ED815 -- The Future of Educational Institutions: Topics and Trends -- Discussions

Based on an examination of the formative ideas which have shaped educational institutions, this course explores both the theory and practice of changing educational institutions to meet future needs. An understanding of the philosophy of American education, as well as a knowledge of institutional change, will be necessary in this course.

Welcome to your Capella University online course, ED815 - The Future of Educational Institutions. This course explores the theory and practice of changing educational institutions to meet future needs. In the readings, discussions, and writing exercises of this course, you will be encouraged to think about both the content of future education (WHAT the future will look like) and about the process of futures thinking (HOW to go about it).
The course will engage you in working with a small learning team to help each member extend his or her knowledge of future thinking tools and methods.
You will be asked to create a vision of the education future you expect and to consider the forces and obstacles that will be encountered. As Alexander and Serfass state, "Vision is our window to the future" (p. vii). While a vision "is a dream of a possible future that sets a direction for an organization, a strategic quality future goes further by providing a systematic approach to imagining possible futures" (p. vii).
The ideal atmosphere of this online course will be that of colleagues thinking together, exploring each other's views, respectfully challenging conventional assumptions about society and about education, and seeking to share our personal visions of the future. The instructor's role will be to partner with you in these discussions, to help you navigate the resources and ideas we generate, and to learn with you.
Program Outcomes
Through this course, you are expected to:
Demonstrate an understanding of effective learning communities and the teacher's role in forming collaborative relationships with learners, colleagues, and the community. (1.)
Demonstrate an understanding of the social and cultural context of education and the implications for practice. (3.)
Demonstrate an understanding of the role of change in the educational environment. (7.)
Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate and analyze research literature that applies to an educational setting (8.)
Speak and write clearly and convincingly about current educational issues. (10.)
Course Outline
Unit 1: Introduction to Futures Study - Why Study the Future?
Unit 2: Scanning the Environment.
Unit 3: Issues Today and in the Future.
Unit 4: How Do We Study the Future Using Futuring Tools?
Unit 5: The Delphi Technique.
Unit 6: Scenario Building.
Unit 7: The Futuring Tree.
Unit 8: Why Study the Future - Revisited.
Unit 9: Posting Drafts for Feedback.
Unit 10: Reflections and Posting of Final Project.
Course Requirements and Grading
Course requirements include three major independent measures of learner competency:

CourseRoom participation 40% of grade.

See the "ED815 Rubrics" in the MediaCenter for additional information.

Unit AssignmentS 40% of grade.

See the "ED815 Rubrics" in the MediaCenter for additional information.

Course Project 20% of grade.

See the "ED815 Rubrics" in the MediaCenter for additional information.

Note: If you are using special screen-reading software, an alternative version of the "ED815 Rubrics," titled "ED815 Rubrics (screen-reader accessible version)" is also available in the MediaCenter.

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http://www.learn-usa.com/ website for educational reform

instructor, Howard Jacobs, hrjacobs@earthlink.net

Dr. Howard Jacobs

hrjacobs@earthlink.net	PMB644
13300 Bothell Everett Highway
Mill Creek, WA 98012
Phone: 425-359-0685
Fax: 425-645-2000

Profile:

School: American English School
Dept. Head: Patricia Ting
Richard Bloodworth c/o Patricia Ting
# 63, 3rd. Fl., Chung-Hsin Rd., Sec 4, San Chung City, Taipei Hsien, Taiwan
Cell: 886-0911354352

For the past several years I have been teaching English in in foreign countries ( Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo and Chiba, Japan; Prague, Czech Republic; Istanbul, Turkey; Xi'an and Shanghai, China; and now Taipei, Taiwan). Prior to teaching English I was employed in mostly arts related activities having studied art and architecture. I received a BFA degree from the University of Georgia. I have lived mostly in Athens and Atlanta, GA in addition to the above mentioned cities and I have traveled around Europe and Asia

Clemson University (architecture, literature, calculus, etc. courses)
Georgia State University (art, history, literature, human evolution, political science, physics, astronomy, philosophy, etc. courses)
Georgia Institute of Technology (architecture)
UGA art and history studies abroad in Cortona, Italy
University of Georgia (art, literature, psychology, French, calculus, biology, physical education, philosophy, etc. courses) BFA: drawing and painting.

Traveling, and also reading, listening to music, good conversation, watching movies, tennis, swimming, bicycling, to name a few.

U1D1
Introduce yourself. Describe your current job or profession and you educational goals at Capella. Has your coursework been useful in your career up to this point?

Hello, my name is Richard Bloodworth. For the past several years I have been teaching English in in foreign countries ( Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo and Chiba, Japan; Prague, Czech Republic; Istanbul, Turkey; Xi'an and Shanghai, China; and now Taipei, Taiwan -- so PM to me could be AM to you and vice versa ). Prior to the English teaching I was employed in mostly arts related activities having studied art and architecture. I received a BFA degree from the University of Georgia. I have lived mostly in Athens and Atlanta, GA in addition to the above mentioned cities and I have traveled around Europe and Asia.

I am now teaching English at the American English School in Taipei, Taiwan. I am pursuing a Master's in Professional Studies in Education. My previous courses at Capella were ED: 5004/5, 8111, 5006, 814, 7700, 7701. The courses through Capella have all been useful up to this point as I plan on using them all for the integrative project at the end of the courses and afterwards as well. Richard

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U1D1 Comment to Fredi

Hello, again. I look forward to reading your thoughts in this course. By the way, I'd like to read your ED814 paper if you can send it as an attachment to my email address. I can send you mine too if you'd like. My email address is Rbloodworth99@yahoo.com. Richard

U1D1 Comment to Karen

Hello Karen,

Since I studied art, majoring in drawing and painting, and having done a lot of artwork myself (portraits, architectural renderings, murals, illustrations) I am interested in your biographical profile and I'd also like to see some of your illustrations. Do you have any I could see online, either on a website or sent to my email address? My email address is Rbloodworth99@yahoo.com. Richard

U1D1 Comment to Thurman

Hello Thurman,

I just saw, in a science museum, a demonstration of how nuclear energy is derived from Uranium. Is that where your nuclear energy comes from? One problem with nuclear energy is nuclear waste. Do you think in the future there will be a way to make the waste not radioactive rather than just burying it waiting for the effects to diminish through half-life decomposition? By the way, perhaps I could look this up, but why is radioactivity so dangerous? What does it do to harm living organisms: does it change the atomic structures in the body (say from positive to negative charges) or does it burn like heat? Just curious. Richard

U1D1 Comment to Carolyn

Hello Carolyn,

Is that number 11 jersey that Garner is wearing in your Profile photograph from a gym in Texas or somewhere in China (or somewhere else)? Just Curious. Richard

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U1D2
Identify current issues and/or trends impacting your professional environments. Do you believe that these issues or trends are lasting or temporary? What evidence can you cite to support your beliefs? Think carefully about these trends because you will continue to work with them throughout this course.

Technology is changing the world situation at a rapid pace in all aspects: educationally, socially, politically, environmentally, economically, culturally, etc. The issue of technology is lasting in the sense that technology will always affect how life and educational processes are conducted, however, new technologies are constantly being introduced so that one needs to constantly become acquainted with and trained in new technological techniques so in that sense the effects of technology are transitory or temporary.

In the educational field, one example of the new uses of technology is the use of distance learning using online instruction via the Internet. In addition to technology, issues that impact the living and professional environments are the decentralization of all processes, globalization, and the democratization of society.

Thomas Heaney in Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again views adult education as participatory and as a tool for social change where educational progressivism is the modern approach to educating the public. " 'Adult education turns out to be the most reliable instrument for social actionists' since it assures that any action undertaken would be authentically democratic" (Brookfield 1984). Eduard Lindeman, as influenced by John Dewey (Democracy and Education), considers adult education to be intertwined with democracy, social action, and control by people over their daily decisions. To Lindeman, adult education equals social change, a method to create good and productive citizens. Even if education is viewed as a "great selector" rather than a "great equalizer" (p. 4), each person can, as a result of education, find their niche, based on their abilities and merits, within a democratic society. The concept of using the educational system to implement a direct democracy is closely connected with the ideas expressed by Heaney, Miles Horton, Paulo Freire, and Jack Mezirow since their approach is to empower the populace through education in order to create a democratic society. It is necessary to have an educated public in order to have a direct democracy work efficiently so democracy is dependent the educational system to survive and prosper.

My interest is in developing, by utilizing the educational system, a system of direct democracy which is basically having citizens vote directly on legislative issues rather than electing representatives who can, after elected, vote any way they choose. Direct democracy is a concept which began in ancient Athens, Greece where all citizens voted directly on legislative issues. In the modern world, direct democracy was considered impractical to implement on a large scale but it is now possible with the advent of computer and Internet technologies.

References:

Dewey, John. (1944). Democracy and Education. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc.

Heaney, Thomas. Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again. (1996). Retrieved April 5, 2004 from http://www.nl.edu/ace/Resources/Documents/ERIC1.html

RESPONSES:

U1D2 Comment to Greg

I have heard of No Child Left Behind referred to often in these online courses. Is there some online manifesto or document that you know of that describes the policies involved in this program? Richard

U1D2 Comment to Karen

Anything new is viewed with conservative suspicion. I like to think of the first wave of students in the online learning format as pioneers. When everyone realizes its effectiveness as a learning technique then it will become as accepted as traditional classroom learning (though in conjunction with and as a supplement to traditional classroom learning). There are some courses that would not be taken online such as portrait painting (though someone could study online the art history of portraits and formulas involved in portrait painting), violin playing, acting or drama, singing, etc. but theories and readings involved in these subjects could be taken online. Richard

U1D2 Comment to Cheryl

I can relate to not being able to speak a language in a foreign country: it is similar to being a functional illiterate or worse in some ways since a functional illiterate can at least speak the language in the country in which he resides, he just can't read or write it. Of course, being a teacher in a foreign country is a much different situation than what you are describing but I can relate to the frustration that the non-English speaking people that you referred to in your posting. There should be translators available and English classes for those people. Richard

U1D2 Comment to Lisa

Lisa, I agree that online and distance learning is the wave of the future in this global information age in which we all reside. Richard

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View the postings of at least three other learners who did not select the same topics as you and discover why they are interested in the topics they selected.

U1D3

Post the Web resources that you found discussing current issues/trends and annotate.

http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/ed410176.html. This site involves global trends in civic education for democracy and explores the instruction of core concepts and comparative analyses of democratic systems worldwide and the development of participatory skills for the implementation of democratic processes.

http://www.civiced.org/articles_indonesia.html. This site discusses global trends in civic education procedures and effectiveness of civic education as practiced in Indonesia.

http://www.bf.rmit.edu.au/kgeiselhart/e-_democracy_resources_.htm This site by Steven Clift lists links and references to e-democracy and e-government.

http://faculty.washington.edu/stkerr/ethb94.htm This site is from the Handbook of Research on Educational Technology. This chapter, Toward a Sociology of Educational Technology is by Stephen T. Kerr of the University of Washington and describes the development and use of technology in education and its sociological implications.

http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/may01/geiselhart1.htm In the article, Teaching Technology to Share, Karin Geiselhart discusses technology, education, and democracy in the information age.

RESPONSES:

U1D3 Comment to Lisa

These are informative websites on adult education. You might be familiar with this article but it has useful information concerning preparing adults as participating members of a democratic society:

Heaney, Thomas. Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again. (1996). Retrieved April 5, 2004 from http://www.nl.edu/ace/Resources/Documents/ERIC1.html

U1D3 Comment to Christy

These are some great sites on distance learning. I like articles that list issues and then discuss each one under the headings. They're much easier to read and assimilate in that form Richard

U1D3 Comment to Carolyn

These are some informative web resources for e-learning and higher education. Richard

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U1D1 Response to All

I look forward to reading all of your comments as the course progresses and am "looking forward" to exploring concepts about the future with you all. Richard

U1D1 response to JB.

In today's world your question is valid since we can be anywhere in the world and be involved in online courses such as these courses but, yes, I am teaching in Taipei, Taiwan now. Richard

U1D2 from JB

Hello Richard,
I think that your desire to build a system of direct democracy so citizens can vote directly on legislative issues rather than electing representatives who has great potential! Are you actively involved in politics or voter registration now?

from Howard

Richard, you made some interesting comments about technology and direct democracy. In Washington State recently, Internet voting was recently defeated in the legislature because of the concern over fraud. I believe this is a temporary setback and is something we will be doing soon. I am not sure about direct deo9mocracy -- what would happen to all those lobbyists :-)

from Thurm

Richard,your concept is very interesting,because I believe that all tax payers should have the ability to vote on issues concerning their well being.

U1D2 Response to Thurm, JB, and Howard

I think some version of what I am thinking of will happen in the future since, as Thurm mentions, the people should determine their own future and government which is, after all, the meaning of democracy. To JB: I am involved in politics to the extent that I am researching and writing on this subject and I vote myself. To Howard: there is always resistence and skepticism to new ideas (though beginning 2500 years ago, democracy can hardly be considered a new idea). The same people who are worried about Internet fraud for voting are probably unconcerned about online banking transactions, which is how practically all funds are transferred nowadays, and the same type of technology can be used in Internet voting. Also, perhaps the legislators feel that their jobs and roles are threatened but my idea involves adding direct democracy to the representative legislatures and not replacing them completely. As for the lobbyists, maybe they can look for new work: perhaps the Mafia would have some available positions for them. Richard

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U2D1

As I mentioned in Unit 1, technology is changing the world situation at a rapid pace in all aspects: educationally, socially, politically, environmentally, economically, and culturally. In the educational field, one example of the new uses of technology is the use of distance learning using online instruction via the Internet. In addition to technology, issues that impact the living and professional environments are the decentralization of all processes, globalization, and the democratization of society. My interest is in developing, by utilizing the educational system, a system of direct democracy which is basically having citizens vote directly on legislative issues rather than only electing representatives who can, after elected, vote any way they choose. The implementation of a direct democracy was considered impractical, or not possible, on a large scale, but now with the advent of computer and Internet technology it is feasible.

Discussion 2.2:

U2D2

Describe the current structure of the school or other organization with which you are most familiar, and discuss why the emerging issues you have identified in Discussion 2.1 will become your organization's greatest challenges (individual post).

One challenge in the implementation of a direct democracy is the method or curriculum for dispensing information in cultural institutions such as schools.

Following is a possible curriculum for the implementation of direct democracy:

The social studies and political science classes would introduce, early in the development of the curriculum -- during the elementary school years -- the first concepts of democracy as government based on the will of and for the good of the people or society. The curriculum would eventually include the history of democracy beginning with ancient Athens, Greece (and before) and its present forms of use today in various countries and institutions and studies of its various methods of execution. Also included in the course curriculum would be computer skills courses since thorough knowledge of computer and Internet usage would be needed to implement and sustain the continuing use of a direct democracy. Once the system is establablished and the procedures for its execution are in place and all of the necessary legislation is passed to secure its structure, procedural content, and continuing existence, the voters, or potential voters (who perhaps would require secured registration, training, and perhaps certification to qualify to vote), would learn how to research and read about issues to be voted on at the local, state, and national levels. Computer tutorials could also be developed to teach the learners how this is done and even provide some practice voting sessions and hypothetical situations to which they can respond.

After, and even before and during the discussion and implementation of a direct democracy system, the most important aspect of creating a system whereby the information and training necessary to maintain a direct democracy is to establish a curriculum, including the methods, institutions, and locations to dispense that information. The information could be dispensed in schools, both public and private, in home schooling situations, on the Internet, in books and magazines, and through commercial, governmental, and community organizations. The most wide-ranging method of disseminating this information would be through the public school system and colleges and universities.

The information could begin at home with the parents reading to their children with early learner books. The curriculum could begin with the pre-kindergarten students by having the students vote for what they like by placing balls into baskets and by showing flash cards showing the most basic ideas involved about the concept of democracy. The curriculum could progress up through the school system through the school system: through kindergarten, elementary, junior high school, high school, then through colleges and universities as well as specialized schools, post-
secondary institutions, and other forms of adult education. Richard

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U2D1 Comment to Greg

I taught English to college students in China (Xi'an) and in Turkey (Istanbul), and though the cultures were different, it is the level I enjoyed being involved with the most and want to continue with later. The classes I have now, though I enjoy some aspects of them, are just what was available at the time I was looking here in Taiwan. I'm putting a lot of effort into the classes but I'll be glad when they're over. Some people would prefer teaching children so there I think there will always be a supply of teachers for them. I think you might enjoy the college level but some of that depends on the subject being taught and the interest level of the students (and with college level the interest level is generally high whereas that is not always the case with children). Richard

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U2D1 response to Carolyn

Carolyn:

Though the process can begin in part before that time, the plan I am thinking of might take a generation of time to fully implement (and then it would continue to grow and evolve beyond that) which sounds like a long time compared to human life span but is in fact a short time in historical perspective (and unnoticeable in the scale of an astronomical or a geological timeline). For now, this method can be done in conjunction with traditional paper ballots but in a generation of time people will be as familiar computers and Internet technology as your father is now with telephones (or typewriters and vinyl records -- remember those?).

Concerning how to train the public and inform them on the issues to be voted on, I'll include some of those ideas in a future posting. Richard

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U2D2 response to Howard

Howard, I am writing up a curriculum and scenario with some details of what actually would occur within the school(s) to implement this concept and I will post it later. Richard

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Howard,

This is a possible curriculum for introducing the concept of direct democracy through the educational system. Later I can develop each yearly level into more detailed curricula or syllabi.

A CURRICULUM for the implementation of direct democracy:

The social studies and political science classes would introduce, early in the development of the curriculum -- during the elementary school years -- the first concepts of democracy as government based on the will of and for the good of the people or society. The curriculum would eventually include the history of democracy beginning with ancient Athens, Greece (and before) and its present forms of use today in various countries and institutions and studies of its various methods of execution. Also included in the course curriculum would be computer skills courses since thorough knowledge of computer and Internet usage would be needed to implement and sustain the continuing use of a direct democracy. Once the system is establablished and the procedures for its execution are in place and all of the necessary legislation is passed to secure its structure, procedural content, and continuing existence, the voters, or potential voters (who perhaps would require secured registration, training, and perhaps certification to qualify to vote), would learn how to research and read about issues to be voted on at the local, state, and national levels. Computer tutorials could also be developed to teach the learners how this is done and even provide some practice voting sessions and hypothetical situations to which they can respond.

After, and even before and during the discussion and implementation of a direct democracy system, the most important aspect of creating a system whereby the information and training necessary to maintain a direct democracy is to establish a curriculum, including the methods, institutions, and locations to dispense that information. The information could be dispensed in schools, both public and private, in home schooling situations, on the Internet, in books and magazines, and through commercial, governmental, and community organizations. The most wide-ranging method of disseminating this information would be through the public school system and colleges and universities.

The information could begin at home with the parents reading to their children with early learner books. The curriculum could begin with the pre-kindergarten students by having the students vote for what they like by placing balls into baskets and by showing flash cards showing the most basic ideas involved about the concept of democracy. The curriculum could progress up through the school system through the school system: through kindergarten, elementary, junior high school, high school, then through colleges and universities as well as specialized schools, post-
secondary institutions, and other forms of adult education.

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Howard,

This is a possible curriculum for introducing the concept of direct democracy through the educational system. Later I can develop each yearly level into more detailed curricula or syllabi.

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Following is a possible curriculum that could be revised, amended, and expanded to accommodate changing instructional requirements and changing new technology as well as changing and evolving informational content:

Pre-kindergarten: Flash cards with pictures depicting basic concepts and people and places associated with democracy. Voting by raising hands, clapping, shouting, or placing balls in a basket to show what they like as shown from pictures of the objects (such as apples, cake, hamburgers, lemons, music, etc.)

Kindergarten: Vote by placing softball size balls in a container. Flash cards with pictures and words of basic concepts of democracy.

First grade: Vote by placing ping pong balls in a container. Vote by writing letters. Flash cards with words of leaders of history, places and events associated with democracy. Elect students for class duties for each student such as erasing the board, closing the windows, turning off lights, sweeping, etc. These duties can be rotated monthly.

Second grade: Vote by writing letters, numbers, and then names.

Third grade: Vote by writing names of the students and of objects voted on. For instance, for the question What do you like? the students write what they like such as "ice cream", etc. Eventually, sentences are used.

Fourth grade: Vote for class officers and class duties. Students write sentences on what they want to vote for and why. Read political news for children in Weekly Reader, Yahoo Kids' page, etc. Draw pictures and write paragraphs about democracy in the U.S.

Fifth grade: Vote for class officers and class duties. Voting by printed forms or writing names of people or objects voted on. Introduction of the early history of democracy, around 500B.C. in Athens, Greece. Draw pictures about fora in ancient Greece. Read Political news in Weekly Reader, Yahoo Kids' news, some newspapers and read about the history and practices of democracy in the students' social studies text books.

Sixth grade: Vote for class officers with ballots. Introduction to computers, software, using the Internet for searching and researching information, introduction to Internet for voting. Write essays and draw pictures about democracy, history related to democracy, and political topics in the U.S. and the world.

Seventh grade: Vote for class officers and duties with computer and Internet technology. Study issues to be voted on. Vote for issues of the past. Vote for some current issues. Write essays on democracy, history, political topics, current invents, and new ideas of how society should be constructed. Read the Declaration of Independence and a summarized version of the United States Constitution. Memorize some quotations associated with democracy.

Eighth grade: Polical Science and History readings and discussions about direct democracy. Magazine articles, newspaper articles, and Internet searches about direct democracy. Find an international pen pal to discuss direct democracy with via the Internet.

Ninth grade: High school clubs established: Democracy Club; Political Science Club; Political Philosophy; clubs for Democrats, Republicans, Green Party, Independents, etc. Develop Internet surveys to find public opinion on various topics. Find books and articles about direct democracy and write reports on them.

Tenth grade: Civics discussion of the responsibilities of the voting citizens. U. S. History and Democracy. U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence. Terminology relevant to democracy explored, direct democracy explained, duties and responsibilities of the voters. Computer voting Tutorial I.

Eleventh grade: Learn to vote via the computer and Internet. World History of Democracy. Discussion and essays about forms of government throughout history. Continue corresponding with your international pen pal and ask your pen pal to find an additional join your correspondence group to have three way discussions. Find one additional penpal to correspond with via the Internet and discuss all current event topics including direct democracy. Summarized readings of Plato's Republic and the Politics by Aristotle. Read and write essays on Democracy and Education by John Dewey and the Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau. Computer voting Tutorial II.

Twelfth grade: Vote via the Internet. Vote on current and historical national and international issues. Direct democracy procedures examined, explained, discussed. Political Philosophy and duties of and preparation for the voting public. Discussions comparing representative and direct democracy, totalitarianism, Marxism, capitalism, and socialism. Read and write essays on: Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum, and Recall by Thomas Cronin; Direct Democracy in Switzerland by Gregory Fossedal; Elections in Cyberspace by Anthony Corrado and Charles Firestone and more essays on Democracy and Education by John Dewey. Computer Voting Tutorial III.

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Online tutorials:

The history of democracy

The philosophy of democracy

Glossary of terminology related to democracy and government

Naigating the computer and Internet for online voting

Computer Voting Tutorial I, II, III

Voting on Referendums, Initiatives, Elections for representatives, and Recalls

Preparation for certificate for a voting member of the Public Assembly

Writing and submitting legislation

Links, resources, publications, and organizations concerning direct democracy

Technical skills for the use of the computer and the Internet related to direct democracy

Below are listed university, post-secondary, adult, online courses, some of which are required, in addition to taking the certificate exams, to become a voting member of the (newly created) public legislature or Public Assembly. One certificate is for the local level, one for the state level, and one for the national level (laws and and an amendment would need to be enacted to create such a voting body). The certificate would require at least a high school education or a recognized equivalent, for the person to be a registered voter, All registered voters are able to vote in initiatives, referendums, elections, and recalls but the Public Legislature would require a licensed certificate, similar to obtaining a driver's license or a specialist's license, renewable periodically with minor exams, to become a non-elected member of the Third House of Congress, which will count for 1/3 of the votes of the United States Congress.

