DOCUMENT RESUME Regional Technology Planning Workshop

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 425 699 IR 018 957

TITLE Regional Technology Planning Workshop. Resource Manual, 1997. INSTITUTION Technology & Innovations in Education, Rapid City, SD.; Mid-Continent Regional Educational Lab., Aurora, CO. SPONS AGENCY Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC. PUB DATE 1997-00-00 NOTE 140p.; This document is comprised largely of pages photocopied from other documents, books, and journal articles--some figures, illustrations, and text may, however, reproduce poorly. CONTRACT RJ96006101 PUB TYPE Collected Works Proceedings (021) Reports Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Access to Information; Computer Assisted Instruction; Computer Managed Instruction; Computer Networks; *Computer Uses in Education; *Educational Technology; Elementary Secondary Education; *Information Technology; Integrated Learning Systems; Internet; Microcomputers; Professional Development; Program Implementation; *Strategic Planning

ABSTRACT This Technology & Innovations in Education (TIE) workshop was presented on April 24 and 25, 1997, in Denver, CO, to help participants gain a big picture perspective of technology planning and related issues, understand a model for sound, practical technology planning, build capacity for leading a local planning effort, engage in the steps of the planning process, and network and collaborate with colleagues regarding related issues. The manual contains the following sections:(1) Outcomes and Agenda; (2) Planning Model Overview -- includes information gathering and gleaning, descriptive vision development, discrepancy analysis, action plan development, and issues and challenges to reaching the vision;(3) Workshop Activities four worksheets based upon the components of the planning model, and questions to enhance story writing for action plan development; (4) Evaluation Form;(5) Resources A: Systems & Resources seven items relating to strategic planning of technology programs;(6) Resources B: Technical Infrastructure 10 items pertaining to hardware, software, network building, and Internet resources;(7) Resources C: People Infrastructure four items pertaining to technology and professional development; and (8) Resources D: Teaching & Learning nine articles on the instructional use of technology. Thumbnail sketches of slides used in the workshop are also included. (DLS)

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research andImprovement WORKSHOP EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 0 This document has beenreproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. 0 Minor changes have beenmade to improve reproduction quality.

Points of view or opinions stated inthis document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Developed by Technology & Innovations in Education (TIE) through support from the Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL). This product was developed with funds from the Office of Educational Research & Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract #RJ96006101.

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 Outcomes & Agenda

Planning Model Overview

Workshop Activities Resource Manual 1997

Evaluation Form

Resources a) System & Resources

b) Technical Infrastructure

Technology and Innovations in Education 1925 Plaza Blvd Rapid City, SD 57702

605-394-1876 c) People Infrastructure http://www.tie.net

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OUTCOMES

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AGENDA Regional Technology Planning Workshop Denver Hilton South Denver, CO Outcomes

Workshop participants will: gain a "big picture" perspective of technology planning and related issues. understand a model for sound, practical technology planning. build capacity for leading a local technology planning effort. engage in the steps of a technologyplanning process. network and collaborate with team members and other colleagues regarding technology planning issues.

Agenda

April 24, 1997 10:0010:30 a.m. Introductions and Agenda Overview 10:30 - 12:00 p.m. A Big Picture of Sound Technology Planning 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Lunch 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. Information Gathering and Gleaning 2:30 - 2:45 p.m. Break 2:45 - 4:15 p.m. Descriptive Vision Development 4:154:30 p.m. "Headline to Headline" Wrap-up Activity

April 25, 1997 9:0010:15 a.m. Discrepancy Analysis 10:1510:30 a.m. Break 10:3011:30 p.m. Discrepancy Analysis 11:3012:00 p.m. Setting the Stage for Action Plan Development 12:001:00 p.m. Lunch 1:002:15 p.m. Action Plan Development 2:152:30 p.m. Break '2:303:30 p.m. Action Plan Development 3:303:45 p.m. Wrap-up

5 Page 2 *

PLANNING

MODEL i OVERVIEW

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TV TIE Strategic Planning Model: A Process for W Pursuing Technology-Infused Teaching and Learning

Grid for Viewing Planning Process Systems and resources Technical infrastructure People infrastmcture Technology-infused teaching and learning/1

Ma j o rComponents of the Planning Model 1)Information Gathering and Gleaning 2)Descriptive Vision Development 3)Discrepancy Analysis 4)Action Plan Development

Page 3 -111-v7)41 ITE==> Air Major Componentsof the A Planning Model

1)Information Gathering andGleaning Establish a current, validsnapshot of the educational technologyinfrastructure, capacity, and integration surrounding theteaching and learning process. Gather, review, analyze, and reflecton the informationto form sound impressions of needs,progress, and possibilities. Whethera few key snapshotsor a whole photo album, this planning component offersan important bench- mark for the planningprocess. Elements might include: mission and vision outcomes and/or curriculum standards cj current priorities for teaching and learning a involvement in school reformefforts perceived strengths and barriers surrounding school reform initiatives current technology plan current technology infrastructure including hardware, software, networks current technology applications and cX3 integration 55 staff skills with technology

Page 4 8 2) Descriptive Vision Development Build a vision of technology implementation and integration for impacting teaching and learning in thenext 3-5 years. Via a collaborative team effort, form a concise vision that describes teaching and learning interactionsamong educational stakeholders. Elements of the vision mi2ht include: roles of students, teachers, administrators, and community members characteristics of teaching and learning activities structure of learning environments capacity of technical infrastructure capacity of people infrastructure

Page 5 wiF-PrfALkmu\\ Major Components of the Planning Model

3) Discrepancy Analysis ( Identify thegaps between the current status as established by the "information g-athering and gleaning" activity and the vision produced by the "descriptive vision development" effort. Via honest, open interactions, define the "space" between "where the district is" and "where the districtwants to be." Clarify and order priorities though the lenses of resources and reality. Often the discrepancy analysis reactivates aspects of the "information gathering and gleaning"or "descriptive vision development." Elements of the discrepancy analysis might include: shifts in school system and structures issues surroundingresources updating and repurposing technical infrastructure people capacityknowledge, skills, practices curriculumdesign, development, implementation

Page 6 1 0 Major Components of the Planning Model

4) Action Plan Development Identify actions that address thegaps noted through the discrepancy analysisprocess. This effort produces the "meat and potatoes" of the plan. Prioritize,prioritize, and again prioritize toensure specific attention to those activities that are most critical to overall impact. For purposes of doability and manageability, focus on a few key priorities and identifya few action steps for each. Build in accountability. Action plan miaht include: Priorities/Objectives Action steps delineating tasks and activities Resources Persons responsible for carrying out actions Time Line for accomplishing each step Criteria that specify expectations for each action Data that produces information for determining progress and results Ii 111111111111111

Page 7 1 1 Related Planning Considerations

Components of the planning process are sequential as well as cyclic and concurrent.

Planning servesas a strong capacity building tool maximize the opportunities.

Planning is reallymore about process than it is about product.

Page 8 I. 2 ISSUES AND CHALLENGES TO REACHING THE VISION

Vision of Picture of New Learning Envwonments Current Learning Environments

"Communications Age" Primarily "Industrial Age"

School is everywhere School is a place Communities of learners Classroom groups of students Dynamic. flexible, evolving curriculum Textbook driven, static curriculum

Learner centered processes and practices for Teacher directed processes and practices for learning learning

Equitable access and seamless infusion of Inequitable access and use of technology as technology an add-on

Technology facilitates multimedia-based Technology primarily automates communication, information sharing. "traditional" practices collaboration

The pursuit of professional excellence is Professional development opportunities are continuous and supported with new models limited, detached from research and under and resources funded

Teaching and learning reflect an increased Teaching and learning primarily reflect a quality of understanding and standards of quantitative level of understanding and excellence varying degrees of excellence

New flexible and expanded roles for Single focus roles for stakeholders are the educational community stakeholders exist norm

New organizational models of systems School systems support linear learning support a Communications Age vision of sequences, time bound units of work, and learning age determined cohorts

BEST COPY AVAIILABLE 13 Page 9 Elements of Long-Range Technology Utilization Plan

Area Basic "Yes & No" Version of QuestionsCommunications Age Version of Questions Teaching & I. Does your plan specify curriculum 1. What are the appropriate work and tools Learning goals to be achieved through the for the design of new learning incorporation and utilization of environments? How does your district technology? plan reflect changing cUrriculum, instruction, and assessment in response to changes in the tools of education? Teaching & 2. Does your technology plan specify 2. What processes, models, strategies, and Learning methods which you will use to reach practices has your district identified that your goals? will help reach the goals of your System & technology plan? How do these Resources "methods" align with your vision of new learning environments?

Technical 3. Does your technology plan specify 3. What is the fit between your technology Infrastructure the types of hardware and software infrastructure and your district's vision required to carry out your plan? of new learning environments? How will the technical infrastructure address the role of technology as tool and discipline?

Technical 4. Does your technology plan 4. How does your plan maximize your Infrastructure incorporate the use of your school/district's existing technology school/district's existing equipment? investment? How can the district's existing investment contribute to your vision of new learning environments?

People 5. Does your technology plan include a5. How does your technology plan Infrastructure staff development plan? demonstrate that your district values staff development? How does your plan reflect new roles for educational stakeholders?

System & 6. Is your school/district planning for 6. What evidence in your technology plan Resources the on-going operational costs and demonstrates long-range fiscal staff development costs to execute considerations? How do these budgetary your school technology plan? considerations reflect an understanding of changes in operational costs and staff development costs as a result of technology infusion?

Teaching & 7. Does your plan support an 7. What role and/or relationship do Learning educational program based upon educational standards play in your standards? technology plan? How does your plan address technology standards?

System & 8. Do you have in place a regular 8. Does your plan include a process of Resources review and update process of your incorporating formative and summative long-range technology plan? data for program review and revision? How will the review process address rapidly changing technology and school reform initiatives? What criteria will guide the review process?

1 4 Page 10 WORKSHOP

ACTIVITIES

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Technology Planning Workshop Worksheet Component 1: Information Gathering and Gleaning Nuggets Focus on a view of your district's technology program that encompasses a wide panorama. Do your best to set aside bias and view your district's technology efforts as objectively as possible. Be pragmatic and note specifics.

Activity Review the data addressing your district's current educational technology program including such items as:a) the district's current technology plan; b) the current technology infrastructure including hardware, software, and networks; c) current technology applications and integration; d) staff skills with technology; e) district's mission and vision; f) priorities for the district's teaching and learning process; g) involvement in school reform efforts; and h) perceived strengthens and barriers surrounding school change initiatives.If you believe you are missing key data elements in order to build a valid picture of current technology efforts, identify those missing pieces and gather such data as soon as feasible.

Develop a brief description of your district's current status by responding to the following items. As you respond to the items, consider information regarding your district's system and resources, technical infrastructure, people infrastructure for technology, and integration of technology into teaching and learning.

1) The primary strengths of our district's technology program are:

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3) A headline that would best capture the current status of our technology program would state:

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17 Page 14 Technology Planning Workshop Worksheet Component 2: Descriptive Vision Development Nuggets Without a vision of where we're going, we'll never know if we got there. While visions are created from a "high altitude", they need to riate to "sea level" realities and practices so we can make valid decisions about time and resources. It is important that we ''own'' the vision.

Activity To begin your vision, try this strategy. Imagine that it's five years from now...Your team is sitting in a restaurant and you spot several former district colleagues who moved away from the district and aren't aware of district happenings in that five year period.

Develop a brief description of your district's vision by responding to the following items.

1) Describe to your former colleagues the wonderful five years you just had-- everything that you hoped for that happened at school, the goals that you met--even the ones you dreamed of that emerged and came true. Think about changes in your district's system and resources, technical infrastructure, people infrastructure for technology, and integration of technology into teaching and learning.

1. 3 Page 15 2) Describe what you overcame to achieve those goals.

3) Describe who you enrolled in the process and whose support you gained in order to succeed.

4) Write a headline that would best capture your district's vision.

13 Page 16 Technology Planning Workshop Worksheet Component 3: Discrepancy Analysis Nuggets Getting from "where we are" to "where we want to be" requires focus and strategy. Clarifying priorities focuses your energy and resources to maximize impact.

Activity Reflect on the headlines that your team identified for the first two components: Information Gathering and Gleaning, and the Descriptive Vision Development. Discuss how much "space" is created between the two headlines. If appropriate, reconsider and restate the headlines. This discussion and reflection offers an opportunity to revisit your district's "current status.' and "vision" and note specific gaps. Summarize the "gaps" identified by your team by responding to the following items. Those gaps may address factors related to your district's system and resources, technical infrastructure, people infrastructure for technology, and integration of technology into teaching and learning.

1) The primary gaps between our district's current status and vision are: (Consider the following areas as you note specific gaps.) System and Resources

Technical Infrastructure

People Infrastructure

Teaching and Learning

Page 17 2) Given time, resources, or other constraints of our district, the highest priority "gaps" are: (As your team considers the list of gaps, consider some of the following questions. If we only had a few months to create an impact, which "gaps" should we focus our energies on? If we could only put the district's attention on a few "gaps," which ones would be "lynch pins" that would cause other things to happen?)

3) Draft objectivr.:s to correlate with the highest priority "gaps" noted above. (Here's where the team "translates" the gaps into objectives that focus attention and energies.)

Objective A

Objective B

Objective C

Objective D

Page 18 Discrepancy Analysis

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System and Resources

Technical Infrastructure

People Infrastructure

Teaching and Learning

'2 2 Page 19 Technology Planning Workshop Worksheet Component 4: Action Plan Development Nuggets Planning without action is simply a bill of goods. Defining what, who, and how builds the accountability compon2nt of planning. Focus action steps for achieving maximum impact for the investment of resources.

Activity For each objective identified as an outcome of the Discrepancy Analysis component, write a story that depicts how that objective can play out meaningfully in your district. Develop concise, descriptive narratives that offer insights into operations and implementation in your district, including information about what, who, how, and when.

After writing the short story, complete the cells of the Action Matrix by drawing information from the story.If you discover missing elements that are important for the success of the objective, identify those items and add to the matrix. For our purposes, the elements of the Action Matrix include: Action Steps--Specific actions such as tasks and activities that operationalize the objective and lead to attainment of the objective. Resources--Description or notation of time, people, money, or other resources needed to facilitate the action step. WhoIdentification of person(s), group(s), or entity(ies) responsible for carrying out the action step. Time LineSpecific dates for accomplishing the action step. Criteria--Descriptive information that specifies the expectations against which the action step will be measured. Data--Pieces of information that are used collectively to determine to what degree the criteria have been met.

Objective A Short Story:

2 3 Page 20 Action Matrix: Objective A:

Action Steps Resources Who Time Line Criteria Data

Objective B Short Story:

Action Matrix: Objective A:

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2 4 Page 21 Objective C Short Story:

Action Matrix: Objective A:

Action Steps Resources Who Time Line Criteria Dzia

Objective D Short Story:

Action Matrix: Objective A:

Action Steps Resources Who Time Line Criteria Data

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Page 22 Questions to Enhance Story Writing 110 for Action Plan Development

1) Who are critical "movers and shakers" among the district's stakeholders for addressing the gaps?

2) What's currently in our "pile" of resources and our "pile" of barriers?

3) What do we need to bridge the gaps in terms of: equipment staff training time policies and procedures partnerships?

4) How much could we achieve by simply redirecting current staff, resources, and equipment? How much could we achieve by expanding/enhancing current staff, resources, and equipment?

5) What new staff, resources, and equipment will we need to accomplish the priorities?

6) What other major initiatives in our district could influence or impact the action steps? (For example, new building construction, standards-based curriculum development, or tax freeze.)

7) How we will we know/what markers can we use that will prove that we have achieved this goal?

2 Page 23 EVALUATION Technology Planning Evaluation

I am leaving this two day workshop with.... a better understanding of a practical, productive planning process

Not at All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Yes and More

a stronger capacity to facilitate a technology planning process

Not at All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Yes and More

experience with the development of a technology plan

Not at All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Yes and More

collaboration with team members and others related to technology planning

Not at All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Yes and More Indicate the degree that the following components contributed Big Picture Overview of Sound Technology Planning so Not at All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Yes and More

Information Gathering and Gleaning

Not at All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Yes and More

Descriptive Vision Development

Not at All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Yes and More

Discrepancy Analysis

Not at All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Yes and More

Action Plan Development

Not at All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Yes and More

Collectively, the components contributed to a progressive, practical process of technology planning

Not at All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Yes and More What didyou like best about this workshop?

In what ways will this workshop beuseful to you?

What wouldyou have changed?

Any additionalcomments? RESOURCES

A) SYSTEM & RESOURCES TIE Strategic Planning Model Fall, 1996 A Process for Pursuing Technology-Infused Teaching and Learning As educators acknowledge and relate to the value of changing organizational structures, changing curriculum and practices, and changing roles for stakeholders in response to the needs of Communications Age schools; they face the challenge of making decisions and implementing educational programming that moves their respective school communities forward productively and successfully. While committed and well- intentioned, many need support and direction to enhance and affirm their efforts.

Many school leaders have initiated planning activities in hopes of clarifyingdirection and gaining support for pursuing school improvements. Such planning processes are particularly useful if they are collaborative in nature and garner the activeinvolvement of a broad base of stakeholders. A planning model developed by the Technologyand Innovations in Education project and implemented with schools in the region is a collaborative process involving four primary components. The followinginformation summarizes the model and is shared as a tool for educators to review, assess, orconsider strategic planning efforts. a) Information Gathering This component involves the gathering of data about current educationaltechnology infrastructure, capacity, and efforts surrounding the teaching andlearning process. Planning leaders work with site leaders and the site's collaborative committee tocompile data that provides a valid snapshot of the district's efforts to access andintegrate technology as a vital part of the teaching and learning process.The information gathering activity is an interactive, collaborative process wherebyplanning leaders engage with district personnel to gain an accurateand informative picture of the district's current status. As part of this component, planning leaders will review the dataand offer impressions to clarify the current efforts. With input from the district, the impressions areshaped into a list of "possibilities and/or needs" that emerge from theinformation gathering activity. The list developed through the information gathering stepshould not be viewed as an end in itself, but rather a base line that can be revisitedand updated as the inventory/strategic planning process continues. b) Vision Development and Description The second component of the process addresses building a visionof technology implementation and integration to impact the teaching and learning processof the district in the next 3-5 years. Planning leaders will interact withthe district's collaborative team to form a vision that describes the teaching andlearning activities that

3 0 will be happening in the district in coming years. The vision should speak to teacher and student roles, characteristics of teaching and learning activities, and infrastructure that needs to be in place. The vision developed as part of the planning process should be an extension or operationalization of the district's overall vision.If the district has not established a vision via other school reform efforts, or needs to update its vision, this is the right time to pursue such a process. Typically, a vision reaches out a decade or more. For the purposes of this planning activity, it is advisable to look down the road three to five years. Given the dynamicsof rapidly changing times, that is still a challenge and requires the thoughtful consideration of the collaborative team. The more descriptive the vision, the easier it will be to develop and write action steps later in the planning process. It is important that the district "owns" the vision. While planning leaders willwork to stimulate the thinking of the collaborative team, it is critical that the team members contribute actively to the vision development process. They need to becomfortable and committed, and hopefully enthused about the possibilities offered by the vision. While the vision does not need to be lengthy, it should include enough narrative to present a meaningful picture of teaching and learningproposed for the district. c) Discrepancy Analysis The third component is structured to identify the gaps between thedistrict's current status as established from the information gathering process,and the vision developed as an outcome of the second componentof the process. The discrepancy analysis should be a fairly straight forward activitywhere the local leaders and collaborative team, with the help of planning leaders, honestly and openly note the gaps between"where the district is" and "where the district wants to be." Sorting out priorities should be an integral part of the discrepancyanalysis. District players and planning leaders may wish to revisit some aspect of theinformation gathering effort--maybe seeking more indepth information or pursuingdata that wasn't noted in the earlier information gathering activity. Perhaps thediscrepancy analysis will cause the district to revisit theirvision in an effort to gain more clarity or expand their view. The outcome of the discrepancy analysis should be aconcise summary of the gaps that emerge as a result of the group's dialogue and deliberation.

d) Action Plan Development In the final component of the process, the local leaders,collaborative team, and planning leaders identify objectives and action steps that address each of the gapsnoted through the discrepancy analysis process. The objectives and action stepscomprise the "meat and potatoes" of the school improvement plan. First, the group must setpriorities among the potential objectives. They need to confront questions such as:Which objectives are

3 1 most critical to the overall effort? What level of resources can be garnered in the next few years to address these objectives? Once the objectives are prioritized and clarified, the group begins the process of identifying action steps for accomplishing the objectives. The action steps will indicate what is to be done, what resources are needed, who is to do it, what the time line is, and how the district will know the step was accomplished. The answers to these questions might be organized in a matrix that forms the structure for the strategic plan. For example:

Objective Action Step Resources W h o Time LineEvidence In order to keep the plan manageable, the group should prObably focus on a few key objectives (probably not more than 10), and identify several action steps (typically 3-5) for each objective. Once the action steps are written, the group should review the overall plan to confirm that collectively, the objectives respond succinctly and effectively to the gaps noted from the discrepancy analysis. e) Related Planning Information While the components of the planning process are sequential in that they lead to a plan, they are also cyclic and concurrent. That is, most collaborative team activities will involve some discussion of current efforts in the district, some consideration about building the district's vision, and some dialogue about gaps in the district's efforts. Planning leaders will work with local leaders and the collaborative team to ensure that the overall process attends to all components and produces a meaningful plan that can serve the district in the next few years. Given the nature of the planning process, it can function as a strong capacitybuilding experience for district personnel. Each component of the process can potentiallystretch the thinking of the local team, build their knowledge base, and engage them in collaborative decision-making. The skills and experience the team acquires can servethe district well in coming years as they revisit, reconsider, and update the plan in response to new data, priorities, and resources. The planning effort is more about "process" than it is about "product."While producing a plan is important and useful, it is the capacitybuilding experience gained by district personnel that positions the district powerfully for continued progresswith improving teaching and learning.

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II ' 'GETTING AMERICA'S STUDENTSREADY FOR THE 21s-rCENTURY

Meeting the TechnologyAiteracyChallenge

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Alb increased electrical capacity). The difficulty, however, Federal Role is arriving at reliable estimates of what it will cost to The federal government's role is to provide the meet all four goals. One reason for this difficulty is inomentum to support state and local efforts co meet determining how schools should ultimately be outfit- the Technology Literacy Challenge. This is done ted. Another difficulty is the varied levels of technolo- through leadership, targeted funding, and support for gy currently found in schools around the nation. Yet pctivities that will catalyze national action. Building another reason is that the technology itself is rapidly on current educational technology activities, the presi- evolving. dent proposed the Technology Literacy Challenge Despite such complex variables, some organizations Fund. Making $2 billion available over five years, the have produced estimates based on various models and fund would spur states, local communities, and other assumptions. One estimate puts the cost at $109 bil- involved parties to step forward, produce matching lion over 10 years, or an average of $11 billion a year, dollars and in-kind contributions, and cooperate with taking into account both initial investments and ongo- one another in attaining the four goals. Additionally, ing expenditures. Another estimate puts the CCM at in its leadership capacity, the federal government will between $10 billion and $20 billion a year over a five- continue to promote affordable connections, to sup- year period. Yet another puts the cost at between $10 port professional development, and to conduct billion and $12 billion a year over five years. To put research and development. this into perspective, schools spent about $3.3 billion on technology during the 1994-95 school year. State and Local Community Roles The conclusion that leaps from these numbers is Appropriately, a number of states and local commu- that schools alone cannot meet their need.It will take nities have been the leaders in moving schools toward a partnership of the private sector, states and local an increased use of technology for learning. States and communities, and the federal government to shoulder communities can continue to take the lead in develop- the financial burden of meeting these goals. ing action plans based on their own priorities. They Additionally, it will take careful planning to make cer- can distribute funds based on the needs of individual tain that, in our reach for technological literacy, districts to promote equity among schools, and use schools in all types of communities middle-income, existing educational funds in new ways. They can lower-income, and better-off communities have invest in technological infrastructure to connect access to up-to-date technology in their classrooms. schools to networks. And they.can make a concerted effort to build community support. WHAT WE ALL CAN Do TO MEET THE CHALLENGE Higher Education and Private and The nation already has taken steps to integrate tech- Nonprofit Sector Roles nology into schools, but what remains to be done Institutions of higher education, businesses, founda- looms large. While acknowledging the federal govern- tions, and other organizations will need to shoulder a ment's leadership role, the purpose of this report is to large share of the effort to integrate technology into present a framework that states and local communities schools. And the push is already on. Collectively, can use in developing local plans of action that will businesses have developed technology specifically for support the use of technology in achieving high stan- the education market and have donated millions of dards of teaching and learning in all classrooms for all dollars of resources to schools. Colleges and universi- students.It will take contributions from all sectors of ties across the country are training teachers in the society to get America's students ready for the 21st effective use of technology. Still, these kinds of efforts century. will have to be magnified many times over for the vision of technological literacy to be realized.

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-:92M233021:0M8224MOPASOIXOSMES .W.0001"0.S.:9,130:10:6ir% Topics To Be Covered: The Technology-Rich School Technology Uses Qualities of Technology-Rich Schools Technology Impact on Studerds Technology Impact on leathers

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The model that Means and Questions asked by Olson looked for was a Teachers constructivist model Lessons horn Technology- characterized by student Rich Reform hwolvement in complex, Summary meaningful tasks or projects. Ilds emphasis on the students participation forced chenges in pedagogy. Based on empirical research consolidated by Means and Olson

A "New" Pedagogy The Technology-rich school practices the Higher order skills distinction between Design, composition and computer use as: anelysis co-mingled with basic skills, i.e., writing. multidisciplinary, - requiring longer periods of time, - greater emphasis on teamwork and collaborative skills New roles for students will emerge

o BEST COPY AVAILABLE G The Technology-nch school employs technology in Learning how to use the computer "essential" ways: Using the computer as an application to "extend" learning

The Technology-nch Making use of school employs technology: technology ... Staffing patterns reflect Curriculum and Instructional appropriate use of personnel bass have been changed for support and coordination School day has been of technology use reorganized to make use of tedmology Staff development program in the district

The School Budget The School Budget

Dedicated to instructional Reflects expenditures on software acquisition. items related to technology. replacement and Devoted to instructional maintenance staffing for technology infusion in instruction Devoted to administration of technology infusion planning and instructional planning

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2 :,:,r3.009$$.20mrsvg.reolorga Qualities of Qualities of Technology-Rich Technology-Rich Schools Schools All schools have restnictured Learner-centered their programs substantially Veit:at/on and emphasis on Class periods lengthened ourrictium framework Interdisciplinary programs Explicit individual treatment introduced et students with disabilities Project-based learning according to their needs and receiving considerable capebilitles attention Comptter density which exceeds that which is common in schools today

ethnology Impacted Qualities of the students in the Technology-Rich following ways: Schools Added to the students School programs appear to perceodon that their work Is beproduct of a fairty atithenoc and important concentrated development Increased the complexity effort or one explicit facet of with which students can deal a Inger vision successfully Teachers function as "roving Created a multiplicity of cinches working within the student rotes context of the students engagement of their work Enhared student motivation and see-esteem

...... Technology impacted the students in the following ways: ".. t effects that Made obvious the need for technoiogy has on bigger blocks of time students depend on the Instigated greater instructional context collaboration provided by individual teachers. This finding imp.ies not only that the impact of technology will vary from classroom to classroom but also that the issues of teacher buy-in, tettLirm training, and timelier support are essential to success."

3 3 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 3 I:'(.1 4110'..4500erAtef4";1105X.(.1KIV.00 eachers were Teachers were impacted in the impacted ... following ways: Increased involvement in An increase in teachers' training and professional technology and pedagogical conferences skile Provided teachers with Greater collaboration within insists to take on coaching theb own school and advisory roles Increased collaboration with external school reform and research organizations

Questions [to be) Teachers were asked by teachers impacted ... : who are engaged in "Many of the technology technology integration: applications require a breeder and deeper e I . What does the technology knowledge of the discipline offer my students in terms of than may be required by developing concepts and curricula that assume that content? teachers transmit a fixed is 2. How does it help them body of Information.' cany out inquiry processes? (Yerushalmy, Chazan, and Gordon, 1986; Wince. 1993; Martin, 1987)

Questions [to be] Questions asked by teachers ... : asked by teachers ... is 5. What knowledge, processes. and skills do students need before using e 3. How will they work collaboratively or the technology? cooperatively? 6. Whet new knowledge ot 4. What is the relationship conteM or discipline, of teaching, or of technology do between the technology and I need in order to foster new other instructional materials? teaming in my students?

BEST COPYAVAILABLE 3 3

4 Lessons for Lessons ... technology-supported educational reform This relates not only to the efforts: computer student ratio but also to the distribution of computers throughout the Time must be devoted to school building developing a school-wide Teachers feel less obligated vision (inclined) to use technology Adequate technology access when it is not present in their is needed for all students classroom.(Piele. 1989)

Lessons .. .:

Opportunities for teachers to Good cuMcular content must collaborate with peers must come first be available Technology should be used Teachers need time to leam across subect matters and to use technology and to classrooms Incorporate it into their ovm The system must reward cunicutar goals exemplary technology- Easily accessibie technical supported activities support b critical

"Technology can support a "... the researchliterature the education reform goal shows us that the instructional value lines in of promoting learning through collaborative the way the technology is involvement in authentic, used and in the activity multidisciplinary takes by structure that surrounds it. providing realistic, rather than in the hardware complex environments for or software itself.(Means, student inquiry, furnishing et al., 1993)" information and tools to support investigation, and Uniting classrooms for joint Investigations."

