The FUTURES PROJECT lends itself to a wide range of research methods but by far the most useful has to be the Internet. There is a wealth of up to date information on futures thinking, education in the new millennium, leadership, schools of the future, teaching strategies, technology, social issues, and the environment.

Team members were provided with a variety of resources including some of the articles from some of the websites listed below. A selection of websites were provided to enable members of the project to extend their depth of knowledge on educational topics with a futures-orientation. If you have received this Appendix on the Internet then you will notice that all sites are hotlinked and can be accessed simply by clicking on the link.

Strategic Futures International contains eight pages of links to other websites grouped by headings such as people, corporations, and publications. From within the above website you can link to:

Plausible Futures and a range of about twenty excellent publications including The Futurist, Futures and 21stC Magazine. There is a good set of background notes for the future in the Philips website for their Vision of the Future

New Horizons for Learning is an educational website set up as a building with a huge range of quality information in areas such as the Window On the Future and The Observation Deck.

From Now On has been set up by Jamie McKenzie and contains a wealth of data on integrating technology into the classroom and changing teaching strategies. There are some excellent T&D suggestions at this site.

Education Index is an annotated guide to the best education-related sites on the web

Education Network Australia as the name suggests, provides a range of Australian links to information in areas of teaching, curriculum and resources.

Curriculum Corporation is the website for online resources and links to national projects such as Discovering Democracy, Access Asia, OZJAC and Science Australia as well as updates on a wide range of Australian curriculum issues.

The Modern Red School House is an American project to support schools for the 21st Century. The site contains some interesting philosophical and planning issues worth considering in our project.

Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development will enable you to explore a range of current US educational issues. From within this site you can gain access to feature articles from their Educational Leadership magazine and a wide selection of books, periodicals, and video materials.

BlueWeb’n and  Education World are just two of the quality websites reviewed by Bruce Stavert through his Principals in Cyberspace column contained in each edition of Principal Matters. (Bruce has kindly extended his list of websites and they appear later in this article).

World Future Society provides some general reading on the future and demonstrates just how up to date the information can be. This site contains the February 1999 draft of Chapter 5 of the World Future Society book entitled The Shape of Things to Come. In other words you are able to review some of the thoughts and predictions of a range of futurists before their ideas officially appear in print!

Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development provides some good links to current US research issues and practical classroom applications. Check out the ASCD 1999 Yearbook Preparing Our Schools for the 21st Century– edited by David Marsh which you can order online at the site.

Thornburg Centre Associates contains at least 70 discussion papers, articles and handouts regarding education and the future. Some key articles include:

The Future is Now – Welcome to the Communication Age – Ian Jukes & Ted McCain 1997.

New Schools for a New Age - Ian Jukes & Ted McCain 1997

Living on the Future’s Edge – Ian Jukes & Ted McCain 1997

2020 Visions for the Future of Education – David Thornburg 1997

Anzwers is a powerful Australian search engine should you decide to start your own exploration on the web(use the Powersearch facility which allows you to specify a time period, such as last 3 months, and provides for more sophisticated searches by keyword, country and language).

HotBot is another recommended search engine which also provides advanced searching facilities.

Dogpile is available if you really want a wide search as it will automatically search many of the existing search engines for you.

WEB SITES RELEVANT TO TECHNOLOGY IN LEARNING – Bruce Stavert

Some sites may be technology specific but the vast majority contain material which would be very useful for learning/teaching and certainly important in giving an idea of how technology might impact on schools of the future.

Leadership and the New Technologies is a site designed to support school district leaders in the USA in using technology to improve teaching and learning. It offers an on-line bimonthly journal (LNT Perspectives). These articles are not written for academics - they are very readable. Very importantly they report on studies of projects that are in operation, some having operated for some time. The teacher practicality ethic - that it may be worth trying if another teacher has got it working in a classroom somewhere - could be used to promote these initiatives.

Nicholas Negroponte - WIRED Columns is a site at the other end of the spectrum. Nothing tried and tested here. I would call Negroponte a futurist. He is an academic who writes a column for "Wired" magazine, and it is these columns that are available at this site. In complete contrast to the previous site, they contain his speculations and observations and go well beyond technology and its impact on education. However, they are worth reading.

Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environments is dedicated to the CSILE project at the University of Toronto. As a result of their research they have developed software to support collaborative learning and inquiry. The CSILE software helps students and their teachers create a communal database, with all able to enter text and graphics on any topic their teacher has created. All students on the network can then read the notes of others and build on each others ideas. The site is certainly touting for business, but offers an interesting example of an innovative use of technology to help build knowledge and aid learning.