University, college, online, and adult courses (with majors in political science with an emphasis on direct democracy and related subjects, some required for a voting certificate):

The growth and development of direct democracy

Writing and submitting legislatives bills for a direct democracy

Topics covered in the voting certificate exams

Designing instructional material for direct democracy

The procedures for voting in a direct democracy

Political philosophy and direct democracy

The use of direct democracy in Switzerland

Procedures and precedents for amending the U.S.Constitution

The world history and use of direct democracy

The use of direct democracy in governments and organizations worldwide

Referendum, Intiative, Election, and Recall

Methods of informing the public on legislative and di d issues

Security issues of online voting

The governmental structure for direct democracy

Theories and use of democracy

University, advanced and adult learner reading list for courses in direct democracy:

Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again (1996) by Thomas Heaney.

The Americans: The Democratic Experience (1974) by Boorstin, Daniel J. Boorstin.

America's Crisis: The Direct Democracy and Direct Education Solution (2000) by D. B. Jeffs and V. Hugo.

Aristotle and Xenophon on Democracy and Oligarchy (1975) by J. M. Moore.

Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project (2001) by the California Institute of Technology and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation.

Citizens As Legislators: Direct Democracy in the United States (1998) by Bowler, S., Donovan, T. & Tolbert, C.

Civic Participation and Community Action Sourcebook: A Resource for Adult Educators by A. Nash.

Collected Writings of Thomas Jefferson.

A Constitution of Direct Democracy : Pure Democracy and the Governance of the Future ~ Locally and Globally (2000) by Michael Noah Mautner.

The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World (2000) by S.R. Anderson & P. Ray.

The Communicative Ethics Controversy (1990) by S. Benhabib and F. Dallmayr.

Democracy: Real and Ideal, Discourse Ethics and Radical Politics (1999) by Ricardo Blaug.

Demanding Choices: Opinion, Voting, and Direct Democracy (2001) by Bowler, S, & Donovan, T.

Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (1997) by John Dewey.

Democracy and Education and Prospects for Democracy (1994) by N. Chomsky.

Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City (2000) by E. F. Isin.

Democracy in America (2000) by Alexis de Tocqueville.

Democracy in the Digital Age : Challenges to Political Life in Cyberspace (2000) by Anthony G. Wilhelm.

Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case Study (2001) by John MacNamara.

Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum & Recall (1999) by Thomas E. Cronin.

Direct Democracy in Switzerland (2002) by Gregory A. Fossedal.

Direct Democracy or Representative Government?: Dispelling the Populist Myth (2000) by John Haskell.

The Economist: A better way to vote: Why letting the people themselves take the decisions is the logical next step for the West (1993) by Brian Needham.

Electronic Democracy: Using the Internet to Transform American Politics (2002) by Browning, G. & Powell, A.C.

Electronic Media and Technoculture (2000) by John Thornton Caldwell.

E-Democracy, E-Governance, and Public Net-Work (2003) by Steven Clift.

Elections in Cyberspace: Toward a New Era in American Politics (1997) A. Corrado & C.M. Firestone.

E-democracy in Practice: Swedish Experiences of a New Political Tool (2001) by T. Rosen.

Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks (2002) by Russell Smith.

Electronic Voting -- Evaluating the Threat (1993) by M. I. Shamos.

Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government by John Locke.

E-topia (2000) by William J. Mitchell.

The Examined Life (2000) by Stanley Rosen.

The Future of Teledemocracy (2000) by T. Becker & C.D. Slaton.

The Handbook of Qualitative Research (2000) by J. Frow & M. Morris, M. (2000).

Leviathan (1998) by Thomas Hobbes.

Megatrends 2000 (1996) by J. Naisbitt and Aburdene P.

The New Challenge of Direct Democracy (1997) by Ian Budge.

New Schools for a New Century (1997) by Diane Ravitch and Joseph P. Viteritti.

Political Parties and Constitutional Government: Remaking American Democracy (1999) by S. M. Milkis.

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli.

Republic (1998) by Plato.

Rethinking Democracy and Education: Towards an Education of Deliberative Citizens (2000) by T. Englund.

The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The Spirit of Laws by Montesquieu.

Stealing the Initiative: How State Government Responds to Direct Democracy (2000) by E. R. Gerber, A. Lupia, M. D. McCubbins & D. R. Kiewiet.

Technoscience and Cyberculture (1996) by S. Aronowitz, B. Martinsons, M. Menser, and J. Rich.

The Third Wave (1984) by Alvin Toffler.

United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers.

Virtual Environmental Citizenship: Web-Based Public Participation in Rulemaking in the U.S. (2003) by Schlosberg, D.

The World in 2020: Power, Culture, and Prosperity (1994) by Hamish McRae.

Conclusion:

Democracy was discussed by Socrates and written about by Plato in Republic, Aristotle in Politics, Machiavelli in The Prince, Locke in Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government, Montesquieu in The Spirit of Laws, Hobbes in Leviathan, Rousseau in The Social Contract, and Thomas Jefferson in his writings. Democracy was first used in Athens, Greece before 500 B.C., where each citizen voted directly on all legislative issues, thereby being a true democracy. Direct participatory democracy was considered impractical before now, primarily because there was no technology to supply it. Now, with computer and Internet technology, there is.

Computer and Internet technology can supply the forum for the voting of citizens to occur and schools and community and governmental organizations can supply the knowledge, information, and training for the implementation and continuing use of a direct democracy.

Appendix:

A Proposal for Creating the Third House of Congress: the Public Assembly

for the Creation of a National Democracy in the United States of America

R. Bloodworth

Phase 1 (3 to 10 years):

Debate and Introduction to the Concept

Discussions and committees formed

Brain storming and think tank groups developed

Petitions and letters, email, talk shows, TV, radio campaigns

Public education of the concept

Readings and discussions in schools and universities about democracy

Concepts related to direct democracy discussed and read about in schools

Writers and Artists commissioned

Software conceptualizing

Books and magazine articles are printed on the subject

Funding and economic issues are discussed

Funds raised

A suggestion hotline is established

An official website is created

Phase 2 (2 years):

Organizing and structuring of the voting methods and procedures

Curriculum developed for public schools and universities

Development of the Government Structure

Legal Documents developed

Constitutional amendment first draft written

various committees appointed

Local referendums held

Phase 3 (3 years):

All of the above activities continue (website, etc.)

Trial period when the procedures are developed, refined and the first results used

as an opinion polling collection device.

Educating the public on the procedures involved

Curriculum about direct democracy initiated for public schools and universities

First trials are done locally, first city, then county, then state, then national levels

During this period suggestions and changes are made

Software is developed

Security issues addressed

Computer and software bugs are worked out

Initial voting centers are established, these can be adjacent to post offices

Paricipants (intial voters) are assigned temporary voter registration numbers and

passwords, etc. chosen

The voter registration numbers are assigned through the voting centers in a way

similar to registering to vote and passwords are chosen.

(Voters are given up to 3 days to "edit or change" their submissions)

Phase 4 (3 years):

Voting Centers are established nationwide

Voter registration numbers are established partly containing

a social security number.

Voting Centers have the bills and plans to be voted on in booklet form

and posted on the walls and these bills and plans are also

available online for perusal and study.

The voter registration numbers are assigned through the voting

centers in a way similar to registering to vote and

passwords are chosen.

(Voters are given up to 3 days to "edit or

change" their submissions)

The opinion poll collection system continues using the online

voting system

Strict felony laws against Internet abuse or direct voting fraud

with severe penalties and punishments are passed.

Phase 5 (Continuing):

Voters are able to connect to the voting system via the

Internet with their own computers, or continue to vote through

the Voting Centers, and become voting members of the

3rd House of Congress, the Public Assembly according

to U.S. federal law and also of state, county, and city

governments as laws of each state allow.

In the future, computers will be as standard as telephones and everyone

with a telephone will have a computer and the United States

government will become a truly participatory and

democratic government.

DEMOCRACY BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aronowitz, S., Martinsons, B., Menser, M., and Rich, J. (1996). Technoscience and Cyberculture. New York and London: Routledge.

Becker, T. & Slaton, C.D. (2000). The Future of Teledemocracy. Praeger Publishers.

Benhabib, S., and Dallmayr, F. (1990). The Communicative Ethics Controversy. London: The MIT Press.

Blaug, Ricardo (1999). Democracy: Real and Ideal, Discourse Ethics and Radical Politics. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.

Bowler, S., Donovan, T. & Tolbert, C. (1998). Citizens As Legislators: Direct Democracy in the United States. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.

Bowler, S, & Donovan, T. (2001). Demanding Choices: Opinion, Voting, and Direct Democracy. Ann Arbour, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Browning, G. & Powell, A.C. (2002). Electronic Democracy: Using the Internet to Transform American Politics. Cyberage Books.

Budge, Ian. (1997). The New Challenge of Direct Democracy. Polity Press.

Bushell, Sue. (2003). Where to Now for E-Voting? Retrieved January. 24, 2004 from: http://www.cio.com.au/index.php?id=405941257&eid=-601

Caldwell, John Thornton. (2000). Electronic Media and Technoculture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Castells. Information Technology, Globalization, and Social Development

Chomsky, N. (1994). Democracy and Education. Retrieved January 24, 2004 from http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/talks/9410-education.html

Corrado, A. & Firestone, C.M. (1997). Elections in Cyberspace: Toward a New Era in American Politics. Aspen, CO: Aspen Institute Publications Office.

Cronin, Thomas E. (1999). Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum & Recall. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.

Becker, T. & Slaton, C.D. (2000). The Future of Teledemocracy. New York: Praeger Publishers.

Dewey, John. (1997). Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. New York: Free Press, Simon & Schuster.

Fossedal, Gregory A. (2002). Direct Democracy in Switzerland. Transaction Publications.

Gerber, E. R., Lupia, A., McCubbins, M.D. & Kiewiet, D.R. (2000). Stealing the Initiative: How State Government Responds to Direct Democracy. Prentice Hall.

Haskell, John. (2000). Direct Democracy or Representative Government?: Dispelling the Populist Myth. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Heaney, Thomas. Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again. (1996). Retrieved on January 15, 2004 from http://www.nl.edu/ace/Resources/Documents/ERIC1.html

Isin, Engin F. (2000). Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City. New York and London: Routledge.

Lebihan, Rachel. (2003). Arm twisting to hinder home electronic voting. Retrieved on October 24, 2003 from http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/communications/story/0,2000048620,20265293,00.htm

MacNamara, O'Donnell. Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case Study. http://66.218.71.225/search/cache?p=The+E-
citizen.+Instructional+Technology.,+Lee,+John+K.++&sub=Search&ei=UTF-
8&url=fe_aPyZrSDAJ:www.efmd.be/learninggroups/chapter/eisb2001proceedings/pdfs/MacNa
mara%2520%2520O%27Donnell%2520.pdf

Mautner, Michael Noah. (2000). A Constitution of Direct Democracy : Pure Democracy and the Governance of the Future ~ Locally and Globally. Legacy Books.

McRae, Hamish. (1994). The World in 2020: Power, Culture, and Prosperity. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Mitchell, William J. (2000). E-topia. London: The MIT Press.

Patrick. (2003). Recent Email from a Swiss Citizen. Retrieved on January 17, 2004 from http://www.vote.org/swiss.htm

Plato. (1998). Republic. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. (1999). The Social Contract. New York: Oxford University Press.

Salant, P. & Dillman, D. (1994). How to Conduct Your Own Survey. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Shamos, M.I. (1993). Electronic Voting -- Evaluating the Threat. Retrieved October 15, 2003 from http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/cfp93/shamos.html

Smith, Russell. Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks. (2002). Retrieved October 24, 2003 from http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti224.pdf Stirner, M. (1967). The False Principle of our Education, or, Humanism and Reform. Colorado Springs: Ralph Melees Publisher.

Wilhelm, Anthony G. (2000). Democracy in the Digital Age : Challenges to Political Life in Cyberspace. New York and London: Routledge.

DEMOCRACY WEBSITES:

http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130619/?page_id=3647 (worldwide egovernment)

http://thomas.loc.gov/ ( the proceedings of the U.S. Congress and egovernment development)

http://egov.mit.gov.in/ (egovernment in India)

http://www.abc.net.au/ola/citizen/interdemoc/republic.htm

http://www.veritasdigital.com/ad_online/participatory.html

http://www.cpsu.org.uk/downloads/Modernising%20Background.pdf

http://www.publicus.net/ebook/

http://www.mail-archive.com/do-wire@tc.umn.edu/msg00045.html

http://policy.womenspace.ca/activities/brainstorm/policy/

http://www.analysphere.com/21Oct00/democracy.htm

http://www.statskontoret.se/gol-democracy/links/Popular/

http://www.itac.ca/client/ITAC/ITAC_UW_MainEngine.nsf/object/Imperative/$file/Agnew.pdf

http://www.one2one.co.nz/edemocracy.html

http://www.politics.tcd.ie/courses/undergrad/bcc/portal/egovernance.html

http://www.internetnz.net.nz/members/lists/isocnz-council-tidbits/2000-August/000012.html

http://www.flaxroots.net.nz/2000/papers/2000-PaulHughes.html

http://www.context.co.nz:8080/newsItems/viewDepartment$Participatory+Democracy

http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/00/dec/scott.html

http://www.diverdiver.com/2003_03_07_diverdiver_archive.html

http://www.democracy-online.org/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8287-2003Feb26

http://lists.essential.org/1995/info-policy-notes/msg00137.html

http://mondediplo.com/1998/12/03bensaid (third way government)

http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/topic/politics.html (online voting)

http://lone-eagles.com/democracy.htm (list of related links and sources)

http://www.democracy-online.org/ (another list of related links and sources)

http://egov.mit.gov.in/ (egovernment development in India)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/greekdemocracy_01.shtml

http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/UG/ugunits0102/rousseau.html

http://www.wabash.edu/Rousseau/WorksonWeb.html

http://www.sosig.ac.uk/roads/subject-listing/World-cat/philpol.html

http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Poli/PoliFeld.htm

http://www.bu.edu/wcp/MainPoli.htm

http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Poli/PoliBuch.htm

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/locke/locke2/2nd-contents.html

http://www.sosig.ac.uk/roads/subject-listing/World-cat/demgovt.html

http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/32871

http://www.radford.edu/~wkovarik/class/300/300pix/300.ideas.html

http://teachers.ausd.net/antilla/philolinks.html

http://plato.stanford.edu

http://www.rep.routledge.com/index.html

http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/Dept/journals.html

http://www.bris.ac.uk/DeptsPhilosophy/Dept/Links.htm

http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/VL/index.html

http://web.mit.edu/polisci/www/research/goodness.html

http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff0600.htm

http://www.anova.org/

http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130619/?page_id=3647

http://www.pdemokracie.ecn.cz/cs/doc/Statut-ang.doc

http://edemocracy.meetup.com/members/878

http://dmoz.org/Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy/

http://www.dominion-web.com/directory/Top/Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy

http://www.free-project.org/connect/links/

http://www.election.com/

http://www.votehere.net/

http://www.lib.ied.edu.hk/edarticle/civic.htm

http://edu.uwe.ac.uk/cred/bibliographic/papers.asp

http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/Research/ElectronicDemocracy/voting.htm

http://www.louiseferguson.com/resources/evoting.htm

http://web.mit.edu/voting/

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2001/voting2.html

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U2D2 comment to Liston

I think the Army, or the military, can show to prospective members the advantages or possibilities of a military career with all of the diversity that the military entails. I have said that the military is not only soldiers but is instead like a city with doctors, scientists, cooks, engineers, etc. I think that it was discovered during the Vietnam War that a mandatory draft does not produce a high quality military whereas a voluntary system does. Once the recruits are on board then the new technological methods of instruction and training can be employed. Richard

--

U2D2 Comment to Cheryl

I am wondering why some of the students you referred to do not want to learn English if they are in Georgia, in the United States (when I mentioned translators, I was referring to access to translators --or someone who spoke their language -- for consultation, etc., not one in every classroom). Is their language Spanish (finding Spanish translators there would not be so difficult to accomplish) or do you have other language speakers too? Richard

--

U2 Scuttlebutt

I am putting this in this area because this areas are probably not referred to in the course syllabus.

Although I know it is not scientific, in exploring the future one area that can not be overlooked is the paranormal. In Asia, on many street corners and in some areas entire sections of a street, there are fortune tellers who reveal or look into a person's future for a fee. They can use tarot cards, palm reading, dreams, thoughts, and numerology to look into the future. Some use crystal balls, interpret prohets or psychics' (such as Nostradamas) enigmatic predictions, and some people might use witchcraft, Ouiji Boards, seances, etc. People also refer to horoscopes to discover the future or make decisions about the future. In the religious approach, people can also pray to have an affect on the future. People can also use superstitious devices such as holding a lucking charm or not engaging in some potentially inauspicious superstitious activities. There are also more random approaches to affecting the future such as gambling or throwing dice. And then there are weather forecasters.

Though many people do not believe in some of these activities, they do have an affect on the future since some people (even some presidents and world leaders) base some of their decisions about the future on these methods.

Other events or ideas that affect the future are: technology, social movements, religion, attitudes, wars, the economy, health or disease, environmental conditions, and natural and man-made conditions and catastrophes to name a few. Richard

--

Millennium Technology Prize, Tim Berners-Lee

http://www.technologyawards.org/index.php?technologyawards=47853a0b861a0fd6ea984327de
55c038&article_id=3932

---

U2D2 Comment to Lisa

I think your statement concerning your school "that we've long been aggressive in recruiting disabled students to our campus" is admirable. Someone might be disabled in some areas, perhaps physically, yet they could excel in other areas and in those areas they can become valuable to themselves and to society. Richard

--

Posted U3D1

U3D1 Vignette about the Future
Write a short paper (one to two pages) that summarizes your selected vignette. Include the following: (a) why you selected this particular vignette; (b) how this vignette relates to each of your environments; (c) a review of the questions presented in the vignette, as well as any question you might have added; (d) a review of the "provocative ideas," as well as additional ideas you might have identified in your Web search; (e) a review of how these "provocative ideas" relate to the environmental scans you carried out in Unit 2.
Vignette in the Future
From The Revolution Begins with You:
This vignette imagines a rebel superintendent in Arizona in the year 2010 expressing her opinion and approach at a teachers' meeting:
"I'm glad to be here today," she begins. "I have the rules and regulations of this school district in my hand." She uncovers the object on the table and begins feeding the sheets into a paper shredder.
"Nothing will stand in the way of learning in this community," she continues. "Before you utter the first 'but,' know that I am prepared to march with you from the school board to the state capitol to Washington to get you what you need, and we will take parents and neighbors with us. If I could give you money today, I would. What I can give you is the authority to start a revolution in your classroom, in every classroom and school, in this community."
"Name a social challenge, and there is a corresponding expectation that public schools will respond: violence, teen pregnancy, public health issues, and religious intolerance. Public schools are asked to address all these controversial issues and more in an increasingly transparent world where all decisions are subject to public scrutiny".
I prefer the term and concept of evolution, rather than revolution, when changes are involved, especially social changes such as changes in the educational system. When change is to occur, a slow and natural growth is always the preferred method rather than a sudden, radical change of events and values, which usually only creates more problems of a different sort (witness the problems that are occurring now and that will continue to occur in Iraq, for example). To disagree with policies and react by destroying documents or, worse, by resorting to violence is usually an uncivilized way of expressing disagreement though at times there can be justification for civil disobedience as was the case with the Boston Tea Party or certain civil rights or anti-war protests especially during the 1960s. Also, sometimes expressing disagreement by following the prescribed channels of procedure is nonproductive or ineffective since those channels are often devised so that no or little change can actually take place and this is particularly true in highly bureaucratic and centralized societies.
There is the possibility now for revolutionary educational reform to occur in Iraq but with the infrastructure and public morale being destroyed daily it would be almost impossible to implement anything such as a new educational system at the present time. First their immediate biological needs would have to be satisfied and the infrastructure built or rebuilt, developed, and continued and then the processes of the educational system could be attended to. All of these processes would need to be considered simultaneously, not one after the other, but the basic needs (in the order of most to least essential of Maslow's hiearchy of needs: physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization) are the most essential of the needs that should be filled. Students in the United States or developed countries might have a fear or dislike of some aspects of school or of taking tests and so on but in Iraq the students and teachers have the additional fear of school for the reason that a bomb could explode there (or anywhere). The expressed and hidden agenda of introducing a new educational system might be to promote democracy and equality in Iraq (which was originally Mesopotamia -- the Cradle of Civilization) and the Middle East but some Islamic fundamentalists think that the hidden agenda is to defeat Islam and replace it with Christianity, making the Iraq War (of 2002 to the present) to them a modern day Crusades.
[In "Strategies of Change" Steven Vago states that planned social change, or social planning, consists of three components: targets, agents, and methods. Targets are the intended recipients of change, agents are the initiators or instigators of the change processes, and methods are how the goals of the change processes are implemented and, if successful, achieved. Change agents influence, promote, and implement innovation. Change methods comprise three broad categories according to Vago. The first are empirical-rational strategies which assume that people are rational and follow their mutually beneficial self-interests. The second are normative-reeducative strategies which state that people must change from antiquated ways to new ones. The third are power-coercive strategies which apply pressure using economic, moral, political, or even physical power or force. I think the empirical-rational should be the first attempted method in all cases with the others being resorted to only if it is determined that, for some reason, the empirical-rational is not effective in a particular situation. Of the three components of social change procedures -- targets, agents, and methods -- the issue of ethics is mostly concerned with the methods used by the agents to affect change in the target group. Effective planned change is change where the desired results of the change agents are achieved. I think in all cases the right and civilized way to affect change is through rational, non-violent solutions and that a violent approach always leads to disaster.]
Customizing and Expanding Learning Opportunities:
The article mentions the trend toward standardization of curricula (but the customization of methods) and the availability of education to all and the assurance that every student is to receive at least a basic education and it mentions that "customized learning could be the counterrevolution to this current emphasis on standards-based education." The article recognizes a trend toward customized learning which can accommodate different rates and styles of student learning so that individualized learning plans can accommodate different rates and styles of student learning and the use of technology-enabled learning platforms, such as online courses, that connect students to options and resources beyond their classrooms.
The article includes a definition of the phrase "emerging issue" and how one is to scan for signs of an emerging issue so that a good seed can be grown and a bad seed can be either not planted or nipped even prior to becoming a bud. There is also a discussion as to how to initiate a strategic discussion about the future.
In inititiating change, the article suggests to think about "customizing and expanding learning opportunities", of schools as living systems, and of schools within social and historical context. The article asks: "What signs of leadership do you already see emerging in response to these issues?" and "What conditions would favor this leadership flourishing?"
In responding to possible future scenarios, the article lists three main issues that have emerged:
Quality, Technology, and Equality. This involves supplying quality education to all and the use of technology, such as online courses, to achieve this.
Impacts of Choice in Education. This also is through the use of technology and access and students will in the future have a wide range of choices with which to achieve their own goals and ultimately their self-actualization.
Relation of Education to Social Change. This involves the general decentralization of society and of the educational system and the use of the educational system for the democratization of society and for positive social change and reform.
Provocative Ideas in the Present
As previously mentioned, technology and social movements are changing the world situation at a rapid pace in all aspects including educationally, socially, politically, environmentally, economically, and culturally. In the educational field, one example of the new uses of technology is the use of distance learning using online instruction via the Internet. In addition to technology, issues that impact the living and professional environments are the decentralization of all processes, globalization, and the democratization of society. In my idea of teaching and implementing the processes of direct democracy in the United States (as is practiced now in Switzerland, for example), the citizens would have a more direct affect on the legislative and governmental policies under which they must live and these changes would occur and progress at a natural pace.
References:
Vago, Steven. (1999). Strategies of Change. Chapter 9: Social Change. Pearson Educational, Inc.
North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. How to Identify and Explore Emerging Issues, Vignettes: The Revolution Begins with You. Retrieved April 18, 2004 from <http://www.ncrel.org/policy/emerg/over.htm>
Related Websites (Webliography):
<http://www.cpre.org/Publications/rb05.pdf>
An article referring to decentralization in society and in education in particular from the Center for Policy Research in Education (CPRE).
<http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130685/?>
This site involves E-government and E-democracy issues worldwide.
<http://www.enc.org/focus/partners/document.shtm?input=FOC-001876-index>
Online lesson plans, student activities, and teacher learning tools from the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education (ENC).
<http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/trowler/links.htm>
A list of links, websites, and resources related to educational research provided by Lancaster University of the U.K.
<http://web.wested.org/online_pubs/po-00-03.pdf>
An article concerning educational funding from WestEd (wested.org).

