it produced a one-hour documentary called Learn and Live, narrated by Robin Williams. The original idea was to create longer stories that would air on public television, or be used within a local TV station's newscast. But the group decided to create a repository of stories on the web instead, and amended the long-form documentary to shorter pieces that run less than ten minutes. Armstrong notes that since Milton Chen has come on board, the films have gotten even shorter, in order to allow people with limited bandwidth to download.

"We're really trying not to leave folks behind," Armstrong explains.

GLEF is also set to debut two new 'packages' on the website that Armstrong says will change the look and feel of at least a portion of the Edutopia experience. Users will still go through the main site to access these new areas, but will see shorter films and redesigned visuals and accompanying articles in the new sections. The first package goes live on October 1st, and will focus on redesigning learning environments. The second, on district-wide reform, will show up in December. Armstrong says it's all part of a calculated effort to use a wide variety of media to get the message across--whether it's a Flash piece, a PDF file or a film clip.

Bring your Light Saber

The shorter pieces and flashier graphics don't mean that the site will become fluffy. But Armstrong wants to be sure there is relevant information for all the players in the education debate -- from administrators and legislators to parents and kids. In fact, she's particularly excited about what kids can bring to the table. Armstrong believes that education vendors and businesses ought to be talking to students about what makes a successful learning experience, and she feels that children's voices are being almost completely ignored in the important debate about how education could work.