Most people know George Lucas for his creation of the “Star Wars” film saga. However, it was Lucas’ work with education – not his more famous work in film — that caught the attention of Dr. Barrie Jo Price.
Price, professor of educational technology in the College of Human Environmental Sciences’ Institute for Interactive Technology, along with her IIT colleagues, Drs. Anna McFadden and George E. Marsh II, began collaborating on several projects for the George Lucas Educational Foundation a few years ago. That ultimately led to Price being named to the Foundation’s advisory board.
Founded in 1991 by Lucas, the foundation promotes innovative efforts of teachers to improve K-12 education, with a special interest in identifying those programs that integrate technology with teaching and learning. The George Lucas Educational Foundation has documented the success stories in its newsletter, materials, books, videos and Website (www.glef.org).
Price is one of only two higher education professionals to sit on this 12-member board that includes such education and business heavyweights as Cindy Johanson, PBS Online; Carol Edwards, NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education; John Gage, Sun Microsystems Inc.; Milton Goldberg, National Alliance of Business; Jacqueline Lain, Standard and Poors; and Peter Harris, president and CEO, San Francisco 49ers.
“The foundation promotes project-based learning and broader forms of assessment that can dramatically improve student learning,” Price said. “Certainly, new digital multimedia and telecommunications can support these practices and engage our students,” she said. “Lucas believes, and so do I, that the most powerful force in education is the teacher. Nothing, not even technology, will ever compete with that,” said Price.
The foundation’s latest project, a book and CD-ROM titled “Edutopia: Success Stories for Learning in the Digital Age,” includes an article by Price, Marsh and McFadden on their research on Palm Pilots being used in the classroom.
” ‘Versatile Handheld Computers Aid Mobile Student Teachers’ details the ways that student teachers use the Palm and other devices to improve classroom and data management and productivity electronically in our mobile society,” said McFadden.