--

Howard,

This is a possible curriculum for introducing the concept of direct democracy through the educational system. Later I can develop each yearly level into more detailed curricula or syllabi.

---

from Liston:

The ideas surrounding how people find ways to get the most out of their educational experience throughout their lives is an aspect of this vignette entitled, "Motivated to Learn" that I found interesting. As an adult learner myself, I still am intrigued with the idea that people try to find out what they need to know to be successful and then they go out and acquire that pool of knowledge using whatever resources are available to them through a variety of conduits.
Such a scenario speaks to the idea of customizing educational experiences for the learner who comes to the experience with different sets of motivations, hopes, and aspirations. The vignette, "Motivated to Learn" was illustrative of this concept as it might be viewed by and individual who comes from the results oriented business world looking at how people to improve worker training and education. In the world today, there is undoubtedly continued escalation in both the growth and need for customized and ubiquitous learning opportunities in areas where employees need greater technical skills.
There is certainly a burgeoning need today within employment sectors for customized learning opportunities customized for workers who need new skills in an increasingly global economy. Technical, or knowledge-based, careers made up only 15% of the U.S. economy in 1968, compared to 70% today. Ninety percent of new jobs created today require a technical background (Foster, 2001).
Review of Questions Presented in Vignette
Question: If more customized approaches to individual learning are adopted, how can achievement be measured in the absence of standardized instruction?
The result of a 1997 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, indicated that performance assessments are an important tool for determining if educational goals are being met in learners. The team engaged in the study examined the
basic assumptions underlying assessment reform with the thought in mind that performance assessments will result in better teaching and learning and will raise student achievement (Black, 2003). The researchers identified five types of assessment tasks:
* On-demand assignments that require students to respond in a short period of time, such as working with a small group to brainstorm a solution to a problem.
* Extended assignments that give students out-of-class time to research a topic and figure out how to show their understanding of new information.
* Demonstrations that allow students to present or exhibit and explain their work on a curriculum topic.
* Portfolios that collect and organize students' performance tasks -- such as essays, drawings, and reports -- and show their learning progress.
* Other tasks that students can choose to show their level of mastery of new concepts.
Assessments should be designed to validate the skill gained at the end of the program. The result therefore is that in customized learning scenarios, there should be greater emphasis placed on answering the question of whether or not the learner can
effectively demonstrate mastery over the subject matter being taught.
Question: Does measurement and assessment curb the intrinsic motivation to learn that is a basic aspect of lifelong learning?
In and of themselves, measurement and assessment activities do not curb intrinsic motivation within the learner. In adult learners, an inherent principle of adragogy is that motivation is a result of a genuine desire on the part of the individual to gain mastery
over the subject matter. In a larger sense within an overall educational context, measurement and assessment activities should be geared towards maintaining student interest and motivation. Properly done, assessment activities can help to promote
motivation and sense of direction for online learners. This is where the idea of effective feedback comes into play. Effective feedback is described as: 1) Based on performance standards rather than on personal opinion. 2) Followed by new action. 3)
Quantitative, since numerical feedback indicates small improvements that produce changes in learner performance in the long run. 4) Prompt, but not necessarily as soon as possible.
Question: If measurement and assessment do curb the motivation to learn, then what is more important: learning how to learn or the ability to measure lessons learned?

In response to the question: Does measurement and assessment curb the intrinsic motivation to learn that is a basic aspect of lifelong learning?

I think both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are valid and effective methods of achieving educational goals but extrinsically obtained information is what can be assessed by external evaluators. It is fine for people to receive much of their information on their own and have intrinsic motivation to obtain that sort of information but in an educational setting how can information that has been achieved through intrinsic motivation be assessed? Someone could take level tests but then the level tests themselves become extrinsic factors in themselves. So realistically speaking, though all kinds motivation for learning are commendable, education that is obtained as a result of extrinsic motivation is what can be assessed by educators.

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In the previous Scuttlebutt area I mentioned the use of the supernatural for looking into the future.

Another method is speculation by futurologists. Some of these are: John Naisbitt (Megatrends, Megatrends 2000, Megatrends Asia), Alvin Toffler (Future Shock, The Third Wave), and Hamish McRae (The World in 2020).

Also the contribution of science fiction writers, artists, and inventors should be mentioned. Science fiction writers such as Jules Verne (television, submarines, space travel), H.G. Wells (social systems, beyond earth communication), Arthur Clarke (satellites), and Mary Shelly (organ transplants) all helped shape the present with their imagination. Also,artists, inventors and imaginative geniuses such as Leonardo da Vinci (airplane, bicycle, etc.) and Thomas Edison (light bulb, phonograph, and motion picture film, cameras, and projectors, etc.) helped move society and technology towards the future as well.

--

Dyads will post results of their trend extrapolation activity. This post will consist of: (a) the five trends each of you selected, along with a justification for the selection of these trends, (b) similarities/differences in the choices each of you made, (c) the extrapolation statements each dyad member arrived at and an analysis of cause and effect relationships.
Examine another dyad's posting. Analyze the justifications/underlying assumptions that were made in selecting baseline trends. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Support your ideas with citations from the literature. (1.b, 7.x)

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Four criteria of functionality, simplicity, time-testedness, and interconnectivity are mentioned in the text for the seven futuring tools which are Trend Extrapolation, the Delphi Technique, Morphological Analysis, the Crawford Slip Method, Scenario Planning, Cross-Impact Analysis, and Futuring Trees.

Concerning trend extrapolation, several trends that affect society and educational systems come to mind. Some of these trends are:

New technology -- Technology will continue to make the the people and machines of the world function faster and more efficiently but it also has the potential of making the world more dangerous.

Population growth -- one estimate is that the population will continue to increase at a rate of about one billion people every ten years making the population of 6 billion in the present grow to about 11 billion in the year 2050 and this will have an impact on all facets of society.

Decentralization -- The processes of society are becoming decentralized and democratized. This is now possible with new technology and besides making people able to communicate over great distances it also adds a level of security and strength to a population or nation since all of the people and resources are spread around a large area rather than all gathered together into one potential target area.

Globalization -- Travel and communications technology are bringing the world closer together and businesses and organizations are establishing their operations worldwide thus creating a blending of local and foreign (foreign to the local culture, that is) cultures into one new world culture.

Diversification of interests and populations -- People now have access to a wide range of cultural interests, professions, hobbies, and educational opportunities in which they can engage.

Standardization of services -- In order to assure the above mentioned efficiency of technology, labor intensive processes will become more standardized Richard

Reference:

Alexander, A. & Serfass R. (1999). Futuring Tools for Strategic Quality Planning in Education. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Quality Press.

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to Liston:

Essentialism

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u4 response to Howard

Richard, I have been thinking about the direction of your comments and your interest in direct democracy. One of the topics that you raised here is something you will certainly need to address as part of your vision -- the impact of or threat of terrorism on the process. In your Trend Exploration you stated "the processes of society are becoming decentralized and democratized." What evidence can you offer to support this trend?

--

Henry Ford used the idea of an assembly line, called Fordism, where every worker was essentially equal but performed a specialized function in the production process and F.W. Taylor (1949) studied a lateral, rather than top-down, system of production, with labor being distributed in a lateral net-work rather than a hierarchy.

A. Chandler's study "Strategy and Structure (1962) shed light on the American corporation, focusing on General Motors (headed by A. Sloan in the 1930s) and du Pont. Chandler analysed the defects of the centralised, functionally departmentalised structure and argued that the bigger a company grows, the more inefficient a hierarchy gets because the management can no longer deal with the increasing complexity of coordinating people. He concluded that decentralization will flourish, as it allows large companies to establish an organisational platform for better communication and co-ordination." (Dafermos, 2001). As a result of this trend, responsibilities within a large organization will be distributed into a series of groups and sub-groups all the way "down" to the individual.

With computers, telephones, and other communication and travel technologies it is no longer necessary to put everyone in a company or organization in the same building or location thus physically decentralizing organizations. Relative security from terrorism is another justification for decentralization. The events of September, 11, 2001 showed us that it is putting many people together in one spot creates a potential target for terrorists. The same argument can be made concerning cities too so that populations will begin to span out all around they countyside thus providing that much more security against any sort of 9-11 attack.

Democratization occurs not only through the ballot box of politics but also in social attitudes and in the capitalization of a free market society where each consumer or potential customer "votes" for a particular product or service with his or her money. Even China is becoming more economically privatized and capitalistic.

Concerning democratization, some, such as many people in the Asian countries, find some aspects of democracy (such as political campaigns) distasteful and undignified. Also, I think some their thinking goes along the lines of: "You wouldn't want an untrained person to pilot your airplane or perform surgery on you, would you?" So I think they think of people running the government as pilots of the "airplane" or ship of a nation and would not want untrained, unqualified people elected by the public running a government. I think some areas of governmental policy need to be determined by experts (but how are those experts to be selected?) -- but elected legislators are not expert in all areas either. I think some issues would need to be screened, examined, and written about by expert committees -- these are usually people university-educated in specificialized subjects -- and their policies voted on by a consortium of peers educated within that particular field but other issues can be decided on by the voting public and some issues by certified voters. Guidelines would need to be established (ay, there's the rub) to determine into which categories the issues to be decided on are to be placed.

References:

Dafermos, G. (2001). Management and Virtual Decentralized Networks: The Linus Project. Retrieved March 30, 2004 from http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue6_11/dafermos/#d2

McRae, Hamish. (1994). The World in 2020. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Naisbitt, John. (1997). Megatrends Asia. New York: Touchstone.

Toffler, Alvin. (1980). The Third Wave. New York: Bantam Books.

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u4d1 comment to Greg

Your comments that trends come and go but some are here to stay made me think of the philosopy of Essentialism that we studied in the educational philosophy course which states that some trends, topics, or subjects are timeless and universal -- and are essential to learn -- and should always be covered in every person's education. Richard

u4d1 Trend Extrapolation:
Four criteria of functionality, simplicity, time-testedness, and interconnectivity are mentioned in the text for the seven futuring tools which are Trend Extrapolation, the Delphi Technique, Morphological Analysis, the Crawford Slip Method, Scenario Planning, Cross-Impact Analysis, and Futuring Trees.
Concerning Trend Extrapolation, several trends that affect society and educational systems come to mind. Some of these trends are:
New technology -- Technology will continue to make the the people and machines of the world function faster and more efficiently but it also has the potential of making the world more dangerous.
Population growth -- one estimate is that the population will continue to increase at a rate of about one billion people every ten years making the population of 6 billion in the present grow to about 11 billion in the year 2050 and this will have an impact on all facets of society.
Decentralization -- The processes of society are becoming decentralized and democratized. This is now possible with new technology and besides making people able to communicate over great distances it also adds a level of security and strength to a population or nation since all of the people and resources are spread around a large area rather than all gathered together into one potential target area.
Globalization -- Travel and communications technology are bringing the world closer together and businesses and organizations are establishing their operations worldwide thus creating a blending of local and foreign (foreign to the local culture, that is) cultures into one new world culture.
Diversification of interests and populations -- People now have access to a wide range of cultural interests, professions, hobbies, and educational opportunities in which they can engage.
Standardization of services -- In order to assure the above mentioned efficiency of technology, labor intensive processes will become more standardized Richard
Reference:
Alexander, A. & Serfass R. (1999). Futuring Tools for Strategic Quality Planning in Education. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Quality Press.

--

u4 response to Howard
Richard, I have been thinking about the direction of your comments and your interest in direct democracy. One of the topics that you raised here is something you will certainly need to address as part of your vision -- the impact of or threat of terrorism on the process. In your Trend Exploration you stated "the processes of society are becoming decentralized and democratized." What evidence can you offer to support this trend?
--
Henry Ford used the idea of an assembly line, called Fordism, where every worker was essentially equal but performed a specialized function in the production process and F.W. Taylor (1949) studied a lateral, rather than top-down, system of production, with labor being distributed in a lateral net-work rather than a hierarchy.
A. Chandler's study "Strategy and Structure (1962) shed light on the American corporation, focusing on General Motors (headed by A. Sloan in the 1930s) and du Pont. Chandler analysed the defects of the centralised, functionally departmentalised structure and argued that the bigger a company grows, the more inefficient a hierarchy gets because the management can no longer deal with the increasing complexity of coordinating people. He concluded that decentralization will flourish, as it allows large companies to establish an organisational platform for better communication and co-ordination." (Dafermos, 2001). As a result of this trend, responsibilities within a large organization are distributed into a series of groups and sub-groups all the way "down" to the individual.
With computers, telephones, and other communication and travel technologies it is no longer necessary to put everyone in a company or organization in the same building or location thus physically decentralizing organizations. Relative security from terrorism is another justification for decentralization. The events of September, 11, 2001 showed us that putting many people together in one spot creates a potential target for terrorists. The same argument can be made concerning cities too so that populations will begin to span out all around they countyside thus providing that much more security against any sort of 9-11 type attack.
Democratization occurs not only through the ballot box of politics but also in social attitudes and in the capitalization of a free market society where each consumer or potential customer "votes" for a particular product or service with his or her money. Even China is becoming more economically privatized and capitalistic.
Concerning democratization, some, such as many people in the Asian countries, find some aspects of democracy (such as political campaigns) distasteful and undignified. Also, I think some their thinking goes along the lines of: "You wouldn't want an untrained person to pilot your airplane or perform surgery on you, would you?" So I think they think of people running the government as pilots of the "airplane" or ship of a nation and would not want untrained, unqualified people elected by the public running a government. I think some areas of governmental policy need to be determined by experts (but how are those experts to be selected?) -- but elected legislators are not expert in all areas either. I think some issues would need to be screened, examined, and written about by expert committees -- these are usually people university-educated in specificialized subjects -- and their policies voted on by a consortium of peers educated within that particular field but other issues can be decided on by the voting public and some issues by certified voters. Guidelines would need to be established (ay, there's the rub) to determine into which categories the issues to be decided on are to be placed.
References:
Dafermos, G. (2001). Management and Virtual Decentralized Networks: The Linus Project. Retrieved March 30, 2004 from http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue6_11/dafermos/#d2 <http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue6_11/dafermos/>
McRae, Hamish. (1994). The World in 2020. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Naisbitt, John. (1997). Megatrends Asia. New York: Touchstone.
Toffler, Alvin. (1980). The Third Wave. New York: Bantam Books.

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u4d1 comment to Greg
Your comments that trends come and go but some are here to stay made me think of the philosopy of Essentialism that we studied in the educational philosophy course which states that some trends, topics, or subjects are timeless and universal -- and are essential to learn -- and should always be covered in every person's education. Richard

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u5d1 The Delphi Technique
The Delphi Technique alludes somewhat to the issue of fortune telling that I referred to in a previous discussion area but in this case the fortune telling, or guessing, is done by panels of experts. The term Delphi Technique refers to the mythical (?) psychic forecaster of ancient Greece from the Greek mountain temple city of Delphi. The difference is that the oracle there, during those times, obtained the information through divine connection or introspection whereas the expert panels derive their information through educated guessing and speculation.
The Delphi Technique could also be considered as similar to a jury in a court of law or a jury of judges in a juried event such as an art show or a sports event. However, the difference is that a jury in a court of law is more or less a random collection of judges who are not specialists and who are not necessarily a jury of peers -- as they are often purported to be -- whereas a panels of experts are trained and experienced within a particular discipline or area of study. The panel of experts can try to not only foresee the future but also can suggest guidelines to be used with which to arrive at a desired future goal and suggest ways of avoiding potential pitfalls.The Delphi procedure involves a series of discussions and questionnaires, some of which can be anonymous, to obtain information from which decisions are made, conclusions are drawn, and forecasts are developed.
My idea of proposing and developing a direct democracy system would involve continuous panels of experts and this could be considered a type of a Delphi method. The previously mentioned extrapolated trends (new technology, population growth, decentralization, globalization, diversification of interests and populations, and standardization of services) would be incorporated into the future plan development process. After, and even before and during the discussion and implementation of a direct democracy system, the most important aspect of creating a system whereby the information and training necessary to maintain a direct democracy is realized, is to establish a curriculum -- including the methods, institutions, and locations -- to dispense that information. The information could be dispensed in schools, both public and private, in home schooling situations, on the Internet, in books and magazines, and through commercial, governmental, and community organizations. The most wide-ranging method of disseminating this information would be through the public school system and colleges and universities.
The concept would involve exploring what methods have been used previously to establish direct democracies (which are defined as the public voting directly on issues rather than through elected representatives who can, after being elected, vote any way they choose.), the history of democracy beginning with ancient Greece, and establishing a curriculum to be used to teach the principles and techniques of direct democracy in schools -- primarily through social studies and political science classes. This could be achieved through a series of discussions, panels, and questionnaires involving a wide variety of stake holders and educated experts within given fields. The surveys and questionnaires could be given to the general public, politicians, and specialists within specified areas. Concerning how to introduce, implement, develop, and sustain a direct democracy by utilizing the educational system, the process would involve obtaining ideas from social studies and political science teachers for developing a curriculum. One approach would be to send an emailed questionnaire to Social Studies and Political Science teachers in public and private schools who teach levels from kindergarten to the twelfth grade and to those who teach in the post-secondary and adult education learning environments. The questionnaire could contain closed-ended and open-ended questions in addition to a blank suggestion space at the end of the questionnaire where the instructors can add any thoughts that they may have on the subject.
As the concept of direct democracy develops, and as it comes into daily use, there would constantly be the need for the advice of expert opinion. In areas of specialized knowledge, in medicine for example, governmental policies would need to be derived from experts within those areas and those ideas could be exchanged though the procedures of the Delphi Technique.
The process could be used for each of the above-mentioned areas of development and for the maintenance of a system of direct democracy but the initial example of a survey of teachers is mentioned here:
Select a Team:
This would be a team of educators and government workers
Identify the Main Issue:
How to teach the history, concepts, and procedures of direct democracy in schools and alternative methods.
Develop a Questionnaire:
Suggestions for questions are submitted by a collection of authors.
Select a Panel of Experts:
A panel of governmental and educational experts selects the questions for the questionnaires.
First-Round Survey and Tally:
These are collected from paper and emailed surveys
Second-Round Survey and Tally
Third-Round Survey and Tally
Interpret the Results:
These are interpreted by the initial team, the panel of experts, and a third panel formed for the purpose of interpreting the results.
SURVEY ITEMS:
Below are some open-ended questions that can be answered with essay type answers for social studies and political science teachers:
How has direct democracy been practiced in other countries and institutions and how effective has it been?
How can the educational system participate in the implementation of a direct democracy utilizing Internet and computer technology?
How can direct democracy be introduced and taught in Social Studies and Political Science courses?
How can a constitutional amendment be proposed?
How can the reliability of Internet voting be assessed?
How can the privacy and security of voters be assured?
How can the public be informed of issues to be voted on?
How can the voters register their votes via the Internet or computer?
How can the public be made aware of the safety and limitations of direct democracy?
How can the public be made aware of the roles and duties of citizens in a democracy?
How can the public be made aware of the philosophy and history of democracy?
Below is an example of how one of the sample questions could be answered:
-- How can a Constitutional amendment be proposed?
Constitutional amendments are permanent additions to the Constitution, though they can be counter-amended as was the case with the Prohibition amendment, that require a 2/3 vote from both houses of the Congress and therefore very difficult to obtain. There have been twenty seven Constitutional amendments with the most recent being in 1992 which involved no Congressional self salary increases while the legislators are in their term. The twelfth Amendment, concerning changing the method of electing the president of the United States using the Electoral College, was added in 1803 after the first ten Amendments, the Bill of Rights, were added in 1791. To introduce a contemporary amendment, emailed petitions could start the process and eventually public referendums could be held.
Below are sxamples of questions for a Likert scale item survey that could be sent to social studies and political science teachers. These closed-ended items can be responded to with linear scale responses: [(1)strongly disagree to (5)strongly agree, or (0)don?t know]:
Direct democracy been practiced in other countries and institutions and has been effective.
The educational system should participate in the implementation of a direct democracy utilizing Internet and computer technology.
Direct democracy should be introduced and taught in social studies and political science courses.
A Constitutional amendment should be proposed creating a direct democracy system in the United States.
The the use of the Internet is a reliable method for voting.
The voters have complete privacy.
The voters have complete security.
The public can be informed of issues to be voted on.
The voters could easily register their votes via the Internet or computer.
The public should be made aware of the safety using the Internet for direct democracy.
The public should be made aware of the limitations of direct democracy.
The public should be made aware of the roles and duties of citizens in a democracy.
The public should be made aware of the philosophy and history of democracy.
Other questions that could be made into either Likert scale items or open-ended questions:
Do you think the United States is a democracy now?
Do you think Direct Democracy or people voting directly on legislative issues is a good idea?
Do you think adequate technology exists today for direct democracy?
Do you think adequate education, information, and training can be given to citizens for them to vote as legislators?
Do you think interest for direct democracy would be maintained by the public?
Do you think that eventually a new branch of Congress could be formed by the voting citizens?
Do you think the people?s voting branch of Congress could be used first as an opinion collection device?
Do you think citizens and students should study for and take examinations in order to receive certification in order to qualify as a voting member of a legislature in a direct democracy?
Should the public schools provide education and training for citizens to function as voting members of a direct democracy system of government?
References:
Alexander, A. & Serfass R. (1999). Futuring Tools for Strategic Quality Planning in Education. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Quality Press.
Dillman, Don. (2000). Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Designed Method. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Webliography:
How to Control People. (2004). Retrieved on April 5, 2004 from <http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/01-18-01/mbs.cgi.720.html>
Smyre, Rick. (2002). Democracy in a Learning Mode. from the South Carolina Export Consortium. Retrieved on April 5, 2004 from <http://tartan.communitiesofthefuture.org/articles/cotf-plwb-11b.html>
Workshop for the Delphi Technique. (2004). Retrieved on April 5, 2004 from <http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/articles4/workshop_for_the_delphi_techniqu.htm>

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Darla, I've amended my original submission to give more of the details of who would comprise the panel of experts and the various stages of the Delphi Technique. Richard

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Carolyn,
As an answer to the question "When should the university develop a plan for the use of web-
based learning by its students?" I would say the answer is "now" if it has not already been done. (When you refer to "the" university, are you referring to a particular university or the basic university system?) I think all universities are probably using some form of web-based learning such as online texts or schedules for labs, etc. And many are using web-based or computer based techniques in conjunction with traditional classroom learning. Richard

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The use of web-based or computer-based instruction for all types of training including military training would have the advantage of being able to offer a standardized curriculum which might not be as useful for the creative arts, for example, but would be a very useful tool for military training where standardized information and organizational solidity is essential. Standardization is important in the sense that everyone is being exposed to the same information thus creating a united organizational purpose. Also, it would cut back on the amount of personal (human) instruction required for the very basic courses or information thus freeing up instructional time for higher level endeavers and for other projects. Richard

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I looked it up (a question to everyone about the effects of radioactivity that I asked in Unit one) and found that -- of course, it is meant to be contained so that those problems don't happen -- but from what I can gather, radioactivity can be harmful to animals because it causes radium to enter the bone marrow (not sure why that is bad), and can cause leukemia and other forms of cancer. I think generally on a cellular level radioactivity can cause cellular problems and mutation and various chemical imbalances within the body. Richard

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Howard,
I amended my original posting and added some questions for the survey for social studies and political science teachers. I can revise the list and add some more later. Are there any more that you can think of? Richard

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In a previous Scuttlebutt area I mentioned the use of the supernatural for looking into the future.
Another method of exploring the future is speculation by futurologists. Some of these are: John Naisbitt (Megatrends, Megatrends 2000, Megatrends Asia), Alvin Toffler (Future Shock, The Third Wave), and Hamish McRae (The World in 2020).
Also the contribution of science fiction writers, artists, and inventors should be mentioned. Science fiction writers such as Jules Verne (television, submarines, space travel), H.G. Wells (social systems, beyond earth communication), Arthur Clarke (satellites), and Mary Shelly (organ transplants) all helped shape the present with their imagination. Also,artists, inventors and creative geniuses such as Leonardo da Vinci (airplane, parachute, bicycle, etc.) and Thomas Edison (light bulb, phonograph, and motion picture film, cameras, and projectors, etc.) helped move society and technology towards the future as well.
Perhaps these examples could be considered as types of Scenario Planning. Richard