Grouputer - Planning for Shakespeare accessible from the EDNA site, this is a case study of the use of a system called the "Grouputer" with a mixed ability Year 9 class, to plan and stage a Shakespearean play. The most important aspect is that students are using Grouputer as a very powerful tool - the project is not about the technology itself. As Catherine Crook (Belconnen HS) says: "Significantly, use of Grouputer fosters the application of information technology across the curriculum as a tool for extending and applying concepts and opinions rather than technical skills being an isolated subject in the curriculum."

Web Teacher - your source for web knowledge offers a comprehensive tutorial on the web. You can start with a primer which takes you quickly through most of the features of the web and would help any beginner to function successfully. The web tutorial is a different kettle of fish - it takes you through in much greater detail and depth. The information (i.e. the lessons) are concise, well written, very well designed and presented clearly and attractively in small bites with illustrations and/or images of the screen.

The World Lecture Hall gives you links to pages created by education providers (mainly tertiary) faculty to deliver lessons. Everything from accountancy to zoology. Is this the future of education??

PBS Teacher Source. This is a site that gives teachers a great many resources in a great variety of subject areas. Similar sites are available from the BBC and other media providers

eSchool News Online is just what it sounds like - the latest news on technology in education in a weekly online newsletter. It is very USA centred, but if you are interested in this topic, this site will provide you with much up-to-date information.

Tapped In will take you to a debate on the pros and cons of technology in the classroom. Well worth a read. The site itself is dedicated to the professional development of teachers. Membership is free.

Telecampus lists on-line courses offered around the world. It includes a database on courses offered, course registration , information on payment of tuition fees and accreditation.

Homework Central advertises as the largest online study site on the internet and contains a wealth of information on 2200 school study topics. It is US based but gives a good idea of the breadth of curriculum content/material already available to our students.

Virtual School for the Gifted offers a large number of courses for gifted primary and secondary school students, all of an advanced nature and offered by experts. The courses are reasonably expensive.

Wnet is a practical web service for teachers. It includes information (updated regularly) on what is available on the net for teachers as well as lesson plans and an internet primer.

Milken Exchange on Education Technology this site apparently publishes research papers on the topic. At the time of writing it contains an excellent article on information technology in teacher education.

Free-ed Net - Amazing but true - free courses (around 100 of them) available over the net. High school students wishing to get extra help in, say, Organic Chemistry, could delve into these resources

Jones International University is the site for the first fully accredited online university. Visit this site and you can investigate the degree offerings and enrol in the program of your choice (HECS-free??)

Miningco.com Distance Learning - "mine the net so that you don’t have to" to find courses on all manner of things. There is a comprehensive set of high school courses available. I wonder how long it will be before students begin taking courses from overseas providers in this way - they could do so now!! Some examples are:

Cyberschool.
A collection of high school courses that are taught entirely over the Internet to students around the world.

Home Study International
This is the Seventh Day Adventist home schooler site offering courses to grade 8.

Indiana University
High school and college courses available on-line

The Scout Report can be emailed to you weekly without any charge. It is a service that scans the web and reviews sites for you. Much is not relevant to technology in education, but you will find many articles that are, and much that is of interest. Well worth subscribing.

Technology Planning: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly is an article that contains some very important messages for principals planning for the future of technology in their schools. It is well worth a read

Microsoft in K-12 Education contains sections on teaching and learning; training and classroom resources; networking and administration; technology planning; "real school stories" (although these are about schools using Microsoft products in learning, there are many very relevant stories and solutions to problems); and Microsoft product and support information (which includes links to many countries in the world - but NOT Australia!!).

Ten ways to use technology in your teaching. The beauty of the article is that for each of the ten ways to use technology, there are hot links to relevant sites. For example, when the author talks about communicating with other educators through listservs, she includes hot links to sites that can give you the addresses of many listservs. This is an excellent address full of ideas to pass on to teachers.

Please explore some of the above sites and email any other quality websites you discover to Bruce Stavert (stavert@zip.com.au) who will be able to include their reviews (and acknowledge the source) in his Principal Matters column or to Greg Dickinson (gregd@dragon.net.au) who is maintaining the website data.