BESTCOPYAVAILABLE 4 0 5 Information Literacy Standardsfor Student Learning in oday's student lives and learns in a world that has been radicallyaltered by the ready availability of vast stores of information a variety of furmats. The learning process andthe information search process mirror eachother: students actively seek to construct meaning from the sources they encounter and to createproducts that shape and communicate that meaningeffictively. T seeks to Developing expertise in accessing, evaluating, and using informationis in fact the authentic learning that modern education promote. contain AASL and AECT are partnering to develop new guidelinesfor school library media programs and professionals that will information literacy standards for student learning. The standards arethe litmus test by which school library media programs and professionals can define their roles and responsibilities to the learningcommunity, and are the first component of the committee's work to reach final draft form. of other national The work of the Vision Committee on these standards hasinvolved research to define these concepts and exploration large expert panel association standards to correlate learning concepts. Multiplereviews by both Boards, committee members, and a from the greater educational community have also taken place. You, amember of AASL and a professional, are now asked toreview this draft carefully, and to send the committee your thoughts. Betty Marcoux, Chair, National Guidelines,Vision Committee

ing community. The standards and Standard 2: Evaluates information indicators themselves are written at critically and competently, as a level of generalitythat assumes described by the following that individual states, districts, indicators: The following three categories, nine sites, and school personnel must 1. determines accuracy, relevance, standards, and twenty-nine indica- provide the level of detail neces- and comprehensiveness; tors describe the content and sary to apply them acrossmultiple 2. distinguishes among facts, point processes related to information sources and formats ofinformation of view, and opinion; that students must master to be and to the developmental, cultural, 3. identifies inaccurate and mis- considered well educated. The and learning needs of all the stu- leading information; items related to information litera- dents they serve. 4. selects information appropriate cy describe the core learning out- to the problem or question athand. comes that are most obviously related to the services provided by CATEGORY I: Standard 3: Uses information effec- school library media programs. INFORMATION LITERACY tively and creatively, as described The items related to the other two by the following indicators: areasindependent learning and The student who is information 1. organizes information for social responsibilityare grounded literate: practical application; in information literacy and describe 2. integrates new information into more general aspects of student Standard 1 Accesses information one's own knowledge; learning to which school library efficiently and effectively, as 3. applies information in critical media programs also make impor- described by the following thinking and problem solving; tant contributions. indicators: 4. produces and communicates 1. recogrdzes the need for informa- information and ideas in appropri- The latter two categories build ate formats. upon the first so that, takentogeth- tion; lev- 2. recognizes that accurate and er and pursued to the highest comprehensive information is the els, the standards and indicators CATEGORY II: basis for intelligent decision present a profile of the information INDEPENDENT LEARNING literate high-school graduate: one making; 3. formulates questions based on who has the ability to use informa- The student who is an independent tion to acquire both core and information needs; 4. identifies a variety of potential learner is information literate and: advanced knowledge dources of information; become an independent;lifiiithig.i. 5. develops and uses successful Standard 4: Pursues information learner who contribute&.resiiOnsi-:: related to personal interests, as bly and productively to the learn- strategies for locating information.

Tho C . .. .. / C.. A. )4fl 4 PESTCOP If MAILABLE ri described by the following 1. assesses the quality of the and information technology, as indicators: process and products of one's own described by the following 1. seeks information related to vari- information seeking; indicators: ous dimensions of personal well- 2. devises strategies for revising, 1. respects the principles of intellec- being, such as career interests, com- improving, and updating self-gen- tual freedom; munity involvement, health erated knowledge. 2. respects intellectual property matters, and recreational pursuits; rights; 2. designs, develops, and evaluates 3. uses information technology information products and solutions responsibly. related to personal interests. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Standard 9: Participates effectively Standard 5: Appreciates and The student who contributes posi- in groups to pursue and generate enjoys literature and other tively to the learning community information, as described by the creative expressions of informa- and to society is information following indicators: tion, as described by the follow- literate and: 1. shares knowledge and informa- ing indicators: tion with others; 1. is a competent and self-motivat- Standard 7: Recognizes the impor- 2. respects others' ideas and back- ed reader; tance of information to a democra- grounds and acknowledges their 2. derives meaning from informa- tic society, as described by the contributions; tion presented creatively in a following indicators: 3. collaborates with others, both in variety of formats; 1. seeks information from diverse person and through technologies, 3. develops creative products in a sources, contexts, disciplines, and to identify information problems variety of formats. cultures; and to seek their solutions; 2. respects the principle of equi- 4. collaborates with others, both in Standard 6: Strives for excellence table access to information. person and through technologies, to in information seeking and knowl- design, develop, and evaluate infor- edge generation, as described by Standard 8 Practices ethical mation products and solutions. the following indicators: behavior in regard to information Thoughts about the Standards Please read the draft fonn of the "Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning" carefully and respond to these questions. We welcome your comments. What do you particularly like about these student-centered standards?

What other comments do you have regarding these student-centered standards?

What materials/staff development opportunities will help you implement these standards?

Any additional comments: BES1 COPY MLA

Send your responses to AASL /AECT Vision Committee, Attn.: Pamela Kramer, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL. 60611. Fax: 312-664-7459 E-mail: AASLiDala.org Five trends influence the way today's schools are built Shaaing School-Design

generous proportions. That gives you room to bring in new BY SANDRA R. SABO ducts and cabling for computers." Still, it can be difficult to reshape the interiors of older schools because many of their How many classrooms do you need? Until re- walls can't be moved. cently, that was the standard question archi- If you foresee the need for several new schools, one op- tects asked as they began the process of de- tion is to purchase a large site and group buildings together. signing a new school. "But that's not the whole "Land costs are high, so you may pay a premium for a large story anymore. Now we talk instead about tract, but in the long run it may be less expensive than three space standardswhat kind of spaces the or four separate parcels," says Russ. "For instance, you can school needs to prepare students for the real reduce your infrastructure costs by extending the sewers world," say: Raymond C. Bordwell, director of educational and improving access roads to just one site." facility planning for Perkins & Will, an architectural firm Although separate, the buildings could share a bus park- headquartered in Chicago. ing lot, athletic fields, and other facilities. "If schools aren't "For instance, in an agrarian society, we had one-room far apart, you don't need a full kitchen in each one," points schoolhouses that looked a lot like farmhouses. Industrial- out John R. Orrick, chairman of Smeallie Orrick & Janka. age schools looked Re factoriesyou'd enter one end of a Ltd., an architectural firm in Baltimore, Md. "One school hall of classrooms and come out on the other end, much would have a regular preparation kitchen, and the others like an assembly line," he continues. "Now that we're in the might have smaller satellite kitchens with warming carts." information age, what should our places of learning look Orrick also says districts sometimes pursue the idea of a like?" prototype or model school whose design can be duplicated As your school district grapples with that larger question, repeatedly. The one-size-fits-all approach can cut down on you must also balance the needs of students. teachers, ad- design costs, architects agree, but both Orrick and Russ administrators, and taxpayers. Architects who work frequently vise caution. Using a single design can severely limit site se- with school districts trace a number of changes in education lection and detract from the individuality of each school. and finance that are influencing how a school operates and, in turn, what it looks like. Here are five of those trends: Joint partnerships. Increasingly, suburban develop- ers are working closely with school districts to inte- Shrinking resources. Getting bond issues passed is 2grate schools into new subdivisions or planned commu- getting harder all the time. So when your district is nities. It's now routine to involve several representatives of 1faced with increasing enrollments and outdated facili- the community on a school design team. Architecturally, the ties, you'll undoubtedly look first at improving what you al- school-community link is often strengthened by pursuing ready have. But approach renovation carefully, especially if school design that is in keeping with local domestic archi- the facility dates to the 1950s or early 1960s. tecture. Residential building materials or design features, "Some schools built during the baby boom were thrown such as a sloped and shingled roof rather than a flat roof, up quickly using cheaper construction methods. They also can tie the school visually to the houses surrounding it. have low ceilings," observes Katherine N. Russ. a principal The residential concept can apply to the inside of the in the Raleigh, N.C., office of Boney Architects. "The school as well, says Steve Parker, president of Grimm and schools built in the early part of the century are actually Parker, an architectural and engineering firm in Calverton, easier to renovate because they were built well and have Md. "More of our clients are interested in bringing down the scale of a building so it has a house-like feeling. Big, in- Sandra R. Sabo is a free-lance writer in St. Paul, Minn. stitutional schools just aren't as friendly and invilingespe-

42 OCTOBER 1996 THE AMERICAN SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL 4 3 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Space standards for science classrooms and accommodations for technology are important SPACE STANDARDS 41. 4 considerations in design, says architect Raymond Bordwell, who uses graphics like these ce in presentations to school ,NLimpAL,ftbc- " "Ai? district clients. 4.4 -41 AV's In another project. Russ says, - a school district teamed up with --s- ..: the local parks system. "We're et doing an elementary school ad- 4,s,..4". - "Xt , i- IT 0 CI CI CI I ....wortbuomtitrt jacent to a new park," she explains. "The school system pur- F. is- chased a smaller site and won't have to build play fields. In turn, the park system will use the school after hours for its arts- and-crafts programs and won't have o put a building on its site." Developments in curriculum. School design is evoiving to accommodate new approaches in curriculum and instruction, architects say. 3"There's a recognition that everybody doesn't learn the same way, so you have to provideindividualized instructional opportunities for students," says Perkins & Will's Bordwell. "In modern instructional models, teachers aren't just dispensers of informationthey're coaches and facilita- tors of learning. And students are much moreresponsible for their own learning." 41,, How does that trend affect school design? For starters,it means that standard-size classroomsaccommodating 25 to s. 30 students are on the way out. Taking their place are com- , _h1Ps . binations of various-sized rooms, some with permanent walls and others with removable ones. To further encourage teamwork and student interaction,tables are replacing individual desks. As Steve Parker explains, "The size of thegrouping might accommodate up to 60 or 90 students, if you're schools into putting together several groups for a presentation, ordown daily to young children. We divide elementary work. The teacher a series of clusters or housesof classrooms and, to follow to four or eight students for hands-on the analogy, provide each house with a living room'that's goes from one station or team toanother, as opposed to lec- shared space." turing from the front of a classroom." classrooms or a Parker sees more high schools borrowing thecluster A "house" might include three first-grade enhance a kindergarten, a first-grade classroom, and a second-grade concept from middle and elementary schools to read- multidisciplinary curriculum. "Clustering by deparmients, a classroom, says Parker. In the living room, you'd find being ing nooks, computers, and perhaps even asmall kitchen tradition in high schools for the last 25 years, is really where students could interact as a group. The same space questioned." he says. "Instead of grouping all the science education teachers together or all the math teachers, you have aclus- could double as a breakout area for special they can inter- classes or for tutoring by parent volunteers. ter with teachers from various disciplines so with act and plan together." The implication fordesign? Schools School districts are also embarking on joint ventures prefer- other organizations within the community. "We'recurrently need more teacher planning and preparation areas, involved in a project called the Education Village,"Russ ably adjacent to the related instructional areas. notes, "building two elementary schools, onemiddle The decentralized approach applies toadministrative school, and one high school in partnership withIBM, areas as well. Placing offices forassistant principals and guidance counselors within the individual clusters,for ex- which is donating $2 million for the technology compo- less fore- nents." Russ says she expects such public-private partner- ample, makes those people more accessible and involve- boding to students. Similarly, Russ reports. moreschool ships will increase as businesses see the value of schools, ment in the education of tomorrow's workforce. districts are locating computers throughout

OCTOBER 1996 43 THE AMERICAN SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL 4 4 sT COPY AVAIL;LE schools, which now average 150 square feet per student, might grow to 170 or even 200 square feet per student (a standard calculation for many office buildings). Even with brand-new facilities, keeping up with the march of technology can be a challenge. Ti.yo full years typically pass between the design of an elementary or middle school and its completion; for high schools, the turnaround time is often four years. Many technological advances can occur in the interim. That's why Katherine Russ says more *--- districts are holding back on bidding out a school's techno- On the way out- logical components. "They might wait until six months be- Cenli-alized adminisnalion o fore the school is completed before awarding the computer Large, centralized eornputer contract," she says, "so the design must have enough space Same-sized clasitonnis with d in the infrastructure to put the cabling in later." Physical educatinifacilidei (gyli an Many schools that can't afford to install state-of-the-art Cafeterias (one loiii-fOnd lini incl;Ciflorire technology right now are looking ahead and installing the tables) appropriate wiring and cabling, as well as additional electri- .Auditoriumi- cal outlets. Designing ahead for technology means less need later on for the kind of retrofitting that is the focus of Ofi the way m. this month's volunteer effort to wire schools coast to coast Offices throughout the ich through state-by-state NetDay events. Computers in every classrooM7gj-c,,-..s.::::::::*:;tr-t.:-F. Variable-sized instructional alias-With Extended use. As increasing numbers of school dis- . . Health sciences facilities (icluding alieight room and ex- tricts consider the pros and cons of year-round school- ercise studios)-.'.4040006#4,A0*&0'.- ing, school facilities are called on to hold more students - 5 Food courts (a: vanety of servingstations and--t;4,, and stand up to nearly nonstop wear and tear. On a year- neating arrangements 1 round schedule, says Russ, "the school takes more abuse, Community theateri(imillhOuse andlarge taé and you don't have the break time in the summer to come in and do maintenance." And that calls for more durable and often more expensivematerials. putting resources closer tostudents rather than in one cen- Schools are also coming in for greater use after hours, tral location. both by students and community members. John Orrick says When it comes to specialized spaces, Perkins & Will, for he often plans for flexibility in school facilities by placing a one, is moving away from designing auditoriums that can stage between the cafeteria and gymnasium in elementary accommodate a school's entire student body. "How often do and middle schools. "There's a curtain on one side and a flex- you use a big auditoriumthree nights a year for the musi- ible wall on the other, and the area looks like a stage from ei- cal and four times during the year for a school assembly? ther direction," he explains. "A large production would be It's not worth the infrastructure," says Bordwell, who be- geared toward the gymnasium, and a seminar or large-group lieves a smaller theater with a larger and well-equipped meeting would use the space from the cafeteria side." stage represents a better investment for a school with a Similarly, Steve Parker has designed dining areas on vari- strong arts curriculum. ous levels to mimic the intimacy and flexibility of a dinner "We're also doing art classrooms that are more like stu- theater. The seating ranges from booths to rectangular ta- dios," he adds. "They have high ceilings and exposed struc- bles to small round tablesanything to move away from tures where you can hang three-dimensional art, plus large what he calls "the flat institutional cafeteria that looks like it spaces dedicated to two-dimensional art such as painting should be in a prison." Borrowing the food-court concept and drawing." from shopping malls. Parker recommends several lines serving different types of food as a means of keeping stu- 4Advancements in technology. In new schools, it's not dents on campus during the lunch hour. unusual to find a large-screen television permanently In fact. Parker prefers the term "student services center" mounted in each classroom, plus an in-house studio to "cafeteria." As its name implies, the center offers much that can coordinate broadcasts throughout the building as more than food. "Students really don't have much free time well as between other schools in the district during school, but they have time before and after and Computers are similarly linked, enabling students, teach- around dining time." he says. "If they're really going to take ers, and administrators in different places to communicate advantage of student government, guidance counseling, ca- via e-mail, tap into information in a mainframe, and access reer materials, and the media center, they must be able to the Internet. access those services easily in one area? These data, video, and voice transmission capabilities Some of these trends might point to radical changes in translate into miles of cablesplus the space to run the ca- the way new schools operate and look. But lest you think bles and house all the equipment. "Square footage is getting everything has changed since you tossed your mortar bigger," notes Bordwell, not just to accommodate comput- board in the air, rest assured that at least one school tradi- ers within classrooms but also to provide training space for tion endures: After experimenting with vinyl and rubber teachers so they can stay a few steps ahead of their stu- tiles, these architects say it's hard to beat a good old-fash- dents' grasp of technology. Bordwell predicts that high41o3ed wooden floor in the gymnasium. CM . ACROSS OURDESK

,1111,1millij111'11 111111111 11111111111F CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY CREATE W CHALLENGES FOR PUBLIS -S the year Those wh ell information on the World Wide b are not likely to make money before typical electronic 2000, says Foster Research of Cambrid ,MA. The company predicts that the newsletter or mg.:. e would lose $3.9illion over its initial investment before itwould begin to make a profit. series from many educa- _More signs of the times are eomized by changes in some of the classic tors' childhoods. Little G :en ks, illustrated story books for new readers, are nowalso avail- music and able as Little Golden B. .ks Interact Stories on CD-ROM, including puzzles, games, e-mail: skills coaching, fro owerhouse Entert ment (214/233-5400, fax 214233-6322, pwrhseent@aol. .m). its 140 la Britannic& now available online an CD-ROM as well as in print, is losing .Encyclop sales, but no oor sales representatives a time-honored tra n and the leading source of door-t advertising in ion cost-effective. The layoffs are accompanied by an exp on into direct mail and adcast and online media.

ED MEASURES SCHOOLSPENDING PLANS school year, post American school districts intend to increasetheir technology hardware budgets this and over half of the computers they plan to buy will beApple Macintoshes, according to Quality .Education Data. Sixty-five percent will spend more onhardware in 1996-97 than they did last year, And hardware compared to just 50 percent of districts thatexpanded hardware budgets in 1995-96. in ilurchases will make up 62 percent of technology expendituresthis year, compared to 58 percent 199495.

The sharp increase in hardware spending iscoupled with a drop in the percentageof districts increas- 34 percent this year 'The ing their software spending from 50 percent of districts last year to be shifting emphasis on networks and the need for modemmuttimedia-capable computers appear to the purchasing toward hardware and awayfrom software," says Jeanne Hayes,QED President.

_. percent of their pespite the interest in online computer networking,districts plan to spend less than 3 will be on technology budgets on online services, QED says."We expect that most of this spending schools _Internet direct access, rather than through proprietaryservices," says Hayes, adding that because of the 'can reduce their online services costs withpreferential rates on telecommunications Telecommunications Deregulation Act of 1996.

in computer buying, school districts plan to purchase 55 percentMacintoshes and 39 percent Win- 'dows-ready machines. The Macintosh percentage shows adrop from 61 percent last school year, -but a much smaller decrease than manyexpected. 1 technology this Overall, QED estimates U.S. school districtswill spend $4.1 billion on education is expected to be School year, up from $3.9 billion in 1995-96.Per-student spending for technology is based on i$92.70 this year, compared to $90.17 in 1995-96and $82.05 in 1994-95. The data Purchasing QED's May-June 1996 survey of school districtsand is reported in 1996-97 Technology (303) 860- Forecast, available for $500 from QED, 1700 LincolnSt, 36th Floor, Denver, CO 80203, :1832, (800) 525-5811, e-mail: qedinfoeqeddata.com,http://www.qeddata.com. 5

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 4 6 Page 12 Inventing Tomorrow's Schools October, 1996 The Agenda of the Global Village Schools Institute(GVSI) ../im Mecidenburger & Dennis Bybee Several prescient Tthe Institute's stated mission is to assist and support thosewho conceive and imple- observers in the 1960s ment the next generations of learning and teaching.GVSI brings together two con- foresaw a vastly differ- emporary movements in education that naturallyintertwine: ent nation in the 1990s. the urge to reform; One observer, communi- the urge to use advanced technologies. cations philosopher and woof of achieving better education. educatorMarshall GVSI believes that reform and technology are the warp and McLuhan, foresaw the ioneering educators have in their grasp both the ideas to be wiserand the tools to be impact of silicon chips psmarter about how education is conducted. And, inpursuit of wiser and smarter education, GVSI and telecommunications brings information and support to pioneers, stakeholders anddecision-makers at the leading edge of on life in general and change. education in particular. Since 1994, GVSI has appealed to He envisioned (at the practitioners who are creating new kinds of education in formalschools and elsewhere (in- time when images of the cluding museums, libraries, home schools, communications companies); earth from space were think about and discuss first seen) the coming of researchers, theorists and advocates who are conceiving of ways to "a global village" in new models of education; which all the people and entrepreneurs who are crafting new kinds ofeducational services; all the information education leaders, stakeholders and decision-makers who areconsidering new laws, new would be as accessible rules, new policies, and even new institutions. to any person as if all The Reform Agenda humankind lived in a Tn meetings and publications, GVSI showcases thepeople and practices of model schools, small town. Other ob- Imagnet schools, charter schools, hands-on museums, on-linelibraries and other such innovative servers coined expres- efforts. GVSI engages government leaders, entrepreneurs, management gurus,philosophers of edu- is such as "third cation and researchers on cognition whose ideas and efforts suggest new waysfor educators to think ye," "post-indus- about and defme educational strategies. And, GVSIapprises educators of the host of studies and *al,"and "information policy pronouncements about the shortcomings of andopportunities for reforming curriculum, lan- age" to encapsule the guage use, time utilization, and othermainstays of traditional education. great changes that were, then, just around the The Technology Agenda (-2 ysI continually seeks the educational significanceand the educational possibilities of corner. Now we live in and publications dwell on such the early decades of that V the electronic sea changes in society. GVSI's meeting agendas topics as Internet use and development of educationalintranets, simulation as an emerging teaching future, and we've bor- home/school connections via telephone and com- McLuhan's method, new approaches to evaluation and testing, rowed students who team to create educational resourcesand evocative "global vil- puter networks, new roles of educators and experiences, electronic field trips and other distancelearning strategies, privatization and other strat- lage" expression to pose of education, technological change and reinven- the question: what will egies for stakeholder participation and management "schools" be like in the tion of the schooling process. post-industrial/third- Reform and Technology Together wave/information age/ Whether society's quest for better education is firstinspired by reform ideas or by synergistictogether more than the sum global village era as technological opportunity, reform and technology are fundamental change and power of the two. unprecedented technol- Although today's reform initiatives are diverse, each ofthem postulates alternatives to one or school ogy emerge for all to see more of the industrial-age conceptsimbedded in conventional schooling: Today's conventional and to use? emerged more than a century ago in America as akind of "information factory"a place dedicated to 44/ the manufactureing of informed people -- andit suited the era when America was buildingfactories

Coovrloht 1996The Global VIlleoe Schools Institute 4 t October. 1996 Inventing Tomorrow's Schools Page 13

tors-in-schools would "manufacture" adults from children,just as workers-in-factories wove cloth- ing from cotton and milled steel from ore. Industrial Age America invested on a massive scale intwin concepts pioneered by churches (the house ofworship, and the chapel) and renamedthese concepts with secular terms borrowed from colleges and seminaries: campus and classroom.School became every community's specialized GVSI island of learning -- organized to be disconnectedfrom daily commerce, organized to be more infor- believes that mation-rich than the rest of a community. [In the samespirit, Industrial Age America also built reform and "campuses" and "classrooms" called museums andgalleries, libraries and reading rooms.] technology Campuses and classrooms are organized, accordingly, for are the warp Linear learning sequences (e.g. the grade-level by grade-levelcurriculum, disciplines such and woof of as mathematics in phasesarrayedfrom arithmetic to calculus, and standardized testing,for example) and achieving .time-bound units of work (e.g. school days, courses, semesters) better age-determined cohorts (e.g. third grade, seventh grade)that are professionally managed (i.e., by teachers, librarians, coaches,administrators) to assure that students will "cover" the pre- education. scribed information units). Society's ociety's advanced technologies make the reform of any orall of these concepts feasible -- even new (distance learning via satellite, or virtual Sdesirable. Often it is the existence of these technologies technologies libraries and museum exhibits on the Internet, for example)that enables education's stakeholders and decision-makers to understand the limits of current practiceand the potential of reform. make reform Information-age tools can be used to reconnect learnerswith the larger society and with of many each other, diminishing the isolation of campusesand the constraints of classroom spaces. Schools conventional and other institutions can become less like"islands" and more like arteries on an information net- concepts work. Learning need not always be "on campus," orin the "right" grade, or with one's age-peers, in teaching can occur anytime and anywhere the learn- feasible order to be considered "schooling;" learning and even ers are. Information and contacts with knowledgeable people canconveniently and inexpensively desirable. be arranged at a distance (e.g. electronic fieldtrips; the National Geographic Kids Network;Sesame only an Street and the other pioneering efforts of theChildren's Television Workshop). Learners are electronic link away from family, libraries, experts, peersand information any time and without regard to where it resides. Technology can enlarge upon the array of learningpaths, or even replace some conventional sequences entirely, relying instead onindividualizing learning experiences, strategies ofimmersion, and explorations through simulation. Learningexperiences can be triggered by learners' unique patterns of interest and background,instead of learning being bound to a school'sprescribed timetable. and Diversity can be managed; project-based calendars canbe sustained. Students of different ages experience can interact with each other, classroom-wide orworld-wide. Disciplines (such as mathematics or history) can be used but also can bemixed in new ways (as in the mathematicsof history, learning options or the history of mathematics).Students or their teachers can select as readily among as they presently select booksfrom library shelves. Technology can help reorganize learning andteaching from time-bound units of work,offering opportunities to explore and study available atthe time of student's interest, at the most conve- nient times of the day or year, with informationand resources from any location. And technology can help educatorscomplement or replace age-graded cohorts with oppor- each tunities for learners of diverse age and experience tostudy together and learn with and from other. fo- Keynote speakers at the first three Global VillageSchools Conferences exemplify GVSI's cus on the intersection of reform andtechnology: has for a Ted Turner, in 1994, creator of CNN andother information-age inventions, who decade devoted increasing attention to how childrenlearn in and out of school. Reed Hundt, in 1995, chairman of the FederalCommunications Commission, who is a tire- less and successful advocate for policies and legislationthat serve the information needs and entertainment needs of children. Kevin Kelly, in 1996, executive editor of WIREDMagazine and of the electronic service 4 3 (GVSI Agenda, Continues on p. 14) Tho Villano Re!hnnic Institute Inventing Tomorrow's Schools October, 1996 Page 14 (GVSI Agenda.Conunues from p 14) as HotWIRED (on the Internet), is a chronicler and a guruof how people work and learn in the information age. Similarly, GVSI's 1996 first annual Inventing Tomorrow's Schools Awards went to Tom King, the St. Paul school administrator who led the creation of theworld-renowned GVSI's key Saturn School of Tomorrow, a school organized to make the entire city of St. Paulthe 'campus' for challenge is to students; create and Al Weis who has created ThinkQuest, an information-age nationwide contest inwhich teams of secondary-school youngsters, working together from diverse locations, createlearning opportuni- manage ties for other youngsters on the Internet; activities The John S. McDonnell Foundation whose research and development projectshave created where people outstanding examples of how teachers and students can function in new and better waysin informa- engaged in tion-rich classrooms; and reforms and in Asbury Theological Seminary, a Wesleyan college in Kentucky that has rethoughtthe role educational of seminaries in the information age and created a world-wide presencethrough distance learning, Internet use, and new roles for faculty and students. uses of advanced GVSI's New Activities: With and Beyond the Pioneering technology GVSI's conferences, small meetings, awards, electronic services and publicationswill con- can share their tinue to be a source of information and collegial support to leading-edgeeducators and institu- wisdom and tions.. But, if reform and technology are going to truly reshape education,pioneering efforts experience must move into the mainstream of eductional discourse. decision-makers to with each GVSI must enlist the pioneers in the task of helping stakeholders and more confidently change the ways that educationhappens. It is one thing for decision-makers to other and with acknowledge the potential of reform ideas and powerful technologies. Thenation now has hundreds others who will of compelling examples, and many leaders accept that "one day,education will change." It is quite elp transform another thing to jettison the comforts of tradition, so that educationpractices actually change nation- education for wide. And so, decision-makers everywhere need more support, such as: all Americans. insightful honest descriptions and analyses of what's happening in model programs; documented guidelines for redesigning learning spaces, revampingcurricula, rethinking personnel training, and integrating technology; advice on issues they've never faced -- including pitfalls to avoid,shortcuts that work, funding, political, contractual and legislative strategies that have provensuccessful; translations of great concepts (e.g., students should work in teams,with teachers acting as guides) into workable ways to accomplish these concepts; andsuggestions of how bold initiatives (e.g., every child will have access to the Internet) can beimplemented in educationally significant ways; places to see, people to contact, studies to review, consultants who canassist. In sum, a great many people need permission, encouragement,and decision support systems to imagine better education; and, once they envision what'sfeasible, many will need specific assistance in realizing their visions. Who better to help local, state and national decisionmakers than theeducators who have been pioneering the "next generations of learning and teaching?" GVSI'skey challenge is to create and manage activities where people engaged inreforms and in eductional uses of advanced technology can share their wisdom and experiencewith each other and with others who can helptransform education for all Americans. In the fall of 1996, GVSI is creating a set of structures toaccomplish this communication, including a cohort of Associates, a membership cadre ofAffiliates, and new uses of the Internet to engage many participants in ongoingdiscussion of issues. GVSI will continually canvas itsAssoci- ates and Affiliates to help defme the agenda oftopics that GVSI will focus its efforts upon.