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u6d1: Scenario Planning:
Step 1: Select the right team -- This concept is somewhat similar to the Delphi Technique with a team of people envisioning the future but the scenario planning team could also include people who are not necessarily categorized as experts but who have a participatory interest in the issue(s) involved and this group could also contain imaginative, creative artists, writers, and visionaries.
Step 2: Identify the main issue to resolve. It is a good idea to have a focus for the scenario but conceivably the scenario could contain several issues but usually one would rank as the most important. My particular project involves having teachers create scenarios for introducing, implementing, and sustaining a type of direct democracy though the facilities of the educational system.
Step 3. List the key factors in the environment. Today, the main issues often involve technology, the economy, democracy, access to education, quality versus quantity, among others.
Step 4: Rank key factors. This is a ranking of the above-mentioned key factors in the order of most to least important. For my project I would have the ranking in descending order as: democracy, social issues, technology, the economy, access to education, quality versus quantity.
Step 5: Determine axes of uncertainty. These are opposite, contrary, or opposing views. These can include war and peace, stability and instability, etc. And in societal structures: hierarchal as opposed to participatory systems and inclusive as opposed to exclusive systems.
Step 6: Develop scenarios. These are usually arranged in groups of four positioned in the four quadrants of the x and y axes configuration.
Step 7: Analyze and interpret scenarios. The team assesses the scenarios based on practicality, feasibility, probability, utility, etc.
Four possible future societal scenarios are listed below:
(-,+) Scenario 1: eastern-style hierarchal, Confucian democracy
(+,+) Scenario 2: totalitarianism, communism
(-, -) Scenario 3: direct democracy
(+,-) Scenario 4: representative democracy
(the pluses and minuses in the parentheses indicate the location within the ( x,y ) quadrants, not value judgements, with hierarchal on the top, participatory on the bottom, inclusive on the left, and exclusive on the right side of the chart.)
Scenario 1: eastern-style hierarchical, Confucian democracy..........................Scenario 2: totalitarianism, communism
Scenario 3: direct democracy.......................................................................Scenario 4: representative democracy
..............................+
...................Hierarchical
-....Inclusive...........,.........Exclusive...+
..................Participatory
.............................-
Hypothetical Scenarios of the year 2030
Scenario 1 Hierarchical democracy
This is a hierarchical system derived predominately from the oriental philosophy of Confucius (551-479 BC) joined with the concepts of democracy as first formulated in Athens, Greece (circa 500 BC) and guided by the demands a capitalistically fueled market economy. The educational system is a combination of state-supplied public education with private institutions providing educational enhancements. The economics of this system is a union of public and private funding and utilizes the ever accerating advances of technology.
Scenario 2 Totalitarianism and Communism
This system is centralized and theoretically derived from the philosophy of the German philosopher, Karl Marx and unquestioning devotion to the state and its leadership is required of all citizens. The educational system is also centralized and all texts, curriculum, and funding emanate from the state. Religious concepts are not allowed to be discussed, however, philosophical concepts are allowed to be discussed in the educational system but students, teachers, and citizens must take an oath to support the official state doctrine. All technological, political, and economic endeavers exist for the glorification and maintenance of the state.
Scenario 3 Direct democracy
The United States --as well as many other nations -- is adopting a direct participatory, rather than a representative, form of democracy in determining legislative decisions thus adhering more closely to the concepts of democracy as originally envisioned. The United States Congress, as a result of many referendums, petitions, letters, and public demand has now passed the 30th amendment to the United States Constitution which establishes the Third House of Congress which is composed of qualified voting members of the Public Assembly and whose combined votes count as 1/3, along with the House of Representatives and the Senate, in determining the passage of legislative bills. The educational system supplies the training and education of all citizens who are eligible, as registered voters with a special certification, to become voting members of the Public Assembly. The economy functions according to the principles of Adam Smith's concept of capitalism and the free market system and the economic system is funded by public and private sources.
Scenario 4 Representative democracy
The society has maintained the status quo -- though some think it has stagnated -- of the political climate carried over from the beginning of the millennium in the year 2000 and the representative democratic system of the United States prevails though the economy continues to suffer as a result of the on-going war against the Arab and Islamic League, which began with Iraq in 2003 but has since been joined by 11 other Arabic and Islamic alligned associations of nations amounting to a sort of prolonged world conflict. Though technological advances continue to occur, the economy, as well as the educational system, has suffered also since many of the nations resources have been devoted to that conflict.
Hypothetical Scenarios of the year 3000
Scenario 1 Hierarchical democracy
Society and technology continue to develop rapidly and the hierarchical structure based on the Confucian philosophy are successfully integrated into a world culture where modified English (joined with verbal units of other languages) remains the international language and everyone on Earth is connected by communications technology. The economic system, based on Adam Smith's concept of capitalism and free markets, prospers and the educational system continues to progress.
Scenario 2 Totalitarianism and Communism
The state continues to rule but now computer-based systems and decisions are ruling the state so that ,in effect, human society is governed by machines. The effect of society's endeavors is that money within the economy is dispersed so that, according to communist doctrine, everyone has more or less an equal share of the world economy regardless of their position or role within society. Nature has been relegated to the position as servant to mankind's aspirations and, resultingly, natural resources are diminishing quickly. The state continues to combine all nations into one centrally administered government and centrally administered state-owned enterprises. Children continue to be raised by the Family Unit Division of the Central Committee and educated in Communal Learning Combines. The educational system continues to be funded from a centralized system and continues to extol the virtues of the state.
Scenario 3 Direct democracy
As a result of computer technology the world is connected via computer and legislative decisions are, after a period of debate, are determined by a click of a button by the voting members of the legislature. The economy continues to follow the laws of supply and demand and most of the international conflicts have been resolved as the public is against such confict and violence and most are interested in their own -- as well as mankind's -- survival. The economy and the educational system continues to prosper and knowledge continues to be added to the knowledge base.
Scenario 4 Representative democracy
The elitism, squabbles, and power struggles of representative government continue and the world continues to plunge into economic turmoil as international conflicts -- with the additional threat of the technologies of destruction -- continue to escalate which drain the economy, the environment, and the supply of natural resources. The economic and educational system continue to be secondary to the political conflicts that occur between politicians.
End Scenario 5: Year 85,000
The human race has largely evacuated Earth as a result of a series of earlier nuclear wars and epidemic outbreaks of diseases but primarily because of the depletion of Earth's natural resources, atmospheric loss, and the decrease of the sun's temperature as a result of its diminishing hydrogen supply (though in another approximately one billion years the sun will lose most of its feul supply and causing it swell into a supernova thus becoming a red giant engulfing the inner planets, including Earth.) Some genetically-altered humans have been assigned as extra-
terrestial space travelers for generations-long space journeys through the universe to colonize or inhabit other more hospitable planetary systems. Some humans, and other organisms and life forms, have been sent via extra-dimensional methods (also referred to as the "beam-me-up-
Scottie" method) however the results of these endeavers are not known as the travelers are unable to communicate messages back from the destinations to which they are aimed since the messages would require millions of light years to be received, which, as most would agree, is too long to wait.
Reference:
Alexander, A. & Serfass R. (1999). Futuring Tools for Strategic Quality Planning in Education. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Quality Press.
Webliography:
Corporate Facilitation from the BREFI group. Retrieved May 12, 2004 from <http://www.brefigroup.co.uk/facilitation/scenario_planning_articles.html>
Don't Stop Thinking about Tomorrow. from CIO. com. Retrieved May 12, 2004 from <http://www.cio.com/archive/010100/stop.html>
Outward Insights. Retrieved May 12, 2004 from <http://www.outwardinsights.com/> "We offer a host of solutions to help you anticipate-rather than react to-external threats and opportunities."
SekretariatProf.grat. University of St. Gallen. Retrieved May 12, 2004 from <http://www.sgzz.ch/home/links/scenplan.htm>

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Carolyn,
I'm sure Ryan will enjoy Kagoshima and he should see but be "beware" of Sakurajima (the active volcano there). The trains from Nagasaki to Kagoshima, along with the Shinkansen or the "bullet train", are some of the best trains in the world. I remember the female attendants on the train to Kagoshima were like (and dressed like) stewardesses or flight attendents rather than what one would usually find on a train ride so the trip was more like a plane ride than a train ride. Richard

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Howard,
The syllabus for Unit 6 suggests that we let our imaginations run "just a little bit wild" by developing future scenarios so that is what I've done. I added descriptions to the scenarios in my posting.
Also, there was no mention that I saw as to how far into the future we were to project, though most of us assumed the near future of within our lifetimes. I wrote a set of scenarios for the years 2030 and 3000 in addition to a bonus scenario for the year 85,000 (That sounds like a long time away, but if humans are to be on Earth longer than the dinosaurs, we still have another 98,000,000 years to go, so in that scale, a few hundred -- or even thousands of years -- is not such a long time.) Richard

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u6 Comment to Thurm:
I think nuclear power is probably the wave of the future since not as much material is needed to create energy (as opposed to power derived from coal, oil, water, etc.), however, the problem of nuclear waste and radioactivity must always be attended to. In China, the government is building the world's largest dam -- to make dam-generated electricity and to control flooding -- which will create the world's largest artificial lake. Some say this could have been done with a series of smaller dams or with nuclear power plants (for the electrical power).
I think in the future harnessing the sun's energy, which is always a natural source of energy, and utilizing solar power is also the wave of the future. Richard

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u6 Comment to Cheryl:
I assume from what I read in your descriptions that the preferred Scenario is #1 (or perhaps #2). I think in such an institution that education, training, and counseling are essential. Also, I think it would be helpful for all of the detainees to be trained for in-house duties (as well as for skills that can be used outside of the institution's walls) and they could each have jobs within the institution to be paid -- or punished by demerits or non-payment -- with an in-house currency that could be used for in-house purchases of goods and perhaps services. Richard

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u7d1 Futuring Tree
A futuring tree is defined as a diagraming of network pathways moving from the desired future goal to the present conditions.
The purpose of constructing a futuring tree is to identify a future goal and then determine what pathways would have been necessary to achieve that desired goal by reasoning backward towards the present.
The operational characteristics of a futuring tree are that the process begins with the desired future state, that vision and stragegic methods to achieve a goal are required, that the analysis proceeds in reverse from the future to the present and presents a network of possibilities that occur through phases of development.
The structure of a futuring tree is analogous to the branching of a tree with the trunk being the future and the branches moving toward the present.
One example of constructing a futuring tree is the space flight program where an organization, such as NASA, determines a future goal such as a planetary space flight, and then thinks back from that goal to the present to determine how that goal can be achieved.
The process for constructing a futuring tree could involve the following steps:
1. Establish an Appropriate Cross-Functional Team.
2. Develop Key Vision Themes.
3. Define the Present State.
4. Begin the Branch Point Network.
5. Analyze Theme One.
6. Analyze Themes Two, Three, and Four.
7. Form the Completed Network.
8. Identify Priority Pathways.
9. Develop an Action Plan.
The concept of futuring trees reverses the concept of working towards the future and takes the various routes (that originated from the present) backwards from the future to the present (now). The futuring tree method is similar to the method of following dropped breadcrumbs to arrive at the current destination's point of origin, as was done by Hansel and Gretl in finding their way back home, or the deductive reasoning methods of Sherlock Holmes to uncover the perpetrator(s) of a crime by working backwards from the committed crime to the present condition. The futuring tree method also brings to mind the phrase "All roads lead to Rome" since there can be innumerable routes to arrive at one particular destination, which, in the case of futuring trees, is the desired and attained future state. And, since, to use another familiar phrase, there are a million ways to skin a cat, there are likewise an uncountable number of possible routes that can be taken to arrive at the desired future destination.
In the future scenario as illustrated by a futuring tree, society evolves toward the practice of the democracy that almost everyone says they believe in (yet which exists only on a small and local scale such as within a legislature or a small organization) a world exempt from the petty, and potentially deadly -- for the ruled populace -- conflicts between politicians. From the future of direct democracy back to the present, we would first need to conduct the journey from one situation or location and I would choose the United States of America for the purposes of this futuring tree. Today the United States has a complicated system of local, state, and federal legislatures and a government roughly divided into an executive, a legislative, and a judicial branch. The purpose, it is said, of a democracy is govern according to the will of the people, a concept developed around 500 BC in Athens, Greece. This is now accomplished by electing people who try to think like the majority of the people who elected them on every issue, which is in actuality, an impossible task. Also, it is done by conducting random opinion polls such as the Gallup or Harris polls to get a general idea of what the public is thinking. Only recently has technology offered the possibility of rendering the public's desires directly, however, this idea is too new to be absorbed into and accepted by the collective consciousness at the present time and needs time to be explored and then accepted. As every individual's strongest drive is the drive for survival, so too the strongest drive of the collective consciousness of society is the drive for survival of human society and it is therefore logical to assume that the majority of a society will elect to choose those behaviors and conditions that are the most beneficial to the sustenance of the human race. For these reasons, a government of, by, and for the people is the preferred method of governance.
Reference:
Alexander, A. & Serfass R. (1999). Futuring Tools for Strategic Quality Planning in Education. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Quality Press.
Webliography:
List, Dennis. (2001). Multiple pasts, converging presents, and alternative futures. Retrieved May 19, 2004 from <http://business2.unisa.edu.au/innovres/papers/brasov.htm> Various methods of futuring techniques.
Rausch, Erwin. (1994). SIMULATION AND GAMES IN FUTURING AND OTHER USES. Retrieved May 19, 2004 from <http://www.futurovenezuela.org/_curso/14-games.pdf> Simulated futuring specifically in relation to computers, games, virtual reality, game theory and business and societal future scenarios.
Futures Resource Pack. Retrieved May 19, 2004 from www.fastfuture.com/Docs/FFV_Futures_Resource_Pack.doc A list of links and resources related to futuring and studies concerning the future.
Jigsaw Project. (2002). Creating our Future. Retrieved May 19, 2004 from <http://www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au/download/jigsaw_final_report.pdf> A project with several future scenarios, mostly for the year 2020, and how to arrive at them

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ADD FUTURING TREE READER ILLUSTRATION HERE

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To Thurm:
Russia is the largest country in the world -- its width spans almost half the globe -- and it had at one time the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. My concern is, with all of the bribable bureaucrats there I wonder if there is (was) a possibility of nuclear material and technology to be sold to governments or even to terrorists after, or even before, the breakup of the U.S.S.R.
Recently, in Pakistan it was revealed that the head nuclear scientist there (I think a Nobel Prize winner) had been selling nuclear material, technology, and technological information to various governments including Iran and North Korea over the past several years.
Also, will nuclear technology ever reach the point where it becomes publicly available, and the manufacturing techniques publicly attainable, so that terrorists can make home-made nuclear bombs (not only so-called "dirty bombs" which contain radioactive material)? It's a scary thought but one worth considering. Richard

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u7 comment to Karen:
I'm mentioning this in the futuring tree section since portfolio compilation involves the concepts of futuring: perhaps there could be assistance (both before entering the institute and during the time spent studying there) in the development of student portfolios, both drawing and painting on paper as well as computer-based art saved on disks or presented on a website. Richard

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u7d1 Reply to Howard and Liston
When the United States Constitution was written, the forefathers wrote an all-encompassing and a sweeping document that is still relevant, has stood the test of time, and has withstood the difficulties, controversies, and amendments that have occurred during its existence. But this document was written around 1776 and the society at the time was very different from the society of today. The forefathers, even with all of their foresight and all-inclusiveness were not able to factor in dramatic future changes in technology and, resultingly, in society. They could not have foreseen a future with telephones, radios, televisions, cars, airplanes, jet engines, rockets, computers, the Internet, etc. Now that the new technologies are here and will continue to grow, advance, and be perfected, we need to examine how this affects society, the government, and the Constitution.
The United States in its military campaigns says it wants to promote and protect democracy. But is the United States a democracy? It is a republic or a representative democracy. An example of a democracy within the United States federal goverment is the U.S. Congress where the members debate and vote usually for a simple majority to win a case or a referendum or to pass a bill. When a presidential election is held today well over 100 million people can vote. The United States Constitution created the electoral college for, I have heard, several reasons and one of them is to prevent mob rule (but isn't that what democracy is?) or for a government run by the uneducated (though now, most people are receiving high levels of education in comparison with the past of the forefathers). I think another reason that the electoral college was institutionalized was because, at the time the Constitution was written, if a national election were to be held, tallying the votes would be an almost impossible task. Then, a sack of votes, or the results of local voting, would have to be sent by a messenger riding horseback. Just carrying the votes from California (or Georgia, during the time of the 13 colonies) to Washington, D.C. could take weeks, that is, if they ever even got to their destination. Today, we live in a very different world where messages are transmitted instantaneously worldwide via telephones, computers, or the Internet.
My idea is not to do away with the U.S. Congress as it exists now but to add a new section: the Public Assembly. The passage of a bill would require a majority vote in each of the 3 sections: the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Public Assembly. The difference in the three sections is that the Public Assembly would have many more voters. (A similar concept could be utilized on the state and local levels also). Some might think of the idea as revolutionary but I would call it evolutionary. I think the technology of computers and the Internet is much more revolutionary and what could be more revolutionary and radical than the American Revolutionary War and the accompanying documents of independence? The Iraq War is also revolutionary but it was instigated externally whereas the American Revolution was instigated internally by the local inhabitants who understood the culture in which they lived -- and that is a big difference.
After the 2000 Presidential election fiasco, and since Al Gore got at least 530,000 more of the public's votes, I was surprised later that there was not a movement, or even a discussion, about a replacement of the Electoral College system but apparently most people seem to be accepting of that system at the present time. Also, the concept I suggested, the Public Assembly, would not necessarily preclude the existence of the Electoral College, that is a separate issue and it could be decided at some future time to either modify or eliminate that system. With my described idea it would be conceivably possible to retain the Electoral College and still have the Public Assembly.
The preferred method of implementation of this idea is to proceed in an evolutionary, gradual, and non-violent way and build the system by avoiding the mistakes of , and building on the successes, of the past.
In reply to Howard's Pogo quote: I think it is true that mankind is mankind's worst enemy and some of the characteristics of the enemy are stubbornness and ignorance. Richard

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u7 reply to Debra
Debra,
Thank you your comments. I'm glad that diagram was helpful to you. Richard

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In the journal, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, one can find articles from 1968 and 1972 on topics such as genetic engineering, climate change, germ warfare, and how the countries of India and China were working to create nuclear weapons. These topics remain important to this day. All of the articles were written by scientists and respected scholars. What role do you think expertise plays in predicting the future? Does this knowledge change your mind about the efficacy of the futuring tools presented in this course?
We are today still concerned with the issues mentioned above: genetic engineering (cloning and stem cell research), climate change (global warming including the new movie about the subject, The Day After Tomorrow), germ warfare (al-Qaida and others), and how the countries of India and China were working to create nuclear weapons (we are still concerned about nuclear weapons in these countries as well as the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and North Korea, among others). Unfortunately, much of the weapons of mass destruction information concerning the middle east was obtained via word of mouth from defectors from those countries rather than from experts so more expert knowledge could have been used in those pursuits. There are also ethical issues associated with entrusting experts with potentially harmful information such as what occurred recently, in Pakistan where it was revealed that the head nuclear scientist there had been selling nuclear material, technology, and technological information to various governments including Iran and North Korea over the past several years.
Expert scientists and scholars generally base their thoughts on history and on their collective knowledge and experience within their field of expertise. However, experts are generally regarded for the above mentioned values and not for their imagination or visions of the future and they generally tend to mention what can not be done rather than what can or should be done based on precedents and their knowledge of history within their field.
Experts should be highly regarded within the fields of their endeavors and they are repositories of relevant information within the field of their expertise and they are expert mostly in the areas of history and factual information. An expert should be highly educated -- usually educated within a formal educational setting but also, possibly, within an empirical or experiential environment -- within the field of their expertise. The experts, however, are generally not known for their imagination, innovation, and creativity, and that is where the ordinary citizens, as well as visionaries, artists, writers, and the like, come into play as they can submit ideas for the experts' scrutiny for plans for the best possible future for the most people. This process also demonstrates the value of democracy, the Internet, and other new technologies. If two heads are better than one then how much better are 6 billion heads (or selecting from 6 billion heads)? A good future might include some factor of luck, or being in the right place at the right time, but more often than not, it is the result of careful planning and the systematic execution of those plans. So experts and scientists, in concert with other sources, can play a vital role in guiding -- if not predicting -- the present towards a desirable future.
Reference:
Alexander, A. & Serfass R. (1999). Futuring Tools for Strategic Quality Planning in Education. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Quality Press.
Webliography:
Kerry M. Joels, Kerry. (2004). Future Studies: An Interdisciplinary Vehicle for Space Science Education. Retrieved May 26, 2004 from <http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/future.html>

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u8d2 Lasting and Temporary Trends
Identify current issues and/or trends impacting your professional environments. Do you believe that these issues or trends are lasting or temporary? What evidence can you cite to support your beliefs?
Basic principles and concepts, such as the laws of physics, are enduring however our interpretation or of their explanations or our theories about them may change over time as well as the methods of implementing some principles. People's attitudes and beliefs as well as technology are always changing, so it can be said the only constant in life is change. As expressed in a Buddhist saying: "you never put your foot into the same river twice." I think the idea of democracy has been constant throughout history but the institutions that implement the principles can be diverse, temporary, or changing. The idea I have presented, the idea of direct democracy, might be thought of as being too new for some people, though it can hardly be said that an idea that originated before 500BC can be thought of as new.
I think I would answer this question the same way as I did in Unit 1 discussion but the difference is that I am now familiar with futuring methods that can be utilized to bring concepts into realization in the future. As I mentioned previously, "technology is changing the world situation at a rapid pace in all aspects: educationally, socially, politically, environmentally, economically, and culturally. The issue of technology is lasting in the sense that technology will always affect how life and educational processes are conducted, however, new technologies are constantly being introduced so that one needs to constantly become acquainted with and trained in new technological techniques so in that sense the effects of technology are transitory or temporary. In the educational field, one example of the new uses of technology is the use of distance learning using online instruction via the Internet. In addition to technology, issues that impact the living and professional environments are the decentralization of all processes, globalization, and the democratization of society."
The concepts that I mentioned, since they exist in the realm of ideas (as expressed in Plato's Theory of Forms), are lasting but any manisfestations of them within the physical world are transitory so, for example, the concept of democracy is enduring but the methods of implementing it are temporary as are the tools and applications of technology.
Reference:
Alexander, A. & Serfass R. (1999). Futuring Tools for Strategic Quality Planning in Education. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Quality Press.