Some titles for those who prefer a good book to a warm computer could include:

Ideas for the New Millennium – Peter Ellyard - Melbourne University Press 1998

The Future of Schools – Brian Caldwell & Don Hayward - Falmer Press 1998

Confronting the Future – Charles Birch – Penguin Books 1993

Preparing Our Schools for the 21st Century ASCD 1999 Yearbook – edited by David Marsh – published by ASCD 1999 

Education for the Twenty-First Century - Headly Beare and Richard Slaughter Routledge 1993

New Thinking for the New Millennium – Richard Slaughter Routledge 1996

Futures for the Third Millennium – Enabling the Forward View – Richard Slaughter – Prospect, Sydney, 1999

Change Matters: Making a Difference in Education and Training – Geoff Scott – Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1999. To quote Michael Fullan: " An eminently readable and practical guide for those who want to make sure that the educational changes they attempt really do make a difference for their students. … Highly Recommended"

If you are interested in books on futures methodology then Rick Slaughter has two publications entitled:

Futures – Concepts and Powerful Ideas – Richard Slaughter

Futures – Tools and Techniques – Richard Slaughter

Learning From The Future – Competitive Foresight Scenarios. Liam Fahey & Robert Randal editors– John Wiley 1998 is quite expensive at about $70 but does explain the advantages and pitfalls of the futures process and show how the process can be applied to the business world.

Many thoughts on the future are also contained in a range of business and leadership publications such as:

Community of the Future by the Drucker Foundation – Jossey Bass Potts San Francisco 1998 which is one of the trilogy including Leader of the Future and Organisation of the Future. The Community of the Future is particularly relevant as it addresses business, communities of faith, schools, cyberspace and change as we move to the new millennium.

5th Generation Management Charles M Savage – Butterworth-Heinemman 1996

and

Thought Leaders – Insights into the Future of Business edited by Joel Kurtzmann – Booz Allen and Hamilton 1998. Both give insights into the changing nature of work and leadership. They provide discussion with regard to team building, management strategies, interrelationships and the leadership styles of some high profile business leaders.

Those principals interested in the implications of the rethink needed in regard to the future and our world environment may enjoy

The Sacred Balance – Rediscovering Our Place in Nature by David Suzuki and Amanda McConnell – Allen & Unwin 1997.

Once we step into the world of periodicals, monographs and occasional papers there are literally hundreds of very recent publications available. Space does not allow us to list all of them in this section but readers may like to read further on articles such as:

Leadership for the 21st Century – Breaking the Bonds of Dependency – Michael Fullan January 1997 Fullan gives solace and support for leaders, especially principals by debunking the management guru solutions. He encourages principals to walk their own path within the collaborative (non dependency) framework.

2020 Vision – Learning Futures – The Changing Needs of Every Learner
A discussion paper prepared by the Futures Group for the Essex County Council.
This excellent resource provides a futurist’s view of global trends and then highlights 22 key trends backed by evidence and text references. The paper then teases out the implications for education and provides information on three case study schools.

Issues and Directions in Preparing School Leaders: Lessons from the World Wide Web – Graham Dawson ACE Monograph #30 Sept 1997
Dawson addresses the emerging trends in society and education and discusses their impact on leaders. He compares organisations with the concept of community and outlines a range of principles for preparing school leaders.

The following four articles can be downloaded from another excellent futures website -  Thornburg Centre Associates which contains at least 70 discussion papers, articles and handouts regarding education and the future.

The Future is Now – Welcome to the Communication Age – Ian Jukes & Ted McCain 1997. Jukes & McCain provide information on what technology is available now for learning and communicating. They recommend major changes and describe classrooms for tomorrow. They describe what needs to happen to keep up with the communication age.

New Schools for a New Age - Ian Jukes & Ted McCain 1997
A statement similar to many of the strategic options the Futures Project Teams have come up with. Easy to read with an emphasis on the irrelevance of schools today and the need to change ( especially staff).

Living on the Future’s Edge – Ian Jukes & Ted McCain 1997
Suggests in conclusion there is a need for "a fundamental shift from a content based to a process based curriculum – one that emphasises the process of learning rather than the product of learning- a new paradigm that focuses on the transparent usage of technology rather than the tool – on information fluency – on critical thinking and problem solving skills – and on real world communication skills … As we move to the 21st Century be certain that the biggest challenge will be to continually let go of your current mindset. This process starts and ends with us. What’s our job? To prepare kids for their future rather than our past or present. We need to start by retooling our minds."

2020 Visions for the Future of Education – David Thornburg 1997
This paper also addresses emergent trends for society and their consequences. There is a need for education to focus on the new competencies and provides a dire concluding thought for schools:
"Schools that ignore the trends shaping tomorrow will cease to be relevant in the lives of their students and will quickly disappear. We must transform all formal institutions of learning…to insure that we are preparing students for their future, not for our past."

Whatever your interest in the FUTURES PROJECT there is a wealth of ever-changing information being produced. In thinking and talking about the future we should use futures technologies. The internet provides easily accessible information and ensures all principals are able to gain access to the latest ideas. Such hands-on research can help broaden perceptions, push the edges of the square and challenge the status quo. Please engage with this valuable resource.