Topics 4 9 The following list illustrates the kinds of issues that GVSIwill address: The 10% Problem/Opportunity. The population ofpeople attending schools is growing

"ee....teh fieeThe ftl"kal 1111lene Ce.henla In.:pH/10e Page 15 October, 1996 Inventing Tomorrow's Schools

and is projected to continue to grow by 10% for a decade. Conventionally, in order to accomodate larger numbers, a factory-model school system would respond by enlarging the factory: increasing investment in buildings and classrooms, hiring more professionals and new cohorts of teachers, and other expansions of the "campus." In the fall of 1996, the US Secretary of Education is saying that these very strategies must begin immediately. Question: What alternatives are being pioneered that might address new demand with more effi- Communicating cient or effective "schooling" either with or without additional resources? What innovative distance the learning strategies, teaming strategies, telecommuting, Internet usage and other technological approaches knowledge might help address the 10% problem/opportunity for school improvement? and Networks of Learners. School buildings have been designed for more than a century in much the same ways that factories were, into supervised production units known as classrooms. Today, most experience of businesses have installed computer networks that (with or without the physical infrastructure of offices) pioneers to enable businesses to work more effectively by organizing workers into self-directed teams. stakeholders Question: Does the prospect of sophisticated computer networks -- such as the budding excitement and decision- in the business world about "intranets" -- offer more-effective ways to organize and manage the work of makers who students and educators? What can be gleaned from the experience of those who have tried? will change Home-based Learning. For many reasons, including some technological ones, the 1990s have seen a great increase in the number of families who teach one or more students at home, rather than education on sending those students to public or private school. Usually, public schools have reacted negatively, but a broader some public schools and systems have sought ways to support home learners. scale is Question: What are the ways in which combinations of home-learning and formal school resources GVSI's can be beneficial to students and systems of schools alike? What examples exist? What roadblocks ultimate inhibit cooperation among home-learning and school-learning endeavors? agenda. Internet for AIL The Telecommunications Act of 1996 will almost immediately result in billions of dollars being invested in infrastructure for schools and libraries to make telecommunications available J for education. The President of the US espouses a goal of having all students experience the Internet in schools by the year 2000.While only 10% of the nation's schools and students make any use of the Internet in 1996, 100% may be able to by the year 2000. Question: What new near-term opportunities does this offer? What have the first wave of educational users of the Internet learned that can ensure these incredible infrastructure investments result in cost-effective improvements in education? How might larger and more sophisticated uses of telecommunications technology get organized, fmanced and implemented? Portable Technologies for Learners and Teachers. Computing power, that is useful to students and teachers, is being designed into smaller and smaller physical units, even as these units get more powerful and interconnected Question: What do educators foresee/plan/ or wish to accomplish with laptop, notebook, palmtop and PDA devices that students can carry? What configurations of technology inside or accessed by such devices would make them ideal or more effective for educational use? Equality of Opportunity and Access to Educational Excellence. Some purposes of schooling such as equality of opportunity, for examplehave been pursued with an array of strategies over many decades. But, with rare exceptions, advanced technologies have not been used or available for use by all learners. Question: What strategies that educators should consider that would advance equality of opportunity or other school missions? For example, can the goal of making the nation first in the world in science education be advanced by specific reforms or better uses of advanced technologies?

The Ultimate Agenda In sum, GVS1's agenda is improvements in educational systems and methods everywhere. We foresee helping the nation get from its factory-model schools into effective information-age/"global village"schools with reforms which challenge traditional concepts of schooling and make educationally significant uses of advanced technologies. GVS1 serves the society's learning pioneers. But, to honor them, and for society to benefit from pioneering work, GVS1 also wants to serve those who would learn from these pioneers. Communicating the knowledge and experience of pioneers to stakeholders and decision-makers who will change education ona broader scale is GVSI's ultimate agenda. 5 0 RESOURCES

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TEC! INOI A 1( ;1' 1.tAR1NG NOVEMBER/DUMNIBI.:1: pm 21 The PathtoSuccessful Networkinc

By Robert Vietzke Buildine a network for educational settings is a daunting task. It needs to be fast for student and administrative access from school or home. and secure so that outsiders can't break into it It should connect to the Internet. but screen out content that doesn't meet local community standards. Of course. costs neec to be contained, while still adoptine the latest technoloay. Lastbut not least. it needs to be both educationally powerful and technically invisible. Given these requirements. and the seeminely constant introduction of technology innovations to address them. the only certain path to successful networking implementations involves careful planning and frequent reevaluations alone the way. Let's take a look at some of the changes in the networking landscape. New Demands Gone are the days when a school's loca area network (LAN) merely provided a way to share printers or house applications in a computer lab. Today's educational networks do these things. but much more as well. Teachers want to check student records from home and use resources from the Internet t enhance their lessons.Administr110 need to know. now, who qualifies for special funding programs. Parents want to send a quick e-mail to check onmiss rf ing assignments or upcoming activities To accommodate these new demands. current networks have movec past the era of AppleTalk and Token Rine to stabilize on an Ethernet-based platform using the MacOS. Novell. WindowsNT. or Windows 95 operating. system. Ethernet has two primary advantages. First, it provides shared . connectivity between workstations to enable sharing of files and printers at

V relatively high speeds. Second. Etherne works on many existing infrastructures including coaxial. fiber. and copper wiring. k 3 This core networking system has accelerated the development of new options for mass storage. wide area >1 access devices, and network milk- ment software. Once, networkelp- ROM s meant a few CD-ROM drives attached to a server: now CD-towers offer speedy access to upwards of a

22TECHNOM;1' LEARNING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 11406 5 3 BEST COPY AVAOCABLE The Emerging Future

The networking landscape is complicated by two up-and-coming technologies: asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networking and cable-based networking. Bandwidth is the rallying cry for these innovations. And it's clear that if we want to network video at the level we're used to from television, let alone add two- way interactivity into the mix, network capacities will need to expand. Here's a glimpse at these two leading contenders in the battle of the bandwidth. These ATMs Don't Distribute Cash ATM is a technology that could well provide the needed bandwidththere are specifications for ATM networks running at speeds from 52 Mbps up to 622 Mbps. It also incorporates innovations that overcome some of thedifficulties in transmitting interactive voice and video signals. For this reason, it's heralded as the next- generation technology that will bring video to the desktop. As you might expect, there are some drawbacks to all this. The first is that ATM equipment is extremely expensive. It also remains to be seen how compatible this newtech- nology will be with current systems, an important consideration for a school district that has recently invested in an Ethernet network. Finally, although ATM hardware may indeed have the necessary bandwidth to deliver high-quality video and audio to connected computers, both the MacOS and Windows 95 will need significant modifications to transmit what the computers receive. Until that happens, and until applications are rewritten to take advantage of these changes, ATM will provide no better multimedia capability than Ethernet. The bottom line is that ATM is a work in progress. It holds promise, but for the time being, it will most likely be used as ahigh- end backbone on which to build future networks. Cable: 500 Channels to the Desktop? Another much-discussed method for increasing bandwidth is to use the cable wiring that currently runs to millions of televisions to deliver networked multimedia. (able modems promise a total throughput close to 40 Mbps, which, if delivered upon,could make today's high-speed options seem slow by comparison. These estimates assume that no one else would be accessing the network at that time. However, typical cable configurations include up to 500 homes, and older systems may include thousands of users per 40 Mbpsof shared network segment. Also, unlike ISDN and T1 services, many cable modem systems offer only "asym- metrical" 28.8 Kbps dial-up bandwidth for delivery of content bock to the Internet. While this may be sufficient for the home user, educational sites that are hoping to host network services for access by others will want to wait for the next round of cable options toprovide symmetrical bandwidth and smaller pools of users sharing the network.

5 4 Trrt-r\:ni nr:v I ovivr. vrwrfacon-wer \IRFP luor, BEST COPY AVML 1LE hundred titles at once. Where network managementonce meant brand- specific monitoring of basic functions.network managers now access and control minute system settings.Even the hubs that comprise the heart of Ethernet networks are beingupgraded with smart "switching- to allow full ten megabit persecond (Mbps) throughput to everydesk- top. Another important facet of educationalnetworking today is the addition of wide area network (WAN)connectivity. Not long ago. wide area networking was synonymouswith a modem and a phone line to the Internet. Now schools are looking beyondindividual slow-speed con- 001111 nections to Integrated Service DigitalNetwork (ISDN) or T I connec- Cisco Systems develops a variety of tions that leverage their existing investmentin the LAN and provide solutions to help educators in design- workstation. School-based Internet ing, installing, and maintaining their WAN access from every networked networks and access to the Internet. becoming common alternatives to services for teachers and students are In order to provide educarors with parent- and teacher-fundedprivate accounts. important informarion about the educational opportunities that abound on the Internet, Cisco has Networking as Process produced Going to School on the All this innovation would make somethink that the task of planning. Internet. Please accept a copy with implementing. and administering these systemsshould also be simpler. our best wishes. However, this is not necessarily the case. While interconnect- WANT ADDITIONAL ing LANs and increasing INFORMATION OR A CHANCE TO their resources may broad- WIN $6,000 IN EQUIPMEIsIT en the reach of network FROM CISCO SYSTEMS? access, it also forces the Here's your chance to win up to consideration of difficult $6,000 of Cisco internetworking issues about not only tech- equipment for your school. To partic- nology, but also data securi- ipate, visit our Web site at http://www.cisco.com/edu. All entries ty, content awareness, and for this drawing must be received by content filtering. That's January 31, 1997. No purchase nec- why a thorough process in essary. developing network plans is Cisco will also award one lnternetworking Academy for so essential. Education video set per week starting As with any plan November 15, 1996, through that will affect an entire January 31, 1997, to schools register- community, getting input ing on our Web site. Prize winners will be notified and also announced from all the concerned par- regularly on the Cisco Education ties is a must. Parents, Web site. teachers, students, and dis- If you don't have access to our trict- and site-level admin- Web site, you can still register; just fax or e-mail your name, school, istrators. as well as mem- phone number, and e-mail address to bers of the larger community, us at 408-527-0754 or need a chance to voice concernsand create a vision for how networking [email protected] (please mention the will enhance education and preparestudents for the challenges they will -Going ro School on the Internet Contest" in your correspondence). face beyond the classroom. addressed. new technolo- If your copy of Going to School Of course, as soon as these topics are here equation. Building room in a net- on the Internet does not appear gies will come along and change the or has beenremoved, you can receive work for such disruptions turns out tobe one of the best planning strate- a copy whilesupplies last by circli gies, as change is the one constant.Changeand the need to offer stu- our Free Informationnumber. learn. dents the best tools with which to CiscWo sT tem s, . CISSO SYSTEMS 170 eSsyt asmalnrive San Jose, CA 95134-1706 Robert P Vietzke is Communications Coordinator atthe University of Connecticut, with ® USA network systems. Reach him at responsibility for design and implementation of multimedia Tel: 408 526-4000; 800 553NETS 18397) urrunnut Itrrum Eflhl 44unyPaths, OneGoal: Real- WorldNetworking Tales than it could use. Others facedhungry students hen it comes to building a empty-handed. By Jean network, there are as Shields -We chose to concentrate on theadminis- many different approaches trative side first.- says Dave Hickey,network as there are school dis- administrator. "because if you don'tknow 11. tricts. But as these net- where the kids are. you can't teachthem, no working case-studies demonstrate.the com- matter what your network cando." mon denominatoris careful planning based on Over a period of two years. thedistrict an analysis of thedistrict's resources, prob- installed a fiber backbone withEthernet LANs lems, and aspirationsbothinstructional and in the hi2h schools and middleschools. administrative. Then a flexible design canbe Elementary schools each had oneworkstation drawn up that alleviates immediate pressures connected to the administrativenetwork to and accommodates future plans. start. with LANs to beadded in the second servers _ phase of the implementation. Compaq form the network's foundation.with 3Com Cincinnati Public switches and hubs providing high-speed con- Schools first nections between the different LANs. concentrated on The network has increasedefficiency dra- the administrative matically. For instance, because ofinformation appications of a the dis- district-wide from the new student tracking system. network. trict now uses smaller vehicles to servelightly populated bus routes. rather than morecostly full-sized buses. In fact. Hickeyestimates that in the first !.'ear alone the districtsaved more than S I million through betterteacher and resource allocation. Hickey believes Cincinnati'sdecision to concentrate first on administrativeapplications was the ri2ht choice."Some districts build networks as a hodae-podee. partinstruction, part everythin2 else." he says. "And theyend up Problem-Solving Networks spendintz more because they're trying todo Sometimes a specific problemoffers a way to everythin2 at once." conceptualize a network. This approach worked for the Cincinnati PublicSchools. The Two-ProngedApproach where a key consideration indeveloping its District saw mobility The New Haven Unified School networking plan was the 42 percent thinizs differently, however. Like manyschool rate of its studentpopulation. The planning California district had a instituting a network- systems. the northern team believed that by hard time justifyine the network onpurely the district based student tracking system. administrative grounds, believingthat kids and community would be better able to serve the teachers need to incorporate computernet- the resources and make more efficient use of works into their work as quickly aspossible. at hand. New Haven made two goalscentral to its plan- While this mobility rate is about average ning processimproving bothinstruction and for large school districts such asCincinnati, it weeks of the yearadministrative functions. still 'meant that the first three "We felt it was essential to provideinfor- where the enrolled stu- were spent figuring out mation processing skills to ourstudents," says meantime, one school dents really were. In the Modesto Muniz, network architectfor the dis- had too many teachers forits students, while department at short-staffed and trict. "For instance, the science another across town was Ohe high school won a grant to develop frazzled. One school had more hotlunches t.) Internet-based curriculum. They need cutting- A networke'd edge tools now.- teacher To meet these dual eoals. Muniz and his training staff are installing two networks at each school New siteone for instructional use, and one that UnifiMoi carries administrative information. Students District. can log onto the instructional side, where many have e-mail accounts, but the administrative line is blocked to them. The network is built from Bay Networks Ethernet components. and uses a combination of fiber. ISDN. and T I connections. Another aspect of the New Haven network is a document manaeement system. which the district hopes will ultimately replace paper and microfiche tiles. With it, users will be able to access curriculum materials, submit forms, and retrieve student portfolios. "Information isn't useful if people can't get to it.- observes Muniz. "whether it's our own student information or the latest research from the Internet.- administrators can now work on the budget from home or while away. A Customized Solution Like their big-city counterparts. educators It's easy to think that networkine is best suited in Lexington find setting a time to hash out to implementations in large districts. That's curriculum and other policy issues difficult. not so. says Rena ld Hal lee. co-director of data The network's e-mail system facilitates these and network services for the Lexington Public exchanges. becoming the main communica- Schools. Although the Massachusetts district tions tool in the process. Now faculty and staff has just nine schools in all, over the last four members can look over key documents afAil'r years. the district has upgraded to an Ethernet convenience and report back to a project IF- network with 200 workstations. The key for dinator. Student progress reports are handled Lexington has been a customized database that in a similar fashion. From their workstations, the district puts to use in many different ways. teachers enter comments into student records. The database began as a tape and key- and the system automatically prints them up punch system. Over the years, the district has and sends copies to the necessary personnel. expanded what it includes in the database. Hallee believes the Lexington network has building it into a flexible information ware- enhanced operations because he and his staff house. Data such as college applications and take a flexible approach to it. "The computer acceptance profiles. athletic awards. and health database does not set policy," he explains. If information are now part of the gathered infor- administration wants to change something, we mation. in addition to the usual administrative adjust the system to reflect those needs." functions such as accounting and schedulin2. This customized database has also whittled Room to Grow down the budgeting process from over two Networking is a technology prone to change, months to just three weeks. Remote access has usually for the better. Engineers are perpetual- something to do with that dramatic chan2e. as ly findin2 new ways to squeeze more information through old wiring, or developing new "pipes" with ever-greater capacities. Planners New Haven for the Kent School District didn't want to students ran miss out on what might be down the road, so log on to the they took a "future-proofin2" stance to desien- instructional in2 a network for the Washington district's 28 network, schools. but are "Our schools are wired for blocked Ann McGlone, a technology specialist E. from the administra- Grass Lake Elementary. "But realistically. tive line. only one computer in ten can even connect. We felt it was important to get the wirine in.

2 ;.! !Ai 5 7 BEST COPY AVAILAbLE ,

NEI= TECHNOLOGY UPDATE Hub Hub-bub hubis an essential network building block, where Focus Enhancements(Woburn. MA; (800) 538-8864) all the wires and cables from computers. servers, offers several hub models including the EtherLAN Hub, avail- and peripherals come together to get the network able with 16 or 32 ports. Both support PCs, Macintoskand talking. These new 10Base-T Ethernet hubs have workstations, and offer auto-reconnection should a particular recently come to our attention. port go down. The EtherLAN Hub 16 V offers similarfea- tures in a vertical configuration. 3Com (Santa Clara, CA; (800) 638-3266; http://www. 3com.comi) has a full line of hubs. including the ONLine Onan Corporation(Minneapolis. MN; (888) 662-6267) has 10Base-T modules, which let you connect PCs, terminals. copper and fiber versions of its Workgroup Hubs foreither printers, or modems to your LAN with built-in load-balancin2 eight or 16 attached devices. The 8600 Series is for use on and disaster recovery features. You can also hot-swap modulescopper networks, while the 8700 Series is for fiber-based net- to reduce downtime when you want to expand. works, and supports longer link sezment distances.

PAST NETWORKS SWITCHON THEBANDWIDTH

you've built a fine Ethernet network, and - Cisco Systems (San the school staff has been enthusiastic. But Jose, CA; (800) 336-8957; lately you've noticed some lagging. With hrip://www.cisco.comA recentfy introduced the CD-Towers, voice on the network, video-conferenc- Catalyst 2900 switch, IA ing, and other multimedia applications hogging features 14 ports, for smari- bandwidth, the standard-bearer 10 megabits per medium-sized networks. The second (Mbps) Ethernet doesn't deliver the way it Catalyst 5000 Group Switching used to. That's where fast networking switches Ethernet Module is for larger come in. Whereas a standard Ethernet hub shares networks. It features easy inte- a 10 Mbps "ring" among all connected worksta- gration into existing systems, and tions, these new "fast" hubs combine each individual port's 10 Mbps capability into a single unit with offers managers a variety of mon- 100 Mbps or more of data capability in their uplinks to servers, where most Catalyst 5000 itoring functions. bottlenecks occur. Because each "switching hub" connects to individual worksta- Compaq (Houston, TX; (800) 888-3224; http://www.compaq.com/) tions or sub-networks using standard 10BaseT Ethernet connections, these offers many switches, including the Netelligent 5000 10/100 series, which devices con painlessly replace your main hubs while greatly increasing the feature congestion management control features for prioritizing packets, and throughput (and life span) of your Ethernet network investment. shared memory for faster performance.

Asante(San Jose, CA; (800) 662-9686; hrip://www.asante.com/) is Farallon (Alameda, CA; (510) 814-5000; http://www.farallon.com) now shipping its 5216 segmentation switch for medium to large networks. It offers several fast Ethernet products for Macintosh networks including the Fast has 16 10BaseT Ethernet ports and two 100Mbps upiink ports. the 5216 sup- Startiet 100TX/8 hub, with eight ports, plus an expansion slot for the compa- anyof ports remote monitoring and includes a port mirroring feature, allowing ny's Fast Startiet Bridge when you want to increase your network's capacity. the 10Base-T ports to be used to analyze traffic. Focus Enhancements (Woburn, MA; (800) 538-8864) offers the Bay Networks (Santa Clara, CA; (800) 231-4213; http://ww. Lightning Series of switching hubs. The Lightning 4100 Hub S provides both 10 baynetworks.com/) has new addtions to its BayStack family including the and 100Base-T capabilities. The Lightning 8100 Hub offers high performance BayStack Ethernet Workgroup Switch (below). It features six 10 Mbps ports, 100Base-T speeds, and is well suited for networked multimedia uses. one 100 Mbps port, and support for copper and fiber wiring. Bay's products can Standard Microsystems Corporation (Hauppauge, NY; (800) be managed with the company's Optivity Workgroup network 762-4968; http://www.smc.com/) has theligerSwitch, which offe management package. high-speed switching capabilities for small work groups and IAN! capability to handle 260 Mbps for 17 ports, this switch provides . only intra-hub switched connectivity, but also several 100 megabit

options to connect to high-peed backbones.

-e 28 TECHNOLOGY & LEARNING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1996 Later we can upgrade the individual comput- sider the proposal. "These tools provide a lot ers." of flexibility in configuring networks to reflect The network uses Cisco routers and is how they're used, not just physical proximity," uilt on a fiber backbone with T1 lines con- he says. "So if the science department and the necting the schools. Mac Pluses currently English department decide to work together on make up the majority of student workstations, some projects. we can accommodate them but most classrooms have at least one higher- pretty easily." end computer as well. Still, the district felt it was important to provide headroom intowhich the technology program could grow. Kent's network planners also made a spe- VW:17- cial effort to get participation from the full spectrum of the school community. Teachers were involved in decisions such as where to place the network drop in their classrooms. High school students did much of the actual wiring. This year, the district is piloting a new system for tracking student records at five schools. While initially people have been a bit overwhelmed by the chanee. McGlone comments that "once you eet used to it. it really OEM MEM 1111111111. does save time." On the instructional side. teachers are using the network for e-mail exchangesboth to collaborate with other Where Do We Go teachers and to take part in "key-pal" projects From Here? on the Internet. The district's World Wide Web Building an educational network is a never- server has also h,:en busy, as each schoolhas ending job. Older systems become overextend- Ots own Web page. Another popular network ed, new technologies emerge, and the cycle application is CU-SeeMe, a low-cost video begins again. Most of the districts we spoke conferencing program. McGlone has used it with are looking to high-speed switching as a with small groups, including special needs stu-logical next step, while some are moving up to dents who find it especially reinforcing to asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks. make a visual connection with far-flung com- This fall, Cincinnati began installing 16 panions. ATM networks to connect classrooms to the. network and ramp up Internet access. "The Making the Most infrastructure in some of our buildings is pret- of the Least ty awful." Hickey says. "ATM will allow us to Like most school systems. the districts pro- get the file servers out of thoseenvironments filed here all have small staffs to service and into a newer facility without sacrificing increasingly complex networks. For instance. performance." in Cincinnati. Dave Hickey has just five tech- A network capable of transmitting simul- nicians to manage the 1000-workstation net- taneous video and audio signals was number work currently in place. and plans call for it toone on most districts' wish lists.The Kent grow by 150 servers over the next two years. School District, for instance, is already Rather than hoofing it to each campus, he involved in a distance learning video project and his staff rely on network management run jointly with a local communitycollege. tools to handle much of the maintenance. They .ATM promises to deliver some of these capa- can install software, upgrade operating sys- bilities. Still, some are taking a wait-and-see tems. and even demonstrate procedures to attitude. users by "taking over" their computersright "We'll give it three or four years before down to the mouse clicks. "It would take us a we move to ATM," says NewHaven's Muniz. month to get to every school," Hickey says. "By then, the price will have dropped and the 'Now, if problems arise, we can troubleshoot bugs will be worked out." And more than like- ,rom our desks." ly, a new technology will beckon on the hori- For New Haven's Muniz. network man- zon. agement tools had to be part of the bid submit- ted by vendors, or the district would not con- Jean Shields is Senior Editor for Technology & Learning. 5 3 TECHNOLOGY %II.' LEARNING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 199627 bow Toni UPDE

' : atry

°SERVERS SE IT

1 1 1 1 he file server provides a 1 1 1 1 1 central storage area for 1H 1 '11 LANs where shared appli- 1 1 1 II 1 I 1 11 I cations and files are 1 1 I housed. They can also be 1 1 I II

11. 1 the holding tank for docu- 1 ments heading to net- S I worked printers, as well 111 1 as provide other network 11 1 I 1 18 8 functions. Here are some 11 1 recent models to consider: 111 1 1

1 111 I 1 11 11 1 1 1 (Houston, TX; (800) 888-3224. Compaq I. 11111 1 1 http://www.compaq.com/) recently added the ProLiant 5000 to its line of network servers . The 5000 has four 166 MHz PentiumPro I

processors and a total storageof 700 GB 11 1 1 IBM(Atlanta. GA; (800) 426-4338. 8 S http://www.solutions.ibm.com/k12) has the II I I 11 111 I 1 1 1 II 520 1 AS/400 line of servers which offer up to 1 I 1 1 111 1

1 8 1 I GB of storage and customizablefeatures 11 1 'Ill II 111 1 media including support for multiple storage 1 I 1 1 1 '11 11 ' 1 11 II A new version of the AS/400 operating sys- I I I 1 this fall, adding tem is scheduled for release i support for Windows NT, Unix,and Macintosh clients. RIeuv Molls ranagingRIetworke traffic and protocol analyzer. The packagedisplays network traffk and packet Networks have never been easy to manage. Yet now,with increasingly information graphically, and automatkally mapsnetwork !Os to corresponding complex demands being placed on systems, a newgeneration of man- machine names. It also notifies the networkadministrator when problems arise. agement tools is making it muchsimpler to perform such tasks as traffic, ond resolving bottle- updating operating systems, analyzing network Compaq Houston, TX; (800) 888-3224)recentiy released version 3.0 of necks. Here are some recent releases. its SmanStart and Insight Managernetwork management tools. Smar6tart and configure system software on a network.Insight 3Com (Santa Clara, a, (800) 638-3266;http://www.3com.com/) now lets you distribute network administrators manage offers Transcend Network Management software towork with Windows, Novell, Manager 3.0, now a 32-bit application, lets designate management to specific LANs. Unix, and TCP/IP networks. Features includethe ability to zero in on each port servers and desktops centrally, or control systems, a plus virtual grouping capability that lets you manage PCs Insight Manager also works more easily with inventory for troubleshooting, anda based on user-defined relationships rather thanphysical connections. for muitkompus school systems.

Apple (Cupertino, CA; (800) 800-2775;hrtp://ed.info.apple.corni) Intel (Sento Clara, CA; (800) 628-8686;http://www.intel.com/) offers Toolkit, which includes At Ecse recently brought out its Network Administrator version 2.5 of its LANDesk network managementtool. Its features include soft-. Apple Use( and Group of for Workgroups 4.0, Apple Network Assistant, and wore distribution, inventoryfunctions, printer management, and a variety file access and preference set- Manager. Key new features in At Ease include reporting options. student regardless of what PC on the tings that can be associated with o given network he or she uses. The user management systemhas also been improved Neon Software (Lafayette, CA; (800)334-6366; http://www.neon. AppleTalk mapping and manage- to allow printer and disk storage quotasfor shared resources. The Network corn) released version 3.0 of 14Nsurveyor, an Assistant allows the system administrator to inspectworkstation and server RAM ment tool. New features includeMacTCP support, remote query of AppleShare and PogeNOW! integration, which and hard-drive usage remotely. settings on a network Mac, and PowerTalk notifies the administrator through a pager whendevices disappear from the net- The AG Group (Walnut Creek, CA; (800)466-2447; http://www. work. - oggroup.com) has Etherpeek 3.0. a Power Macintoshversion of its Ethernet

LIV' Tt. IWINOLOGY & LEARNING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1996 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 6 0 kw TERM llfm

TOWERS FOR NEIWORKED Remote Access CDEROM ACCESS D-ROM So lufions That Deliver towers .:24$41kceoz ccessine networked information from home or when attend- ouse a ing meetings away from school is increasingly important for series of CD- ducators. It provides teachers and administrators with tools ROM drives for planning and analysis. and can help parents and the community and connect stay informed as well. Here are some solutions to consider:- them to a network. They're Ascend Communications ( Alameda. CA; (510) 769-6001) has the growing in Pipeline series of remote access hardware. With the Pipeline 25 and popularity an ISDN Basic Rate Interface (BRI). a user can connect twodevices because they such as telephones. analog modems, or can deliver fax machines as well as an Ethernet information network to remote sites. The Pipeline from the same Max 1800 provides access for up to 16 CD-ROM to ISDN channels dialed in from other multiple loca- Pipelines or remote analog modems tions on a net- The Pipeline Max TNT will handle a work simulta- total of 696 connections or 45 Mbps neously. The of dial-up connectivity. new CD-ROM towers take Procom Teduro logy's HyperCD Cisco Systems (San Jose. CA. advantage of (800) 336-8957: http://www. the new "Fast/Wide SCSI" interface to con- cisco.comh has introduced ,.; nect up to seven drives per interface to a net- the AccessPro Router card --;1: work server. Here are some to consider: (right). It slips into a PC ,tari:--Uri, I-I: I ff$II pp /1/4 It card slot and provides the full i -0; Procom Technology (Irvine. CA (800) Willit.:.; *clpitIppillOp.i..3, suite of Cisco router features as well 800-8600) announced three new CD-ROM as a Windows-based configuration tool. .U.S:J:43 towers for Macintosh networks that allow access not only to Macintosh CDs. but Farallon (Alameda. CA: also to Kodak Photo CD and High (510) 814-5000: http://www, Sierra disc formats. farallon.com) has Mac and 00010alt TACSystems (Huntsville, AL; (205) Rom Mawr Windows95 versions of its 721-1976) recently announced a rack- DINO Timbuktu Proremote access mount version of its CD-ROM tower for software, which lets users do use in Compaq equipment racks. This Otinma01140.1 mop 48414,Ulm, 41 fa Mir Swam, de 4- MO jam Nees drag-and-drop horizontal 19" rack-mount "tower" fea- Met IN404111L 1:11 tures up to four separate SCSI connectors file transfer. for seven networked drives, allowing the collaborate on user to configure the drives into several dif- projects from ferent SCSI chains as required. remote loca- Farallon's Timbuktu tions. and con- Celerity (Knoxville, TN; (800) 558-1901) ProDial Direct and nect to a net- recently announced the Mediator, which Observe features work as a manages CD-ROM towers and jukeboxes remote node. (which play a single CD at a time) for Windows NT, Novell. or UNIX networks. It Shiva ( Bedford. MA; (800) 977-4482) offers the Netmodem/E allows network administrators to set up tow- LanRover/2E for up to 20 remote users to dial in to an Ethernet ers without taking down the entire network. LAN. or the LanRover/E PLUS for connecting larger groups. The and supports towers and jukeboxes from dif- units support a variety of connectivity options including ISDN. ferent vendors on one system.