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u8d1 Comment to Liston:
Your idea that the future is a continuation of present trends is very well expressed and I particularly like the final thought that mentions that "the present informs our future(s) and that making our world better today must be the point of embarkation for any effort to predict the future." After all, that is the purpose of all of our endeavors: to make the world of the future better for everyone. Richard

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u8d1 Comment to Lisa
The President Kennedy mission to the moon example you gave provides a good illustration of how an idea can be implanted in the minds of the public and then carried out according to plan. His plan involved a 10 year realization period so long-term sequential and systematic planning coordinated by experts in the field of endeavor is essential when planning such future projects. The public also became committed to achieving his goal and that commitment solidified after his assassination giving the nation a positive united cause. Richard

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Carolyn,
To answer your question, I see the trend of the growth of technology as continuing and accelerating. Richard

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Karen,
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2004) definition of "expert" is "one with the special skill or knowledge representing mastery of a particular subject". Though there might be some semantic variations of the term I don't think that definition includes vision or imagination though there may be some individuals, such as the ones you mentioned, that are expert and visionary. Richard

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The visual arts, writing, and leadership (and others, including music) can have people who function at an expert level but the the great practioners of the arts would have what could be referred to as talent (or genius if they achieve a level or insight beyond that which has been previously achieved) and the experts in those areas mostly -- mostly -- would perform analytical, theoretical, or historical research functions related to those disciplines and a few of those might also be practitioners of those mentioned disciplines. Richard

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Howard,
I plan on having the paper submitted by June 15, 2004 (as opposed to 2005 or some other year).
The format will be in Adobe Reader -- which every has or can get as a free download from the Web or from Capella -- which was the same program as the futuring tree was presented in. Richard

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14. Several medical committees are instituted to study methods of reviving the horse. Richard

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u10d1: Post a reflection on the course material and its application to real environments. What do you perceive to be the strengths and weaknesses of the futuring process?.
One idea that should be considered concerning looking into the future is that if someone really had the ability to see the future, or if they could ride in H.G. Well's Time Machine, and if they saw something horrible, catastrophic, or tragic -- as far as human occurances are concerned -- then they would be tormented by the fact that nothing could be done to alter the foreseen future, otherwise, if they could change the course of events to prevent the horrible foreseen future, then what they saw was not the future. Futuring can also involve exploring possible, multiple future scenarios (I just returned from seeing a movie, The Butterfly Effect, which explores the idea of multiple histories on a personal level). It might be best, as mentioned in the scenario building and futuring tree sections, to suggest possible futures and then do what needs to be done to achieve the desired future goal.
The course text describes seven futuring tools -- Trend Extrapolation, the Delphi Technique, Morphological Analysis, the Crawford Slip Method, Scenario Planning, Cross-Impact Analysis, and Futuring Trees -- which, to be effective, should satisfy criteria of functionality, simplicity, time-testedness, and interconnectivity. The future can be looked into by psychics, dreamers, visionaries, and artists and it can be planned by ordinary people, experts, and organizations using the futuring methods that we were exposed to during the unfolding of the information in this course.
The future will always be a mystery and unknowable but we can use futuring methods to plan for and affect a future partly of our own making. Richard
Reference:
Alexander, A. & Serfass R. (1999). Futuring Tools for Strategic Quality Planning in Education. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Quality Press.

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I've seen it used often but what does "nnto" stand for?

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Thank you.
And you have a great day, too (and year and life), Richard
P.S. UCO means "you can open" ;-)

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use appendix from ED 7701 and bibliography

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Notes used for ED815:

Cut and Add to this:

PAPER:

The Future of Educational Institutions

and the Relation of the Future to the

Implementation of Direct Democracy

ED 815

The Future of Educational Institutions

Spring 2004

Richard Bloodworth

P.O. Box 78123

Atlanta, GA 30357

RBloodworth99@yahoo.com

Dr. Howard Jacobs

Contents

Abstract

Introduction: Scanning the Environment

Issues of Today and for the Future

The Future and Education

Rationale for Direct Democracy

Futuring Tools

A Vignette of the Future

Trend Extrapolation

The Delphi Technique

Scenario Building

Illustration I - Scenario Building

Futuring Trees

Illustration II - Futuring Tree

Conclusion

Bibliography

Webliography

Websites related to Direct Democracy

Appendix I Curriculum

Appendix II Action Plan

Appendix III Open-Ended Questions for Social Studies and Political Science Teachers

Appendix IV Likert Scale Items Survey for, the Public, Legislators, and Social Studies and Political Science Teachers:

Abstract

Technology and social movements are changing the world educationally, socially, politically, environmentally, economically, and culturally at a rapid pace. The issue of technology is permanent in the sense that technology will always affect how life and educational processes are conducted, however, new technologies are constantly being introduced so that one needs to constantly become acquainted with and trained in new technological techniques so, in that sense, the effects of technology are transitory or temporary. The concepts previously mentioned, since they exist in the realm of ideas (as expressed in Plato's Theory of Forms), are lasting but any manisfestations of them within the physical world are transitory so, for example, the concept of democracy is enduring but the methods of implementing it are temporary as are the tools and applications of technology. An example of the use of new technology is online, distance learning using the World Wide Web, a concept which is the wave of the future in this global information age in which we all reside. This paper explores the future uses of the accelerating growth of technology and the educational system especially for the implementation of direct democracy in the United States of America and in the world.

Introduction: Scanning the Environment and Methods of exploring the Future

One method of examining the future is speculation by futurologists. Some of these are: John Naisbitt (Megatrends, Megatrends 2000, Megatrends Asia), Alvin Toffler (Future Shock, The Third Wave), and Hamish McRae (The World in 2020).

Also the contribution of science fiction writers, artists, and inventors should be mentioned. Science fiction writers such as Jules Verne (television, submarines, space travel), H.G. Wells (social systems, beyond earth communication), Arthur Clarke (satellites), and Mary Shelly (organ transplants) all helped shape the present with their imagination. Also,artists, inventors and imaginative geniuses such as Leonardo da Vinci (airplane, bicycle, etc.) and Thomas Edison (light bulb, phonograph, and motion picture film, cameras, and projectors, etc.) helped move society and technology towards the future as well. These examples could be considered as types of Scenario Planning.

In exploring the future, one area that can not be overlooked is the supernatural. In Asia, on many street corners and in some areas entire sections of a street, there are fortune tellers who reveal or look into a person's future for a fee. They can use tarot cards, palm reading, dreams, thoughts, and numerology to look into the future. Some use crystal balls, interpret prohets or psychics' (such as Nostradamas) enigmatic predictions, and some people might use witchcraft, Ouija Boards, seances, in addition to other methods. People also refer to horoscopes to discover the future or make decisions about the future. In religious approaches, people also pray to have an affect on the future. People can also use superstitious devices such as holding a lucking charm or not engaging in some potentially inauspicious superstitious activities. There are also more random approaches to affecting the future such as gambling or throwing dice. Though many people do not believe in some of these activities, these activities do have an affect on the future since some people -- even some presidents and world leaders -- base some of their decisions about the future on these methods.

Other events or ideas that affect the future are: technology, social movements, religion, attitudes, wars, the economy, health or disease, environmental conditions, and natural and man-made conditions and catastrophes to name a few.
Seven futuring tools mentioned in Futuring Tools for Strategic Quality Planning in Education (1999, Alexander, A. & Serfass R.) are Trend Extrapolation, the Delphi Technique, Morphological Analysis, the Crawford Slip Method, Scenario Planning, Cross-Impact Analysis, and Futuring Trees, all of which should satisfy four criteria of functionality, simplicity, time-
testedness, and interconnectivity.

The Future and Education

In the educational field, one example of the new uses of technology is the use of distance learning using online instruction via the Internet using the invention of the Millennium Technology Prize recipient, Tim Berners-Lee. In addition to technology, issues that impact the living and professional environments are the decentralization of all processes, globalization, and the democratization of society. An example of a new use of technology is online and distance learning which are the wave of the future in this global information age in which we all reside. In addition to technology, issues that impact the living and professional environments are the decentralization of all processes, globalization, and the democratization of society. My interest is in developing, by utilizing the educational system, a system of direct democracy which is essentially having citizens vote directly on legislative issues rather than only electing representatives who can, after elected, vote any way they choose. The implementation of a direct democracy was considered impractical, or not possible, on a large scale, but now with the advent of computer and Internet technology it is possible and feasible.

Thomas Heaney in Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again views adult education as participatory and as a tool for social change where educational progressivism is the modern approach to educating the public. " 'Adult education turns out to be the most reliable instrument for social actionists' since it assures that any action undertaken would be authentically democratic" (Brookfield 1984). Eduard Lindeman, as influenced by John Dewey (Democracy and Education), considers adult education to be intertwined with democracy, social action, and control by people over their daily decisions. To Lindeman, adult education equals social change, a method to create good and productive citizens. Even if education is viewed as a "great selector" rather than a "great equalizer" (p. 4), each person can, as a result of education, find their niche, based on their abilities and merits, within a democratic society. The concept of using the educational system to implement a direct democracy is closely connected with the ideas expressed by Heaney, Miles Horton, Paulo Freire, and Jack Mezirow since their approach is to empower the populace through education in order to create a democratic society. It is necessary to have an educated public in order to have a direct democracy work efficiently so democracy is dependent the educational system to survive and prosper.

Direct democracy is a concept which began in ancient Athens, Greece where all citizens voted directly on legislative issues. In the modern world, direct democracy was considered impractical to implement on a large scale but it is now possible with the advent of computer and Internet technologies. I think some version of what I am proposing will happen in the future since people should determine their own future and methods of government which is, after all, the meaning of democracy even though there is always resistence and skepticism to new ideas -- though beginning 2500 years ago, democracy can hardly be considered a new idea. The same people who are concerned about Internet fraud for voting are probably unconcerned about online banking transactions, which is how practically all funds are transferred nowadays, and the same type of technology can be used in Internet voting. Also, perhaps some legislators feel that their jobs and roles are threatened but my idea involves adding direct democracy to the representative legislatures and not replacing them completely.

Rationale for Direct Democracy

One challenge in the implementation of a direct democracy is the method or curriculum for dispensing the information in cultural institutions such as schools.

Democracy was discussed by Socrates and written about by Plato in Republic, Aristotle in Politics, Machiavelli in The Prince, Locke in Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government, Montesquieu in The Spirit of Laws, Hobbes in Leviathan, Rousseau in The Social Contract, and Thomas Jefferson in his writings. Democracy was first used in Athens, Greece before 500 B.C., where each citizen voted directly on all legislative issues, thereby being a true democracy. Direct participatory democracy was considered impractical before now, primarily because there was no technology to supply it. Now, with computer and Internet technology, there is. Computer and Internet technology can supply the forum for the voting of citizens to occur and schools and community and governmental organizations can supply the knowledge, information, and training for the implementation and continuing use of a direct democracy.

When the United States Constitution was written, the forefathers wrote an all-encompassing and a sweeping document that is still relevant, has stood the test of time, and has withstood the difficulties, controversies, and amendments that have occurred during its existence. But this document was written around 1776 and the society at the time was very different from the society of today. The forefathers, even with all of their foresight and all-inclusiveness were not able to factor in dramatic future changes in technology and, resultingly, in society. They could not have foreseen a future with telephones, radios, televisions, cars, airplanes, jet engines, rockets, computers, the Internet, etc. Now that the new technologies are here and will continue to grow, advance, and be perfected, we need to examine how this affects society, the government, and the Constitution.
In its military campaigns the government of the United States says it wants to promote and protect democracy. But is the United States a democracy? No, it is a republic or a representative democracy. An example of a democracy within the United States federal goverment is the U.S. Congress where the members debate and vote usually for a simple majority to win a case or a referendum or to pass a bill. When a presidential election is held today well over 100 million people can vote. The United States Constitution created the electoral college for, I have heard, several reasons and one of them is to prevent mob rule (but isn't that what democracy is?) or for a government run by the uneducated (though now, most people are receiving high levels of education in comparison with the past of the forefathers). Another possible reason that the electoral college was institutionalized was because, at the time the Constitution was written, if a national election were to be held, tallying the votes would be an almost impossible task. Then, a sack of votes, or the results of local voting, would have to be sent by a messenger riding horseback. Just carrying the votes from California (or Georgia, during the time of the 13 colonies) to Washington, D.C. could take weeks, that is, if they ever got to their destination. Today, we live in a very different world where messages are transmitted instantaneously worldwide via telephones, computers, or the Internet.
My idea is not to eliminate the U.S. Congress as it exists now but to add a new section: the Public Assembly. The passage of a bill would require a majority vote in each of the 3 sections: the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Public Assembly. The difference in the three sections is that the Public Assembly would have many more voters. (A similar concept could be utilized on the state and local levels also). Some might think of the idea as revolutionary but I prefer to call it evolutionary. I think the technology of computers and the Internet is much more revolutionary and what could be more revolutionary and radical than the American Revolutionary War and the accompanying documents of independence? The Iraq War is also revolutionary but it was instigated externally whereas the American Revolution was instigated internally by the local inhabitants who understood the culture in which they lived -- and that is a big difference.
After the 2000 Presidential election, and since the Democratic candidate, Al Gore, got at least 530,000 more of the public's votes, it was surprising that, during the aftermath of that election, there was not a movement, or even a discussion, about a replacement of the Electoral College system but apparently most people seem to be accepting of that system at the present time. Also, the concept of the Public Assembly, would not necessarily exclude the existence of the Electoral College, that is a separate issue and it could be decided at some future time to either modify or eliminate that system. With my described idea it would be possible to retain the Electoral College and still have the Public Assembly. The preferred method of implementation of this idea is to proceed in an evolutionary, gradual, and non-violent way and build the system by avoiding the mistakes of , and building on the successes, of the past.
Basic principles and concepts, such as the laws of physics, are enduring however our interpretation or of their explanations or our theories about them may change over time as well as the methods of implementing some principles. People's attitudes and beliefs as well as technology are always changing, so it can be said the only constant in life is change. As expressed in a Buddhist saying: "you never put your foot into the same river twice." I think the idea of democracy has been constant throughout history but the institutions that implement the principles can be diverse, temporary, or changing. The idea I have presented, the idea of direct democracy, might be thought of as being too new for some people, though it can hardly be said that an idea that originated before 500BC can be thought of as new.

A Curriculum for the Implementation of Direct Democracy:

The curriculum would include the concept that democracy is one of the essential principles to be instilled through the educational system and follow the philosophy of essentialism which states that some trends, topics, or subjects are timeless and universal -- and are therefore essential to learn -- and should always be included in every person's education. The social studies and political science classes would introduce, early in the development of the curriculum -- during the elementary school years -- the first concepts of democracy as government based on the will of and for the good of the people or society. The curriculum would eventually include the history of democracy beginning with ancient Athens, Greece (and before) and its present forms of use today in various countries and institutions and studies of its various methods of execution. Also included in the course curriculum would be computer skills courses since thorough knowledge of computer and Internet usage would be needed to implement and sustain the continuing use of a direct democracy. Once the system is establablished and the procedures for its execution are in place and all of the necessary legislation is passed to secure its structure, procedural content, and continuing existence, the voters, or potential voters (who perhaps would require secured registration, training, and perhaps certification to qualify to vote), would learn how to research and read about issues to be voted on at the local, state, and national levels. Computer tutorials could also be developed to teach the learners how this is done and even provide some practice voting sessions and hypothetical situations to which they can respond.

After, and even before and during the discussion and implementation of a direct democracy system, the most important aspect of creating a system whereby the information and training necessary to maintain a direct democracy is to establish a curriculum, including the methods, institutions, and locations to dispense that information. The information could be dispensed in schools, both public and private, in home schooling situations, on the Internet, in books and magazines, and through commercial, governmental, and community organizations. The most wide-ranging method of disseminating this information would be through the public school system and colleges and universities.

The information could begin at home with the parents reading to their children with early learner books. The curriculum could begin with the pre-kindergarten students by having the students vote for what they like by placing balls into baskets and by showing flash cards showing the most basic ideas involved about the concept of democracy. The curriculum could progress up through the school system through the school system: through kindergarten, elementary, junior high school, high school, then through colleges and universities as well as specialized schools, post-
secondary institutions, and other forms of adult education.

Though the process can begin in part before that time, the proposed plan could take a generation of time to fully implement -- and then it would continue to grow and evolve beyond that -- which may sound like a long time compared to a human life span but is in fact a short time in historical perspective (and unnoticeable in the scale of an astronomical or a geological timeline). For now, this method can be done in conjunction with traditional paper ballots but in a generation of time people will be as familiar computers and Internet technology as your father is now with telephones (or now obsolete typewriters and vinyl records).

Vignette of the Future
From The Revolution Begins with You:
This vignette imagines a rebel superintendent in Arizona in the year 2010 expressing her opinion and approach at a teachers' meeting:
"I'm glad to be here today," she begins. "I have the rules and regulations of this school district in my hand." She uncovers the object on the table and begins feeding the sheets into a paper shredder. "Nothing will stand in the way of learning in this community," she continues. "Before you utter the first 'but,' know that I am prepared to march with you from the school board to the state capitol to Washington to get you what you need, and we will take parents and neighbors with us. If I could give you money today, I would. What I can give you is the authority to start a revolution in your classroom, in every classroom and school, in this community. Name a social challenge, and there is a corresponding expectation that public schools will respond: violence, teen pregnancy, public health issues, and religious intolerance. Public schools are asked to address all these controversial issues and more in an increasingly transparent world where all decisions are subject to public scrutiny".
The term and concept of evolution, rather than revolution, can be used when changes are involved, especially social changes such as changes in the educational system. When change is to occur, a slow and natural growth is always the preferred method rather than a sudden, radical change of events and values, which usually only creates more problems of a different sort (witness the problems that are occurring now and that will continue to occur in Iraq, for example). To disagree with policies and react by destroying documents or, worse, by resorting to violence is usually an uncivilized way of expressing disagreement though at times there can be justification for civil disobedience as was the case with the Boston Tea Party or certain civil rights or anti-war protests especially during the 1960s. Also, sometimes expressing disagreement by following the prescribed channels of procedure is nonproductive or ineffective since those channels are often devised so that no or little change can actually take place and this is particularly true in highly bureaucratic and centralized societies.
The possibility now exists for revolutionary educational reform to occur in Iraq but with the infrastructure and public morale being destroyed daily it would be almost impossible to implement anything such as a new educational system at the present time. First their immediate biological needs would have to be satisfied and the infrastructure built or rebuilt, developed, and continued and then the processes of the educational system could be attended to. All of these processes would need to be considered simultaneously, not one after the other, but the basic needs (in the order of most to least essential of Maslow's hiearchy of needs: physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization) are the most essential of the needs that should be filled. Students in the United States or developed countries might have a fear or dislike of some aspects of school or of taking tests and so on but in Iraq the students and teachers have the additional fear of school for the reason that a bomb could explode there (or anywhere). The expressed and hidden agenda of introducing a new educational system might be to promote democracy and equality in Iraq (which was originally Mesopotamia -- the Cradle of Civilization) and the Middle East but some Islamic fundamentalists think that the hidden agenda is to defeat Islam and replace it with Christianity, making the Iraq War (of 2002 to the present) to them a modern day Crusades.
In Strategies of Change Steven Vago states that planned social change, or social planning, consists of three components: targets, agents, and methods. Targets are the intended recipients of change, agents are the initiators or instigators of the change processes, and methods are how the goals of the change processes are implemented and, if successful, achieved. Change agents influence, promote, and implement innovation. Change methods comprise three broad categories according to Vago. The first are empirical-rational strategies which assume that people are rational and follow their mutually beneficial self-interests. The second are normative-reeducative strategies which state that people must change from antiquated ways to new ones. The third are power-coercive strategies which apply pressure using economic, moral, political, or even physical power or force. I think the empirical-rational should be the first attempted method in all cases with the others being resorted to only if it is determined that, for some reason, the empirical-rational is not effective in a particular situation. Of the three components of social change procedures -- targets, agents, and methods -- the issue of ethics is mostly concerned with the methods used by the agents to affect change in the target group. Effective planned change is change where the desired results of the change agents are achieved. In all cases, the right and civilized way to affect change is through rational, non-violent methods and a violent approach always leads to disaster.
As previously mentioned, technology and social movements are rapidly changing the world in many areas including educationally, socially, politically, environmentally, economically, and culturally. In the educational field, one example of the new uses of technology is the use of distance learning using online instruction via the Internet. In addition to technology, issues that impact the living and professional environments are the decentralization of all processes, globalization, and the democratization of society. In my idea of teaching and implementing the processes of direct democracy in the United States (as is practiced now in Switzerland, for example), the citizens would have a more direct affect on the legislative and governmental policies under which they must live and these changes would occur and progress at a natural pace.

Following are discussions of Trend Extrapolation, the Delphi Technique, Scenario Planning, and Futuring Trees.

Trend Extrapolation

Trend Extrapolation is the "identification, collection, and analysis of past and present trend patterns and their probable impact on the future of an organization" (1999, Alexander, W. & Serfass, R.).

Concerning Trend Extrapolation, several trends that affect society and educational systems come to mind. Some of these trends are:

New technology -- Technology will continue to make the the people and machines of the world function faster and more efficiently but it also has the potential of making the world more dangerous.

Population growth -- one estimate is that the population will continue to increase at a rate of about one billion people every ten years making the population of 6 billion in the present grow to about 11 billion in the year 2050 and this will have an impact on all facets of society.

Decentralization -- The processes of society are becoming decentralized and democratized. This is now possible with new technology and besides making people able to communicate over great distances it also adds a level of security and strength to a population or nation since all of the people and resources are spread around a large area rather than all gathered together into one potential target area.

Globalization -- Travel and communications technology are bringing the world closer together and businesses and organizations are establishing their operations worldwide thus creating a blending of local and foreign (foreign to the local culture, that is) cultures into one new world culture.

Diversification of interests and populations -- People now have access to a wide range of cultural interests, professions, hobbies, and educational opportunities in which they can engage.

Standardization of services -- In order to assure the above mentioned efficiency of technology, labor intensive processes will become more standardized

Henry Ford used the idea of an assembly line, called Fordism, where every worker was essentially equal but performed a specialized function in the production process and F.W. Taylor (1949) studied a lateral, rather than top-down, system of production, with labor being distributed in a lateral net-work rather than a hierarchy.

A. Chandler's study "Strategy and Structure (1962) shed light on the American corporation, focusing on General Motors (headed by A. Sloan in the 1930s) and du Pont. Chandler analysed the defects of the centralised, functionally departmentalised structure and argued that the bigger a company grows, the more inefficient a hierarchy gets because the management can no longer deal with the increasing complexity of coordinating people. He concluded that decentralization will flourish, as it allows large companies to establish an organizational platform for better communication and co-ordination." (Dafermos, 2001). As a result of this trend, responsibilities within large organizations will be distributed into a series of groups and sub-groups all the way "down" to the individual.

With computers, telephones, and other communication and travel technologies it is no longer necessary to put everyone in a company or organization in the same building or location thus physically decentralizing organizations. Relative security from terrorism is another justification for decentralization. The events of September, 11, 2001 showed us that it is putting many people together in one spot creates a potential target for terrorists. The same argument can be made concerning cities too so that populations will begin to span out all around they countyside thus providing that much more security against any sort of 9-11 attack.

Democratization occurs not only through the ballot box of politics but also in social attitudes and in the capitalization of a free market society where each consumer or potential customer "votes" for a particular product or service with his or her money. Even China is becoming more economically privatized and capitalistic.

Concerning democratization, some, such as many people in the Asian countries, find some aspects of democracy (such as political campaigns) distasteful and undignified. Also, I think some their thinking goes along the lines of: "You wouldn't want an untrained person to pilot your airplane or perform surgery on you, would you?" So I think they think of people running the government as pilots of the "airplane" or ship of a nation and would not want untrained, unqualified people elected by the public running a government. I think some areas of governmental policy need to be determined by experts (but how are those experts to be selected?) -- but elected legislators are not expert in all areas either. I think some issues would need to be screened, examined, and written about by expert committees -- these are usually people university-educated in specificialized subjects -- and their policies voted on by a consortium of peers educated within that particular field but other issues can be decided on by the voting public and some issues by certified voters. Guidelines would need to be established (ay, there's the rub) to determine into which categories the issues to be decided on are to be placed.

The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory article, Policy Issue Scanning -- Emerging Policy Issues mentions the trend toward standardization of curricula (but the customization of methods) and the availability of education to all and the assurance that every student is to receive at least a basic education and it mentions that "customized learning could be the counterrevolution to this current emphasis on standards-based education." The article recognizes a trend toward customized learning which can accommodate different rates and styles of student learning so that individualized learning plans can accommodate different rates and styles of student learning and the use of technology-enabled learning platforms, such as online courses, that connect students to options and resources beyond their classrooms.
The article includes a definition of the phrase "emerging issue" and how one is to scan for signs of an emerging issue so that a good seed can be grown and a bad seed can be either not planted or nipped even prior to becoming a bud. There is also a discussion as to how to initiate a strategic discussion about the future. In inititiating change, the article suggests to think about "customizing and expanding learning opportunities", of schools as living systems, and of schools within social and historical context. The article asks: "What signs of leadership do you already see emerging in response to these issues?" and "What conditions would favor this leadership flourishing?"
In responding to possible future scenarios, the article lists three main issues that have emerged: quality, technology, and equality. This involves supplying quality education to all and the use of technology, such as online courses, to achieve this.
Quality -- Impacts of Choice in Education. This also is through the use of technology and access and students will in the future have a wide range of choices with which to achieve their own goals and ultimately their self-actualization.
Technology -- Relation of Education to Social Change. This involves the general decentralization of society and of the educational system and the use of the educational system for the democratization of society and for positive social change and reform.
Equality -- Provocative Ideas in the Present
.

