Internet Access: the Last Mile
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Feature Internet Access: The Last Mile By Glen Bull and Joe Garofalo Subject: Ubiquitous computing Technology: Internet, projectors Standards: NETS•T VI; NETS•A VI (http://www.iste.org/standards/) 16 Learning & Leading with Technology Volume 32 Number 1 Copyright © 2004, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), [email protected], www.iste.org. All rights reserved. Feature magine a business that with great failure to use computers with their Digital Disconnect, documents the ingenuity and expenditure of students to lack of access. Internet as having substantial posi- Iresources placed a telephone line tive effects on learning, but not in in every worker’s offi ce, but failed to The Last Mile Problem schools: “Internet-savvy students rely provide phone receivers for them. The term last mile was coined by on the Internet to help them do their A new CEO of the fi rm would imme- the telecommunications industry to schoolwork—and for good reason. diately recognize the need to place describe the unwieldy mile of cop- Students told us they complete their a phone receiver in every offi ce with a per cable that ineffi ciently completed schoolwork more quickly; they are phone line to make those lines usable. connections for Alexander Graham less likely to get stymied by material This scenario is absurd because Bell’s photophone, the precursor to they don’t understand; their papers it would not be sensible to deliver fi ber optics. Today, it is used to de- and projects are more likely to draw phone lines to offi ces without phone scribe any innovation that involves upon up-to-date sources and state-of- receivers. In fact, it is inconceivable exceptional expense or diffi culty to the-art knowledge; and they are better that the business market would create complete the connection at the end at juggling their school assignments such a system. Yet this is precisely the point of a network that makes the and extracurricular activities when current state of affairs in schools. For innovation usable. they use the Internet.” This report a number of years, Henry Jay Becker The last mile problem proved to notes that schools have, in general, and his colleagues have conducted be a challenge for extension of tele- failed to recognize this transformation a series of studies monitoring use of phones, water and sewer lines, and in learning. computers in schools. In their 1999 rural electrifi cation. For example, report, Teacher and Teacher Directed even though the electrical grid was Next Steps Use of Computers & Software, they begun at the end of the 19th century, Three steps are necessary to rectify noted that, “Regular use of computers it was well after World War II in the this state of affairs: with students is highly dependent on 20th century before the majority of 1. Schools and national educational access to computers … most teachers rural homes in the United States were agencies and associations must rec- have relatively few computers com- connected to the electrical system. ognize this state of affairs exists. pared to the number of students in In the case of the Internet, even 2. Technological strategies need to be their classroom.” (Editor’s note: For though links have been brought to devised to bridge the last mile and this and other resources, see Resourc- the walls of the classroom, the last place technology in learners’ hands. es on p. 19.) remaining gap between the network 3. Leadership policies need to be de- An average classroom today has and the learner has yet to be bridged. veloped that will ensure that access only one to three computers—an Norris and colleagues note that the to technology will lead to gains in insuffi cient number to allow a class majority of schools do not provide a learning and achievement. of 25–30 students appreciable ac- way for students to interact with the cess to the Internet. In a 2003 survey technology despite the investment The leadership dimension is im- by Norris et al., No Access, No Use, made to bring Internet connections portant. The Pew Foundation study No Impact: Snapshot Surveys of Edu- to schools. found that even when access was po- cational Technology in K–12, half of The educational system has ac- tentially available in schools, educa- responding teachers reported using complished the equivalent of de- tional benefi ts were undermined by a computers with their students less livering telephone lines to every failure of leadership. Policies were of- than 15 minutes per week. Less than classroom while failing to provide ten restrictive rather than facilitative. one-fi fth of the teachers reported us- phone receivers that allow learners to It was clear from the report that until ing computers 45 minutes or more make use of this resource in school. school administrators provide leader- per week. The teachers attributed The 2002 Pew Foundation report, ship, nothing will happen, even when the technology is in place. “School In the case of the Internet, even though links have been administrators and not teachers set the tone for Internet use at school. brought to the walls of the classroom, the last remaining gap The differences among the schools between the network and the learner has yet to be bridged. attended by students were striking.” September 2004 Learning & Leading with Technology 17 Copyright © 2004, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), [email protected], www.iste.org. All rights reserved. Feature Strategies for Technological Access lyze text and images and share their Adding a projector to every classroom A variety of technological strategies compositions and haikus with the with an Internet connection could can be used to address the access whole class. Students in mathematics make it possible to realize substantial problem. Access strategies could in- classes demonstrated and discussed benefi ts from the previously made clude providing a computer projector interactive mathematics applets. investment. to every Internet-connected classroom They also presented collaboratively A viable alternative in the longer or one-to-one computing strategies written chapter reviews highlighting term is to provide each student with such as placing a handheld or por- important concepts, defi nitions, pro- a portable, wireless computer. If we table computer in the hands of every cedures, and applications. The teach- were designing such a device for learner. ers in these classes displayed samples schools, we might envision a device Every teacher knows it is not of written work for small group and larger than a personal digital assistant possible for 30 students to huddle whole class analyses. They also ac- (PDA) but small enough to fi t in a around a single computer monitor cessed Web sites and streaming videos backpack—perhaps the size of a pa- to view the Internet and other digital related to class topics. perback book. In essence, this would content. One obvious solution is a Their classrooms are highly inter- constitute an electronic learning slate. computer projector. A tool is only as active during these activities, with Many secondary students already effective as the teaching methodology students enthusiastically and actively have access to one-to-one computing employed, however. It is possible to generating, analyzing, and interpret- in mathematics, because of the avail- use a projector for didactic presenta- ing content and concepts. One teach- ability of graphing calculators. These tions to passive, unengaged students. er commented on the instructional are specialized handheld computers This use, of course, does not refl ect effects of a projector, “I bought this designed to facilitate mathematics sound pedagogy and does not take laptop last year thinking it would be teaching. They have increased student full advantage of the potential of this useful in the classroom. All I ended learning in classes of capable teach- technology. The technology need not up doing with it was writing lesson ers who understand best practices. and should not be used in this way. plans. Without a projector, it’s a plan- Graphing calculators offer what Well-prepared teachers who have ac- ning tool, not a teaching tool. With mathematicians call a proof of concept cess to a computer projector in their a projector, it is a teaching tool.” that one-to-one computing is pos- classrooms often use this technology Even when every student has a sible. However, they are single-subject as a vehicle for facilitating student computer, a projector is still needed. devices, primarily useful in only one inquiry, creativity, and engagement, Another teacher whose students all content area. A multi-subject per- even in a whole-class setting. had wireless handheld computers sonal learning device with a wireless We recently conducted several commented that having a projector Internet connection and software to formal and informal studies on the in her room was crucial. She ex- facilitate teaching in all of the content effects of computers and projectors plained, “Having 17 kids on 17 areas would address the current digi- in schools. Students and teachers in computers creates a need for crowd tal disconnect in schools. classrooms we observed use projec- control—it’s hard to know where and It appears likely that for a cost of tors to display student-generated and when all 17 are focusing. The projec- two to three times that of a graph- Web-derived graphs, data, images, tor adds a focal point to the class.” ing calculator, it may be possible to simulations, and text for interactive This classroom situation parallels provide each student with a portable, whole-class discussion and analyses, the evolution of graphing calculators.