30TECHNOLOGY ee LEARNING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1996 (0 bow bow ,r4a

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Today's educators need LAN solutions that meet all of your LAN. The switched hubs increase effective band- I their connectivity needs. Whether you're in an width to boost performance. Ethernet or Token Ring environment using fiber or copper Together, the NAUs ana hubs deliver the performance, cabling, Waters Network Systems has a solution to meet dependability and affordapiiity you need to build your your needs and save you valuable budget dollars at the network today and to expand into the future. same time! We offer network design Waters Network Systems' consulting and software products and services have training services for optimum been designed specifically to network efficiency. meet the needs of K-12 edu- Call us to learn more cation. about our products and ser- In the classroom, our vices. Then you will see for Network Access Units (NAUs) yourself why we're the LAN provide security, voice, video choice for schools. and flexibility in a single, compact housing, while signifi- 1-800-441-5319 alyreducing cabling and installation costs. In the wiring closet, stackable hubs, intelligent con- centrators and switching products improve the efficiency NATERS NETWORK SYSTEMSIM

CIRCLE 216 CN FREE INFORMATION CARD etworking Resources Online e Internet, being after all a network of networks, is home to a great many resources on the subject--from basic begin- ' ners' guides to discussions of the latest technical standards. 1 We've gathered a cross section to help you learn more.

Cisco Education Archive (CEARCH) http://sunsite.unc.edu/cisco This site bdngs together a wealth of education-oriented links, including the Network Operation Center, where you'll find background information on building networks, case studies of successful implementations, and product information.

Consortium on School Networking (CoSN) http://cosn.org/ Though under construction, this site is worth a bookmark, as CoSN is a leading organization concerned with school networking, particularly Internet use.

The Ethernet Page http://wwwhost.ots.utexas.edu/ethernet/ethernet-home.html All things Ethernet, including links to FAC1s, Usenet newsgroups, basic info, and expert schematics.

The Future of Networking Technologies for Learning http://ineted.gov/Technology/Futures/index.html A collection of white papers by leading thinkers in the field of educational technology all concerned with networking. This is the place to hone your network rationale.

A Guide.to Networking a K-12 School District http://choices.a.uiuc.edu/schools/lamont/thesis/toc.doc.html An excellent overview of networking, specifically tailored to K-12 settings.

Introduction to ATM http://iquest.com/nmuller/atmintro.shtml This page provides a solid introduction to asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networking. The author does a good job pointing out the benefits of the technology, but the language tends toward the techie.

Introduction to Networking http://w3.fwn.rug.nl/itgeheer/nwdoc/neiware_info/NetWare_introduction.html Excellent beginners' guide to networking topologies and specifications.

Network Administrator's Survival Handbook http://tampico.cso.uiuc.edu/nas/nash/nash.html Originally written as a guide for University of Illinois network administrators, this survival guide hos valuable information for anyone involved in building a network.

Network Vocabulary and Acronyms http://toucaniecs.fm.edu.iw/doc/vocabulary/voc.html 63 Don't know your CSMA from your FDDI? This is the place to sound it all out. Time for a Webof Your Own? By Peter Weinstein They're the rage in thebusiness world, but what exactly areIntranets and do they make sensefor schools?

datanetwork operating system (e.g.,Novell perhaps you've heard non-edu-computer network based on the communication standards of the publicNetWare. AppleTalk, or WindowsNT), cator friends all abuzz about a (e.g.. Internet. The most important of theseand computer system software new system they refer to asthe Windows, MacOS. or UNIX). "Intranet" recently installed atstandards is TCP/IP (Transport Control Protocol/Internetworking Protocol). a Creating this sort of "mini-Internet" work. You politely correct them, trying networking protocol that enables com- for your school or district has some not to be smug, since you'vebeen unguided puters to address and send datareliablyadvantages over plunging online for some time already: "Oh. you into the vast world representedby "the ensuing dis-to one another. mean the Internet!" In the One of the main advantages of'Net." While the Internet is globalin cussion, you discover that they are scope. open to everyonewith no regard indeed referring to a unique informa-using TCP/IP to extend the capabilities of a local network is that it allowsto content, an Intranet servesa well- tion system. with exciting applications community, members of your school community todefined and bounded user and possibilities. school. A use a "Web browser" notonly to navi-such as a single business or a As a teacher at Brookside School school can organize its text andmulti- gate on the Internet's WorldWide Web. Upper Campus (grades 3-5) in San media in a relevant way thatmakes Anse Imo. California. I have seen a sim-but also to access files created and shared locally. In the few short years sense to its user community,while still ilar scenario played out many times this providing access to the unlimited,but past year. ever since we developed oursince the introduction of the original own school-wide Intranet andbeganWeb browser. Mosaic, browsers have telling people about it. While Intranetsbecome incredibly popular for many reasons. Browsers areintuitive and are spreading rapidlythrough corporate America. they are just beginning tographically elegant, making it easy to of educa-navigate through large amounts of text seep into the consciousness number L tors. The term itself is stillforeign toand multimedia. They unify a most teachers. The questionsthat ariseof network capabilities (file transfer. e- when people first hear of Intranets are mail, and so on) through a single inter- not surprising: What's thedifferenceface. Browsers themselves are inexpen- between the Internet and an Intranet?sive (often free) and the costs of com- Why are Intranets becoming so popu-patible software are kept low thanks to lar? What are their implications foropen standards developedin committee education? How do you set one up? by multiple vendors and institutions. Another strength of TCWIP is that it is "platform independent." Just asit's WHY THE EXCITEMENT? While the Internet has been around forpossible to access the Internet through a soft- nearly 30 years. the term "Intranet- hasvariety of different hardware and overlay been in use only since mid-1995. It was ware setups. an Intranet can coined by vendors of networking prod-virtually any network wiring (e.g.. ucts to refer to the use ofInternet tech-coaxial cable. Category 5 copper cable. nologies within private networks. An or fiber-optic cable):transmission hard- A Brooknet Class page Intranet. therefore. is simply a private ware (e.g.. Ethernet orTokenRing): 6 4 50TECHNOLOGY LEARNING OCTOBER1996 somewhat chaotic, resources on the ty),rather than over public communica- information management needs of the Internet. An Intranet is usually config-tions channels, offers a major speed network. ured to provide its users with access toadvantage. Data transmission speeds Like the Internet, the Intranet's the Internet. but prevents Internet users within an Intranet are limited only by main function is to read and display from accessing the local Intranet forthe speed of your network, not by the HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) reasons of security and privacy.ft bandwidth of your Internet hookup. files. These files might be ones students offers relief for parents who want theirWhile a modem connected to a stan-and teachers have created and saved in children to publish and be present on adard phone line transfers information at HTML. With assistance from the sorts network, but don't want their children's no more than 28.8 kilobits per second.of "helper applications" that are com- pictures and names distributed freelyand a "fast." high-cost TI line operatesmon in the Internet world today, an around the world. at approximately1.5 megabits (orIntranet can also offer viewing access On another front. the fact thatabout 1.500 kilobits) per second, theto files in a variety of other formats. Intranet information is carried over atypical LAN carriesdataatten Helper applications are readily avail- LAN (a Local Area Network within amegabits per second. If you've everable for reading desktop-published single site) or a WAN (a Wide Areaexperienced the frustration of waitingdocuments saved as PDF files, digital Network integrating resources in differ- for graphics or other largefilesto movies in QuickTime or other formats, ent buildings within the user communi-download from the Internet. this speedX-WAV audio files, and much more. increase will be a major relief. E-mail and simple interactive programs are functions of some Intranets ADAY ON THE INTRANET as well. For the time being, however, Intranet Basics-- What does it feel like to use an Intraneteveryday programs like word process- on a regular basis? First, it's importanting, desktop publishing, spreadsheets. In building an Intranet for your school, to understand that today's Intranet does or multimedia applications are still here- are the main components you II not displace your main network operat-accessed directly with the regular net- want to plan and budaet for. ing software. Rather. as a separatework operatingsystem.Withan interface,it coordinates many of theIntranet in place. users will often Infrastructure wiring (purchase and installation) network cards (purchase and installation) network operating system (licensing, installation, and technical support) Intranet server setup server CPU (purchase and technical support) Internet connection (setup and "leachers access fees) Web server software (licensing, installation, and technical support) Client setup desktop computers (purchase and technical support) TCP/IP software (licensing, instal- gettingnew resources lation. and technical support) are Web browser' (technical support) helper applications' (technical support) Authoring tools- HTML editors (licensing and technical support) in the classroom and the improvements are visible graphics editors (licensing and technical support) input devices such as scanners and video frame grabbers (purchase) Training, Development. and Maintenance every time a student raises a hand."

'For the moment, most of these are either shareware or otherwise free to schools.

6 5 TECHNOLOGY LEARNING OCTOBERI99651 BEST COPYAVAILABLE FILE SERVER MODEL FOR AN INTRANET

World Wide Web access Internet E-mail (send and receive) Service 'Router (Directs information flow Provider between Internet and Intranet)

(Directs information (Directs information flow within LAN) flow within lAN) Hub Hub

Aie=1

Library I File Server Computer Stores HTML Files Lab Runs Network Operating System Stores Graphics, Audio, and Video Files ietzmik Desktop Computer Classrooms Web Browser Helper Applications HTML Authoring Tools

bounce back and forth between the reg- the Internet. These have also helped toteacher 'or student discovers something ular operating system and the Intranet.extend each child's experience beyonduseful, there's no need for others to The original LAN is still there as theone classroom's walls to the greaterreinvent the wheel every time that backbone of the system: the Intranetschool. Internet resource is needed. We have simply offers a superior information- Online publishing makes a great con-created pages of links to share which access interface. As Intranet technologytributiontoourschoolculture. relate directly to a particular academic evolves, more and more actual applica- Students' writing and art work can beunit or subject. tions will be handled directly by theaccessed from any class at any time. Besides these practical uses of Intranet. For example, eventually toolsFor starters, there are watercolor paint-Brooknet, we're experiencing inklings should be widely available that enable ings of endangered rainforest animals, of the potential to transform the school schools to collect attendance data anddescriptions of California Missions,as a physical entity, by expanding the student grades right through theirand a variety of interesting poetry. culture of the classroom to the level of Intranet browser without having to The Intranet makes it easier for teach- the school site. An Intranet allows for launch separate programs. ers to share academic units, projects,individualism and creativity, while In just the first six months of its and curriculum ideas. For example, wehelping us discover what's happening implementation, we have found manyhave a series of linked pages, complete-in other parts of our school community. uses for Brooknet, as our Brooksidely developed and authored by students,We look forward to expanding the uses School Upper Campus Intranet is affec-describing a science unit on scale andof Brooknet even more in the future. tionately known. For example: structure. Many teachers have begun to Possibilities include storing multimedia Individual class home pages havedescribe academic projects on theirstudent portfolios, collecting data for helped create a sense of classroom class home page. More than ever, ourschool-wide science experiments, and community. These Intranet Web pagesteachers are getting ideas from other even giving families direct access from include class pictures, class descrip-classrooms. their home computers. tions, and even some individual student Hot hnks to the Internet make us all home pages. They use eye-catchingmore efficient. As it turns out, there are BUILDING YOUR INTRANET backgrounds and other publicly avail-ways of making the vast resources ofSetting up an Intranet from scratch able graphics scavenged from aroundthe Internet less daunting. When ainvolves three main phases: building the network infrastructure, setting up the network operating system, and placing the Intranet as an "overlay" on the network operating system.The 1 first two steps in the process are beyond the scope of this article (see "Building Your Infrastructure: The Basics of Cabling and Connecting," o Technology & Learning, April, 1996, .55 for more on the issues involved). The 0 third phaseadding theIntranet s overlayinvolves installing several key tools on the server CPU and the OS " .o o client workstations that make up the .1 s ..s. SOOS network. 0 S. SO For starters, every client desktop 0 I computer will need TCP/IP drivers: a o I .11 o . 0 SO OS S 0 11 I Web browser and helper applications O I 0 S. that allow the browser to read the types of text and multimedia files students plan to create: and authoring tools _for the creation of home pages and other shared files. Your networktwo distinct structural models to thethe file server model. Brooknet is sim- consultants can advise you on theimplementation of an Intranet. Theply a set of carefully linked HTML and acquisition and installation of the prop-smaller-scale approach. the one under-graphics files stored in organized sub- er TCP/1P drivers. The mostpopulartaken at Brookside in our first year, isdirectories on our network file server. It browser is Netscape Navigator, but Microsoft Internet Explorer has been gaining fans in recent months. Helper applications are almost always available as shareware on the Internet. and often come with network software packages. Important HTML authoring tools include an HTML editor (such as Adobe's PageMill, Sausage Software's Hot Dog, Soft Quad's HoTMetaL Pro, Microsoft's Front Page, or Claris's "I have Home Page) and a graphics manipula- tionprogram(suchasAdobe Photoshop or MicrografixPicture Publisher). Advanced users can add morehelp thanks to this new software. programs capable of 3-Drendering, creating real-time animation, or scripting data manipulation features for your Intranet. Finally, it's time to do less administrative stuff. Learning HTML basics and how to It's use an HTML editor isimportant for time anyone who wants to place content on the Intranet. This includes teachers, administrators, parents, and students. (At Brookside we find that students in grades four and up are able to do quite toteach?' well with HTML authoring.) Technol- ogy leaders within theschool can be responsible for handling graphics capture, graphics manipulation,and any AVAILABLE advanced applications the school com- NEST COPY munity deems necessary. 6 7 It is important to note that there are es an "access only" setup, in which the consultants, a simple Intranet can be set be found in the classroom across the primary function of the browser and up on a shoestring budget. If, like many hall? helper applications is to view sharedschools, you have already installed a files. With the help of an Internet con-LAN for Internet access, then you are Peter Weinstein is an elementary nection, it is also fairly simple and com- most of the way there. Yes, it's wonder-school teacher and educational tech- mon to send and receive e-mail using ful to connect your students with peersnology consultant in the San Francisco the file server model. This system isall over the world, but do they know Bay area. He is happy to answer ques- affordable for most schools and rela-everything they should know about the tionS and inquiriesat: PeterW@ tively easy (though still time-consum-rich resources and interesting people to micmweb.corn. ing) to maintain. The second approach. the Web server model, goes one step beyond file sharing; it lets the Intranet more closely resemble the full-fledged Internet. The difference lies in the addition of HTTP At last, (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), the a grade management solution hypermedia information protocol which that's perfect is central to the World Wide Web. This is accomplished with the installation for both teachers and administrators. and configuration of Web server soft- Grade Quidd sets a new standard with its revolutionaly reports, seamless ware such asMicrosoft's Internet import/export options and ability to adapt to any grading system. InformationServer,Novell'sWeb No other gradebook comes dose. Its unique blend of powerful features and ease Server for Net Ware,orApple's of use offers more meaningful analysis, more versatile reports and more time-saving MacHTTP. A Web server allows for techniques than any other tgadebook. many sophisticated HTTP operations No set up needed. Grade Quick! runs right out of the box, instantly calculating including data manipulation, search and grades and statistics. The intuitive interface and familiar look of a paper gradebook retrieval, and using interactive forms. make it the favorite of teachers everywhere. The Web server model allows stu- -nts and teachers to share files of a With Grade Quick!, Everything's Superb administrative functions. _sore interactive nature. For example, Possible. Computer novices and experts Prints customized report cards. their home pages might include simple alike can personalize screen displays, Links with any administrative software. grading methods, whatever they like... online games or surveys in which visi- Transfers student rosters, data, grades, Numbers, letters, symbols, grade names tors are prompted for input. It's also comments, attendance. Complete weighting choices More Reports and possible to install a customized search Standard or custom engine on a Web server for locating key ifg Statistics Than Any Other grade scales Gradebook Software words in your own Intranet files. If your Attendance or school decides to set up a full-fledged Use our 30+ standard behavior codes reports or modify them Internet site (as opposed to a home page Drop harmful scores housed on somebody else's server), the with the click of a mouse. Unlimited class size Also design your own. same Web server can be used for both Powerful Feedback for Control content, fonts, purposes. Unfortunately, taking advan- Everyone from Grade style, colors. tage of these added capabilities requires Schools to Grad Schools Print out student additional support software, knowledge Instant access to your progress reports, class of one or more HTTP scripting lan- choice of student data summaries, gradebook guages. and considerably more human with any criteria: pages, attendance records resources for managing the network absenteeism, special and much more. than many schools have. needs, team eligibility, Combine data from different subjects The actual nuts and bolts of gettine honor roll, extra-curricular activity or teachers into one report. any Intranet up and running can be whatever you choose. Communicate with unlimited length complicated and expensive. As always, Display or print over 30 statistics and comments and graphs. the biggest roadblocks are time and graphs on student/class performance Print reports based on teacher-defined moneynot only for hardware. soft- Cross Platform Compatibility. Use criteriagade averages, days absent, ware. and technical support, but also for same data disk for Mac, DOS and WIN. activity, and more. training and the actual work of page Be Your Professional Best with Grade Cluickl design(see sidebar on page51). wever, don't let this scare you away. JACKSONSoftware small grants, donations of used Call now for a free demo disk! hardware from local businesses, volun- 800-850-1777 We make teaching easier. teer help, and the advice of qualified

CIRCLE31 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD TECHNOLOGY & LEARNING OCTOBER1996 57 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 6 8 THE 1996-97 TECHNOLOGY & LEARNING SOFTWARE AWARDS

NAME TYPE COMPANY GRADE CURRICULUM

THE TOP SIX

HIP Biology 1 & 2 Mac CD Center for Image 9-12 Science Processing in Education Hollywood Mac CD/Multi PC Theatrix 5-Up Creativity Tools Little Planet Literacy: Mac CD/Multi PC Little Planet Publishing K-4 Creativity Tools Glowbird & Ribbit Collections Logical Journey of Mac CD/Multi PC Broderbund 3-6 Math/Critical the Zoombinis thinking Tenth Planet Explores Multi PC/Mac CD Tenth Planet K-3 Math/Geometry Primary Math: Geometry World War II Multi PC FlagTower 7-Up History

ADDITIONAL AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE

Alphabet Express Multi PC/Mac CD School Zone Publishing Pre-K-2 Presch/Readiness Dr. Seuss's ABC Mac CD/Multi PC Broderbund Pre-K-1 Presch/Readiness Win 95 Trudy's Time & Place House Multi PC/Mac CD Edmark Pre-K-2 Presch/Readiness Sheila Rae the Brave Mac CD/Multi PC Broderbund Pre-K-4 LangArts Of Mice and Men Multi PC Penguin Books USA, Inc. 7-Up LangArts CampOS Math: Mac CD Pierian Spring 5-8 Math Numbers & Number Theory CornerStone Mathematics Multi PC Skills Bank 3-8 Math Graphers Win/Mac floppy Sunburst K-4 Math Peter Rabbit's Math Garden Multi PC/Mac CD Mindscape Pre-K-3 Math Snootz Math Trek Multi PC/Mac CD Theatrix 1-5 Math Astronomy Village: Mac CD NASA Core 9-12 Science Investigating the Universe Message in a Fossil Multi PC Edunetics 2-8 Science One Small Square: Backyard Mac CD/Multi PC Virgin 3-6 Science Rainforest Researchers Mac CD/ Multi PC Tom Snyder Productions 5-8 Science Exploring the Lost Maya Multi PC/Mac CD Sumeria 6-Up Social Stud/History Pilgrim Quest II Multi PC Decision Develop. Corp. 4-Up Social Stud/History STV: Maya Videodisc/Mac floppyNational Geographic 7-12 Social S tud/History Vital Links Mac CD/Multi PC Davidson 5-12 Social Stud/History World Discovery Deluxe Multi PC/Mac CD Great Wave 3-Up Social Stud/History World War I Multi PC Flag Tower 7-Up Social Stud/History Let's Go Mac CD/Multi PC DynEd K-4 ESL A History of Medicine Multi PC FlagTower 7-Up Reference Encarta 96 World Atlas Win 95 CD Microsoft 6-Up Referemce Encyclopaedia Britannica Internet access Encyclopaedia Britannica 6-Up Reference Online SIRS Discoverer Mac/Dos CD SIRS. Inc. 1-8 Reference Multi PC Wide World of Animals Multi PC/Mac CD Creative Wonders 5-Up Reference

6 9 .;ames A. Levin and CathyThurston

BEST COPYAVAILABLE Research Summary Educauonal _ectronicNetworks

Virtual field trips toCentral American rain forests, global groceryprice comparisons, NASA Hubbletelescope images, community Web pages. Electronic learning networks are changing what happens inthe classroom. What does theresearch say about ways to make surenetwork learning is meaningful tostudents?

lectronic learninu netorksw priivide accessto the riches of the world. students inrenlote rural locations can reach the Llhrarvof Congress. classes in townswithout ,..,:seuins can visit the Louvre. and swdents andteachers .mvwhere can communicate with content-area expertsfrom around war the world. Networks also have made newforms of local and worldwide collaborative learninu possible.They have helped to create writing communities JBruce and Rubin -/ 1993. Seardamalia et al. 1992/.science communities 41f. (Learning Through CollaborativeVisualization Project Ask 1993. Newman and Goldman198()=s7. Ruopp et al. ... 1993). mathematics communities fKlutz 199(i ). problem-solving communities i Levin etal. 1987). anu And the computer and networkinfrastructure can be teacher education communities tLevin et al. 1994. expanded ::s needed to allowfor ever more powerful Thurston et al. 199W. uses. These electronic communities bringtogether Researcn :?n the uses of electronicnetworks often students, teachers, and adultsfrimi outside the educa- have worked in starts with roe exhiorationOf innovative uses. tion arena. For example. students frameworks tOr weather, to Researchers then develop conceptual communities to analyze and predict that may lead to difficul- exchange measurements of the sun sshadow to figure such uses .ind look at harriers Hducarors can use this information to and to develop new ties and the circumference of the earth. their own settings. similar make decisi(ins Alt networks in solutions to local problems based on studles focused on the InterCulturai approaches used in distant places.Te_:cher education ().-2 Learning :\retwork I Levin et al.1987). where students students have worked in communities tofind or coilaborativen- r.icl-ded water shortageproblems in their develop, evaluate, and electronicallynahlish cinninumues. cnua;.zed innetwork-based analyses of curriculum resources. cultural difterences in holidaycelebrations around the Students do most of their workoff the network, and world. et mtributed to anetwork-based newswire. in many cases(). H....te.lI computer. Network-based :cearchers. this kind of studentwriting is programming. According learning. unlike word processinu or educationally than the electronic computers and much more ::frective does not require vast numbers or advocated by network unlimited connecti(m time. It can motivatestudents to pen pairoects commonly nmice, become involved in a wide rangeor learning activities.

46 Noi \ Lc. \DI IC,1111' BEST COPY AVAILABI F BEST COPY AVAILABLE

and Yocum 1994). Ideally. they should Cohen and Mel (1989) reported that challenges. 'Fhey can use networks to access resources anywhere inthe worid have access to telecommunications writing for remote peers over a equipment at home and at school network produced better quality and make them available IC) community writing than writing for the teacher. menlbers. For example. students in I Harris 199-1/. Infrastructurewhich includes This -..:.(ience effectof network- California. Illinois..fapan. Mexico. and wiring. modems or high-speed connec- ...I-actions can provide a Israel used a network to study alocal tions, and computer hardware and soft- Lontext for learning in many water problem (Levin andCohen 198i. wareis a critical component of an different areas. Researchers have found Waugh et ai. 19881. TheY used local effective network. Current estimates are :imilar effects in science (Cervantes resources to learn thespecifics of the 1993. Ruopp et ai, 1993). mathematics problem and the actions Thalath(iti 1992). and m)cial studies taken co solve it. The , Levin et .1. -ludents reiaved ques- ti(1ns cieveloped Sharing Information Authorities to the distant with Society :tudents. who in turn Electronic networks are highly interac- Asked their own experts. tive. Intiirmation can flow in many They exchanged informa- directions. The research suggests that tion. and they analyzed it in the king term, the most significant to identify actions that impact of networks on education mav local authorities had not prove to be the flow ofinkirmation yet considered. fr(iin educational institutions to the rest /Ka if society. Barriers to Using 116.- ..tes, Many recent curriculum reform Electronic Networks elf(irts have focused on pniblein-based Much of the research to And proiect-fiased learning. Networks date has focused on over- Allow students And teachers to draw coming the dilficulties ( from many fieids. n(0 just from educa- using networks success- tion. And networks allow students and fully in education. These teachers to share their findings with the barriers include lack of access and world at large. Thus. student work appropriate infrastructure. separationof Networks allow telecommunications from the while primarily oriented toward opti- students and teachers mizing learningcan have a secondary curriculum, lack of support for teachers benefit beyond the immediate learning attempting to work with innovative approaches. and lack of teacher exper- to draw from many context. For example. networked students tise in telecommunications. fields, not just helped design recreational activities for htfrastructure aura access. A number :pace station astronauts(Cervantes of studies indicate that it is important education. And 1993. Levin 1'192). They devekiped for teachers to have eduinment in their concepts for transforming everyday classrooms (Harris 199-4. Levin i99C. networks allow :ports and for creating new sports. L.S. Office (ii:Technoiogy Assessment \ASA professionals had not tackled this 1995). The Apple Clitssr(minof students and teachers Tomorrow research indicates that task because the space shuttle is too to share theirfindings :mall kir midi activities. teachers sh(iuld return Comn training Students can, as part of their learning sessions to ckissroions eduippeci with with the world at large. Activities. c(intact adults in their the hardware and software on which communities to identify problems lnd they received their miming Ringstaff

It I:Itt 9,tel47 71 use of technology.- Administrative support is as important as technical support (Harris 1994. Levin 1995, Ringstaff and Yocum 1994). In fact. the Apple Class- room studies show that the principal has a key role to play. The principal can from French into control release time, provide access to English. which hardware and software, promote team involved math as teaching or' interdisciplinary study, and well as ianguage acknowledge efforts and provide skills. Then, they recognition. used desktop Lack of effective training.Research publishing soft- shows that many teachers have little or ware to create and no experience with telecommunica- illustrate a cook- tions or with technology in general book based on (Benton Foundation 1995, Thurston the proiect. 1990, U.S. Office of Technology Assess- that only 9 percent of the nation's Lack of support.Another barrier to ment 1995). In fact, lack of teacher classrooms are connected to the teacher implementation of networks is expertise is probably one of the most Internet (West 1996). In our experience a lack of technical and or administra- significant obstacles to the effective with the Teaching Teleapprenticeships tive support. Very few schools have a implementation of networks. Teachers model, student teachers emphasized full-time, on-site computer coordinator need appropriate infrastructure and the importance not only of having available to help teachers. The access. opportunities to integrate tech- hands-on training. but also of being Learning Connection (Benton Founda- nology into the curriculum, and tech- -hooked up- or -wired- in (heir own tion 1995) indicates that 60 percent of nical and administrative support: hut classroom (Thurston et al. 1996). schools have no one to help, and it they also need effective training. And Telecomnuinications and estimates that only 6 percent of effective training requires hands-on curriculum.A second harrier to effec- elementary schools and 3 percent of experience and follow-up support tive implementation of networks is the high schools have a full-time computer (Benton Foundation 1995, Ringstaff gap between network use and the coordinator. and Yocum 1994). curriculum. Studies show that networks The newly released Carnegie Report. Many experts believe it is a mistake are most effective when they are tied to Breaking Ranks(National Association to mandate telecommunications the curriculum (Levin 1995. Tliurston et of Secondary School Principals 1996). training for all teachers. Schools should al. 1996). Training is essential if says such support is critical. In its support and recognize those teachers teachers are to see telecommunications -Priorities for Renewai.- the report who are ready to move forward and as a means to an end, not as an end in recommends that "every high school learn (Foa et al. 1996, Harris 1994). itself. For example. a high school designate a technology resource person Training should incorporate modeling French teacher developed a project to provide technical assistance and to or coaching in effective uses of tech- where a large number of sites consult with staff to assist them in nology (Benton Foundation 1995. contributed recipes via the Internet. finding the people. information, and Harris 1994, Ringstaff and Yocum Her students then translated the recipes materials that they need to make best 1994). The training should include face-