The Delphi Technique
The Delphi Technique is "a multi-step systematic process for extracting expert intuitive expectations of alternative futures" (1999, Alexander, W. & Serfass, R.) through the use of a series of expert panels.

The Delphi Technique alludes somewhat to the issue of fortune telling that I referred to in a previous discussion area but in this case the fortune telling, or guessing, is done by panels of experts. The term Delphi Technique refers to the perhaps mythical psychic forecaster of ancient Greece from the Greek mountain temple city of Delphi. The difference is that the oracle there, during those times, obtained the information through divine connection or introspection whereas the expert panels derive their information through educated guessing and speculation.
The Delphi Technique could also be considered as similar to a jury in a court of law or a jury of judges in a juried event such as an art show or a sports event. However, the difference is that a jury in a court of law is more or less a random collection of judges who are not specialists and who are not necessarily a jury of peers -- as they are often purported to be -- whereas a panels of experts are trained and experienced within a particular discipline or area of study. The panel of experts can try to not only foresee the future but also can suggest guidelines to be used with which to arrive at a desired future goal and suggest ways of avoiding potential pitfalls.The Delphi procedure involves a series of discussions and questionnaires, some of which can be anonymous, to obtain information from which decisions are made, conclusions are drawn, and forecasts are developed.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2004) definition of "expert" is "one with the special skill or knowledge representing mastery of a particular subject". Though there might be some semantic variations of the term I don't think that definition includes vision or imagination though there may be some individuals, such as the ones you mentioned, that are expert and visionary. The visual arts, writing, and leadership (and others, including music) can have people who function at an expert level but the the great practioners of the arts would have what could be referred to as talent (or genius if they achieve a level or insight beyond that which has been previously achieved) and the experts in those areas mostly -- mostly -- would perform analytical, theoretical, or historical research functions related to those disciplines and a few of those might also be practitioners of those mentioned disciplines.

We are today still concerned with the issues such as genetic engineering (cloning and stem cell research), climate change (global warming including the new movie about the subject, The Day After Tomorrow), germ warfare (al-Qaida and others), and how the countries of India and China were working to create nuclear weapons (we are still concerned about nuclear weapons in these countries as well as the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and North Korea, among others). Unfortunately, much of the weapons of mass destruction information concerning the middle east was obtained via word of mouth from defectors from those countries rather than from experts so more expert knowledge could have been used in those pursuits. There are also ethical issues associated with entrusting experts with potentially harmful information such as what occurred recently, in Pakistan where it was revealed that the head nuclear scientist there had been selling nuclear material, technology, and technological information to various governments including Iran and North Korea over the past several years.
Expert scientists and scholars generally base their thoughts on history and on their collective knowledge and experience within their field of expertise. However, experts are generally regarded for the above mentioned values and not for their imagination or visions of the future and they generally tend to mention what can not be done rather than what can or should be done based on precedents and their knowledge of history within their field.
Experts should be highly regarded within the fields of their endeavors and they are repositories of relevant information within the field of their expertise and they are expert mostly in the areas of history and factual information. An expert should be highly educated -- usually educated within a formal educational setting but also, possibly, within an empirical or experiential environment -- within the field of their expertise. The experts, however, are generally not known for their imagination, innovation, and creativity, and that is where the ordinary citizens, as well as visionaries, artists, writers, and the like, come into play as they can submit ideas for the experts' scrutiny for plans for the best possible future for the most people. This process also demonstrates the value of democracy, the Internet, and other new technologies. If two heads are better than one then how much better are 6 billion heads (or selecting from 6 billion heads)? A good future might include some factor of luck, or being in the right place at the right time, but more often than not, it is the result of careful planning and the systematic execution of those plans. So experts and scientists, in concert with other sources, can play a vital role in guiding -- if not predicting -- the present towards a desirable future.
My idea of proposing and developing a direct democracy system would involve continuous panels of experts and this could be considered a type of a Delphi method. The previously mentioned extrapolated trends (new technology, population growth, decentralization, globalization, diversification of interests and populations, and standardization of services) would be incorporated into the future plan development process. After, and even before and during the discussion and implementation of a direct democracy system, the most important aspect of creating a system whereby the information and training necessary to maintain a direct democracy is realized, is to establish a curriculum -- including the methods, institutions, and locations -- to dispense that information. The information could be dispensed in schools, both public and private, in home schooling situations, on the Internet, in books and magazines, and through commercial, governmental, and community organizations. The most wide-ranging method of disseminating this information would be through the public school system and colleges and universities.
The concept would involve exploring what methods have been used previously to establish direct democracies (which are defined as the public voting directly on issues rather than through elected representatives who can, after being elected, vote any way they choose.), the history of democracy beginning with ancient Greece, and establishing a curriculum to be used to teach the principles and techniques of direct democracy in schools -- primarily through social studies and political science classes. This could be achieved through a series of discussions, panels, and questionnaires involving a wide variety of stake holders and educated experts within given fields. The surveys and questionnaires could be given to the general public, politicians, and specialists within specified areas. Concerning how to introduce, implement, develop, and sustain a direct democracy by utilizing the educational system, the process would involve obtaining ideas from social studies and political science teachers for developing a curriculum. One approach would be to send an emailed questionnaire to Social Studies and Political Science teachers in public and private schools who teach levels from kindergarten to the twelfth grade and to those who teach in the post-secondary and adult education learning environments. The questionnaire could contain closed-ended and open-ended questions in addition to a blank suggestion space at the end of the questionnaire where the instructors can add any thoughts that they may have on the subject.
As the concept of direct democracy develops, and as it comes into daily use, there would constantly be the need for the advice of expert opinion. In areas of specialized knowledge, in medicine for example, governmental policies would need to be derived from experts within those areas and those ideas could be exchanged though the procedures of the Delphi Technique.
The process could be used for each of the above-mentioned areas of development and for the maintenance of a system of direct democracy but the initial example of a survey of teachers is mentioned here:
Select a Team:
This would be a team of educators and government workers
Identify the Main Issue:
How to teach the history, concepts, and procedures of direct democracy in schools and alternative methods.
Develop a Questionnaire:
Suggestions for questions are submitted by a collection of authors.
Select a Panel of Experts:
A panel of governmental and educational experts selects the questions for the questionnaires.
First-Round Survey (Appendixes III and IV) and Tally:
These are collected from paper and emailed surveys
Second-Round Survey and Tally
Third-Round Survey and Tally
Interpret the Results:
These are interpreted by the initial team, the panel of experts, and a third panel formed for the purpose of interpreting the results.
Scenario Planning
Scenario Planning is "a process for developing stories or a likely series of events that provide probable futures for the purposes of decision making" (1999, Alexander, W. & Serfass, R.)
Four possible future societal scenarios are listed below:
Scenario 1: eastern-style hierarchal, Confucian democracy
Scenario 2: totalitarianism, communism
Scenario 3: direct democracy
Scenario 4: representative democracy
<INSERT SCENARIO BUILDING PDF HERE>
Futuring Trees

A futuring tree provides "a process for connecting an organization's future state with its present state through a network of pathways working from the future to the present. (1999, Alexander, W. & Serfass, R.).
<ADD FUTURING TREE PDF ILLUSTRATION HERE>

Conclusion

One idea that should be considered concerning looking into the future is that if someone really had the ability to see the future, or if they could ride in H.G. Well's Time Machine, and if they saw something horrible, catastrophic, or tragic -- as far as human occurances are concerned -- then they would be tormented by the fact that nothing could be done to alter the foreseen future, otherwise, if they could change the course of events to prevent the horrible foreseen future, then what they saw was not the future. Futuring can also involve exploring possible, multiple future scenarios (I just returned from seeing a movie, The Butterfly Effect, which explores the idea of multiple histories on a personal level). It might be best, as mentioned in the scenario building and futuring tree sections, to suggest possible futures and then do what needs to be done to achieve the desired future goal.
Concerning the implementation of a direct democracy: democracy was discussed by Socrates and written about by Plato in Republic, Aristotle in Politics, Machiavelli in The Prince, Locke in Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government, Montesquieu in The Spirit of Laws, Hobbes in Leviathan, Rousseau in The Social Contract, and Thomas Jefferson in his writings. Democracy was first used in Athens, Greece before 500 B.C., where each citizen voted directly on all legislative issues, thereby being a true democracy. Direct participatory democracy was considered impractical before now, primarily because there was no technology to supply it. Now, with computer and Internet technology, there is. Computer and Internet technology can supply the forum for the voting of citizens to occur and schools and community and governmental organizations can supply the knowledge, information, and training for the implementation and continuing use of a direct democracy.

The book, Futuring Tools for Strategic Quality Planning in Education, describes seven futuring tools -- Trend Extrapolation, the Delphi Technique, Morphological Analysis, the Crawford Slip Method, Scenario Planning, Cross-Impact Analysis, and Futuring Trees -- which, to be effective, should satisfy criteria of functionality, simplicity, time-testedness, and interconnectivity. The future can be looked into by psychics, dreamers, visionaries, and artists and it can be planned by ordinary people, experts, and organizations using the above described futuring methods.
The future will always be a mystery and unknowable but we can use futuring methods to plan for and affect a future partly of our own making.

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SekretariatProf.grat. University of St. Gallen. Retrieved May 12, 2004 from <http://www.sgzz.ch/home/links/scenplan.htm>

Smyre, Rick. (2002). Democracy in a Learning Mode. from the South Carolina Export Consortium. Retrieved on April 5, 2004 from <http://tartan.communitiesofthefuture.org/articles/cotf-plwb-11b.html>
Workshop for the Delphi Technique. (2004). Retrieved on April 5, 2004 from <http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/articles4/workshop_for_the_delphi_techniqu.htm>

http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/ed410176.html. This site involves global trends in civic education for democracy and explores the instruction of core concepts and comparative analyses of democratic systems worldwide and the development of participatory skills for the implementation of democratic processes.

http://www.civiced.org/articles_indonesia.html. This site discusses global trends in civic education procedures and effectiveness of civic education as practiced in Indonesia.

http://www.bf.rmit.edu.au/kgeiselhart/e-_democracy_resources_.htm This site by Steven Clift lists links and references to e-democracy and e-government.

http://faculty.washington.edu/stkerr/ethb94.htm This site is from the Handbook of Research on Educational Technology. This chapter, Toward a Sociology of Educational Technology is by Stephen T. Kerr of the University of Washington and describes the development and use of technology in education and its sociological implications.

http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/may01/geiselhart1.htm In the article, Teaching Technology to Share, Karin Geiselhart discusses technology, education, and democracy in the information age.
<http://www.cpre.org/Publications/rb05.pdf> An article referring to decentralization in society and in education mostly from the Center for Policy Research in Education (CPRE).
<http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130685/?> This site involves E-government and E-
democracy issues worldwide.
<http://www.enc.org/focus/partners/document.shtm?input=FOC-001876-index> Online lesson plans, student activities, and teacher learning tools from the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education (ENC).
<http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/trowler/links.htm> A list of links, websites, and resources related to educational research provided by Lancaster University of the U.K.
<http://web.wested.org/online_pubs/po-00-03.pdf> An article concerning educational funding from WestEd (wested.org).
Websites pertaining to democracy:

http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130619/?page_id=3647 (worldwide egovernment)

http://thomas.loc.gov/ ( the proceedings of the U.S. Congress and egovernment development)
http://egov.mit.gov.in/ (egovernment in India)

http://www.abc.net.au/ola/citizen/interdemoc/republic.htm

http://www.veritasdigital.com/ad_online/participatory.html

http://www.cpsu.org.uk/downloads/Modernising%20Background.pdf

http://www.publicus.net/ebook/

http://www.mail-archive.com/do-wire@tc.umn.edu/msg00045.html

http://policy.womenspace.ca/activities/brainstorm/policy/

http://www.analysphere.com/21Oct00/democracy.htm

http://www.statskontoret.se/gol-democracy/links/Popular/

http://www.itac.ca/client/ITAC/ITAC_UW_MainEngine.nsf/object/Imperative/$file/Agnew.pdf

http://www.one2one.co.nz/edemocracy.html

http://www.politics.tcd.ie/courses/undergrad/bcc/portal/egovernance.html

http://www.internetnz.net.nz/members/lists/isocnz-council-tidbits/2000-August/000012.html

http://www.flaxroots.net.nz/2000/papers/2000-PaulHughes.html

http://www.context.co.nz:8080/newsItems/viewDepartment$Participatory+Democracy

http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/00/dec/scott.html

http://www.diverdiver.com/2003_03_07_diverdiver_archive.html

http://www.democracy-online.org/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8287-2003Feb26

http://lists.essential.org/1995/info-policy-notes/msg00137.html

http://mondediplo.com/1998/12/03bensaid (third way government)

http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/topic/politics.html (online voting)

http://lone-eagles.com/democracy.htm (list of related links and sources)

http://www.democracy-online.org/ (another list of related links and sources)

http://egov.mit.gov.in/ (egovernment development in India)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/greekdemocracy_01.shtml

http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/UG/ugunits0102/rousseau.html

http://www.wabash.edu/Rousseau/WorksonWeb.html

http://www.sosig.ac.uk/roads/subject-listing/World-cat/philpol.html

http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Poli/PoliFeld.htm

http://www.bu.edu/wcp/MainPoli.htm

http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Poli/PoliBuch.htm

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/locke/locke2/2nd-contents.html

http://www.sosig.ac.uk/roads/subject-listing/World-cat/demgovt.html

http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/32871

http://www.radford.edu/~wkovarik/class/300/300pix/300.ideas.html

http://teachers.ausd.net/antilla/philolinks.html

http://plato.stanford.edu

http://www.rep.routledge.com/index.html

http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/Dept/journals.html

http://www.bris.ac.uk/DeptsPhilosophy/Dept/Links.htm

http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/VL/index.html

http://web.mit.edu/polisci/www/research/goodness.html

http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff0600.htm

http://www.anova.org/

http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130619/?page_id=3647

http://www.pdemokracie.ecn.cz/cs/doc/Statut-ang.doc

http://edemocracy.meetup.com/members/878

http://dmoz.org/Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy/

http://www.dominion-web.com/directory/Top/Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy

http://www.free-project.org/connect/links/

http://www.election.com/

http://www.votehere.net/

http://www.lib.ied.edu.hk/edarticle/civic.htm

http://edu.uwe.ac.uk/cred/bibliographic/papers.asp

http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/Research/ElectronicDemocracy/voting.htm

http://www.louiseferguson.com/resources/evoting.htm

http://web.mit.edu/voting/

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2001/voting2.html

Appendix I

A Curriculum for the Implementation of Direct Democracy:

Following is a possible curriculum that could be revised, amended, and expanded to accommodate changing instructional requirements and changing new technology as well as changing and evolving informational content:

Pre-kindergarten: Flash cards with pictures depicting basic concepts and people and places associated with democracy. Voting by raising hands, clapping, shouting, or placing balls in a basket to show what they like as shown from pictures of the objects (such as apples, cake, hamburgers, lemons, music, etc.)

Kindergarten: Vote by placing softball size balls in a container. Flash cards with pictures and words of basic concepts of democracy.

First grade: Vote by placing ping pong balls in a container. Vote by writing letters. Flash cards with words of leaders of history, places and events associated with democracy. Elect students for class duties for each student such as erasing the board, closing the windows, turning off lights, sweeping, etc. These duties can be rotated monthly.

Second grade: Vote by writing letters, numbers, and then names.

Third grade: Vote by writing names of the students and of objects voted on. For instance, for the question What do you like? the students write what they like such as "ice cream", etc. Eventually, sentences are used.

Fourth grade: Vote for class officers and class duties. Students write sentences on what they want to vote for and why. Read political news for children in Weekly Reader, Yahoo Kids' page, etc. Draw pictures and write paragraphs about democracy in the U.S.

Fifth grade: Vote for class officers and class duties. Voting by printed forms or writing names of people or objects voted on. Introduction of the early history of democracy, around 500B.C. in Athens, Greece. Draw pictures about fora in ancient Greece. Read Political news in Weekly Reader, Yahoo Kids' news, some newspapers and read about the history and practices of democracy in the students' social studies text books.

Sixth grade: Vote for class officers with ballots. Introduction to computers, software, using the Internet for searching and researching information, introduction to Internet for voting. Write essays and draw pictures about democracy, history related to democracy, and political topics in the U.S. and the world.

Seventh grade: Vote for class officers and duties with computer and Internet technology. Study issues to be voted on. Vote for issues of the past. Vote for some current issues. Write essays on democracy, history, political topics, current invents, and new ideas of how society should be constructed. Read the Declaration of Independence and a summarized version of the United States Constitution. Memorize some quotations associated with democracy.

Eighth grade: Polical Science and History readings and discussions about direct democracy. Magazine articles, newspaper articles, and Internet searches about direct democracy. Find an international pen pal to discuss direct democracy with via the Internet.

Ninth grade: High school clubs established: Democracy Club; Political Science Club; Political Philosophy; clubs for Democrats, Republicans, Green Party, Independents, etc. Develop Internet surveys to find public opinion on various topics. Find books and articles about direct democracy and write reports on them.

Tenth grade: Civics discussion of the responsibilities of the voting citizens. U. S. History and Democracy. U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence. Terminology relevant to democracy explored, direct democracy explained, duties and responsibilities of the voters. Computer voting Tutorial I.

Eleventh grade: Learn to vote via the computer and Internet. World History of Democracy. Discussion and essays about forms of government throughout history. Continue corresponding with your international pen pal and ask your pen pal to find an additional join your correspondence group to have three way discussions. Find one additional penpal to correspond with via the Internet and discuss all current event topics including direct democracy. Summarized readings of Plato's Republic and the Politics by Aristotle. Read and write essays on Democracy and Education by John Dewey and the Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau. Computer voting Tutorial II.

Twelfth grade: Vote via the Internet. Vote on current and historical national and international issues. Direct democracy procedures examined, explained, discussed. Political Philosophy and duties of and preparation for the voting public. Discussions comparing representative and direct democracy, totalitarianism, Marxism, capitalism, and socialism. Read and write essays on: Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum, and Recall by Thomas Cronin; Direct Democracy in Switzerland by Gregory Fossedal; Elections in Cyberspace by Anthony Corrado and Charles Firestone and more essays on Democracy and Education by John Dewey. Computer Voting Tutorial III.

----

Online tutorials:

The history of democracy

The philosophy of democracy

Glossary of terminology related to democracy and government

Naigating the computer and Internet for online voting

Computer Voting Tutorial I, II, III

Voting on Referendums, Initiatives, Elections for representatives, and Recalls

Preparation for certificate for a voting member of the Public Assembly

Writing and submitting legislation

Links, resources, publications, and organizations concerning direct democracy

Technical skills for the use of the computer and the Internet related to direct democracy

Below are listed university, post-secondary, adult, online courses, some of which are required, in addition to taking the certificate exams, to become a voting member of the (newly created) public legislature or Public Assembly. One certificate is for the local level, one for the state level, and one for the national level (laws and and an amendment would need to be enacted to create such a voting body). The certificate would require at least a high school education or a recognized equivalent, for the person to be a registered voter, All registered voters are able to vote in initiatives, referendums, elections, and recalls but the Public Legislature would require a licensed certificate, similar to obtaining a driver's license or a specialist's license, renewable periodically with minor exams, to become a non-elected member of the Third House of Congress, which will count for 1/3 of the votes of the United States Congress.

University, college, online, and adult courses (with majors in political science with an emphasis on direct democracy and related subjects, some required for a voting certificate):

The growth and development of direct democracy

Writing and submitting legislatives bills for a direct democracy

Topics covered in the voting certificate exams

Designing instructional material for direct democracy

The procedures for voting in a direct democracy

Political philosophy and direct democracy

The use of direct democracy in Switzerland

Procedures and precedents for amending the U.S.Constitution

The world history and use of direct democracy

The use of direct democracy in governments and organizations worldwide

Referendum, Intiative, Election, and Recall

Methods of informing the public on legislative and di d issues

Security issues of online voting

The governmental structure for direct democracy

Theories and use of democracy

University, advanced and adult learner reading list for courses in direct democracy:

Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again (1996) by Thomas Heaney.

The Americans: The Democratic Experience (1974) by Boorstin, Daniel J. Boorstin.

America's Crisis: The Direct Democracy and Direct Education Solution (2000) by D. B. Jeffs and V. Hugo.

Aristotle and Xenophon on Democracy and Oligarchy (1975) by J. M. Moore.

Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project (2001) by the California Institute of Technology and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation.

Citizens As Legislators: Direct Democracy in the United States (1998) by Bowler, S., Donovan, T. & Tolbert, C.

Civic Participation and Community Action Sourcebook: A Resource for Adult Educators by A. Nash.

Collected Writings of Thomas Jefferson.

A Constitution of Direct Democracy : Pure Democracy and the Governance of the Future ~ Locally and Globally (2000) by Michael Noah Mautner.

The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World (2000) by S.R. Anderson & P. Ray.

The Communicative Ethics Controversy (1990) by S. Benhabib and F. Dallmayr.

Democracy: Real and Ideal, Discourse Ethics and Radical Politics (1999) by Ricardo Blaug.

Demanding Choices: Opinion, Voting, and Direct Democracy (2001) by Bowler, S, & Donovan, T.

Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (1997) by John Dewey.

Democracy and Education and Prospects for Democracy (1994) by N. Chomsky.

Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City (2000) by E. F. Isin.

Democracy in America (2000) by Alexis de Tocqueville.

Democracy in the Digital Age : Challenges to Political Life in Cyberspace (2000) by Anthony G. Wilhelm.

Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case Study (2001) by John MacNamara.

Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum & Recall (1999) by Thomas E. Cronin.

Direct Democracy in Switzerland (2002) by Gregory A. Fossedal.

Direct Democracy or Representative Government?: Dispelling the Populist Myth (2000) by John Haskell.

The Economist: A better way to vote: Why letting the people themselves take the decisions is the logical next step for the West (1993) by Brian Needham.

Electronic Democracy: Using the Internet to Transform American Politics (2002) by Browning, G. & Powell, A.C.

Electronic Media and Technoculture (2000) by John Thornton Caldwell.

E-Democracy, E-Governance, and Public Net-Work (2003) by Steven Clift.

Elections in Cyberspace: Toward a New Era in American Politics (1997) A. Corrado & C.M. Firestone.

E-democracy in Practice: Swedish Experiences of a New Political Tool (2001) by T. Rosen.

Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks (2002) by Russell Smith.

Electronic Voting -- Evaluating the Threat (1993) by M. I. Shamos.

Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government by John Locke.

E-topia (2000) by William J. Mitchell.

The Examined Life (2000) by Stanley Rosen.

The Future of Teledemocracy (2000) by T. Becker & C.D. Slaton.

The Handbook of Qualitative Research (2000) by J. Frow & M. Morris, M. (2000).

Leviathan (1998) by Thomas Hobbes.

Megatrends 2000 (1996) by J. Naisbitt and Aburdene P.

The New Challenge of Direct Democracy (1997) by Ian Budge.

New Schools for a New Century (1997) by Diane Ravitch and Joseph P. Viteritti.

Political Parties and Constitutional Government: Remaking American Democracy (1999) by S. M. Milkis.

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli.

Republic (1998) by Plato.

Rethinking Democracy and Education: Towards an Education of Deliberative Citizens (2000) by T. Englund.

The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The Spirit of Laws by Montesquieu.

Stealing the Initiative: How State Government Responds to Direct Democracy (2000) by E. R. Gerber, A. Lupia, M. D. McCubbins & D. R. Kiewiet.

Technoscience and Cyberculture (1996) by S. Aronowitz, B. Martinsons, M. Menser, and J. Rich.

The Third Wave (1984) by Alvin Toffler.

United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers.

Virtual Environmental Citizenship: Web-Based Public Participation in Rulemaking in the U.S. (2003) by Schlosberg, D.

The World in 2020: Power, Culture, and Prosperity (1994) by Hamish McRae.

Appendix II:

A Proposal for Creating the Third House of Congress: the Public Assembly

for the Creation of a National Democracy in the United States of America

Richard Bloodworth

Phase 1 (3 to 10 years):

Debate and Introduction to the Concept

Discussions and committees formed

Brain storming and think tank groups developed

Petitions and letters, email, talk shows, TV, radio campaigns

Public education of the concept

Readings and discussions in schools and universities about democracy

Concepts related to direct democracy discussed and read about in schools

Writers and Artists commissioned

Software conceptualizing

Books and magazine articles are printed on the subject

Funding and economic issues are discussed

Funds raised

A suggestion hotline is established

An official website is created

Phase 2 (2 years):

Organizing and structuring of the voting methods and procedures

Curriculum developed for public schools and universities

Development of the Government Structure

Legal Documents developed

Constitutional amendment first draft written

Various committees appointed

Local referendums held

.

Phase 3 (3 years):

All of the above activities continue (website, etc.)

Trial period when the procedures are developed, refined and the first results used as an opinion

polling collection device.

Educating the public on the procedures involved

Curriculum about direct democracy initiated for public schools and universities

First trials are done locally, first city, then county, then state, then national levels

During this period suggestions and changes are made

Software is developed

Security issues addressed

Computer and software bugs are worked out

Initial voting centers are established, these can be adjacent to post offices

Participants (initial voters) are assigned temporary voter registration numbers and passwords,

etc. chosen. The voter registration numbers are assigned through the voting centers.

Phase 4 (3 years):

Voting Centers are established nationwide

Voter registration numbers are established partly containing a social security number.

Voting Centers have the bills and plans to be voted on in booklet form and posted on the walls

and these bills and plans are also available online for perusal and study.

The voter registration numbers, including a social security number, are assigned through the

voting centers in a way similar to registering to vote and passwords are chosen. (Voters

are given up to 3 days to edit or change their submissions when voting)

The opinion poll collection system continues using the online voting system

Strict felony laws against Internet abuse or direct voting fraud with severe penalties and punishments

are passed by the legislature.

Phase 5 (Continuing):

Voters are able to connect to the voting system via the Internet with their own computers, or

continue to vote through the Voting Centers, and become voting members of the 3rd

House of Congress, the Public Assembly according to U.S. federal law and also of

state, county, and city governments as laws of each state allow.

In the future, computers will be as standard as telephones and everyone with a telephone will

have a computer with which they can cast there votes and then the United States government will

become a truly participatory government of democracy.

Appendix III

Open-Ended Questions for Social Studies and Political Science Teachers:

The below are some sample questions are in the form of open-ended questions that can be

answered with essay type answers:

How has direct democracy been practiced in other countries and institutions and how effective has it

been?

How can the educational system participate in the implementation of a direct democracy utilizing

Internet and computer technology?

How can direct democracy be introduced and taught in Social Studies and Political Science courses?

How can a constitutional amendment be proposed?

How can the reliability of Internet voting be assessed?

How can the privacy and security of voters be assured?

How can the public be informed of issues to be voted on?

How can the voters register their votes via the Internet or computer?

How can the public be made aware of the safety and limitations of direct democracy?

How can the public be made aware of the roles and duties of citizens in a democracy?

How can the public be made aware of the philosophy and history of democracy?

An example of how one of the sample questions could be answered:

-- How can a Constitutional amendment be proposed?

Constitutional amendments are permanent additions to the Constitution, though they can be

counter amended as was the case with the Prohibition amendment, that require a 2/3 vote from both

houses of the Congress and therefore very difficult to obtain. There have been twenty seven

Constitutional Amendments with the most recent being in 1992 which involved no Congressional self

salary increases while the legislators are in their terms. The twelfth Amendment concerning changing the

method of electing the president of the United States using the Electoral College was added in 1803

after the first ten Amendments, the Bill of Rights, were added in 1791.

Appendix IV

An Example of a Likert Scale Item Survey that could be Sent to Social Studies and Political Science Teachers:

These closed-ended items can be responded to with linear scale responses (strongly disagree

to strongly agree, or don't know):

Direct democracy been practiced in other countries and institutions and has been effective

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The educational system should participate in the implementation of a direct democracy utilizing Internet

and computer technology.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

Direct democracy should be introduced and taught in Social Studies and Political Science courses.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

A Constitutional amendment should be proposed creating a direct democracy system in the United

States.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The Internet is a reliable method of voting.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The voters have complete privacy and security

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

.The public can be informed of issues to be voted on.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The voters could easily register their votes via the Internet or computer.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The public should be made aware of the safety using the Internet for direct democracy.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The public should be made aware of the limitations of direct democracy.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The public should be made aware of the roles and duties of citizens in a democracy.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The public should be made aware of the philosophy and history of democracy.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

Some other possible questions that could be used as Likert scale items are:

Do you think the United States is a democracy now?

Do you think Direct Democracy or people voting directly on legislative issues is a good idea?

Do you think adequate technology exists today for direct democracy?

Do you think adequate education, information, and training can be given to citizens for them to vote as

legislators?

Do you think interest for direct democracy would be maintained by the public?

Do you think that eventually a new branch of Congress could be formed by the voting citizens?

Do you think the people's voting branch of Congress could be used first as an opinion collection

device?

Do you think citizens and students should study for and take examinations in order to receive

certification in order to qualify as a voting member of a legislature in a direct democracy?

Should the public schools provide education and training for citizens to function as voting members of a

direct democracy system of government?

--

Hello Howard,

Attached is the ED 815 Course Project.

Thank you for guiding us through the interesting information of this course. Richard

P.S. Please let me know when you receive this.

--

u10d1 comment to Greg

I think everyone likes the futuring tree concept for the same reason that they like the visual, graphical, and understandable information contained within maps to guide them toward a destination. Richard

--

Howard's comments on my final course paper:

Hello, Richard:

I hope this finds you well. I was able to put in more time last night and today than anticipated and therefore was able to review your final paper for 815, about the Implementation of Direct Democracy.

It always made me "crazy" when my graduate school instructors commented on the format of my paper rather than the content. Therefore I do want to say that I will first be commenting on format and then make sure to address the content.

While, perhaps, at the lower end of the thinking continuum, deviations in format from APA style is something that will hurt all learners. My interest is that each learner does well in this class but also has the tools to be successful in completing the program and, in particular, the dissertation. Your paper was well written and clearly presented. In future papers, please consider the following:

When you type, papers in the future please make sure to use a specified type size

-- usually Times Roman 12 point

Also, APA does not allow for the use of bold-face terms.

I thought you did a wonderful job of integrating each of the sections of the assignments that we worked on during the quarter. Your introduction set the context of the problem. I very much liked your point about those who may oppose these ideas on the grounds of fearing Internet fraud probably do most of their banking on line. Of course the last election also showed how error (if nor fraud) prone the current system is.

Jefferson and many of the other founding fathers who wrote the Constitution did not trust the "common man." That is one reason they tried to make land ownership a requirement for voting. They may have felt that only those with a vested interest would take the time to consider the issues wisely. This, of course, ignores the very real possibility that they were trying to restrict voting to people who thought the way they did.

On the other hand, I believe it was also Jefferson who said (words to the effect) that people get the government they deserve. So, while I question whether or not Americans have the attention span to pay attention to anything longer than a 10-second sound bite, it would be hard to argue on philosophical grounds, given the existing technology, that we should not be moving towards direct democracy.

The public schools have many times become a battle ground over social issues that are present in our society (Brown vs. Georgia; the recent suit about the inclusion of "under God in the Pledge of Allegiance) as well as content/curricular issues that have to do with politics than education (evolution, federally mandated testing). The move towards direct participatory democracy would truly make schools a "interesting place" to be - as long as one was equipped with flack jackets. This may help to highlight what people such as Postman have been contending for years - that we do not have an educational system in this country we have a political system attempting to deliver an education.

The information you included in the Appendix is much appreciated. There are many good resources listed there. I also appreciated all of your efforts in the CourseRoom and the support you provided to your classmates. When the final grades are submitted at the end of this quarter you will find an "A" to reflect your efforts on your paper and in this course.

I appreciated all of your efforts in the CourseRoom and the support you provided to your classmates. When the final grades are submitted at the end of this quarter you will find an "A" to reflect your efforts on your paper and in this course.

I try to provide learners with feedback about work and grades as a matter of learning and courtesy. However, Capella has asked us NOT to tell learners their final grades before the quarter officially comes to an end. This is not a matter of "secrecy" as much as a matter of timing. Many times, as in this case, we know the grade before they are posted and learners call in to ask for transcripts before grades have been posted. Therefore, I am asking you not to call or contact Capella about the grade in this class until the grades are posted (you will get an e-mail) on June 23rd. If, for some reason, you need an official transcript before that date, please contact me so I can make special arrangements with Capella.

I have enjoyed working with you and hope that our paths cross again.

Sincerely, --Howard Jacobs

Howard R. Jacobs, Ph.D.

"We live in our imaginations, settings more symbolic than concrete."

--

my response:

Howard,

Thank you for your insightful response. Concerning the form of the paper, I'll use 12 point next time but I thought I would try to make the paper not too bulky. And I thought that using Arial font (I have previously usually used Times Roman, 12 point) could handle a smaller size since it is sans serif. I didn't notice in the APA manual not to use bold type but I won't again in a school paper even though bold type is used throughout the APA manual -- how dare they set such a bad example by doing what we are told not to do ;-) ! (I personally like bold type when an important term is embedded within a paragraph especially in a text book -- I think of it as sort of a courtesy to the reader to help make the reading more understandable and accessible). I know that the APA style uses italic type style for book titles rather than underlining them which I had previously been taught to do.

I think Thomas Jefferson was the most important ingredient in the formulation of the American system of government -- though his thoughts were based on French, English, and Greek philosophers -- and he was the main mind behind the new American government. But his life was a contradiction to his statements about freedom and equality -- especially since he owned slaves! That is another example of how different the times were then compared to now, so issues and literature need to be examined and considered based on the context in which they were created. The U.S. Constitution and the American papers were written at a time when people could own other people as property in a way which was similar to people owning cars or houses today. I think Jefferson might have had a guilt trip about that issue and maybe that is one reason he fathered a child by a slave (some say) but whether or not that is true I think he had a hard time with himself reconciling that issue and justifying slavery.

The Plege of Allegiance "under God" issue was just decided on by the Supreme Court by allowing it to remain in the pledge. I think of the phrase "under God" as part of the poetry of the pledge so removing it would be like tampering with a work of art. No one thinks we should repaint Mona Lisa's smile, do they :-) ? Also, none of the atheists have demanded "in God we Trust" be taken off all of the U.S. money. That phrase is on practically every coin and every bill and so it is also part of the artwork and thus part of the culture.

Again, thank you for guiding us through the course. Sincerely, Richard

P.S. Concerning the issue of God: in my opinion, all people are agnostic in varying degrees since no one can say with certainty whether a God exists or not (it also depends on the definition of the term "God" which varies from person to person -- I wrote a paper on that in a philosophy of religion class which I can send to you if you would like, or have time, to read it).

***************

from: Final Report

CYBERVOTE:WP6:D21:2003 v1.0

3 July 2003

From: "Richard Bloodworth" <rbloodworth99@yahoo.com>

To: <rbloodworth99@yahoo.com>

Subject: Emailing: MSI-WP6-D21-v1.0 (2)

Date: Friday, October 24, 2003 10:02 PM (in my Outlook Express inbox )

Your files are attached and ready to send with this message.

Page 44 / 47 No communication, reproduction or use without prior approval from the CYBERVOTE consortium Copyright . 2003

1. Switzerland can be described as a semi-direct democracy in which citizens

can exert censorship on newly voted laws as well as proposing new legal

provisions. As a result, citizens are called at least four or five times a year

to the ballot. Postal voting is now used by some 95% of voters in Geneva.

Its introduction has increased participation to the ballot by 20%. While

Geneva lagged at the bottom of the turnout list ten years ago, it is now one

of the cantons with the highest participation in ballots. Internet voting aims

to consolidate this trend towards remote voting and stronger turnout.

2. Direct democracy also offers a breeding ground for Internet voting, because

the elected members of parliaments – municipal, cantonal or federal – are

used to seeing their decisions challenged in the poll. Introducing such a

polling method does not cause any fear of desecration of the institutions, of

the act of voting or of the legal system.

The Geneva State Council and its partners – the Geneva University was asked to

accompany the project with legal and socio-political studies – defined nine rules that the

system has to comply with:

1. The votes may not be intercepted, modified or diverted;

2. Nobody may have access to the votes before the official opening of the eballot

box;

3. Only registered voters may be granted access to the e-voting application;

4. Each voter may only be able to vote once, using whatever voting method he

or she has chosen;

5. The secrecy of the vote has to be guaranteed. There may never be a link

between a vote and a voter;

6. The e-voting site has to resist any attack;

7. Voters will have to be protected against any attempt of identity theft;

8. The number of cast ballots has to be equal to the number of received ballots;

9. The system may not accept any vote outside the voting period; it has to be

possible for legally designated authorities to check the proper functioning of

the system.

To this end, severe technical security measures are introduced:

1. When voting via the Internet, the ballot is encrypted by randomly mixing

alphanumerical characters to the content of the ballot.

2. When the ballot is returned to the voter to confirm his choice and add his ID

features, there is another protective layer, namely a picture that is woven

into the ballot in order to make it more difficult for hackers to read it and to

give the voter the possibility to verify that he is connected with the official

e-voting website and not a counterfeit website.

3. The official site is certified. Voters can see the authentication certificates.

4. Voters' identity and ballots are kept in two distinct files.

Final Report

CYBERVOTE:WP6:D21:2003 v1.0

3 July 2003

5. Before opening it, the contents of the electronic ballot box are shaken by

applying an algorithm, in order to change the order in which the ballots will

come out. This prevents any matching entries in the voters register and the

electronic ballot box, matching which could allow a cross-reading.

Some of the Notes used for ED815:

Paper for direct democracy curriculum from ED7701:

Methods of and Curricula for Institutionally

Implementing and Sustaining the Use of a

Direct Democracy in the United States of America

ED7701

Educational Philosophy and Change

Winter 2004

Richard Bloodworth

P.O.Box 78123

Atlanta, GA 30357

Dr. Callie Welstead

"Every nation has a right to govern itself internally under what forms it pleases,

and to change these forms at its own will."

-Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Pinckney, 1792.

Contents

Abstract 4

Introduction and Rationale 5

Literature Review 7

Objectives 8

A Curriculum for the Use of Direct Democracy 11

Conclusion 17

Bibliography 18

Appendix I 21

3

Appendix II 23

Appendix III 24

Abstract

This proposal is an action plan for direct democracy to be introduced and taught in Social

Studies and Political Science courses in educational, public, and online institutions. The initial introduction

to the concept would begin in kindergarten and the early grades of elementary school and then

incrementally more information would gradually be added to the knowledge base progressing through to

high school, and in post-secondary and adult learning environments, to prepare the learners to be

educated voters in a continuing and growing direct democracy.

Rationale

One problem with the educational system, and society in general, involves political philosophy.

If most societies are called democratic then many people hold the opinion that the people should be

allowed to govern by voting directly and democratically (as is done in Switzerland) on issues rather than

voting only for representatives. When educating post-secondary or adult students (or even students

beginning with the early years of kindergarten and then through high school, in preparation for their

becoming adults), how can the concepts of democracy be conveyed and transferred to the learners and

how can they become directly involved in the implementation of democratically determined plans? The

proposed project involves exploring what methods have been used previously to establish direct

democracies (which are defined as the public voting directly on issues rather than through elected

representatives who can, after being elected, vote any way they choose.) and to establish a curriculum

to teach the principles and techniques of direct democracy in schools, primarily through social studies

and political science classes. The process can involve obtaining ideas from social studies and political

science teacher in developing a curriculum. One approach could be to send an emailed questionnaire to

Social Studies and Political Science teachers in public and private schools who teach from kindergarten

to the twelfth grade levels and to those who teach in the post-secondary and adult education learning

environments. The questionnaire could contain closed and open ended questions in addition to a blank

suggestion space at the end of the questionnaire where the instructors can add any thoughts that they

may have on the subject.

The social studies and political science classes could introduce, early in the development of the

curriculum - such as during the elementary school years, the first concepts of democracy as government

based on the will of and for the good of the people or society. The curriculum would eventually include

the history of democracy beginning with ancient Athens, Greece (and perhaps even before that) and its

present forms of use today in various countries and institutions and studies of its various methods of

execution. Also included in the course curriculum would be computer skills courses since thorough

knowledge of computer and Internet usage would be needed to implement and sustain the continuing

use of a direct democracy.

Once the system is established and the procedures for its execution are in place and all of the

necessary legislation is passed to secure its governmental structure, procedural content, and continuing

existence, the voters, or potential voters (who would require secured registration, training, and perhaps

certification to qualify to vote), would learn how to research and read about issues to be voted on at the

local, state, and national levels. Computer tutorials could also be developed to teach the learners how

this is done and even provide some practice voting sessions and hypothetical situations to which they

can respond.

Review of Literature Concerning Direct Democracy

Today, there is discussion about using more direct democracy procedures and direct elections

as well as electronic town meetings and teledemocracy. The public has become disillusioned with the

issues of taxes, regulation, inefficiency, the arms race, ecological problems, etc. since public policy is

made in distant capitals by unknown agents. The first known direct democracy occurred in Athens,

Greece around 500 B.C. where all of the citizens voted directly on legislative issues. Direct democracy

in the United States dates back to Massachusetts in 1640 with its town meetings utilizing majority rule

and embodying three main principles: consent of the governed, rule by law, and representation of the

people. During that period, the people were primary and governments were secondary and subservient

to the people.

The use of a direct democracy requires a focused policy and the cyber world of political

control contains the features and advantages of access to resources, inclusion, potential for deliberation,

and comprehensible design. In the future, direct democracy will be formed by shaping virtual civic

spaces which will include home-based cyberdemocracy as well as public-access workstations all of

which will result in community building (Wilhelm, 2000). Direct democracy involves citizens discussing

and deciding how government is to govern instead of having these decisions made by legislators,

bureaucrats, or parliamentarians. Many people now feel that representative democracy is not the

correct and most feasible form of democracy and this line of thinking threatens the established existence

of these current forms of governments, as any new system does when it is initially introduced. With the

new communication inventions, tools, and developments that direct democracy is now technically

possible and desirable in the body politic. Direct democracy is currently in use, particularly in

Switzerland. When discussing direct democracy issues such as structural constraints, technological

limitations, the dispensing of information to the voters, the concerns of minorities within a democratic

system, and the political units (such as minorities and organizations) within a democratic system should

be addressed (Budge, 2000).

In the future people will need to decide on such issues involving governmental systems, space

exploration, robotics, cloning, economics, taxation, population growth and control, abortion, crime and

punishment, religious freedom, genetic engineering, biological immortality, among other issues. The

decisions they make will affect all of humanity. Most people think that the collective consciousness of

the public instinctively, or innately, desires to choose the best conditions for all of society for the present

as well as their future. The shared knowledge, common wisdom, and the innate desire in human nature

to want what is the best for all, and the natural desire for survival, would result in decisions

advantageous to the human condition. This collective consciousness would form a constitution of direct

democracy which would implement the communal decisions of the people. Needed to be debated are

the, possible scenarios, and ethics of direct democratic systems in governments from the local, national,

and world levels (Mautner, 2000). The Internet has transformed the political atmosphere in the United

States and in the world. Using Internet technology, people now have the tools to discuss issues and

affect results concerning the American and world political arena. Online petitions and online research

have proven to be effective as well as online voting (mostly in California for the United States), online

fund-raising, political polling online, and online voter registration. The Internet is being used for

worldwide organizations and worldwide communication and a future of online polling and voting seems

to be inevitable and has in fact already begun (Browning, 2002).

In Direct Democracy in Switzerland (2002), Gregory Fossedal explores the history of

Switzerland as related to direct democracy and the development of the procedures of direct democracy

in Switzerland. He mentions that:

The Swiss polity, as an historical and on-going exhibit of the exercise of a deliberative direct democracy, is

a persuasive rebuttal to the stand of elites from the Greeks of yesterday to the elites of today who hold

that exclusionary representative democracy, in itself, is a better form of democracy than a direct democracy

in partnership with representative democracy....In a word, an effective rebuttal to the stand; you can't trust

the people...Switzerland answers the potential question of the political scientist or citizen: What happens if

we place so much faith in the people that we make them lawmakers? In Switzerland, many issues are

settled through the use of public referendum where the majority vote determines the institutionalization of

a law or social practice. Matters such as constitutional revision, immigration, joining the League of

Nations or the United Nations or the European Union, establishing Romanish as a national language,

military service requirements, voting rights, nucear energy and nuclear weapons, rent control, legality of

abortion, highway construction, social security benefits, state support for religion, among others are

determined through public referendums. (Fossedal, 2002).

Concerning educating the public about the issues and processes of direct democracy:

In the Swiss parliament, the influence of direct democracy can be seen by a whole sociology of popular

orientation. Each member of the assembly thinks of himself as a teacher, and a teacher of the whole nation

of citizens. No teacher who holds his pupils in contempt will succeed, or even stay long on the job; hence

the pedagological impulse, healthy and strong to begin with, is reinforced. As well, a teacher with any

wisdom soon realizes he has much to learn from his pupils. The instruction is no longer one way -

particularly when the classroom is an intelligent on like the Swiss people, and the teacher a humble, parttime

instructor who thinks himself a citizen, not a sovereign. (Fossedal, 2002, 85).

One of the concerns many people have about online voting revolves around the security and

privacy issues and these are well-explored by Dr. Russell Smith in "Electronic Voting: Benefits and

Risks" (2002). Dr. Smith, who is deputy director of research at the Australian Institute of Criminology,

thinks national electronic voting will be prevalent in the near future, but people are hesitant because of

security and secrecy issues and some people now attach a certain ritual to voting and some would

therefore want to resist online voting in order to hold on to past traditions. He even includes a history of

the changing methods of voting procedures. He mentions that there would have to be sophisticated

servers for many people voting at the same time but the pluses of speed and accuracy, ease of use,

lower costs compared to paper ballots, the fact that online voting is already successfully being used in

many countries, etc., outweigh the minuses. Dr. Smith mentions in an interview (2003) with Rachel

Lebihan that, in his opinion, security is not an insurmountable problem, since the solutions that are used

in financial transactions can be incorporated into methods for e-voting. His expertise and knowledge is

evident in his writing and his use of examples and with many other technical experts on the project that

the security and efficiency issues can be solved.

Thomas Heaney, in Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and

Back Again, views adult education as participatory and as a tool for social change, where educational

progressivism is the contemporary approach to educating the public. " 'Adult education turns out to be

the most reliable instrument for social actionists' since it assures that any action undertaken would be

authentically democratic" (Brookfield, 1984). Eduard Lindeman, as influenced by John Dewey,

considers adult education to be intertwined with democracy, social action, and control by people over

their daily lives. To Lindeman, adult education equals social change, a method to create good and

9

productive citizens. The concept of using the educational system to implement a direct democracy is

closely connected with the ideas expressed by Heaney, Miles Horton, Paulo Freire, and Jack Mezirow

since their approach is to empower the populace through education in order to create a democratic

society. Since it is necessary to have an educated public in order to have democracy function efficiently,

democracy is dependent on the educational system to survive and prosper.

A Curriculum for the Implementation of Direct Democracy

The social studies and political science classes would introduce, early in the development of the

curriculum - during the elementary school years - the first concepts of democracy as government

based on the will of and for the good of the people or society. The curriculum would eventually include

the history of democracy beginning with ancient Athens, Greece (and before) and its present forms of

use today in various countries and institutions and studies of its various methods of execution. Also

included in the course curriculum would be computer skills courses since thorough knowledge of

computer and Internet usage would be needed to implement and sustain the continuing use of a direct

democracy. Once the system is established and the procedures for its execution are in place and all

of the necessary legislation is passed to secure its structure, procedural content, and continuing

existence, the voters, or potential voters (who perhaps would require secured registration, training, and

perhaps certification to qualify to vote), would learn how to research and read about issues to be voted

on at the local, state, and national levels. Computer tutorials could also be developed to teach the

learners how this is done and even provide some practice voting sessions and hypothetical situations to

which they can respond.