48EDI:CATIONAL LEADERSHIP 7 2 Foundation 1995). and many have no Using Networks budget at all. Successfully Changing the Nature of The "audience effect" of network- Teaching and Learning based interactions can provide a En summary. research has shown that powerful context for learning the use of telecommunications in the (Cervantes 1993, Ruopp et al. 1993. classroom has the potential to change Thalathoti 1992, Levin et al. 1989). the nature of teaching and learning Teachers need to have telecommu- (Foa et al. 1996. Means 1994. Wilson et nications equipment in their class- al. 1995). It can shift the focus from rooms (Harris 1994, Levin 1995, whole-group to smail-tzroup interaction: U.S. Office of Technology Assess- it can mark a shift from lecture to ment 1995). coaching: and it can enable teachers to Networks are most effective when do more one-on-one work with they are tied to the curriculum (Levin students. It can help shift the focus 1995, Thurston et al. 1996). from test performance assessment to Technical and administrative assessment based on products and support is critical if teachers are to Much of the research progress (Wilson et al. 1995). And it implement networks (National Asso- 411 can encourage teamwork, collaborative ciation of Secondary School Principals to date has focused on inquiry, and individualized instruction 1996, Harris 1994, Levin 1995, (Means 1994. U.S. Office of Technology Ringstaff and Yocum 1994). overcoming the Assessment 1995). IN Teachers need appropriate and effective training, including hands-on difficulties of using References experience and follow-up support Benton Foundation. (1995). The Learning (Benton Foundation 1995, Ringstaff networks successfully Connection. lOnlinel Available at andYocum 1994). hap:// cdinet.com/ bentoni goingon/ lear Districts should allocate 30-40 ning.htmi. in education. percent of their technology budget Bruce. B.. and A. Rubin. (1993). Elec- tronic Quills: .4 Situated Evaluation of to teacher training (Benton Founda- to-face sessions followed by practice. Using Computers for Writing in Class- tion 1995, Foa et al. 1996, Marshall rooms. Hillsdale. N.I.: Edbaum. then a return to follow-up coaching 1995, U.S. Advisory Council on the Cervantes. R. G. (1993). "Every Message National Information Infrastructure (Harris 1994). Teachers should work in Tells a Story: A Situated Evaluation of pairs or small groups (Harris 1994. the Instructional Use of Computer 1996, U.S. Office of Technology Ringstaff and Yocum 1994). so they Networking.- Unpublished doctoral Assessment 1995). have peer support when they return to diss.. University of Illinois. Urbana- Champaign. their classrooms. Cohen. NI.. and M. Riel. (1989). -The Klotz. G. (1996). The Math Forum. Studies show that districts should Effect of Distant Audiences on lOnlinei Available at http://forum. allocate 30-40 percent of their tech- Students Writing.- American Educa- swanhmore.edwbuild/prelim.prop.htm nology budget to teacher training tional Research journal 26. 2: 143-159. I. For more information send e-mail to (Benton Foundation 1995. Foa et al. Foa. L.. R. L. Schwab. and M. Johnson. [email protected]. (May 1 1996). "Upgrading School Tech- Learning Through Collaborative Visualiza- 1996. Marshall 1995. U.S. Advisory nology: Support the Zealots and Other tion Project. (1993). Learning Through Council on the National Information Pointers for Entering a Strange New Collaborative Visualization. (Online] Infrastructure 1996. U.S. Office of Tech- Land." Education Week. 52. Available at http://www.covis. nology Assessment 1995). Typically. Harris. J. (19941. "Teaching Teachers to nwu.edw. For more information send however, school districts allocate less Use Telecomputing Tools.- The e-mail to [email protected]. Computing Teacher 22. 3: 60-63. Levin. J.. and M. Cohen. (1985). -The than 15 percent for training (Benton

NovEmisER 1990 49 7 3 BEST COPYAVAILALE

Projects .JRCE/y28-5/Thurstort, World as an International Science Principals. (1996). Breaking Ranks: articleimain.htm). Laboratory: Electronic Networks for Changing an American Institution. Reston. Va.: NASSP. U.S. Advisory Council on the National Science Instruction and Problem Information Infrastructure. (1996). Solving."Journal of Computers in Newman. D.. and S. V. Goldman. Kickstart Initiative: Connecting Mathematics and Science Teaching (1986-87). "Earth Lab: A Local Network (or Collaborative Sc:ence Classrooms." America S Communities to the Informa- 33-35. tion Superhighway. St. Paul. Minn.: Levin. J.. M. Waugh. D. Brown. and R. journal of Educational Technology Systems 15. 3. 237-247. West Publishing Co. Chit. (1994). "Teaching Teleapprentice- U.S. Office of Technology Assessment. ships: A New Organizational Frame- Ringstaff. C.. and K. Yocum. (1994). Creanne an Alternative Context (1995). Teachers and Technology: work for Improving Teacher Education _Slaking the Connection (GPO Rep. No. Using Electronic Networks." journal of JhrTeacher Development: The ACOT Machine-Mediated Learning q. 2 and 3: Teacher Detvlooment Centers (ACOT 052-003-01409-2). Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. 149-161. Research Report Rep. No. 18). Cuper- tino. Calif.: Apple Computer. Inc. Washington. D.C.: U.S. Government Levin. J. A. (1992). Electronic A'etworks Printing Office. Waugh. M.. N. Miyake. M. Cohen. and J. A. Levin. (1988). "Analysis of Problem Teachers need appropriate infrastructureand Solving Interactions on Electronic Networks." Annual Meetingofthe integrate technology into American Educational Research Associ- access, opportunities to ation. New Orleans. West. P. (May 22. 1996). "Schools, the curriculum, and technicaland administrative Libraries Seen Bridging Technology Gap." Education Week, 9. support; but they also needeffective training. Wilson. B. G.. R. Hamilton. J. L. Teslow. and T. A. Cyr. (1995). "Teaching Methods and Technology... ERIC Review q. 1. and the Reshaping of Teaching and Ruopp. R.. S. Gal. B. Drayton. and M. Learning: The Evolution of Teleappren- Pfister. (1993). LabAlet: Toward a Community of Practice. Hillsdale. N.J.: Authors note: This material is based on ticeships and Instructional Teletask work supported by the National Science Forces. San Francisco: American Educa- Erlbaum. Scardamalia. M.. C. Bereiter. C. Brett. P. J. Foundation under Grant No. RED- tional Research Association. 9253423. Any opinions, findings, and Levin. J. A., M. Riel, N. Miyake. and M. Burns. C. Calhoun. and N. Smith Lea. (1992). -Educational Applications of a conclusions or recommendations Cohen. (1987). "Education on the Elec- expressed in this material are those of the tronic Frontier: Teleapprenticeships in Networked Communal Database." Interactive Learning Environments 2. 1: authors and do not necessarily reflect the Globally Distributed Educational views of the National Science Foundation. Contexts." Contemporary Educational 45-71. Thalathoti. V. (1992). "Teaching Hardware and software support was Psychology 12: 254-260. provided by Apple Computer and by Levin. J. A.. A. Rogers. M. Waugh, and K. Exploratory Data Analysis Using a Microcomputer-based Telecommunica- Microsoft Corporation. Sandy Levin Smith. (May 1989). "Observations on assisted with this article. Educational Electronic Networks: tions Network." Unpublished doctoral Appropriate Activities for Learning." diss.. University of Illinois. Urbana- The Computing Teacher 16: 17-21. Champaign. Levin. S. R. (1995). "Teachers Using Tech- Thurston. C. 0., (1990). "Computers and James A. Levin is an Associate Professor nology: Barriers and Breakthroughs." Classroom Teachers: A Case Study of Staff Development and a National in the Department of Educational linernational Journal of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Telecommunications 1. 1: 53-70. Survey of Technology Integration." Urbana-Champaign, 210 Education Marshall. G. (July 1995). "Make It Count: Unpublished doctoral diss.. University How to Spend $1.5 Million in Tech- of Illinois. Urbana-Champaign. Building, 1310 S. Sixth Street, Cham- nology Money Wisely." American Thurston, C. 0., E. Secaras. and J. paign, IL 61820-6990 (e-mail: j-levin School Board Journal, 26. A.Levin. (1996). "Teaching Teleappren- ©uiuc.edu). Cathy Thurston is Director means. B.. ed. (1994). Technology and ticeships: An Innovative Model for of the Office of Educational Technology, Education Reform: The Reality Behind Technology Integhition in Teacher 32 Education Building, 1310 S. SixthSt., the Promise. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Education." fOnfinelJournal of Champaign, IL 61820-6990 (e-mail: Research on Computing in Education Publishers. [email protected]). National AssociationofSecondary School 28, 5. (http://www.educ.ksu.edui 7 4 THE INTERNET, LIKE AN UNCHARTED WILDERNESS, PROMISES VAST RESOURCES AN D THE SPACE TO CREATE len it schools comes to NEW COMMUNITIES. BUT NOW, PARENTS AND TEACHERS focus their etting concerns on W ARE WONDERING WHETHER LURKINC DANCERS studentsusethe insiders get- Internet. inevitably OUTWEIGH POTENTIAL BENEFITS. ting "out" the discussion turns thatis,stu- to safety. Educators HERE'S A LOOK AT STRATEGIES FOR SAFE EXPLORATION. dents access- are justifiably con- ing inappro- cerned about giving priate text. students unrestricted opportunities toal treasures and engaging or develop- images. and people on the Internet. "In indulge their curiosities, shall we say. ing) their common sense along the way. our area. a school system would be (What did you used to look up in thatOthers believe that software or server- tarred and feathered if they risked hav- huge dictionary in the library?) And just based controls are essential. The most ing a child find something inappropriate as troubling as kids accessing inappro- effective approach may well be a com-on the Web at school." says Libby priate materials is the potential for inap- bination of both. Helseth. a teacher in Florida. propriate people to access kids. With the stakes so high. many But how do schools ensure that stu- Filterina With schools choose to install filtering soft- dents get the educational advantagesSoftware & S:trvers ware on each workstation with access to without the unwanted dangers'? Some While businesses won-v about outsiders the Internet. These utilities block sexu- advocate guiding students to education- breaking into their computer systems. allyexplicitmaterialfromFTP 7 5 BEST COPY AVAILABLE -WHATSCHOOLS CAN Do

By Mary Anne Mather

archives. Telnet. Usenet newsgroups.large. Think of it as a stop-off before arepercussions when violations of the and the Web. Some also exclude sitesmessage or request exits or enters. Thepolicy occur. condoning violence, illegal activities.server screens material according to AUPs accomplish other objectives bigotry. or drug use. Others are capablestandards set by the system administra- as well. They teach students to act of scanning e-mail. All let a designatedtor. Thus. selected materials can be pro-responsibly and develop good judg- user add or delete specific sites at thehibited from ever reaching your net- ment. and they help protect the educa- user's discretion. work. tional organization from liability issues. Filtering software works by main- Because of the dynamic nature ofFor these reasons. many educators. taining databases of blacklisted sitesthe Internet, no filtering solution canlibrarians, and technology media spe- and objectionable terms foundin guarantee that children will be protect- cialists believe they are the cornerstone Internet addresses and site descriptions. ed from all offensive material. Sitesfor defining and controlling Internet use The more sophisticated programs eval-number in the millions, and addressesin schools. uate objectionable terms in context.chanee frequently. Even with filtering Actively involving parents in the allowing access to sites that contain asoftware and devices installed, educa-creation of a school's AUP is essential. blocked term but no objectionabletors and parents need to share responsi-"Patently unsuitable material" in one material. Some products rate sites bybilityforprotectingchildrenbycommunity might be educationally age appropriateness, while others let the thoughtfully planning and supervisingvalid in another. The AUP must reflect system administrator assign a passwordtheir access to the Internet. No software the values of the population it hopes to to each user, and set graduated levels ofcan replace common sense and adultinfluence in order to be effective. And, access. ouidance. r teleIe.11Woo S4 sassolens OBOow OlnwUni 10:41 OW In addition to filtering, some prod- r3.-ii....,-...... -__L.Ilt:...worm few. Ow Warw. 'memo..%,...... _...... ,..___,'.1:.; ....a ucts keep a user log of Internet activity and access attempts. These "monitor-It Takes a Village 41110.1100 "MOW la. AI" 11 ing- devices provide a designated userto Write an AUP I aunrsea estriaver kir kids. Issultle osd mime& with an overview of all computer activ-Acceptable Use Policies ity, much as a telephone bill lets you see (AUPs) are local policy docu- a listing of phone numbers called.Somements that state a school or products also let users capture screen-district's Internet usage plan. shots of any computer activity at prede-This may include instruction- termined intervals. alstrategies and rationales. Proxy servers and network-basedbut an AUP needs to offer. in filtering provide a more global level ofconcise, clear language that Internet management. Proxy servers,students at all levels under configured to receive and send Internet stand. guidelines for what is requests. sit between the individual atand isn't appropriate when Some products balance filtering by providing the workstation and the Internet atonline. They also spell out the appropriate sites for kids.

76 nr.v I 4 PNINC:CFM'ENIFIER 199639 EXPLORING THE INTERNET SAFELY

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where students can go. Some provide Providing Safer Havens filtering software free to subscribers for on the Net forays beyond the system out onto the Another strategy teachers use to limit Internet. Internet access is to steer students to the "right" places. Hyperlinked bookmark Rating Online Content - 41 listsand topic-specific homepages In 1996, the passage of the Commu- If you decide to purchase filtering linked to selected sites provide students nications Decency Act (CDA) made it a software, these questions with a path to follow when online, and crime knowingly to use a telecommuni- help you select the best product:1_ model the kinds of uses a school deems cations device or computer to send an for your appropriate. indecent communication to a child or Is it compatible-with.my Ragen Tiliakos, a K-12 technology display an indecent communication in a Outer artere(s)?.4 programs coordinator it% Massachusetts, manner accessible to a child. Although Does it work with the biowser r explains how this works: "If we are this legislation is now being contested. will be using? going to allow students to use NetithaspromptedInternetcontent Does it block URLs (Unriarsal:- resources in the classroom, they need to providers to establish self-rating mech- Resource Locators for Web make appropriate decisions. To facili- anisms. rather than face government addresses), as well as the IP tate correct usage, I supply bookmarks regulation or censorship. (Internet Protocol) numbers for: specific to our curriculum and special RSACi (http://www.rsac.org)isa each site address?....-4iii;W.ie. classroom projects. Children are notnew rating system for the Internet Does it work with news.readere," allowed to wander. If we search, we developed by the Recreational Software chat, FTP, telnet and e;piaillr; might have choices to make, but I amAdvisory Council (they also rate soft- ? are, there to facilitate." ware). Webmasters assign ratings to Does it pievent,students frornA. The Scholastic Network, which this their own sites according to the RSACi divulging peiiölial information fall moved to the Web, also uses this standards (see below). Educators, par- while using chat software?' technique. The network's staff of edu- ents, and students can use these stan- How comprehensive cators serve as Website evaluators and dards to make informed choices for blocking list?,4rOdat- create hotlists relevant to topics being access, much the same as movie rat- How often is the list updated,.,-..'S. covered in curriculum activities, and ings. and what is the subseription others of interest to teachers and stu- In conjunction with rating systems. a PlatformforInternetContent charge? dents. Does it evaluate objectionableij Commercial online services areSelection (PICShttp://pics.microsys. terms in Coritektt4iiitA.1.:z: another option for schools experiment-corn) technology has been developed. Does it offer a list of ing with cyberspace. CompuServe. PICS technology allows Webmasters sites for stikenfai: Prodigy, and America Online are small- and third-party rating bureaus to embed Is it an ec-ohaintif iolution far er worlds with their own policies for rating labels, like the RSACi, into the the numbei of WoNtatione dealing with offenders. They have HTML code of Web documents. PICS- rieed to PrOtic:tr.r141- defined education areas. and offercompatible software can then imple- Does it allow Multiple:userer,, parental control functions that restrictment selective blocking in various ls it easy to degtivate or :,;;. T. reconfigure? Kr-ic."-':' Does it support the PICS start: Ea Wag TM Lomb dard, including the SafeSurf and Pless haw a Wastes Mk berm epee rocus gisnec Oa loaranuaresof r b a MCI mum me es Ma rets ad tee drompeac De mar lees tee peas aal Mar rammed meedestsmg an eery berme or OloclueMum RSACi rating systems? -x Meller Rasing Laealeass Ruin Dasoupea Violas= Raft, Dustesnor laseatuma laz Stater DsorrIplor Led 0Rause= cosem, soma damp e No lulus or raureang am Romeac re au Iseffeaut almac re meszary

Lir, Cuomo sousal or kOMS; Mum lo Ravostoi aale Pusioree WM. MRS splerus alum: Datrirt Humus mama or vats nee moms Euelear ocomanal aresamsel when parents become involved in the Loud 2: of Wel Petal neets Cbead meal Weft mume, decision-making process, they then Amor 3: Moms Mood or Med Hamsseal Meal allay Roams= serval seuery rig. TalltIr WPM: obicum

share responsibility for the Internet Weneca ad mom=V10/11/201; Explets MIMI ILIMir, su Coals or MUM anal odumeas; Laval 4: Prammei tosael Mu activities of their children. For the same mem WO =MO WIMPtlas :Meth reason, both students and parents Per In os Mu you anothe =RUM Commaat should sign the agreement. (For more ATicirgozmarc it flue MO au kat balsavisavia wethisleL on AUPs, see sidebar, page 46, and T&L January1996, "The Online Connection.") The RSACi rating system will work with browsers to set levels of access for users. 7 7 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 42 TECHNOLOGY &LEARNING SEPTEMBER 1996 EXPLORING THE INTERNET SAFELY

You don't have to reinvent the wheel These are alternative resources if These sites can help schools take when it comes to Acceptable Use you don't have an Internet connec- a thoughtful approach to Internet Policies. Here are some valuable tion or are not ready to let students safety for their students. resources online: loose on the Web. They provide 12 Reasons Why Schools The Internet Advocate access to selected sites from the Should Avoid Filtering http://silver.ucs.indiana.edu/ local desktop. http://www.pacificrim.net/ -Ichampelinetadv.htm iCD Educator's Internet CD Club -mckenzie/mar96/whynothtml Acceptable Use Policies http://www.classroom.nettICD/ Child Safety on the Information Defining What's Allowed Online, Wentworth Media, Inc.; (800) 638- Superhighway and What's Not 1639 http://www.larrysworld.coml http://www.classroom.net/ One-year subscription of four CDs child_safetyhtml classroornlaup.htm filled with actual Web sites orga- Information Filtering Resources TENET AUP & Other Samples and nized by subject. CDs also include http://www.enee.umd.edull Resources lesson plans, activity sheets, and medlablfilterifiltechtrnl http://www.tenet.eduitenet- teaching tips. $79. Information Highway Parental info/accept.html WebWhacker Empowerment Group The Internet Explorer http://www.ffg.com/whacker.html http://www.realaudio.com/ http://silver.ucsindiana.edW ForeFront, Inc.; [email protected], contenbp/mbest/IHPEG.html -Ichampellnetadv.htm#Part3 (713) 961-1101 Parental Guidance Web66: Part of U of MN 'Whacks" single pages, groups of http://www.pguidance.com/ Mustang Project pages, or entire sites from the Web The Internetworked School: http://mustang.coled.umn.edu/ and stores them on your hard A Policy for the Future Startedluse/Acceptableuse.html dnve. Students can surf from the http://www.covis.nwu.edu/ Indiana Department of local desktop without an Internet Papers/Fishman&Pea1993. Education's List of State connection. $49.95. htmliiIntroduction Requirements for Public School What's a (Teacher, Parent, Internet Acceptable Use Policies Administrator) to Do? and Guidelines http://sunsite.unc.edWcmclmag/ http://ideanet.doe.state.in.us/ 1995/jun/stratford.html LearningResources/aupreg The Indiana guidelines reach beyond student access to appropriate Internet sites to address copy- nght, intellectual property and personal safety issues.

ways. One is to build it into the brows- vented by installing a different browser. need revision as technology changes. er. a solution both Microsoft andThe network-level control may be the Cyberspace is a work in progress. a Netscape have announced they will most secure, but could create a perfor-frontier with boundaries that are yet to support. A second methodused in fil-mance bottleneck if not implementedbe elimpsed, let alone defined. Proceed terine software productsisto perform carefully. with determined caution and good this operation as part of eachcomput- sense. but do proceedand enjoy. er's network protocol stack. A thirdpos- Where to Head From Here sibilityis to perform the operation Even to discuss filtering and controlling Mary Anne Mather is a jOrmer class- somewhere in the network itself, forthe Internet requires references fromroom teacher who serves as an educa- example at a proxy server. myriad Web sites. There isn't a moretional consultant for technology and Each option can affect efficiency. accessible or current library of informa-life-long learning. She is a frequent ease of use. and security. For example. tion anywhere to help us think aboutcontributor to Technoloey & Learning a browser solution could be circum-and develop solutionswhich willmaeazine.

46 TECHNOLOGY LEARNING SEPTEMBER 19% 7 8 BEST COPY AVAILABLL The t

Educator's jr*17141)

Ultimate I7- World Wide

Web Hotlist By Odvard Egil Dyrli

The World Wide Web offers plenty for you and your students, but do you know where to find what you need? Here, T&L 's telecommunications columnist shares his "ultimate hotlist" for enriching and extending your curriculum.

magine this: You're antion. and encourages collaborations that resources from schools, colleges, gov- American history teacher, tryingtake students far beyond the classroom ernment agencies, and commercial to awaken your students to the(see "Surfing the World Wide Web to organizations; cooperative online pro- devastation caused by the CivilEducation Hot-Spots." Technology &jects; and Web-based libraries, muse- 1War. Wouldn't it be great, youLearning, October, 1995). ums, and communications media. Plus, think, if the soldiers could speak direct- But what's needed is a guide thatwe've included the URLs of powerful ly to the students. What you really needpointsthe way totheextensive tools you can use to search the Web on is some letters home written by the menresources already available onlinetheyour own. We hope you will use this who served.... documents, photographs, maps, videoarticle as a continuing reference. Those letters are a click away on the clips, sound bites, references, and Sites, of course, can appear, move, Internet's World Wide Web. After onlyteaching materials for every level andor disappear suddenly. Fortunately, a few short years, the Web has becomecontent area. That's where this articlemany valuable educational materials the premier place online for findingcomes in.It's called the educator'sare linked to online "centers" that are multimedia resources and connecting"ultimate" hothst because it represents comparatively stable. To ensure accura- students to real-world events. Teachers acomprehensive compendium ofcy, all addresses have been verified. have discovered that the Web makesonline educational resources includingand the sites were selected based on the possible new levels of individualiza-lesson plan collections; curriculum quality of their offerings. 7 maintained online by various organiza- Lesson Plan Sources tions including professional associa- While you can find lesson plans at ations, foundations, government agen- variety of Web sites, including somecies, colleges, and universities (see the listed in other categories, the following next two sections for centers main- locations have particularly strong les-tained by K-12 schools and commercial son plan collections. companies). Some of these are collec- The AskERIC Virtual Library (http://tions of general educational resources. ericir.syr.edu) but others are specialized by content Columbia Education Center's Miniarea or teaching level. Lessons (http://youth.netkec/cec. The curriculum centers listed below hunl) are grouped by general content area ArtsEdge Connections+ (http:llwww.mcrel.org/emphasesnote that several sites com- .onnect/plus) bine math and science resourcesor L i nk, Environmental Education onmay contain links to Web sites of value arts education(http://www.artsednet. tne Internet (http://nceet.snre.umich.to a broad range of K-12 teachers. getty.edu) edu) Those listed under "general curricu-- Dance Directory (http://www.cyberspace. lum" include resources in several con- com/vandehey/dance.html) tent areas, and are usually divided by Music Education Online (http:llwww. Search Engines subject. geocities.com/Athens/2405/index. Search engines scour the Web based on html) content words or phrases that you spec- The Music Educators Home Page ify. Each of the choices below hasGeneral CutTiculuni (http://www.athenet_net/-wslow) unique search area strengths, so it is Curricular Resources and Networking The Puppetry Home Page (http:// good to try several. Projects (http://www.ed.gov/EdRes/ www-leland.stanford.edu/-roseage/ Alta Vista (http://altavista.digital. EdCurric.html) puppetry/puppetry.hunl) corn) Education World (http://www.education- Excite (http://www.excite.com) world.com) InfoSeek (http:llwww.infoseek.com) Language Arts and Literature: Lycos (http://www.lycos.com) The On-Line Books Page (http:llwww. WebCrawler (http://www.webcrawler. cs.cmu.edu/Web/books.html) corn) The Children's Literature Web Guide clnet search.com (http://www.search. (http://www.ucalgary.ca/-dkbrown/ com) index.html) MetaCrawler (http://www.metacrawler. The Complete Works of William corn) Shakespeare (http://the-tech.mit.edu/ Shakespeare/works.html) Multicultural Book Review (hap:// Information Indexes www.isomedia.com/homes/jmele/ Information indexes use topic menus homepage.html) and submenus to narrow searches until Education World Poetry (http://english-www.hss.cmu. you find resources of potential interest. edu/poeuy) Yahoo is by far the most comprehensive EdWeb (http://edweb.cnidr.org) Resources for English Teachers (http: and well-known information index, but Internet Connections (http://mcrel. //nickel.ucs.indiana.edu/-1wolfgral there are other options such as Kids org/connect) english.html) Web, which is tailored for students. LiveText Educational Resources (http:// Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com) www.ilt.columbia.edu/k12/livetext) Yanoff's Internet Services List (http:// The Schoolhouse (http://www.nwrel. www.spectracom.com/islist) org/school_ house) '"811MIWIMIRIMM!IMI*."74,f 7 Cool School Tools (http://www.bham. Web Sites and Resources for Teachers *wt. (http://www.csun.edu/-vceed009) ChUdren's Literature lib.al.us/cooltools) Web Guide Kids Web (http:llwww.npac.syr.edu/ World Education Exchange (http:// textbook/kidsweb) www.hamline.edu/-kjmaier) ...LAW 'AMY 1/361.114011 Yahooligans, The Web Guide for Kids UMW C1=01111d CINIMS1011.11111 WIN MINIMM=M10. (http://www.yahooligans.com) iMINME=21.= The Arts 2111111111SIMMELIMIM 1 ArtsEdge (http://artsedge.kennedy- tncallimemmaamm 11111111/AM 111111111BINIM Curriculum Resource Centers center.org/artsedge.html) There are many curriculum centers ArtsEdNet, an online service for K-12 The Children's Literature Web Guide 8 0 BEST COPYAVAILABLE The Educator's Ultimate World Wide Web Hotlist

Science Learning Network (http:// &India www.sln.org) Collunercial Ask Dr. Math (http://fonim.swarthmore. Space Educators' Handbook (http:ll edu/dr.math/dr-math.html) tommy.jsc.nasa.gov/woodfill/Curriculum Collections Calculators On-Line Center (http:// SPACEED/SEHHTML/seh.html) Many companies that provide goods www-sci.lib.uci.edu/HSG/ and services to schools now offer links RefCalculators.html) to curriculum resourcestheir own and Cornell Math and Science Gateway Social Studies othersat their Web locations. for High School(http://www.tc. American History Archive Project comell.edu/Edu/MathSciGateway) (http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/k12/ The Geometry Center (http:llwww. history/aha.html) geom.umn.edu) History/Social Studies Web Site for K- The Math Forum (http://forum. 12 Teachers (http://execpc.com/ swarthrnore.edu) dboalslboals.html) Mega Math (http://www.c3.1anl.gov/ Lesson Plans and Resources for Social mega-math) Studies Teachers (http://www.csun. edu/hceduOl 3/index.html) Online Resources (http://socialstudies. com/online.html) SocialStudies(http://www.kent. wednet.edu/curriculum/soc_studies/ Apple Education Worldwide Surf Report soc_studies.html) Social Studies Sources (http://www. Apple Education Worldwide Surf Re- halcyon.com/howlevin/social. port (http://ed.info.apple.com/education studies.html) /surfrep.html) Cisco's Virtual Schoolhouse (http:// sunsite.unc.edu/cisco/schoolhouse. 1(12 School html) Classroom Connect on the Web (http: Mega Moth Curriculum Collections //www.classroom.net/cgi/rofm/ Growing numbers of K-12 educators eduFind.html) kiena are sharing their collections of links to Educational Software Institute Online Eisenhower National ClearinghouseWeb resources, many of which are (http:llwww.edsoft.com/esi) (http://www.enc.org) maintained as "labors of love" for the Discovery Channel School (http:// The Environmental Education Net-common professional good. The fol- school.discovery.com) work (http://www.envirolink.org/lowing are noteworthy examples. Global Schoolhouse (GSH) (http:// enviroed) Armadillo's K-12 WWW Resources www.gsh.org) Health Resources (http://www.kent. (http://chico.rice.edu/armadillo/Ricel Global Network Navigator (GNN) K- wednet.edu/curriculum/health/health. K12resources.html) 12 Education (http://gnn.comignn/ html) Carrie's Sites for Educators (http:// wic/wics/ed.teach.hunl) SciEd: Science and Mathematics Edu- www.mtjeff.com/bodenst/page5. Houghton Mifflin Education Place cation Resources (http://www-hpcc. html) (http://www.eduplace.com) astro.washington.edu/scied/science. Integrating the Internet (http:llwww. IBM K-12 Education (http://www. html) indirect.corn/www/dhixson) solutions.ibm.com/k12) Jan's Favorite K-12 Resources & Internet Learning Sites (http://www: Projects(http://badger.state.wi.us/ agencies/dpi/www/jans_bkm.html) RRIRPF114PIRET"AlreaCar Lane's Homepage (http://www.ebicom. lbw Inelressamol - 2. Beseslaa bletureelt net/lane) Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators OMR WNW - 4141::117171111111.=1 . (http://www.capecod.net/Wixon/ wixon.htm) Vose School Education Resources Page (http://www.teleport.com/vincer) Web Site for Busy Teachers (http:// www.ceismc.gatech.edu/BusyT) The Environmental Education Network IBM K-12 Education 8 i 46 TECHNOLOGY ce LEARNING OCTOBER 1996 krsirCOPY AVMLAbLL '

ata ese at?

205 174 118 254/nspt/home htm) The following evamples, dtgwn from metric-models onihe screen Discover the Antarctic through pho- the sites in this article, illustrate the _Letters'From,an Iowa Soldier in tographs and experiences shared range of high-quality materials avail- '.the_Cwil War (http.//www ucsc:edu/ by members of the Amundsen-Scott able to enhance your curriculum civil-war-letters/home.html) -Read South Polar Station 23 Peaks:Expedition (http.//www three years' worth of letters written Sea World/Busch Gardens Animal 23peaks com) Throughjournal by an army clerk describing rich details pf-the war and living condi- Information Database (http // www . entries_ and photographs, follow a 1 bey net/education/SeaWorld). Talk learn.of explorers as they climb-the lions in Union campswith -maps with the animalsor at least learn highest peak .of -each nation in IN more about them at this site,with North;Central, and South America to related educational :Benjamin 'Franklin: Glimpses .of,EFFWARIVIPIPMML links resources and information on zoo- 1 ; the:Man -(http://sIn Ii ectu/franklin) i logical careers 4. Review the work of _one of our Volcano World (http//volcano und as .a scientist, Founding "Fathers nodak.edu). An explosion of vol- inventorrstatesman, printer, philoso- ..cano-related information, this site pher; musician, and economist. lets you learn about different types '13 Cap 'Web, A ,Guide 'to the WS. of volcanoes, visit volcanic parks, -Congress (http://policy neticapwebt and study active volcanoes through- congress.html). Explore our govern- out the world links to the Senate, House ment v -WeatherNet (http-J/cirrus sprl umich of Representatives:and the Library bac:. edu/wxnet) All the weather informa- with additional ofCongress, tion you need ishere, including resources on the executive and judi- and links to related Civil War sites. thousands of forecasts and images, cial branches of the federal govern- The Nine Planets(http.//seds Ipl and links to weather maps, storm ment. . anzona_edu/nineplanetsInineplanets/ centers, and live weather cameras Electronic Field Trip to the United nineplanetattril) The sky s no limit at :Nations (http://www pbs orgttaVun) this illustrated tour- of . the planets and moons of the solar system, with -Tour the UN at its half-century mark, Fits1c4FiP LI In IT4F4M","...-,0""-% with , background history, and -the links-to-sites on planetary research 'UN : in -action"---rnajor achieve- TThe 4Pelagrc ''Shark 'Research- ments, world .trouble -spots, daily "Foundation (http-fiwww ugratcom/ pelagic/index html) `.°Everything you Vt press summarieswith classroom I. activities : and - links -to 'related want to know -about f.sharics...and r resources.' more" you'll find right herecurrent -t - Gallery ..of interactive.Geometry research on their biology and histo- (http://www.geom umn.edu/apps). ry, plus links to shark sites through-I Put. theory into action, at this _site out the world where math .decisions -affect geo-'The New South PolarTimes (http.// JI"'

Academy One/National Public Tele- om/oasis/gazette/g azette . p i eri a n . c Sources for Online computing Network (http://www. html) nptn.org/cyber.serv/A0neP) Latitude28 Schoolhouse (http://www. AdventureOnline(http://www. incly.opennet.com/schoolhouse) K.12 Projects Cooperative projects give students the adventureonline.com) Macmillan/McGraw-HillSchool- opportunity to study a topic with partic- Electronic Emissary Project(http:// house (http://www.mmhschool.com) www.tapr.org/ernissary) Pitsco Technology Education (http://ipants from around the worldand the Electronic Schoolhouse (ESH)(http:// www.pitsco.com/wel.html) hone telecommunications skills at same time. The following arethe major town.pvt.k12.ca.us/Collaborations/ School.Net (http://k12.school.net) e-school/e-school.html) Technology & Learning (http://www.Web sites for finding and proposing online educational projects of all sorts. Global SchoolNet Foundation(GSN) techlearning.com) , The Educator's Ultimate World Wide Web ilotlist

(http://sunsite.unc.edu/expo) Franklin Institute Science Museum (http://www.fi.edu) Hands On Children's Museum (http:// www.wIn.com/-deltapac/hocm.html) Hands-on Science Centers Worldwide (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/-mwrn/sci. html) Internet Public Library (http://ipl. sils.umich.edu) Library of Congress (http://lcweb. Adventure Dane loc.gov) National Air and Space Museum (http: Discovery Channel llwww.nasm.edu) (http://www.gsn.org) On-Line Exhibitions and Images Book Nook (http://www.schoolnet.ca/ Hi lites (http://www.gsh.org/tch2tch- note that the address is expressed english/arts/lit/booknook) hilites.htm) numerically(http://155.187.10.12/ Cool Places for Kids (http://www. Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Con- fun/exhibits.html) alaska.neti-steel/coolpls.hunl) nections (IECC) Projects(http:// Planet Earth Home Page (http:// www. Global Show-n-Tell (http://www. www.stolaf.edu/network/iecc) nosc.millplanet_earthlinfo.html) telenaut.com/gst) International Education and Resource The Smithsonian (http://www.si.edu) KidNews (http:llwww.vsa.cape.com/ Network (I*EARN) (http://www. United States Holocaust Memorial -powens/Kidnews.html) iearn.org/iearn) Museum (http://www.ushmm.org) Kid Pub (http://www.en-garde.com/ Internet Projects Registry (http:// Virtual Tourist (http://www.vtourist. kidpub) www.gsn.org/gsn/proj/index.hunl) com) Kids on Carnpus (http://www.tc.cornell. KIDLINK/KIDPROJ (http://www. WebMuseum Network (http://sunsite. edu/Kids.on.Campus/WWWDemo) kidlink.org/KIDPROJ) unc.edu/louvre) MidLink Magazine (http://longwood. Online Class (http://www.usinternet. cs.ucf.edu:80/-MidLink) com/onlineclass) The Kids on the Web (http://www. Quest, The NASA K-12 InternetCommunications Media zen.org/-brendan/kids.html) Initiative Page (http://questarc.nasa.Valuable channels for investigating top- The Kids Web (http://www.lws.com/ gov) ics in depth are the online links to com- kidsweb/links.htm) NASA Space Link(hup://www. munications media including book pub- Uncle Bob's Kids' Page (http://gagme. spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov) lishers, magazines, newspapers, and wwa.com/-boba/kidsi.html) NASA SeaWiFS Projectsincluding television programs. the Jason and Ocean Planet Projects CNN Interactive (http://www.cnn.com) (http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov) Discovery Channel(http://www.Schools on the Web discovery.com) A valuable way to see how K-12 teach- Hotlinks (online newspapers) (http:llers are using online resources for Libraries and Museums www.naa.org/hot) assignments, projects, teaching units, The Web allows teachers and students National Geographic Society (http://and even courses, is to visit school Web to visit libraries, museums, and exhibits www.nationalgeographic.com) sites. The following indexes will link throughout the world, and do research PBS Online (http://www.pbs.org) you directly to schools on the Web electronically. Publishers' Catalogs Home Page (http: throughout theUnitedStates and Exploratoriurn ExploraNet (http:// //www.lights.com/publisher) abroad. www.exploratorium.edu) Books A to Z (http://www.booksatoz. HotList of K-12 Internet School Sites Expo, WWW Exhibit Organization com) (http://www.sendit.nodak.edu/k12) The Nando Times (http://www2. School.Net Navigator (http://school.

. nando.net) net/go/go.g_na_us.hunl) m_-.21.L..16 41 Web66Schools on the Web (http:// FIE2,11M IR PEW! Mg' web66.coled.umn.edu) Especially for Kids The following sites were developed Odvard Egil Dyrli, a columnist and specifically for children, and offer acontributing editor forTechnology & variety of educational resources, as well Learning,isProfessor Emeritus of asrecreationalmaterials including Educationat The Universityof interactive stories, games, and puzzles. Connecticut, and an education technol- Berit's Best Sitzs for Children (http:// ogy consultant nationwide (DYRI..1@ www.cochran.com/theosite/KSites. UCONNVM. UC ONN. ED U.) html) Library of Congress 83 -,--

i. Gregory JOrd-

, GETTING 44'

EQUIPPEDA

STAYING

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PART 1:

GRAPPLING

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ou're chareed with preparinethe hardware you have on hand through As you take stock of your students for the Informa-specialized uses, upgrades. and inex- -i_lion Age. Yet, emerging com-pensive supplements. You'll also find the computers you have on puter technoloey continues to gallopresources to help you sell. donate. or hand, does it look like a ret- ahead of the tools your school districttrade in those computers you're ready rospective on the history of has already purchased for this crucialto replace. Finally, we'll begin lookine and demanding task. The latest educa- computing? Are older com- at leasine options for acquiring new tional prozrams all seem to requiretechnoloey in a way that postpones puters taking up precious more memory. larger hard disks,andobsolescence. closet space? Have you been everything from sound cards and stereo wondering which ones you speakers to CD-ROM drives and high-Upgrading Older Computers: speed modems. However, instead of can use and which to let go Is It Worth It? expanding to meet these acceleratingUpgrading various computer compo- of? Read on for the lowdown demands. your school's computer bud-nents so that they perform more like on how to get the most from get has most likely declined over thenewer ones is one method for leverag- past few years. Under such conditions. ing the investment you've already made all your computers, and how how do you keep your technoloey pro- in technology. There are several ways to to get rid of the ones you grarn from lapsine into obsolescence? upgrade older computers. representine just can't use any longer. In this article, the first of two parts.a spectrum of performance improve- you'll learn strateeies for maximizingments, from increasine the random

3 4 TECHNOLOGY &LEARNING MARCH 199531 BEST COPYAVAILABLE BEST COPY AVAILABLE GETTING EQUIPPED ANDSTAYING EQUIPPED

access memory( RAM ).a relatively inexpensive method: to adding acceler- ator cards; using an externalCD-ROM or hard drive: or the moreradical replacement of central processing units UPPING THE With PC Upgrade Products (CPUs). chips. and motherboards. But Companies PROCESSOR Prices for upgrades generally there's more to consider than swapping range between $250 and $400.A one part for another. Considerations in Upgrading PCs few of the companies currently , Schools should carefully evaluate Many, though not all. 386 proces- offering 486 processor upgrade .1.veral cost and performance issues sors can be upgradedto 486 sta- products include the following: .!fore considering upgrades. While the tus. (Note: 386SX processors Cyrix Corp. (Richardson. TX; -ice of upgrade products might seem built before 1991 cannotbe (800) 848-2979) inexpensive when compared to the cost upgraded.) Before you upgrade, Compaq (Houston. TX: (800) of a new system. analyze how many find out about yourcomputer's 345-1518) components you'll need toupgrade to video subsystem andRAM. as Evergreen Technologies these can limit theeffectiveness (Corvalis. OR: (800) 733-0934) realize significant gains. Many new upgrade applications, for example. require not of a CPU upgrade. The candidate should have atleast From Mac to PowerMac only a fast processor. but also a great four megabytes of RAM, an80- Apple has made it clear that the deal of RAM. a fast CD-ROMdrive. megabyte or larger harddrive, PowerMac is the Mac of the state-of-the-art graphics. and so on. If it and reasonably up-to-datesub- future,andmany of Apple's comes to upgrading allof these compo- systems. newer LC and Quadramodels nents at once. you mayfind yourself If your school is buying new have upgrade paths available. paying almost as much as youwould 486 computers advertisedas Mac LCs are upgrade candi- for a new system. In such cases.it may being "Pentium upgradable."bedatesifthey have a 68040 be better to spend a few hundreddollars aware that anupgrade chip was processor. With Apple's own time, more to purchase a new computerand not yet available at press upgrade card, available for about is planned for later 040 find a less demanding setting forthe although it 8560 (800-800-2775), the this year. Factors such asbus chip is pulled off the logic board older models (see section below). design (the path acrosswhich and plugged into the upgrade On the other hand. if adding some data travel in a computer)and card, which is then pluggedinto extra RAM or upgradingthe CPU in a memory will influencethe effec- the 040 slot, turning the machine relatively recent model is enough to tiveness of such an upgrade. into a dual-processor machine. turn it into a state-of-the-artmachine. Many 486 computers use Both processors are not active at thenit may make sense to upgrade older ISA bus technologyinstead the same time. but you can instead of buying new systems. Be sure of the faster PCI busused by switch between them depending to find out if the uperadeproduct you're Pentiums. For an upgrade.this on the applicationyou're using. interested in is compatible with your means that eventhough the Processor upgrades for theLC classroom processor will beoperating at a are also availablefrom DayStar computers and with your still be applications, as few upgrade suppliers higher speed. the bus will Digital (800-962-2077). 486 If you're using a Quadra. you their products handling data at the slower are likely to have tested speeds. The way in which memo- between title on may have a choice with every educational software ry is installedin the 486 also upgrading the CPU or the entire the market. affects itsupgradability. Most logic boardan approachwhich 486s have four slots forinserting gives you a greater overall per- New Uses for Old Machines SIMMs (memory modules).So if formance boost. The logic board Even if you decide not to upgrade your the SIMMs in afour-megabyte costs from $1.048 to$1.897, older computers. you may be able to put 486 are each onemegabyte. depending on the model you them to work in new ways. Whilethey there's no space to addthe addi- choose. and works onlywith may not run the newestsoftware you tional four megabytesneeded to some Quadra models. Pentium RAM plan to buy. many of thesemachines bring the machine up to Since the minimum standards. Your only choicewill requirement for the PowerMacis have life in them yet. GahannaLincoln be to replace the one-megabyteeight megabytes, an upgrade High. School in Gahanna. Ohio. grap- with two-megabyte may also involve buyingaddition- installed SIMMs pled with this issue when they SIMMs, increasing the costof the al RAM. their computer new 486 computers in upgrade. labs. bumping out a host of 286s. It didn't take long for the displaced r) AVAILABLE " r-- A rin7en 0 T COPY GETTING EQUIPPED AND STAYINGEQUIPPED

rea- enhancement N ell worth considering. word processin2 systems. Brooks went to the social studiesdepartment. funds left used. oned. there likely would be where they were networked and _out to regardless of the computers being wait- over with which to buymore ath'anced work hehaine students learn about their It eliminates long lines of students by queu- equipment for multimedia applications world. "We put software such as PCing to print their assignments this goal the back- and desktop publishing. With Globe and PC USA on the file server ing documents and printing in and showed students how to use thenet- ground. work as a geography database." says district computer coordinator Randy Inexpensive Allen I whowas Technology& Technology Learning's first-ever Teacher ofthe Supplements In additiontorepur- Year). RESOURCES FOR Another 25 were installed in aposing older comput- vacant classroom that becamehome to ers. you cansupple- the schooFs highly successfulwriting_mentyour program lab. The labis open throughout the with less costly **.,pe- CLEARING OUT school day for teachers to use with cial use" technologies. classes, or for individual students who allowing you to use the (Or want to complete assignmentsdaring inoney you save THEOLD MODELS study hall. An additional lab equippedemerging systems that with both 236 computers and olderexpand your program. Macintoshes is staffed every hour by an Ramona NI iddle If you need help figuring outhow much to English teacher who is available to help School in Ramona. charge for your older computers,try share- California. is using this ware recently releasedby the American students with their writing projects. (Atlanta. regardless of the class in whichthey strategy to guide its Computer Exchange Corporation purchase decisions as GA; (404) 250-0050). Availablein both were assigned. Macintosh and Windows versions,this pro- "The teachersintheEnglish the school faces replac- value of any used ing its Apple 11 com- gram will estimate the department have told us that thediffer- configuration puters. which are wear- Macintosh or PC after basic ence is like night andday in terms of information has been entered.The program ing out after several how much the kids write and how-well is available from AmericaOnLine, Compu- they write.- says Allen. "Andsince all years of nearly con- Serve, and many local bulletinboard sys- the students have access to word pro- stant use. tems. The Exchange alsomaintains a data- cessing technology, most of ourteach- "The disk drives in base of buyers and sellers,and servesas transactions as well. ers will no longer accept papersthat are particular are getting a "middleman" for veryunpredictable." Exchange (617- hand-written." The Boston Computer says assistant principal 542-4414) will buy your school'sold equip- Apple II computers also lend them- For those districts If at Susan Brooks. ment and then re-sell it. selves to this kind of niche usage. hoping to get rid of machinesthat are only least some of the machines have3.5""Students are getting a few years old,IBM provides a similar ser- disk drives it's quite easy to set up a frustrated because their called IBC. isn't always vice with help from a partner word processing lab. using theAppit Hs work Any organization that has ten ormore units for the actual writing and adding-in a being saved properly." (IBM or other brands) withcurrent market In searching for a few Macintoshes dedicated topagelay- value can call for a bid requestform. Fill out out. If you're determined todo it tunny solution. Brooks real- the number of units,and the model and with Apple H technology, there areized that the budget configuration information, andIBC within wouldn t that stands for ten products to help make it moreattractive probably 48 hours will make a bid allow for replacing the to students. Inkjetprinters, for example. with new instead of dot-matrix models.proYide Apple11s Macintosh or PC sys- BEST COPY AVAILABLE more polished-lookingresults and make that. the room a quieter place inwhich to tems. Besides the computers work.(Schoolsinterestedin:that since consider using were being used pri- approach might buying full- in mind, the school is looking atlaptop AppleWorks 4.0. which featuresbuilt-in marily for word processing. featured computers didn't seem tobe word processors. AppleIlsupport for theHewlett- Such devices, which costabout the most cost-effective answer anyway. Packard Deskjet. but for bestresults S300. look like keyboards with very printer If the school could find aninexpensive you'll need to add RAM.) A small display screens abovethe keys. writing labway to provide studentswith reliable sharing device is another (continued on page 351 (36 I4 GETTING EQUIPPED ANDSTAYING EQUIPP1111EST COPY AVAIt ABLE

Hicksviile'ssuperintendent.Stuart do much cannot accommodate. usually sell Students enter text but can't has already Opdahl. "The computers manipulation or editing. Some systems One community that Such an isthe Boulderwithin a couple of hours.- let students save work,while others iaken this approach much-needed Schooi Districtin approach can generate temporarily before ii eis ValleyPublic purchases while clear- store it only Th-..!y've acquired money for new drive. These Boulder. Colorado. closets. A ported to a computer's hard over S00 laptopword ing out your school storaue however: Before you processors. and school note of caution plan the sale, look into anyconstraints personnelthere say by funding that the volume of stu- imposed by your district, or I. If you dent writing has since mechanisms such as Chapter specially days. IBC will also bidfor computer parts. increased by between purchased the computers with the needs of larg- not be and can tailor contracts to 50 and 70 percent. tareeted funds. selling them may details. contact IBC at 908 certain para- er accounts. For to Len permitted. or only within Providence Highway, Dedham,MA 02026: According Scroean. the district's meters. (617) 320-0123. Besides seiline equipment.schools Schools with a link to theInternet miaht technology coordina- technology L'euing the most can also donateit to local oreanizations. consider selling their used tor. have to Network. a per-student impact out Carefully considerine what you through the Global Recyciing matched to the worldwide information service set upto help limitedfinancial give and how it can be of first step in organizations buy and sell useaaoods of ail resources was a prima- community's needs is a key For example. types. Subscribers tothis service pay 530 ry reason thedistrictplannine your donation. determine that a local social per month to postunlimited "sell" or -buy" chose this approach. you might for buyers or sellers service agency, such as onethat serves requests and to browse They'vechosenthe For information. the elderly, could usemachines for spe- using keyword searches. A lphaS mart word send e-maii [email protected] or write 2715A cialized purposes. such asword pro- processor from Montauk Highway,Drookhaven, NY 11719: even Intelligent Peripherals. cessine. telecommunications. or (516) 286-5580. checkers. Or Foundation is a but there are severalcomputerized chess or The National Cristina consider oreanizations that servethe not-for-profit organization that usesdonated other options as well. disabled, the homeboundor anyother computers to traindisadvantaged popula- (See sidebar.) and people with dis- group for whom anolder computer tions, students at risk, communi- abilities. The foundation willaccept any IBM Getting Rid of could serve as an important that is in working order. cationslinktothe outside world. or Apple system What You teachers. show- Many of the early interventionprograms that Students could serve as Can't Use work with donat- the foundation workswith are particularly When you finally do ing new users how to models. For more connect to the interested in AppleII decide that your older ed software or how to West Putnam oniy do you information, write to 591 machines have outlived Internet. In this way, not 06830 or call (800) also create Avenue. Greenwich, CT their usefulness. you clear out the machines. you 274-7846. opportunity that reaches Foundation have essentially twoa learning The East West Development beyond the students. is a non-profit agencythat distributes used choices: to sell or to computer hardware tocharities within the donate. While i t 's developing countries important to avoid the The Allure of Leasing United States and to whatever throughout the world. The groupis primarily ill will that can resultifOnce you're ready to put saved from careful dis- interested in IBM (286 andabove) and donate out- money you've you sell or into the Macintosh (SE and above)systems. For moded equipment to an position of older computers Place. leasing is more information,write to 55 Temple unsuspecting audience. purchase of new equipment. 542-1234. up-to-date technology Boston, MA 02111: (617) there are many recipi- one way to get least ents whotrulyare quickly. and to keep it currentat lease. interested in what your for the duration of the leases as a BEST COPY AVAILABLE school can no loneer Savvy schools use means of minimizingobsolescence. For use. able to add The Hicksville Union instance. many schools are throughout the leasing in Hicksville. New new equipment usefulness of Macs Free School District. the equity built systems extend the finds willing buyers period with help from kids write, while York. for example. -The amount that or PCs by lettine more at a garage sale up through payments. for text for- for its old equipment paid on the leaseprincipal saving the "real- computers "We put all the items a school has matting and pagelayout, functions held every spring. during the first year canbe used to pur- in a shedbehind the school.- says which the dedicatedword processors LEARNING MARGI 199535 0 I rrel4VOLOGY GETTING EQUIPPED AND STAYINGEQUIPPED

chase a portion of the equipment and to add new equipment tothelease.- explains Suneet Paul. who manages the Apple Education Finance Program. "For example. if the school signed a three-year. SI00.000 lease. by the end of the first year they would have built up approximately S31.000 equity.They Words could buy a third of the equipment at thatpoint and add another S3 I MO worth of hardware to the lease, which Are would then be extended for another year. keeping their payments the same. In this way. the school could annually Cheap update theirtechnology without increasing their annual budg.et.- Here are some laptop word processors to con- Another option is to negotiate for a "lease to replace- option. like a car sider: The AlphaSmart Pro. from Intelligent lease, where at the end of the term. you Peripherals (Cupertino. CA; (408) 252-9400), do not own the equipment at all, but works with Apple IlGs. Macintosh, andIBM-com- instead roll over into a new lease, with patible computers. and can save up to64 pages new hardware. Thisisparticularly of text. It sells for $279. appealing if you can negotiate a good The Laser PO4 from Perfect Solutions(West deal based on the fact that the original Palm Beach, FL; (800) 726-7086) stores upto 15 equipment reverts to the leasing compa- pages of text and cantransfer files to IBM, ny at the end. While the leasing compa- Macintosh and Apple 11 systems. It sells for$239. ny may have little desire to ownthe The $299 DreamWriter from NTSComputer older models, the likelihood of keeping Systems (Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada:(800) 663- your school on as a long-term partner 7163) stores up to 30 pages of text and isIBM- might be enough to convince them to and Macintosh-compatible. cut you a good deal.

III Gregory Jordahl is a freelance writer who specializes in new technology .1. r education and business.

Editor's Note: Next month. as T&L helps you continue to plan your technology purchases.look for more on leasing, as well as other ways to stretch your technology dollars. Additionally. we'llexploreavarietyof - approaches to fundraising and partnering with businesses to bring technology resources to your school.