After, and even before and during the discussion and implementation of a direct democracy

system, the most important aspect of creating a system whereby the information and training necessary

to maintain a direct democracy is to establish a curriculum, including the methods, institutions, and

locations to dispense that information. The information could be dispensed in schools, both public and

private, in home schooling situations, on the Internet, in books and magazines, and through commercial,

governmental, and community organizations. The most wide-ranging method of disseminating this

information would be through the public school system and colleges and universities.

The information could begin at home with the parents reading to their children with early learner

books. The curriculum could begin with the pre-kindergarten students by having the students vote for

what they like by placing balls into baskets and by showing flash cards showing the most basic ideas

involved about the concept of democracy. The curriculum could progress up through the school system

through the school system: through kindergarten, elementary, junior high school, high school, then

through colleges and universities as well as specialized schools, post-secondary institutions, and other

forms of adult education.

Following is a possible curriculum that could be revised, amended, and expanded to

accommodate changing instructional requirements and changing new technology as well as changing and

evolving informational content:

Pre-kindergarten: Flash cards with pictures depicting basic concepts and people and places

associated with democracy. Voting by raising hands, clapping, shouting, or placing balls in a

basket to show what they like as shown from pictures of the objects (such as apples, cake,

hamburgers, lemons, music, etc.)

Kindergarten: Vote by placing softball size balls in a container. Flash cards with pictures and words

of basic concepts of democracy.

First grade: Vote by placing ping pong balls in a container. Vote by writing letters. Flash cards with

words of leaders of history, places and events associated with democracy. Elect students for

class duties for each student such as erasing the board, closing the windows, turning off lights,

sweeping, etc. These duties can be rotated monthly.

Second grade: Vote by writing letters, numbers, and then names.

Third grade: Vote by writing names of the students and of objects voted on. For instance, for the

question What do you like? the students write what they like such as "ice cream", etc.

Eventually, sentences are used.

Fourth grade: Vote for class officers and class duties. Students write sentences on what they want to

vote for and why. Read political news for children in Weekly Reader, Yahoo Kids' page, etc.

Draw pictures and write paragraphs about democracy in the U.S.

Fifth grade: Vote for class officers and class duties. Voting by printed forms or writing names of

people or objects voted on. Introduction of the early history of democracy, around 500B.C. in

Athens, Greece. Draw pictures about fora in ancient Greece. Read Political news in Weekly

Reader, Yahoo Kids' news, some newspapers and read about the history and practices of

democracy in the students' social studies text books.

Sixth grade: Vote for class officers with ballots. Introduction to computers, software, using the

Internet for searching and researching information, introduction to Internet for voting. Write

essays and draw pictures about democracy, history related to democracy, and political topics in

the U.S. and the world.

Seventh grade: Vote for class officers and duties with computer and Internet technology. Study issues

to be voted on. Vote for issues of the past. Vote for some current issues. Write essays on

democracy, history, political topics, current invents, and new ideas of how society should be

constructed. Read the Declaration of Independence and a summarized version of the United

States Constitution. Memorize some quotations associated with democracy.

Eighth grade: Polical Science and History readings and discussions about direct democracy.

Magazine articles, newspaper articles, and Internet searches about direct democracy. Find an

international pen pal to discuss direct democracy with via the Internet.

Ninth grade: High school clubs established: Democracy Club; Political Science Club; Political

Philosophy; clubs for Democrats, Republicans, Green Party, Independents, etc. Develop

Internet surveys to find public opinion on various topics. Find books and articles about direct

democracy and write reports on them.

Tenth grade: Civics discussion of the responsibilities of the voting citizens. U. S. History and

Democracy. U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence. Terminology relevant to

democracy explored, direct democracy explained, duties and responsibilities of the voters.

Computer voting Tutorial I.

Eleventh grade: Learn to vote via the computer and Internet. World History of Democracy.

Discussion and essays about forms of government throughout history. Continue corresponding

with your international pen pal and ask your pen pal to find an additional join your

correspondence group to have three way discussions. Find one additional penpal to

correspond with via the Internet and discuss all current event topics including direct democracy.

Summarized readings of Plato's Republic and the Politics by Aristotle. Read and write essays

on Democracy and Education by John Dewey and the Social Contract by Jean Jacques

Rousseau. Computer voting Tutorial II.

Twelfth grade: Vote via the Internet. Vote on current and historical national and international issues.

Direct democracy procedures examined, explained, discussed. Political Philosophy and duties

of and preparation for the voting public. Discussions comparing representative and direct

democracy, totalitarianism, Marxism, capitalism, and socialism. Read and write essays on:

Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum, and Recall by Thomas Cronin; Direct

Democracy in Switzerland by Gregory Fossedal; Elections in Cyberspace by Anthony Corrado

and Charles Firestone and more essays on Democracy and Education by John Dewey.

Computer Voting Tutorial III.

Online Tutorials

The history of democracy

The philosophy of democracy

Glossary of terminology related to democracy and government

Navigating the computer and Internet for online voting

Computer Voting Tutorial I, II, III

Voting on Referendums, Initiatives, Elections for representatives, and Recalls

Preparation for certificate for a voting member of the Public Assembly

Writing and submitting legislation

Links, resources, publications, and organizations concerning direct democracy

Technical skills for the use of the computer and the Internet related to direct democracy

Below are listed university, post-secondary, adult, online courses, some of which are required,

in addition to taking the certificate exams, to become a voting member of the (newly created) public

legislature or Public Assembly. One certificate is for the local level, one for the state level, and one for

the national level (laws and an amendment would need to be enacted to create such a voting body).

The certificate would require at least a high school education or a recognized equivalent, for the person

to be a registered voter, All registered voters are able to vote in initiatives, referendums, elections, and

recalls but the Public Legislature would require a licensed certificate, similar to obtaining a driver's

license or a specialist's license, renewable periodically with minor exams, to become a nonelected

member of the Third House of Congress, which will count for 1/3 of the votes of the United States

Congress.

University, college, online, and adult courses (with majors in political science with an emphasis

on direct democracy and related subjects, some required for a voting certificate):

The growth and development of direct democracy

Writing and submitting legislative bills for a direct democracy

Topics covered in the voting certificate exams

Designing instructional material for direct democracy

The procedures for voting in a direct democracy

Political philosophy and direct democracy

The use of direct democracy in Switzerland

Procedures and precedents for amending the U.S.Constitution

The world history and use of direct democracy

The use of direct democracy in governments and organizations worldwide

Referendum, Initiative, Election, and Recall

Methods of informing the public on legislative and di d issues

Security issues of online voting

The governmental structure for direct democracy

Theories and use of democracy

University, Advanced and Adult Learner Reading List for Courses in Direct Democracy:

Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again. (1996) by

Thomas Heaney.

The Americans: The Democratic Experience (1974) by Boorstin, Daniel J. Boorstin.

America's Crisis: The Direct Democracy and Direct Education Solution (2000) by D. B. Jeffs and V.

Hugo.

Aristotle and Xenophon on Democracy and Oligarchy (1975) by J. M. Moore.

Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project (2001) by the California Institute of Technology and The

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation.

Citizens As Legislators: Direct Democracy in the United States (1998) by Bowler, S., Donovan, T. &

Tolbert, C.

Civic Participation and Community Action Sourcebook: A Resource for Adult Educators by A. Nash.

Collected Writings of Thomas Jefferson.

A Constitution of Direct Democracy : Pure Democracy and the Governance of the Future ~ Locally and

Globally (2000) by Michael Noah Mautner.

The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World (2000) by S.R. Anderson & P.

Ray.

The Communicative Ethics Controversy (1990) by S. Benhabib and F. Dallmayr.

Democracy: Real and Ideal, Discourse Ethics and Radical Politics (1999) by Ricardo Blaug.

Demanding Choices: Opinion, Voting, and Direct Democracy (2001) by Bowler, S, & Donovan, T.

Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (1997) by John Dewey.

Democracy and Education and Prospects for Democracy (1994) by N. Chomsky.

Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City (2000) by E. F. Isin.

Democracy in America (2000) by Alexis de Tocqueville.

Democracy in the Digital Age : Challenges to Political Life in Cyberspace (2000) by Anthony G.

Wilhelm.

Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case Study (2001) by John

MacNamara.

Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum & Recall (1999) by Thomas E. Cronin.

Direct Democracy in Switzerland (2002) by Gregory A. Fossedal.

Direct Democracy or Representative Government?: Dispelling the Populist Myth (2000) by John

Haskell.

The Economist: A better way to vote: Why letting the people themselves take the decisions is the logical

next step for the West (1993) by Brian Needham

Electronic Democracy: Using the Internet to Transform American Politics (2002) by Browning, G. &

Powell, A.C.

Electronic Media and Technoculture (2000) by John Thornton Caldwell.

E-Democracy, E-Governance, and Public Net-Work (2003) by Steven Clift.

Elections in Cyberspace: Toward a New Era in American Politics (1997) by A. Corrado.

E-democracy in Practice: Swedish Experiences of a New Political Tool (2001) by T. Rosen.

Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks (2002) by Russell Smith.

Electronic Voting - Evaluating the Threat (1993) by M. I. Shamos.

Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government by John Locke.

E-topia (2000) by William J. Mitchell.

The Examined Life (2000) by Stanley Rosen.

The Future of Teledemocracy (2000) by T. Becker & C.D. Slaton.

The Handbook of Qualitative Research (2000) by J. Frow & M. Morris, M. (2000).

Leviathan (1998) by Thomas Hobbes.

Megatrends 2000 (1996) by J. Naisbitt and Aburdene P.

The New Challenge of Direct Democracy (1997) by Ian Budge.

New Schools for a New Century (1997) by Diane Ravitch and Joseph P. Viteritti.

Political Parties and Constitutional Government: Remaking American Democracy (1999) by S. M.

Milkis.

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli.

Republic (1998) by Plato.

Rethinking Democracy and Education: Towards an Education of Deliberative Citizens (2000) by T.

Englund.

The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The Spirit of Laws by Montesquieu.

Stealing the Initiative: How State Government Responds to Direct Democracy (2000) by E. R. Gerber,

A. Lupia, M. D. McCubbins & D. R. Kiewiet.

Technoscience and Cyberculture (1996) by S. Aronowitz, B. Martinsons, M. Menser, and J. Rich.

The Third Wave (1984) by Alvin Toffler.

United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers.

Virtual Environmental Citizenship: Web-Based Public Participation in Rulemaking in the U.S. (2003) by

Schlosberg, D.

The World in 2020: Power, Culture, and Prosperity (1994) by Hamish McRae

Conclusion

The concept of democracy was discussed by Socrates and written about by Plato in Republic,

Aristotle in Politics, Machiavelli in The Prince, Locke in Essay Concerning Human Understanding and

Two Treatises of Government, Montesquieu in The Spirit of Laws, Hobbes in Leviathan, Rousseau in

The Social Contract, and Thomas Jefferson in his writings. Democracy was first used in Athens, Greece

before 500 B.C., where each citizen voted directly on all legislative issues, thereby being a true

democracy. Direct participatory democracy was considered impractical before now, primarily because

there was no technology to supply it. Now, with computer and Internet technology, there is.

Computer and Internet technology can supply the forum for the voting of citizens to occur and

schools and community and governmental organizations can supply the knowledge, information, and

training for the implementation and continuing use of a direct democracy.

Bibliography:

Aronowitz, S., Martinsons, B., Menser, M., and Rich, J. (1996). Technoscience and Cyberculture.

New York and London: Routledge.

Becker, T. & Slaton, C.D. (2000). The Future of Teledemocracy. Praeger Publishers.

Benhabib, S., and Dallmayr, F. (1990). The Communicative Ethics Controversy. London: The MIT

Press.

Blaug, Ricardo (1999). Democracy: Real and Ideal, Discourse Ethics and Radical Politics. Albany,

New York: State University of New York Press.

Bowler, S., Donovan, T. & Tolbert, C. (1998). Citizens As Legislators: Direct Democracy in the

United States. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.

Bowler, S, & Donovan, T. (2001). Demanding Choices: Opinion, Voting, and Direct Democracy.

Ann Arbour, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Browning, G. & Powell, A.C. (2002). Electronic Democracy: Using the Internet to Transform

American Politics. Cyberage Books.

Budge, Ian. (1997). The New Challenge of Direct Democracy. Polity Press.

Bushell, Sue. (2003). Where to Now for E-Voting? Retrieved January. 24, 2004 from: http://

www.cio.com.au/index.php?id=405941257&eid=-601

Caldwell, John Thornton. (2000). Electronic Media and Technoculture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers

University Press.

Castells. Information Technology, Globalization, and Social Development.

Chomsky, N. (1994). Democracy and Education. Retrieved January 24, 2004 from http://

www.zmag.org/chomsky/talks/9410-education.html

Corrado, A. & Firestone, C.M. (1997). Elections in Cyberspace: Toward a New Era in American

Politics. Aspen, CO: Aspen Institute Publications Office.

Cronin, Thomas E. (1999). Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum & Recall.

Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.

Becker, T. & Slaton, C.D. (2000). The Future of Teledemocracy. New York: Praeger Publishers.

Dewey, John. (1997). Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Educa

tion. New York: Free Press, Simon & Schuster.

Fossedal, Gregory A. (2002). Direct Democracy in Switzerland. Transaction Publications.

Gerber, E. R., Lupia, A., McCubbins, M.D. & Kiewiet, D.R. (2000). Stealing the Initiative: How

State Government Responds to Direct Democracy. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Haskell, John. (2000). Direct Democracy or Representative Government?: Dispelling the Populist

Myth. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Heaney, Thomas. Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back

Again. (1996). Retrieved on January 15, 2004 from http://www.nl.edu/ace/Resources/

Documents/ERIC1.html

Isin, Engin F. (2000). Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City. New York and London:

Routledge.

Lebihan, Rachel. (2003). Arm twisting to hinder home electronic voting. Retrieved on October 24,

2003 from http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/communications/story/

0,2000048620,20265293,00.htm

MacNamara, O'Donnell. Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case

Study. http://66.218.71.225/search/cache?p=The+Ecitizen.+

Instructional+Technology.,+Lee,+John+K.++&sub=Search&ei=UTF-

8&url=fe_aPyZrSDAJ:www.efmd.be/learninggroups/chapter/eisb2001proceedings/pdfs/

MacNamara%2520%2520O%27Donnell%2520.pdf

Mautner, Michael Noah. (2000). A Constitution of Direct Democracy : Pure Democracy and the

Governance of the Future ~ Locally and Globally. Christchurch, New Zealand: Legacy

Books.

McRae, Hamish. (1994). The World in 2020: Power, Culture, and Prosperity. Boston: Harvard

Business School Press. Mitchell, William J. (2000). E-topia. London: The MIT Press.

Patrick. (2003). Recent Email from a Swiss Citizen. Retrieved on January 17, 2004 from

http://www.vote.org/swiss.htm

Plato. (1998). Republic. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. (1999). The Social Contract. New York: Oxford University Press.

Salant, P. & Dillman, D. (1994). How to Conduct Your Own Survey. New York: John Wiley &

Sons, Inc.

Shamos, M.I. (1993). Electronic Voting -- Evaluating the Threat. Retrieved October 15, 2003

from http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/cfp93/shamos.html

Smith, Russell. Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks. (2002). Retrieved October 24, 2003 from

http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti224.pdf Stirner, M. (1967). The False Principle of our

Education, or, Humanism and Reform. Colorado Springs: Ralph Melees Publisher.

Wilhelm, Anthony G. (2000). Democracy in the Digital Age : Challenges to Political Life in

Cyberspace. New York and London: Routledge.

Some websites concerning direct democracy and e-government:

http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130619/?page_id=3647 (worldwide egovernment)

http://thomas.loc.gov/ ( the proceedings of the U.S. Congress and egovernment development)

http://egov.mit.gov.in/ (egovernment in India)

http://www.abc.net.au/ola/citizen/interdemoc/republic.htm

http://www.veritasdigital.com/ad_online/participatory.html

http://www.cpsu.org.uk/downloads/Modernising%20Background.pdf

http://www.publicus.net/ebook/

http://www.mail-archive.com/do-wire@tc.umn.edu/msg00045.html

http://policy.womenspace.ca/activities/brainstorm/policy/

http://www.analysphere.com/21Oct00/democracy.htm

http://www.statskontoret.se/gol-democracy/links/Popular/

http://www.itac.ca/client/ITAC/ITAC_UW_MainEngine.nsf/object/Imperative/$file/Agnew.pdf

http://www.one2one.co.nz/edemocracy.html

http://www.politics.tcd.ie/courses/undergrad/bcc/portal/egovernance.html

http://www.internetnz.net.nz/members/lists/isocnz-council-tidbits/2000-August/000012.html

http://www.flaxroots.net.nz/2000/papers/2000-PaulHughes.html

http://www.context.co.nz:8080/newsItems/viewDepartment$Participatory+Democracy

http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/00/dec/scott.html

http://www.diverdiver.com/2003_03_07_diverdiver_archive.html

http://www.democracy-online.org/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8287-2003Feb26

http://lists.essential.org/1995/info-policy-notes/msg00137.html

http://mondediplo.com/1998/12/03bensaid (third way government)

http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/topic/politics.html (online voting)

http://lone-eagles.com/democracy.htm (list of related links and sources)

http://www.democracy-online.org/ (another list of related links and sources)

http://egov.mit.gov.in/ (egovernment development in India)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/greekdemocracy_01.shtml

http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/UG/ugunits0102/rousseau.html

http://www.wabash.edu/Rousseau/WorksonWeb.html

http://www.sosig.ac.uk/roads/subject-listing/World-cat/philpol.html

http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Poli/PoliFeld.htm

http://www.bu.edu/wcp/MainPoli.htm

http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Poli/PoliBuch.htm

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/locke/locke2/2nd-contents.html

http://www.sosig.ac.uk/roads/subject-listing/World-cat/demgovt.html

http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/32871

http://www.radford.edu/~wkovarik/class/300/300pix/300.ideas.html

http://teachers.ausd.net/antilla/philolinks.html

http://plato.stanford.edu

http://www.rep.routledge.com/index.html

http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/Dept/journals.html

http://www.bris.ac.uk/DeptsPhilosophy/Dept/Links.htm

http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/VL/index.html

http://web.mit.edu/polisci/www/research/goodness.html

http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff0600.htm

http://www.anova.org/

http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130619/?page_id=3647

http://www.pdemokracie.ecn.cz/cs/doc/Statut-ang.doc

http://edemocracy.meetup.com/members/878

http://dmoz.org/Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy/

http://www.dominion-web.com/directory/Top/Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy

http://www.free-project.org/connect/links/

http://www.election.com/

http://www.votehere.net/

http://www.lib.ied.edu.hk/edarticle/civic.htm

http://edu.uwe.ac.uk/cred/bibliographic/papers.asp

http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/Research/ElectronicDemocracy/voting.htm

http://www.louiseferguson.com/resources/evoting.htm

Appendix I:

A Proposal for Creating the Third House of Congress: the Public Assembly

for the Creation of a National Democracy in the United States of America

Richard Bloodworth

Phase 1 (3 to 10 years):

Debate and Introduction to the Concept

Discussions and committees formed

Brain storming and think tank groups developed

Petitions and letters, email, talk shows, TV, radio campaigns

Public education of the concept

Readings and discussions in schools and universities about democracy

Concepts related to direct democracy discussed and read about in schools

Writers and Artists commissioned

Software conceptualizing

Books and magazine articles are printed on the subject

Funding and economic issues are discussed

Funds raised

A suggestion hotline is established

An official website is created

Phase 2 (2 years):

Organizing and structuring of the voting methods and procedures

Curriculum developed for public schools and universities

Development of the Government Structure

Legal Documents developed

Constitutional amendment first draft written

Various committees appointed

Local referendums held

Phase 3 (3 years):

All of the above activities continue (website, etc.)

Trial period when the procedures are developed, refined and the first results used as an opinion

polling collection device.

Educating the public on the procedures involved

Curriculum about direct democracy initiated for public schools and universities

First trials are done locally, first city, then county, then state, then national levels

During this period suggestions and changes are made

Software is developed

Security issues addressed

Computer and software bugs are worked out

Initial voting centers are established, these can be adjacent to post offices

Participants (initial voters) are assigned temporary voter registration numbers and passwords,

etc. chosen. The voter registration numbers are assigned through the voting centers.

Phase 4 (3 years):

Voting Centers are established nationwide

Voter registration numbers are established partly containing a social security number.

Voting Centers have the bills and plans to be voted on in booklet form and posted on the walls

and these bills and plans are also available online for perusal and study.

The voter registration numbers, including a social security number, are assigned through the

voting centers in a way similar to registering to vote and passwords are chosen. (Voters

are given up to 3 days to edit or change their submissions when voting)

The opinion poll collection system continues using the online voting system

Strict felony laws against Internet abuse or direct voting fraud with severe penalties and punishments

are passed by the legislature.

Phase 5 (Continuing):

Voters are able to connect to the voting system via the Internet with their own computers, or

continue to vote through the Voting Centers, and become voting members of the 3rd

House of Congress, the Public Assembly according to U.S. federal law and also of

state, county, and city governments as laws of each state allow.

In the future, computers will be as standard as telephones and everyone with a telephone will

have a computer with which they can cast there votes and then the United States government will

become a truly participatory government of democracy.

Appendix II

Open-Ended Questions for Social Studies and Political Science Teachers:

The below are some sample questions are in the form of open-ended questions that can be

answered with essay type answers:

How has direct democracy been practiced in other countries and institutions and how effective has it

been?

How can the educational system participate in the implementation of a direct democracy utilizing

Internet and computer technology?

How can direct democracy be introduced and taught in Social Studies and Political Science courses?

How can a constitutional amendment be proposed?

How can the reliability of Internet voting be assessed?

How can the privacy and security of voters be assured?

How can the public be informed of issues to be voted on?

How can the voters register their votes via the Internet or computer?

How can the public be made aware of the safety and limitations of direct democracy?

How can the public be made aware of the roles and duties of citizens in a democracy?

How can the public be made aware of the philosophy and history of democracy?

An example of how one of the sample questions could be answered:

-- How can a Constitutional amendment be proposed?

Constitutional amendments are permanent additions to the Constitution, though they can be

counter amended as was the case with the Prohibition amendment, that require a 2/3 vote from both

houses of the Congress and therefore very difficult to obtain. There have been twenty seven

Constitutional Amendments with the most recent being in 1992 which involved no Congressional self

salary increases while the legislators are in their terms. The twelfth Amendment concerning changing the

method of electing the president of the United States using the Electoral College was added in 1803

after the first ten Amendments, the Bill of Rights, were added in 1791.

Appendix III

An Example of a Likert Scale Item Survey that could be Sent to

Social Studies and Political Science Teachers:

These closed-ended items can be responded to with linear scale responses (strongly disagree

to strongly agree, or don't know):

Direct democracy been practiced in other countries and institutions and has been effective

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The educational system should participate in the implementation of a direct democracy utilizing Internet

and computer technology.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

Direct democracy should be introduced and taught in Social Studies and Political Science courses.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

A Constitutional amendment should be proposed creating a direct democracy system in the United

States.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The Internet is a reliable method of voting.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The voters have complete privacy and security

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

.

The public can be informed of issues to be voted on.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The voters could easily register their votes via the Internet or computer.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The public should be made aware of the safety using the Internet for direct democracy.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The public should be made aware of the limitations of direct democracy.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The public should be made aware of the roles and duties of citizens in a democracy.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

The public should be made aware of the philosophy and history of democracy.

1 strongly disagree 2 3 4 strongly agree 5 Don't know 0

Some other possible questions that could be used as Likert scale items are:

Do you think the United States is a democracy now?

Do you think Direct Democracy or people voting directly on legislative issues is a good idea?

Do you think adequate technology exists today for direct democracy?

Do you think adequate education, information, and training can be given to citizens for them to vote as

legislators?

Do you think interest for direct democracy would be maintained by the public?

Do you think that eventually a new branch of Congress could be formed by the voting citizens?

Do you think the people's voting branch of Congress could be used first as an opinion collection

device?

Do you think citizens and students should study for and take examinations in order to receive

certification in order to qualify as a voting member of a legislature in a direct democracy?

Should the public schools provide education and training for citizens to function as voting members of a

direct democracy system of government?