The AlphaSmart from Intelligent Peripherals is aloW-cost keyboard word processor that works with theMacintosh. Ta 8 8 PiEST COPY AVAILABLE .1 BEST COPYAVAILABLE Standards for SchoolNetworking

DR. ROBERT D. CARLITZ.Professor University of Pittsburgh Support MYRON LENTZ. Director. Officeof Computer and Technology Pittsburgh Board of PublicEducation Pittsburgh. Pa. and AL MACILROY. President Techera San Diego, Calif.

above and below it, and communicationto To assure theinteroperabilitv, reliabili- of a school dis- adjacent levels is through awell-defined ty and maintainability to standards interface. This architecture allows one trict's network, certain design elements of the networkwithout should be established andfollowed. having to worry aboutunexpected interac- This article categorizes thesestandards and imple- tions, incompatibilities orinefficiencies. provides a list for designers and The idea of a layered architecturehas menters. The stan- in the dards were devel- been carried to a formal extreme International Standards Organization's oped expressly for, layers of network and adopted by, the (ISO's) definition of seven structure. Since the ISOdefinition is more Pittsburgh Public article, we sim- Schools as district formal than we need in this plify it by referring to threelayers, each of policy. layers. The The goal of this which represents several ISO article is to provide a three layers are as follows: . -.. Physical Layer. This refers tothe phys- simple and concise set ofstandards that signals are car- school districts can use tofacilitate the ical medium through which ried, be it copper wire, fiberoptic cable or process of designingand implementing networks are wireless transmissions. electronic data networks. Such Protocol Layer. This refers toprotocols likely to be in increasingdemand as new and pre- resources and educationalapplications are used to encapsulate information and as sent it to applicationsrunning on devices developed for the global Internet protocols increasingly perme- attached to the network. These wide area networking define a set of rules thatenable different ates the society at large. entities on the network tocommunicate In planning the physicalconnectivity of a school district it is important todevelop a with each other. network archi- Application Layer. This refers to pro- broad view of the district's grams that run oncomputers attached to tecture, including not onlythe infrastruc- specific tools or network and the network and provide ture of the local area services to users of thenetwork. Metropolitan Area Network(MAN), but that will initially also the set of applications Physical Layer operate over the network.This ensures that that adequate bandwidth Currently, computer applications the network will have operate on LANs in theschool environment for proposed applications,that these appli- and that suffi- can be handledwith inexpensive copper cations will be interoperable, wiring. Present technologyallows for oper- cient funds will be availablefor all neces- bits per second, Lai and software. ation at speeds of 10 million sary hardware and it is possible to installwiring capable of transmitting data at muchhigher speeds. A The Layered Approach prudent recommendation is to usethis type Network design can begreatly simplified Category 5 Twisted network as a set of lev- of wiring, known as if one thinks of the Pair wire. This choice combineseconomy of els, with each levelisolated from those 8 9 T.H.E. JOURNAL 71 hardware and ease ofinstallation with a site matched to that site's needs and Standardsreasonable allowance forfuture expansion. accessibility. Graphical and video applications will The wiring plant shouldbe a structured wiring closet to which eventually require higher bandwidth for one, with a central there is a mu - classroom or office runs return.Large sites many school sites. Here, too, connected by tiplicity of choices: will require multiple closets Frame relay (speeds up to 1.5 megabits) backbones, which can beconstructed from either Category 5 copper orfiber optic SMDS cable. Sites of intermediatesize may also be 1.5 megabit leased lines served economically withcoaxial cable runs Cable TV If one technology proves much cheaper in some network segments. Each classroom should have aminimum than the others, it could provide a suitable These drops can choice for districtwide adoption. Otherwise of three network drops. technologies accommodate three devices,including class- one should anticipate a mix of to form the fabric of the metropolitan area room telephones asneeded. Rooms requiring more devices can usefan-out hardware network. to accommodate as manydevices as might be desired. The choice ofthree drops is a Protocol Layer compromise between convenienceand cost This layer includes those protocols that with this define transport along the physical medium and is based upon experiences and protocols that present data to applica- wiring architecture inPittsburgh and elsewhere. Some redundancy isdesirable for tions running on devices attached to the ease of expansion, network. flexibility and added Transport over the LAN described in the network integrity. previous section is conveniently provided !PT ould plan Tto The preceding para- via the Ethernet protocol. Atop thisprotocol sits another protocol that is independentof (4, ommodate7i mix graphs refer to premise (building) the physical medium. The choice ofprotocol opit,no olesat wiring or to the struc- at P-is level is simplified by thefact that the ical layer ture of the local area Internet is based upon a common publi network within a protocol known as TCP/113. If studentsAO given school. To con- teachers are to have access to resources on in nect schools together the Internet, then the MAN and LANs and provide access to the schools must support TCP/1P. This is that is central resources and the Internet, one the only commonly used protocol suitable for application to Wide Area needs a Metropolitan AreaNetwork needs in terms Networks (WANs), and one can anticipate (MAN). Neither the precise proprietary proto- of bandwidth nor the precisesolutions in an evolution of popular cols for LANs to coincide with TCP/IPin terms of services can bespecified at the present time with any greatdegree of confi- the future. Among the popular proprietaryLAN dence, but graphical applicationsrequire a minimal bandwidth on theorder of 56 kilo- protocols are IPX, used by Novell, and AppleTalk, used by Apple. Whileboth pro- bits per second. Services that canprovide tocols may be of use in specific LANappli- this bandwidth include: extended over Striped (parallel) modems overmul- cations, they should not be lines wide area connections, exceptthrough tiple voice-grade phone encapsulation in TCP/IP. 56 kilobit leased lines To isolate applications fromthe raw Frame relay TCP/IP protocol, vendors havedeveloped ISDN standards through which theirapplications Fiber optic lines. On the The layering concept allows oneto mix receive data from the network. Macintosh platform the standardinterface is these technologies at differentsites in a net- required perfor- provided through MacTCP, while on work so as to obtain the Windows machines the standardinterface is mance at the mosteconomical cost. Unless known as Windows Sockets(WINSOCK). one single technology canbe obtained at a than any competing By enforcing these standards foreach o cost significantly lower the in technologies, one should plan to accommo- these platforms, one can insure erability of all network applications running date a mix of technologies atthe physical laver of a MAN, with the choiceat each on any given machine. 72 APRIL 1995 At a basic level, userfrustration can be Application Layer deployed dis- Standards issues at this laver have to do reduced if a single product is trictwide for each of the most common com- with how applications handle data. We pre- databases sume the existence of a networkedenviron- puting tools: word processing, ment, with all computers and peripheral and spreadsheets. devices connected to it. Standard applica- Not all available tions are available via file servers andmain- software meets all of the tenance of commonly used software canbe our standards at provided remotely. Local software can be present time. In order added to individual classroom machines or to provide students installed on school-based servers. Virus- with access to prod- checking utilities protect individual ucts found in the typi- machines and the file structures for these cal commercial work- machines can be rebuilt from the serversif place it is therefore their integrity is severely compromised. necessary to make Applications that support native-mode some compromisesin and strict adherence to thesestandards. A con- standard file formats can exchange data venient mechanism is to develop adis- interoperate across the networked environ- supported prod- ment. This is an evolving area, as newappli- trictwide list of currently but ucts. This list shouldfurther indicate the cations are continually being developed, products meet the stan- issues and extent to which the one can discuss a few general for relaxing several specific issues that presentlyapply. dards as well as the reasons Among the general issues is that ofhow standards in certain cases. multimedia is handled. This question network Attached Hardware applies to e-mail, news and various Specific devices to be attached tothe applications. The most widely employed minimum "stan- standard is known as MIME (Multipurpose school network also have dards." Personal computers,for instance, Internet Mail Extensions). It is reasonable to card combo demand that mailers, news readers and net- should have a monitor/video capable of running a windowedenviron- work applications that support multimedia interface and the process- should all adhere to this standard. The ment, an Ethernet ing power to run commonlyneeded appli- MIME standard is extensible, since itspeci- be met with fies external programs or "viewers"for any cations. These requirements can enables it to any of a numberof models of Macintoshes, given multimedia file type. This running Microsoft accommodate a variety of text types, graph- IBMs or IBM-compatibles Windows, OS/2, etc. Prudentrecommenda- ics formats. video and sound, aswell as configuration of such such specialized elements asdatabases and tions for a minimal machines are as follows: spreadsheets. (RAM) Specific issues relate to the userinterface 8MB internal memory and file formats. For the first, astandard 200MB hard disk 800 x 600 pixel display with256 colors user interface can bespecified in terms of utilizing a graphical display with akey- 14" display screen Intel i486, Motorola 68040 orPowerPC board and a pointing device such as a processor mouse or trackball. Suchinterfaces are pro- several other com- vided with all current commercialdevices. In addition, there are ponents required tomake the network and Specialized interfaces, such as voicesynthe- function. be pro- its attached information resources sizers and mechanical assists, should These can be listed as follows: vided for users with special needs. provide file demands Servers. These machines For the second, interoperability service, print service,information resources either that applications use a commonfile operating sys- format or that they have file conversion and mail. A true multi-tasking tem is required to supportthis range of ser- capabilities. The lowest commondenomina- this task are RISC- of ASCII text and vices. Typical devices for tor for file exchange is that based workstations runningthe UNIX oper- all programs should support thisformat. platforms One level up is a standard known asRich ating system. Other processor may be adequatefor smaller sites; other Text Format (RTF), which allowsfor the Windows NT) and attrib- operating systems (notably specification of font information for this purpose as their supported may prove suitable utes. This. too, should be installed software base increasesin size. wherever possible. 91 T.H.E. JOURNAL 73 high-volume, networked laser printer can, Routers. These devicesprovide connec- Standards network. The for example, serve a classroom more conve- tivity to a metropolitan area niently than multiple impact printers choice of TCP/IP forMAN connectivity this proto- attached to individual computers. Aswits requires that the routers support application software, this is an area in con col. Multi-protocol support.including IPX and AppleTalk, can be auseful option but siderable flux, and standards should be increases the mainte- reviewed on a regular basis.II nance required. of Peripherals. This Robert Carlitz. a professor of physics at the University Pittsburgh. ismoderator of theKIDSPHERE mailing list category includes and project director for the school networkingtestbed called printers, scanners, CD- Conmion Knowledge: Pittsburgh. E-mail: rdcOckp.edu ROM drives, tape dri- - yes and otherdevices. Myron Lentz has been director of Computer and Where standards exist TechnolocT Support for the Pittsburgh PublicSchools since 1975, providing central district support fortechnology plan- in terms of file formats,these should be ning including the design and maintenance ofwide and local respected inmost school districtpurchases. area networks. E-mail: lentzIpps.pgh.pa.us Relevant standards in this areainclude PostScript (apage descriptionlanguage for Al Macflrov is the president and CEO of Techerain San printers), Kodak's PhotoCD format (for CD- Diego. Calii. The firm is developing an instructional man- (for joining agement sOftware system for teachers andadministrators, ROM drives)and TWAIN and does consulting nationally to aid schools ordistricts together scans made on aflatbed graphic with their instructional technology planningMacliroy is a scanner). Netwvorkable devices arepreferred ormerrice president uf fastens Learning (Education for reasons of economy andflexibility. A Systems Corp.). E-maii: techeraecerfnet.

Court TV in Our Nation'sHigh Schools focuses on resolving social disputes in acivilized and Anationwidesurvey of high schooleducators has manner, as compared to manytelevision programs revealed: that Courtroom TelevisionNetwork fair which show violence and violent outcomesin (Court IV) is considered to be highlyvaluable in asacurriculum tool for educating students and individual disputes. classrooms The results indicate that of all the teachers surveyed, about thevenkings ofthe American justice system. 77% are in favor ofCourt TV being available for educa- with teachers who actually watch thenetwork praising tional instruction. And75%of the respondents would it as even more valuable thanthose who have only recommend their students watch Court1V on their heard of it. The sunny. was conducted byMalarkey Taylor own. Associates; a well-known nationalmarket research interviewed Educational Outreach company.in Mayof 1994. Malarkey Taylor The survey was undertaken as part ofCourtTV's 203 public and private highscnool socialstudies teach- educational outreach program. whichincludes: active ers in32 states. Virtually allthe respondents had participationintheindustrywide CableInThe access to TV and VCR equipment.Three-fourths of the Classroom program: telecasts of theNational High teachers hadaccess to cable television.includingCourt School Mock Trial Championship,which familiarize TV. Nearly hat(46%) of the teachershadviewed Court over 60.000 students and12,000 teachers with the TV at least one. judicial system and how courts attemptto resolve disputes: the multimedia CasemakerCD-ROM educational Key Finds schools: and distribution of"Trial Story," Among key-finds. 90% of respondentswho indicat- productfor speciai report videocassettes andstudy guides made ed that they tad viewed CourtTV (vs. 84% ofail respondents) stated that the networkhelps students just for classroom use. Court TV is distributed to 15+ millionbasic cable understandmanyaspects of the law. subscribers in the 48 states, D.C..Puerto Rico and the In additiort 85% of respondents whoviewedthe VirginIslands, in addition to satellitedishreceivers network (vs. Ei2% of all respondents)said theybelieve nationwide. The service is a joint ventureof American Court TVpresents current issues of social interest. LawyerMedia,L.P..Time WarnerInc..NBC, such as free stmech, crime andviolence, in a construc- Cablevision Systems DevelopmentCorp. andLiberty tive manner. Perhaps the most relevant and timelyfinding among Media. 87% of Court. TV viewing teachers(vs. 72% of all Source: Trylon Communications.Inc. respondents) is that the network'strial programming

74 APRIL 1995 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Archifecfure andCosfs of Connecfing Schoolsto the NII

MR. RUSSELL!.ROTHSTEIN, Research Assistant and OR. LEE McKNIGHT,Principal Research Associate MIT Research Program onCommunications Policy Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology Cambridge, Mass.

nications lines and servicesrepresent only Universal connection to theNational Our research 11% of the total costs, andhence reductions Information Infrastructure (NH), it is will have a limited impact. presumed, will facilitateeducational Finally, as the costs ofnetworking schools reform within schools and communi- suggests is better understood, a newquestion arises: ties. Several developmentssuggest this: How will these costs befinanced? Many The federal government iscommitted that a numberstates have programs tofund networking in to having everyclassroom in the U.S.A. schools. The federal governmenthas a role, connected to the NII by the year2000: of programs although it must become moreflexible and A number of telephoneand cable com- coordinated. However, asVice President plans to connect NIIwill be built panies have announced would have aGore continues to state,the schools in their service areas atlow or no by the private sector. Anumber of states cost; have initiated cooperativeventures between Modern, high-speed networkshave significant- businesses and schools. Anexpansion of been installed at a numberof progressive, these programs may bethe key for success- pion2ering K-12 schools; impacf-on thefully connecting 1(42schools to the NII. The Internet, a global networkof net- But connection alone isnot enough we works that connects to anabundance of total costs ofreport below on ourfinding that support educational resources, is experiencing and training togethercomprise 46% of the phenomenal growth. total costs of networkingschools. However, to date, there isrelatively little connecting_ to known about the costs forconnecting III Scope of K-12Networking schools to the informationinfrastructure. the_ Nil. The model of schoolnetworks presented Even though exact costs areunknown, they follows the Internet-networkingmodel, by are expected tobe significant. To reduce which schools have digital,data connections these costs, a variety ofapproaches are that transmit and receivebits of information. being tried. The models do notinclude analog video Some states have implementedthe cost- point-to-point networks orvoice networks saving strategy of .purchasingtelecommuni- and voice-mail systems.Audio and video cations equipment andservices for all functions are possible indigital format over schools in the state. Forexample, North the Internet,tiut many schools will still use Carolina has saved its schools20% - 50% on separate video andvoice networks. Costs certain items. Some stateshave passed legis- for these systems areimportant, but are not lation permitting the statePublic Utility covered in this article. Commission to set preferential orfixed It should also benoted that although intra-state rates foreducational institutions. voice and video networkshave been sepa- Our research suggests that anumber of rated out from this report,schools should programs wouldhave a significant impact not consider thesethree types of networks on the total costsof connecting to theNIT. to be wholly distinct.Some schools have For instance, if all schoolscoordinate pur- integrated their voiceand video networks chasing at the state level, costsavings will with their datanetwork Sharing resources exceed $2 billion. Collegesand universities between the multiplenetworks can be effec- often have the resources toprovide technical significant cost savings. At tive in providing that as a support to K-12 schools.If a nationwide pro- a basic level,it must be understood gram were instituted,potential savings school installs a LANand puts computer would be $800 - $1,800million. data connections in everyclassroom, there If schools were given freeInternet con- are little addedcosts to alsoconcurrently nectivity, the total annual costsfor school install other types ofconnections, including Internet connections wouldbe reduced from telephone lines. $150 - $630 million. But costsfor telecommu- 1.111. JOURNAL 91

RPSTCOPYAVAILABLE 83 Internet, a Technology Standard for broader Connecting to the Nil pipeline is r As described in District Office essary becai Information Infrastructure all of the Task Force (1994), the NII schools in tl "promises every ... school group conru ...in the nation access any- to the Interr where to voice, data, full- through this motion video, and multime- line. The sill dia applications... Through gested mini- the NII, students of all ages mum band- will use multimedia elec- Remote Locations width for th tronic libraries and muse- connection i ums containing text, 1,300,000 bit images, video, music, simu- SOURCE: U.S. Department ot Education. 1994 per second ( lations, and instructional Figure 1. LAN Mbps), also known as a "T1 line." software." The following requirements out- Symmetric, bi-directional access to the line what the model presumes is needed in with Local Server and Dedicated LineWAN/Internet. It is important that the con- order to have full connection to the NII: nection to the school allowsinformation tc A LAN within the school with connections Model flow both in and out at the same rates.In to multiple machines in every classroom.The both con- greatly enhanced this way, students can become power of the network is sumers and providersof information over with more access points throughout a the network. school. A classroom with one connection is Adequate remote dialup facilities.With a not conducive for use of networkapplica- sufficient number of modems andphone tions in a class of 20 or 30 students. lines, faculty, students and parents cangai Telecommunications will not be a tool for remotely on network access to the school system systemic educational reform until weekends and after school hours. connections are replete throughout a school. Use of established and testedtechnologies. A connection from each school to a commu- Schools have benefited mostfrom mature nity hub. From two to ten schools should technologies that have been welltested in connect to a single hub, depending onthe technologie the hub the marketplace. Cutting-edge size of the schools. In most cases, have not been as successful inschools due will reside at the district office. However, to their inherentinstability and the large where there are many schools in a single amount of resources required tosupport district, then schools should be clustered of matur school- them. The models assume the use into sets of four to six. Each of these technology and transmissionmedia. Newel clusters will have a group hub, probably at coax-fibe the technologies such as wireless and the district office, which will contain hybrid systems are not consideredin this center of the network for thoseschools. The rapidity of tech- is study. Flowever, given the rationale for the use of this architecture nological change and marketplaceevolutioi described below. services, wire and for networking products and A connection between the school LAN less and cable alternativesshould be evalu- the district office hub. With this configuration, ated in future research. every classroom has aconnection not only to every other class in theschool but also to Architecture of the DistrictNetwork the central district office. The basic network architecturefor these A connection from the school districtoffice models follows the "star"configuration, to a communihy-, state-, ornationwide Wide similar to that used in thenationwide tele- Area Network (WAN). This linkwill allow all phone network. In the phonenetwork, resi- schools to connect to the WAN. TheInternet direct- and will dential telephone lines in an area are is a good example of such a WAN ly connected to a single districtoffice. In the be used throughout this report as amodel ichool network, each school buildingis con- and precursor for the NIL nected to the school central hub.In most Sufficient bandwidth for these connections. cases, the districtoffice will serve as the cen With a high-bandwidth connection, usersin where there are applica- tral hub. However, in cases schools can make use of graphical very few or manyschools in one district, tions (like Mosaic) and limitedvideo service then alternative sites must bechosen. (like CU-SeeMe and MBONE). For mostdis- architec- bit- The rationale for adopting this tricts, the minimum bandwidth, or ture is that when manyschools are connect- speed, that will support these services is ed through a single hub, then costscan be 56,000 bits per second (56 Kbps).Thus the aggregated among them. This givesschools connection between the school and thehub stronger purchasing power asequipment must be at or above thislevel. For the con- purchases are aggregated by theschool dis- nection from the district office tothe 84 92 OCTOBER1995 within the school. Bvconnecting the modem trict for volumediscounts. It also allows Total to the LAN, evervcOmputer on the network schools to shareresourcessuch as the data has access to theInternet. However, this training programs and few users at a time, line to the Internet, one-f ime model supports only a full-time supportstaffthat each school since it is limited bvthe number of phone might not be able toafford individually. lines going out ofthe school. As in thefirst Thus, there are costsboth at the school and costs for model, users of the system canonly utilize at the district levelfor networking schools text-based applications overthe Internet across the country. Model four (e.g. e-mail, telnet,gopher). A second rationalefor adopting a star In this model, there is now acost for the confluent with the the use of copper architecture is that it is represenf LAN. This model assumes administrative/bureaucratic designof the wire (category 3) asthe medium for thenet- schools report to a f work since it is the mostaffordable and school system. Individual f school district office,which in turn reports 1 scaleable option for schoolsin 1994. The to state educationoffices. In the network costs for the Wiringand network cards run the district office connected. Including design, schools connect to $100 - $150 per PC and hub, which in turn connectsto a statewide costs for theaccompanying hardware (or national or global)network. 1 III labor, costs per PC are$400 - $500. Therefore, for the schoolmodel with 60 - 100 connected PCs (3-5 PCs perclassroom @ 20 I Cost Areas I The cost modelspresented in this article classrooms), the total LAN costsare $20,000 hardware, train- include four types of costs: -$55,000. ing, support andretrofitting. Items included in these categories aresummarized: Model Three: LAN withRouter Hardware - Wiring, routers,servers and The main differencebetween this model PCs, including installation,maintenance and and the former one isthe existence of a service of the hardwareand telecommunica- router in place ofthe modem. Withthe of the LAN may tions lines. router, multiple users Again, peo- Training - Training ofteachers and access theInternet concurrently. other school staff to usethe network. ple can use text-basedapplications over the Support - Technical supportof the Internet, but have noreal-time access to network. video or graphics. Retrofitting - Modificationsto the S;nce the router allowsmultiple users of school facility toaccommodate the telecom- the system, there is anopportunity to munications infrastructure.This may expand the entirenetwork infrastructure. include costs for asbestosremoval (where With this infrastructure,it is reasonable to applicable), electrical systems,climate con- support one PC in everyclassroom. requirement to pur- trol systems, addedsecurity (locks, alarms, Therefore, there is a etc.) and renovationof buildings to accom- chase 15 additionalPCs for the average and operation. to its smallinitial modate network installation school to use in addition machines. It is A cost area notincluded in the models is stock of TCP/IP-compatible "Freeware" versions assumed that thepurchasing of thesePCs is educational software. negoti- of many popularInternet applications exist, done at the districtlevel in order to however, other educationalsoftware mav be ate better rates($1,000 - $2,000 perPC). desired by particularschools. Economic Support and trainingcosts are higher analysis of such softwarecosts and their since there areadditional users ofthe sys- evolution in networkscenarios is needed. tem. There areadditional dialup lines required to accommodateremote access. Four DifferentTechnology Models There are also significantretrofitting costs Following is a briefdescription of four for the electrical system,climate control sys- ways toachieve connectivity tothe NII. tem and enhancedsecurity. Inherent costs are noted;details are provid- Preferred Strategy ed later in thisarticle. Model Four: The Line LAN with LocalServer & Dedicated Model One: SinglePC Dialup The primary differencebetween this the most basic con- model and the former oneis the existence of This model represents Figure 1.) The nectivity option for aschool. The school has a file server atthe school. (See LAN within the building.There on-site server allowsmuch of the informa- no internal office instead of is a single connectionto the district tion to reside locallyat the school and standard phoneline. office. This featureprovides over a modem at the district does not Only one person may usethe connection at better performancesince more data any time. need to be fetched overthe network. Additionally, the local serverallows school with Shared Modem administrators to exercisegreater control Model Two: LAN and out. The differencebetween this model and over theinformation flows in the former one isthe existence of the LAN 1.111.3OURNAl. 93

BEST COPY AVAILABLE equally over a five-year Higher speed links from thgh the school enable the use period, then the breakdown of limited video, graphical SCHOOL COSTS of costs during the first five and text-based network One-time Installation Costs years, excluding PC pur- applications. Local Area Network $20,000 S55,000 chases, is as shown in In this model, virtually Personal Computers (60 macnoes) $60,000 $120,000 Figure 3's pie chart. the entire school is sup- File Server $4,000 515.000 Costs for support of the Connection to Hub/District Office (56Kb) 5500 $2,000 network represent about ported on the network. As one-third. Support is a vital a result, the training pro- Router and CSU/DSU S2.600 $5,000 gram is extensiveand the Retrofitting (major) ;10.000 $25.000 part of any successful $97,100 S222,000 implementation of a school support team is well Total: network and its costs must staffed. Costs of the con- be factored into the budget. nection to the Internet are Annual Operating Costs Support and training also higher due to the larg- Replacement of equipment $3,000 $8250 $5,000 together comprise 46% of er bandwidth. Significant Connection to Hub/District Office (5610) jQQQ the total costs of networking retrofitting costs are Total: $4,000 513.250 incurred for the electrical schools. Finally, it is important to system, climate control note that the costs for system and better security. CISTRICT OFFICE COSTS A range of costs for an teleconmmnications lines One-time Installation Costs and services represent only average size school to $2800 S15.000 File Server 11% of total costs. This attain this level of technol- $2.000 $5,000 Router amount is /ower than those ogy is listed in Figure 2's District Local Area Network $2,000 S5,000 assumed by much of the table. Data fine to WAN/Internet (1.5 Mbps) $1,000 S5,000 technology community, Dia lup Capabilities (20 lines; $16,000 S32.000 including telecommunica- Using the Modelsto Training (40-50 staff per scnooll MQX S150.000 tions service and equipment $212,000 Estimate Costs Total: $73,000 providers. Annual Operating Costs These four models are To put all of this into per- Internet service (1.5 Mbps) $10,000 $42,000 spective: Total U.S. expendi- representations of the net- $3,000 $5,000 work technology used in Dia !up Lines tures on K-12 education in Support (2-3 staff per district) $66,000 S150,000 1992-93 totaled $280 billion. schools. While a level of $15.000 535.000 complexity and detail is Training Total one-time costs for the Total: $94,000 $232,000 fourth model described omitted, the simplicity is above represent 3% - 7% of helpful because they S22.05 El encompass broad cross- TOTAL U.S. ONE-T1ME COSTS $9.35 13 total national educational sections of network and One-Time Costs Per Student $212.47 $501.14 expenditures. The ongoing school configurations. The annual costs represent models provide a clearer TOTAL U.S. ANNUAL COSTS $1.75 B $4.61 8 between 0.6% - 1.6% of total view of the costs and Annual Costs Per Student $39.77 $104.69 national educational choices for networking expenditures. K-12 schools. SOURCE US. Department ot Education. 1994 Using this model as a baseline for connecting to the NII, these fig- Figure 2: LAN I Potential Impact of Initiatives on Costs ures then become indicative of the costsof with Local Server Much more can be done by the government and the private sector tosignificantly connecting K-12 schools across the country and Dedicated Line order to the NII. These numbers indicate that Model Costs mitigate the costs that schools face in to connect to the NII. This sectionexamines there will be $9.4 - $22 billion in one-time and their impact on costs, with annual maintenance costs of some possible programs $1.8$4.6 billion. At the per-pupil level, this the costs to schools. is equivalent to $212 - $501 in one-time installation costs and an ongoing annual Preferential telecommunications tariff cost of $40 - $105. rates are instituted for schools. In this model, hardware is the Most sig- Estimated savings: 589M $218M (One-Time) nificant cost item for schools. However, (30% reduction) 539M - $150M (Annual) most of the cost is for purchasing PCs. The value of PCs in schools goes well beyond Estimated savings: $179M - $435M (One-Time) their use as networking devices. Therefore, (60% reduction) 578M - $300M (Annual) the "real" costs for PC purchases should be the allocated across other parts of the technolo- All technology purchasing is done at gy budget, and not only to the networking state level. Figures are based on an average component. If this is done, then hardware of 30% discount across all 50 states. costs for connecting schools to the NII drop Estimated savings: $1.98 - $4.18 (One-Time) $45M - $189M (Annual) considerably. If the high startup costs are amortized 2 94OCTOBER 1995 9 BEST COP1 AVAILABLE Estimated savings: Universities or Telecommunications $150M - $630M(Annual) other institutions 11% provide technical Retrofitting O Conclusions support to schools. It 7% Hardware With a clearer picture of is assumed that 3 6% the costs for connecting schools will be able to schools to the NII, a num- function with 80% ber of conclusions may be less support staff drawn: than would be The costs to network a required withoutuni- school are complex. It is versity support. not simple to estimatethe Estimated savings: costs for a particular $790M - $1.88 (One-Time) school. Costs for most schools.will fall into a Teachers trained Support 33% bounded range, but each on their own time. If particular school will vary teachers agreed to Training 13% greatly depending on its attend classes on individual needs and char- their own time, the Communications Policy. 1994 acteristics. While this arti- only cost would be SOURCE: MIT Research Program on cle seeks to put bounds on for the trainer. Figure 3: Breakdown of Costsfor Baseline Nll Connectivity cost figures, the numbers Estimated savings: are rough estimates atbest. $0 - $1.58 (One-Time) Ongoing Costs Per Student Network hardware $0 - $300M (Annual) cost is only a small frac- 1 20.00 tion of the overall costs LAN installed by for connecting to the NII. volunteers.If groups $100.00 Initial training and retro- of parents andcorn- $80.00 fitting are the largest one- munity members time costs for starting the offer to provide labor Cost$60.00 network. Costs for the at no cost, schools $40.00 wiring and equipment are would reap signifi- qrpically not as high. cant savings. $20.00 Support of the network is Estimatedsavings: the largest ongoing annual $3.18 (One-Time) $0.00 $1.18 2 3 4 cost that schools mustface. Model There are two major Personal comput- jumps in the costs to net- ers are donated to Research Program on CommunicationsPolicy, 1994 work a school. The first schools. The success SOURCE: MIT jump in cost arises when of a donation pro- Figure 4: First Jumpin COSES the school installs the LAN gram depends on the (see Figure 4). At that pointthe school and quality of the equipment given.Schools will district must pay for installation($20,000 - require fairly modern machines to runnet- full-time obsolete or $55,000 per school) and employ working software. Donations of support staff ($60,000 -$150,000 per district). incompatible equipment may be verycostly The second jump arises if andwhen a toschools. school decides to_purchase computersfor all Estimated savings: $5.18 - $10.28(One-Time) students to use. The numberof networkable PCs in 1994 is inadequate for mostschools; Network routing equipment aredonated would be similar to a PC hundreds of thousands of dollars to schools. This program is needed to provide multiplePCs in every donation program. The savings arelower, will need is less classroom. Also, many schools however, since the routing equipment major electrical work (possibly$100,000+) to expensive. support the increasednumber of PCs. In the Estimated savings: $221M - $425M(One-Time) intermediate stages betweenthese jumps, and relatively io schools. the costs are incremental Network servers are donated small. Again, this is similar to the PCdonation and Startup costs for the networkincrease router donation programs. at a faster rate than theannual ongoing Estimated savings: $370M $1.58(One-Time) costs as the networkcomplex increases. In one-time start- schools. the less complex models, the Internet connectivity is free to up costs are 2-3times the annual ongoing This could be arranged either byprovision However, for the more from a costs of the network. from an Internet service provider or complex models (models fourand five,) the local university or communibjcollege that one-time costs are 5-15 times thecosts to has its own Internet connection. 1.111.1OURNAl 95

KU COPYAVAILABLE 9 7 start the network. tions and free tele- These differences are Startup and Ongoing Costs Per Stuaent phone services are illustrated in Figure not as valuable to 5's graph. 83.500.00 schools. The divergence Further research indicates that the 83.000.00 on the costs of wireless and cable most significant hur- $2,5 00.00 dle that a school will Internet access face is the initial 82.000.00 methods for schools investment costs in nStartup Costs is recommended to Cost 0--OnaoinaCosts the network and $1,500.00 elucidate the costs computers. and benefits of these Dispensers of educa- $1,000.00 approaches. In additional funding tion, the issue of should be aware of $500.00 software and equip- this trend, so that ment cost account- they can help schools $0.00 ing require further overcome this initial 2 3 4 analysis. We hope barrier. Schools Model that this preliminary should be given flex- SOURCE: MIT Research Program on Communications Policy. 1994 assessment of the ibility to amortize costs of connecting initial costs, in order schools to the NII to spread the burden over a number of Figure 5:Second can provide a point of departure for analysis years. Jumpin Costs of these and other more detailed models of Costs are significantly reduced when NII connectivity for schools. II aggregated at the district and state levels. Schools stand to save a lot of money by Russell I. Rothstein is a Research Assistant and Lee McKnight is a Principal Research Associate with the MIT pooling resources and purchasing power Research Program on Communications Policy, at the Center with other schools in the district and at the for Technology. Policy, and Industrial Development at MIT. state level. When schools share a high-speed E-mail: rirWarnsworth.mit.edu data link, or support staff, the per-school mcknightgfarnsworth mit.edu costs drop considerably. Schools in North Carolina and Kentucky, for instance, have This paper is based on a report prepared when Russell Rothstein was Visiting Researcher at the Office of saved 20% - 50% by purchasing services and Educational Technology in the U.S. Dept. of Education equipment at the state level_ in 1994. Further work was supported by ARPA contract Education initiatives of telephone and N00174-93-C-0036 and NSF grant NCR-9307548 cable companies will have a small impact (Networked Multimedia Information Services). The on the total costs to schools. The free invaluable help of Dr. Linda Roberts, US. Dept. of telecommunications services currently Education. and Joseph Bailey, Thomas Lee and Sharon offered by these companies are only a small Gillett, MIT Research Program on Communications piece of the total cost for successfully net- Policy, is acknowledged. working schools. However, schools would References: greatly benefit from the establishment of 1. Rothstein. R. (1994), Connecting K-12 Schools to the state trust funds or other cooperative efforts, National Information Infrastructure: Technology Models as included in some plans. The benefits of and Their Associated Costs, US. Department of these programs are more difficult to quanti- Education Working Paper. fy, but are significant, nonetheless. They have the potential to garner support and consensus for connecting schools to the NII. In contrast, the highly touted free connec-

BEST COPYAMIABLE 9 3,

96 OCTOBER 1995 RESOURCES

C) PEOPLE INFRASTRUCTURE POLICY & LEADERSHIP BYGWEN SOLOMON AND STAN SOLOMON Technology andProfessional Development- BEST COPY AVAILABLE 10 Tips to Make ItBetter spreadsheets changed business, word processing In the United States, we are anxious about our schools.Since:I i)/Trate. For example, zicl desktop publishing changedpublishing, and computer graphics lion At Risk was published in 1984. we've tried to reformeducation. The changed entertainment. There is no comparablecompelling application concern is pragmatic: Will our young people beprepared for the demands :.or education. and there may never be. Buteducators can benefit from the of the future? Will they get jobs when they graduate? Graduatesfind that broad spectrum of tools that existif weoffer ample opportunities for a college degree is no guarantee ofgainful employment or a future 25 :eachers to ieam what to do withthem, lucrative as their parents'. One challenge for schools is to prepare students with the technological skills that businesses needand give volmg They Can Take Home peopie the thinking skills for a new kind of workplace. Yetwhen we put 2. Give Educators Technology Would we ever require teachers to teach abook or a mathematical technology into schools. we use a Field of Dreams approach:Put it there concept without takingthe text home to develop lessons andmaterials? and it will be used. Ten years ago. we put computeis intoclassrooms and Then why don't we find the resources to giveteachers computers for use found that they became drill machines and were used asrewards for good at home. where they canpractice in private? We can't expect teacherlearn- behavior. Now, we want to impiement networking and hold ourcollective educators can use technology in their class- effective use is ing to just happen. Before breath that it will be used well. However. a key to ensuring soft- rooms. they should use itthemselves. If they can borrow educational the knowledge of the person at the front (okay. these days it's moreoften classroom ware to take home.they'lllearn how to use it and find the best at the side) of the room. But how do we get moreteachers to use technol- uses for it. An integratedpackage of basic applications with a single inter- ogy well? When teachers believe thattechnology addresses a need. solves a face is least intimidating at the start. problem. makes life easier. or offets information they can't getothemise (or as easily). they will use it. When it is easy to use treally easy). they will 3. Provide On-Site TechnicalSupport use it. How do we get the critical massof teachers to give technology a It's inevitable that technologyfails us just as we're doing a presenta- chance in their classrooms? tion or getting students started on aproject. Technology failures convince The answer lies in improving professional development.Oh. .es. we've teachen not to try. Again, if it doesn'twork when they need it to. they stopped calling it teacher -training'*: "professionaldevelopment.' sounds won't use it: they look foolish andlose the class' attention. Thus. on-site much better. but has our understanding of it changed?To begin with. we support people are essential to ensurethat everything is running well and can't develop something that doesn't exist. andschools don't encourage do and how to do it. In some future uto- literature: to collabo- that teachers figure out what to teachets to be professionalsto read professional comfortable pia. when technology doesn'thave glitches and adults are as rate with colleagues who teach the samegrade. subiect. or students: or to with it as young people seem to be. we won'tneed such support. But today think of themselves as professionals. We still offer the sameone-day workshops and quick inservice courses. So what should wedo? While there are it is essential. here are 10 suggestions that may work never surefire methods for success. With Colleagues and. even better. may inspire you to improve onthem. 4. Encourage Collaboration Unlike most professionals, teachersseldom confer about their work. They have little or no opportunity towork and plan with colleagues who 1. Offer Training teach the same grade or content area. or evenwho work with the same Training (oops. didn't we get rid of that word?) meansoffering the staff reading groups in which individu- (Businesses offer students. Few schools encourage classes. workshops. and seminars professionals need. This als can debate and share ideasgleaned from professional literature. training during the work day so that their employeeslearn new skills and help. Telecommunications makescollabora- here. it means offering the on- is one place technology can 4110stay current.) If we're talking technology homes. tion possible. especially ifthere is access to a network from teachers going hands-on sessions teachers need to learnand refine their computer Modems are inexpensive, and communitybulletin boards and propri- use. And it means offering the coursesthey need to determine how. when. (especially those with Internet access) offer awayfor teach- learning. Other in- etary networks and why technology makes a difference for student for science ers to communicate.For example. LabNet (a TERC project dustries have compelling applications thathave changed the way they :eachers around the country)provides a two-week summer institute aria impiementing hands- al oMi neforum that focuses on how zeacners are help from one on science protects.Thus. teachers can share ideas and get .mother. The fact that they may not begeographically near one another oo1Prooji, may actually help promoteself-analysis without self-consciousness. Security 5. Send Professionals toProfessional Conferences Windows° Attending conferences is a great way for educators tolearn about the kitest things. have contact \vith others who careabout the same issues. DOS® and feel like professionals. Like the creatures onNoah's Ark. educators ,Macintosh° should go to conference in pairs tat least).Conferences generate excite- Multiple Security levels ment and new knowledge:however, a single representative from a school often comes back feeling like a lone voice. When twoindividuals share Network Compatible their school and more the experience. they reinforce one another back at Easy Set Up / Remote quickly spread the word about what they have learned. Controls Locks Applications and 6. Stretch the Day Control Panels Commission on lime Prisoners of lime. a report from the National File Protection and Learning. stated. -Our schools and the peopleinvolved with them students. teachers. administrators, parents, andstaffare prisoners of time. Order Now captives of the school clock and calendar One orthe report's recommen- $10/ Mac (800) 671-3999 dations was to -give teachers the professional timeand opportunities they $20 /Windows need to do their jobs.- Technology can help theeducational community District License extend time by providing the opportunity for discourse ondemand. Active single, lab and site licenses available online discussions take place on electronic networks.For example. the Con- Circle # 23306 sortium for School Networking hosts onlineforums on many topics. in- a subscription to a community orproprietary network teachers can 10 cluding professional development, curriculum, andelectronic publishing. online information on the Internet. Manysoftware tools for accessi, Such discussions are accessible at any time fromhome or school. World Wide Web. Gopher sites. WAIS databases.and other sources are free. In some cases. 800 numbers and otheradvanced services are available. 7. Encourage Research Some good examples of free sourcesof information for teachers are those Educators are natural ethnographers. They haveample opportunity provided by the federal government. The U.S.Department of Education. to observe successes and failures intheir classrooms. and. if they keep for example. has both Web(http://www.ed.gov) and Gopher track. they can pro \ide the educational communitywith valuable sources (gophered.gov) sites. with resources like the -Teachers'Guide to the De- of both raw data and synthesized observations.Yet. teachets are seidom partment of Education.- programinformation, press releases. and tran- encouraged to report on what they see. If they areencouraged to think scripts. AskERIC (httpMericir.sytedu)offers teacheis hundreds of lesson and write about their workabout the effectivenessof new methods. about plans for all subjects and grades. Inaddition, teachers who connect di- the implementation of new technologies, and soforththey will not only rectly to the Internet can create WorldAide Web pages to provide visually provide valuable information but also think moredeeply about their work. pleasing information about their schools and todemonstrate what their We have little quantitative research that provesthe effectiveness of tech- students can do. This ability to publishinformation electronically can be nology integration in classrooms, so we take it onfaith that technology a very effective and popular wayfor teachers to share their work. will work well. However, qualitative research providesample evidence that students are engaged in learning in new ways.Qualitative research may 9. Influence Preservice Education be the only natural source of accurateinformation on technology's One way to integrate technology intoinstruction is to rely on the effectivess in the classroom, and who better to provide itthan teachers? Of younger generation of teachers.Because they were raised with technology course. how will others learnwhat these teachets observe? Again,tech- and are more familiar with its uses. they are morelikely to use technol- nology with its potential for allowing electronicpublishing, is an answer. they will still need to learn what's avail- Information published on a network is timely, openfor discussion, and ogy in their classrooms. Of course. able for education, how to use it, and how toevaluate its worth. The best useful for the entire community. piace to begin is where they first learn aboutteachingin schooof education. Many colleges already require students tohave comp' 8. Provide Online Resources Electronic publishing often many sources ofinformation for teachers Continued on page 71 and by teachers. With a modem attached to theirphone line at home and Technology 39 November 1995 Learning and Leading With BEST COPY ANLABLE 1 0 References of inservice support forteachers. ofeducationalresearcb. (6th There is a lack Atkin, M. (Ed.).(1992). Encyclopedia of Studies: refuses to viewteachers as curriculum The state Board ed., Vol. 1). New York:Marzmilinn. professionals who can giveworthwhile input. (1993). The case _kr conanulivisIclassrooms. process-oriented skill- Brooks. J., & Brools. M. There has been aproblem in promoting a for Supervision and CurriculumDevelopment assessed through Alexandria. VA: Association development curriculum inwhich learning is November 15). State schools incomputing teaching higher Cookes, T. (1994, traditional tests for entry intothe employment sector or crisis. The Age, p. 39. policy in Australia. education institutions. Marginson, S. (1993).Briucation and public giving them duecredit as well as the Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press. Involving teachers more and historical analysis of responsibility would be a good way tostart meeting Thmer J. (1993). Logo:Has it had its day? An required training and Of pri- In J. Mousley & M. Rice(Eds.), Mathematics: the real demands of achange in educational policy. past and present. administra- Papers of the 30thAnnual The debate about the VCE is anexample of the problems Mary importance(pp. 66-71). (Published examination-centered system to Conference of the Mathematical*Association of Victoria). tors mustconfront when converting an Melbourne. of the informationtechnology Victorian Board of Studies.(1994, April). Board nem a student-centeredsystem. The successes framework. Paul called courses show what canbe achieved within the VCE Australia: Author. learning and to and Assessment Board.(1988a). Computer sci- for teachers and school systems tokeep a strong focus on Victorian Curriculum only when it improvesthe quality ence. Melbourne,Australia: Author ensure thatcurriculum change occurs (1988b). Report of ex- particulat have done and Assessment Board. of learning. The VCE. andinformation technology in Victorian Curriculum selection require- scieme. Melbourne.Australia: Author that. The VCE's weaknesslies in catering to university aminers: Computer developing a wide and Assessment Board.(1990). Information ments based on outputgrades rather than focusing on Victorian Curriculum technology study design.Melbourne. Australia: Author range of skillsacquired through coursework. and debate are goodstarting points. The solution? Communication Presbyterian Ladies!College, Monasb Univer- of the uni- [John Turner. although I feel that Paul'svaluable input is not representative [email protected] level seem un- sit); Ho/aria, Australia: versity leadership because mosteducators at the university school teachers and articles about willing to discuss educationalissues %Oth secondary Leading Oh Technologwelcomes of new paradigms Note: Learning and administrators. Teacher inclusionand the development collaboration. Please send yourankles to but col- international initiatives and Pendulum swings help no onein the long term. Court, Chesterfield. are required. Gail Marshall. InternationalEditor 2393 Broadmont forward. laboration may move us MO 63017.

102 BEST COPYAWAKE 3 THE ONLINE CONNECTION

Essentials for \- Telecommunications How ironic. Your Mac Staff Development gets a virus and you're hardware in your school. or howfast the one your connection tothe Internet. teach- who gets ehind every ers need propertraining to use these exciting resources to their bestadvan- violently Hl. .successful tage. But while it may seemexpensive to do staff developmentwell, in the impiemintation lone run it will cost more todo it poor- altogether. of dassroorn ly. and much more to skip it ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS telecommunications In recent years I have conducted many Be safe with constant in professional development programs. protection from nasty viruses st;rid-Cir'eXCellerit and formats ranging from hour-long Symantec AntiVirus for staff development one-day presentations tofull-semester with courses. I have alsoparticipated in my Macintosh(saw). prograim share of workshops developedby oth- PowerMac native,SAM recommend the fol- ers. As a result. I will scaneach and every file, 'six tips successful ere are lowing key elements for compressed or not.Itwill from a workshop staff development: stomp out viruses I. Offer a Variety ofOptions. Ideally. tttt from Internet files. .ifeteran for telecommunications staff development ...3 floppies. evenyour doing it right: should continue throughoutthe year. in office email. Only SAM users contexts that includelarge-group pre- can set their Macintoshes to small- sentations. curriculum-specific automatically individual oniine By Odvard Egil Dyrli group workshops. and update virus sessions. .Additionally, teachers can extend their skills if optionalinstruc- protection. tional experiences andmaterials are Simply click the work- Auto Update f you've ever been to a staffdevel- available. Area conferences and and multi- opment workshop concernedwith shops fit the bill, as do print button and you media materials. won't have to worry. I' online skills, you may well have encountered presentations by "online Call I-300-695-0679 acrobats- who dazzle with rapid-fire 2. EmphasizeSkillDeveionment. While inspirational workshopshave -;MNI.or vt our ','ho screen caiisthenics:"First I click here. ..,ww.symantec.com. And s:oo choice. Itheir place. teachers willbenefit more then there. I make this menu learning tney try answer this dialoguebox, click there. from workshops that focus on the viruses before presentation practical techniques andmastering and stop you. then here.- While such a routines. can be fun to watch,it rarely produces sometimes arcane online off Examples include signing on toeduca- lasting results, and may even turn down- participants who feel intimidatedby ittion-oriented discussion groups. loading files, and participatingin online all. SYMANIEC. However, staff development is cru- collaborative projects. cial to the success oftelecommunica- Provide Hands-On &:neriences. tions in schools, and needs tobe done 3. Sytnentsc ts a reststerso tratiosnalt ono Svntentee AntsAnn era should SAM ars ammo oi Sruntsc Coventrom Macsnosn Ls8 right. No -matter howpowerful the Staff development presentations recpsAteso venoms a node Compass Inc. 01998 Syrnentsc (continued on pace c3j C.astosnon. ai mitts ressnaa 18 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD 103 CIRCLE BEST COPYAMIABLE AnthroCarts. THE ONLINE CONNECTION includelive online demonstrations. and model how to deal with problems that can arise. However, teachers also need opportunities to try out for themselves \vhat has just been shown. whether in classrooms or in small- group lab settings.

Taiiot t, Thisisparticularly important when 13111. using outside presenters. Teachers will ..44-ert feel frustrated learning to do things that they can't do in their classrooms because they haven't the proper equipment or connection levels. Emerging technological developments should be touched on in staff development workshops. but the program will be most successful when it focuses on making the most of the telecommunications technology currently available to participants. Similarly. presenters should introduce examples and skills that are appropriate for the teaching levels. AnthroCarts are so flexible. You have content specialties. and experience of ralThilac dozens "of shapes and sizes to choose, the participants. plus over 50 accessories to configure G:nuint: your cart exactly the way you \'ant. Hypothetical examples abound for And they have a LifetimeA (:44! using online resources to enhance the 41012 curriculum. However, participants will Warranty! Made of steel get more from programs that show and high density particle how real teachers have used telecommunications for specific educational board, these AnthroCarts are as purposes. perhaps including examples tough as nails. of student work. Drawing on any local "pioneers- in this area can be particu- See them all in our catalog, then larly motivating. call us direct to order. We'll ship to you the very next h:1nak. Every staff development experience business day! needs to include take-away materials that help teachers apply what they Call for your have learned when they go it alone free catalosz: back in the classroom. These can include background articles, step-by- 800-325-3841 step instructions for doing theonline 00 AM to 6:00 PA! PST .`.1--F activities demonstrated, and copies of presentation slides or outlines that Anthro Corporation' make note-taking easier. Technology Furniture 10450 SW Manhasset Dr. LOdvard Egil Dveli. a columnist and Tualatin, OR 97062 contributing editor .for Technology & is Professor Emeritus of Fax: 800-325-0045 Learning. 104 EducationatThe Universityof ANT1-RbE-mail: salesganthro.com Connecticut. and an educational tech- Since 1984. Prices from S299. For a lower cost line for rhehome, nology consultant nationwide ldvrliev ask for our SOHO catalog. GSA contract. Available for OEMapplications, liconnvm.uconn.edu I. ..,,throCart and Technolorat Furniture are regastered trademarks of Anihro. Planning for Staff Development and Technology way to develop instructional applica- taken many forms, including events BY CONNIE FEIL, TIES tions. After teachers are comfortable sponsored by vendors, by students for with the basics of a system, they are their parents and community members, When it comes to technology imple- less intimidated about learning from or by teachers for other district staff mentation, the two most critical issues students, the survey indicates. Students members. Teachers also identified are no longer time and money. Accord- who are eager to share their own hands-on activities as being their best ing to a survey of over 600 teachers and proficiency are increasingly responsible learning experiences. administrators conducted by TIES in for motivating teachers to acquire December, 1995, the leading technology Both teachers who are experienced issues are staff development and additional skills. with using technology and those who support. These now represent the main A support network, collaborative are not indicated that technology confer- planning time, peer coaching, project considerations in planning for the inte- ences were effective and stimulating gration of technology in the classroom. centered curriculum, community and forms of technology staff development. Too often, respondents said, com- parental support, and plenty of public Technology conferences were consid- puter training is an end in itself. Instead relations were also mentioned as being ered most effective when teachers of showing teachers how to actually important to technology implementa- attend the conference in teams, immedi- implement technology in classrooms, tion teams. E-mail, whether a local ately discuss new ideas and strategies, the focus is often on hardware or soft- system or through the Internet was and informally plan implementation. ware. While many teachers are still praised as being the tool which has had Conferences also provide the most learning to feel comfortable with com- the most significant impact on teachers efficient method of viewing a wide puters, others have a high level of and their ability to work collaboratively. variety of products in a short amount of technical literacy. The missing link Even those teachers "forced" to use time. The opportunity to preview soft- common to both groups is knowledge of Internet by district or building policies ware products and to personally ask how to significantly improve instruction quickly become believers in the tool as a questions of vendors were also cited as through the use of technology. means of communication, as a time important. Teachers inexperienced with .-"- Even among those teachers most saver, and as a curriculum planning technology indicated that conferences tool. can be overwhelming unless the , proficient with technology, manyclass- rooms are stillteacher centered; to the When asked "What has been your program clearly recommends sessions \disadvantage of the learner, roles are most successful staff development for beginners, or unless they receive not changing. In many cases, this is experience relating to technology?" the guidance from someone better able to because teachers do not have a vision of top item on the list is hands-on training interpret session descriptions. .life in the approaching century. Admin- sessions from instructors who have The wide variety of responses gfrators and curriculum coordinators classroom teaching experience and a received through this survey indicates who traditionally have been sources for high level of technical knowledge. that technology and staff development staff development leadership are chal- Responses were mixed as to the best site issues are more complex than ever. lenged to lead teachers through a for training; some indicated that off-site Ability levels, the pace of technological transitioning process in new roles. experiences afford more focus than change, networking, and the unlimited When technology is involved, a student- on-site classes can provide. However, number of options now available centered learning environment brings survey feedback indicates that at the require that a coordinated technology the best results. implementation stage, teachers prefer staff development plan be in place well Our survey indicates, however, that short after-school working sessions. in advance of each school year. A good more and more teachers are sharing These project-based sessions should technology staff development plan will leadership roles. A new form of leader- be led by teaching peers, requiring balance scarce resources among the ship is surfacing within teams of team imput. varied ability ranges of teachers to technology implementors who are com- Also highly rated were summer ses- ensure that in-house expertise is used mitted and willing to share their sions lasting two or more days with but not exhausted. It should spark new technical knowledge and their class- hands-on practice for planning, discus- ideas among the staff "pacesetters," room successes. Among a team of sion and project work. Many expressed while moving the larger group of tech- teachers, it is now common to find a an interest in receiving graduate credit nically literate teachers toward full wide range of abilities with respect to for this type of summer work. The most implementation of technology across the technical proficiency. requested courses are those that empha- curriculum. Still, most teachers prefer formal size integration of technology into the Let staff development activities vary training experiences at the very begin- curriculum, (rather than introductory and grow with the experience base of ning, whereby a new technology or computer classes), and word processing. the teaching staff. While local initiatives application is introduced. Then, upon Technology fairs, especially those are important, regional/ national train- mastering the basics, teachers often find focusing on what's new in the field are ing and conferences supply critical that open exploration along with still popular activities with teachers. The growth opportunities and bring fresh support froth fellow teachers is a good "Taste of Technology" concept has ideas into the system. El

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wgeir PAM, MIMI AR! 105 Bellingham Schools Course Outline: Information Literacy and the Net This eight hour staff development course emphasizes student investigations as vehicles to explore the information available over the Internet. The course engages participants in learning the Research Cycle, several types of literacy, Gardner's Seven Intelligences and much more.

This course is primarily about Information Literacy and Information Problem-Solving. Learning to use the software is secondary. Module 1 Question: What is Information Literacy? How many other literacies exist?

Achievement Targets: Construct a working definition of the concept "information literacy" and gain an overview of class goals and content. Delivery Strategy: This an opportunity for small group discussion and the introduction of "learning journals" which participants will keep open throughout all the sessions on a word processor. Go to Module One Module 2 Question: What is Visual Literacy?

Achievement Targets: 1) Construct a definition of visual literacy 2) Explore some visual resources on the Net 3) Learn to save graphics 4) Learn to navigate: the Back button, the Go menu, the Stop button

Delivery Strategy : Visit the Library of Congress site and explore its great collections of photographs, stopping to analyze one photograph in considerable depth. For this lesson go to Visual Literacy Module 3 Question: What is Textual Literacy?

Achievement Targets: 106 1) Construct definition of text literacy 2) Explore electronic text resources on the Net 3) Learn more about how to navigate with Netscape: parts of the URL (address) 4) Learn to save text files by copying and pasting text or saving a file to the "H" drive

Delivery Strategy: Participants will visit Project Bartleby at Columbia in order to see how electronic text differs from hard copy. For tlus lesson go to Textual Literacy Module 4 Question : What is Numerical Literacy?

Achievement Targets: 1) Construct definition of numerical literacy 2) Explore some numerical resources on the Net 3) Learn how to save and then use datasets with a spreadsheet 4) File Management: anticipating the need for directories

Delivery Strategy: Visit the U.S. Census site and compare two counties in Connecticut using the data found there. For this lesson Go to Numerical Literacy Module 5 Question: How might we use the Research Cycle to achieve literacy and build insight? Achievement Targets: Review the steps of the Research Cycle.

Delivery Strategy: Readings and (ultimately) a video showing students working through the steps.

For this lesson go to: Research Cycle! Module 6 Question: In what ways do we gather information?

Achievement Targets: Gather information from the Web in order to make a decision on Which City is Best?

Delivery Strategy: Compare and contrast parks and recreation information about three cities using Mapquest For this lesson go to: Gathering Information Module 7 Question: How might we Sort, Analyze and Synthesize Information most effectively?

Achievement Targets: Experience the challenge of creating an answer from the information gathered.

Delivery Strategy: Synthesize findings recorded in Works during Module 6

107 For this lesson go to: Sorting, Analyzing and Synthesizing Information Module 8 Question: How do we provide the social foundations and group skills needed to make this kind of research work? How will we measure student progress with literacy? Achievement Targets: Work with ESL's and various documents for information literacy and assessment throughout the research cycle.

Delivery Strategy: Review and consider use of assessment documents

For this lesson go to: Assessment, Teamwork, and Essential Student Learnings Module 9 Question: In what ways could this type of learning support multiple intelligences and different learning styles? Achievement Targets: Brainstorm strategies for different learning styles and intelligences.

Delivery Strategy: Explore a page of definitions outlining and explaining Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.

For this lesson go to: Multiple Intelligences Module 10 Question: Where are the good curriculum resources on the Web and how might I use them?

Achievement Targets: Bookmarks Delivery Strategy: Visit sites on District Curriculum Pages. Go to Curriculum Page lesson. Module 11 Question: Where are the good teacher resources on the Web and howmight I use them? Achievement Targets: Bookmarks (continued) Delivery Strategy: Visit, evaluate and consider the value of teacher sites. Go to TeacherSites lesson. Module 12 Question: Where are the good information sites for virtual field trips,weather and daily news? How might I use them?

Achievement Targets: Bookmarks (continued) Delivery Strategy: Visit, evaluate and consider the value of virtual field trips, weather and

108 daily news sections of the district home page. Go to Real Time Research Resource lesson. Module 13 Question: Now that I've visited a variety of good sites, how will I use this information to design an effective learning experience for students?

Achievement Targets: Importance of using pre-selected sites

Delivery Strategy: Pick one site that has potential to develop the research cycle, and create a lesson involving an essential question to use with a specific group of students. Module 14 Question: How do we use indexes and search engines to find information efficiently on the Web? Go to lesson.

Achievement Targets: Search Engines, Indexes

Delivery Strategy: Participants will test the features of two different search engines in order to see which one returns the best information in the top ten "hits." They will also learn how indexes differ from search engines. Module 15 Question: How do I connect globally using Telecommunications and Mail?

Achievement Targets: Global activities, Mail

Delivery Strategy: With you and your partner's classroom needs in mind, review five or more activities from each of these groups: Problem Solving Projects, Information Collections, and Interpersonal Exchanges. During the second half of the module, in small groups, explain how you could use the lessons effectively with your students. Internet Projects Module 16 Question: How does your lesson plan support the district policy?

Achievement Targets: Familiarity with the Bellingham School District Board Policy as it pertains to Internet Policy and Procedures for Students.

Delivery Strategy: Scan the District Policy to see its main components. Relate the policy to lesson plans.

Go to the Policy lesson...

Credits: This class was invented by the following Bellingham staff members: Tara Felder, John Schick, Carolyn Hinshaw, Linda Lamb, Eileen Andersen, Dar New, Jamie McKenzie, and Mary Gilson. Return to Bellingham Schools Home Page Copyright Notice 10J Copyright, 1996, Bellingham Public Schools. All rights reserved.These lessons may be copied by non-profit, publiclearning institutions only for used in this manner, use with their own staff. If theyare proper credit must be givenon each page citing the source. All other purposes are expressly prohibited withoutexplicit permission. Revised 10/23/96 - This page has been visited times since October 21, 1996. RESOURCES

D) TEACHING & LEARNING Tools and Contemporary Standards THE QUESTION IS... There is another dimension to the basics: the tools we use.The tools BY DR. DAVE MOURSUND and the basics are so intertwined that in many cases wedo not attempt to separate them. For example. the abacushas been used for about 5,000 years. Over the past few hundred years,paper-and-pencil arithmetic re- The Basics placed the abacus in many educational systems. Both theabacus and the paper and pencil are ccoisthey arephysical artifacts developed by people. Do Change Other artifacts that have proven very useful in arithmeticand mathematics include the slide. rule. the calculator, andthe computet comput- Similarly, consider witing. At one time students had tolearn how to Q. How do jvu respond to people who argue against and gather and mix the ers in schools by speaking aboutthe importance of the "basics"? select an appropriate quill, cut its point properly, ingredients for ink. These werP part of the basics of writing.Latex pencils and then the ball point pen. I begin by agreeing that the basics are really important.Many people were developedand then the typewriter agree about what constitutes thebasics in education. and a number of Still more recently, the word processor was developed and writing are es- the basics can be combined into an overall goal foreducation such as the We have nearly universal agreement that arithmetic sential basics in education. However, we lack agreement onwhich tools should followi n g: be embedded in the basics and how those tools shouldaffect the basics. appropriate and All students should gain a working knowledgeof speaking and Obviously, there is no single right answec It is both embed into the listening, observing (which includes visual literacy).reading and desirable that people should argue about which tools to include a focus on writing, arithmetic, logic, and storing and retrievinginformation. definitions of the basics. These discussions need to performance in using the basics. All students should learn to solve problems. accomplishtasks. and contemporary standards of expected To take a simple Example, when I was inhigh school all students carry out other higherorder cognitive activities that make use of taking algebra learned to calculate square rootsby using a paper-and- these basic skills. pencil technique that bears some resemblance tolong division. This is a rather laborious process. and it is easy to makemistakes Now, however, There are three important ideashere. First, the list is often surnrna- disappeared from the curricu- rized as "the three Rs," even though it contains morethan three items. this computational technique has largely have easy an= to hand- Second. the goal has an emphasis on performance at alevel requiring lum. It has been replaced because students now held calculators. The hand-held calculator cancalculate square roots higher order skills. Third, all students should achievethe goal. doing the calculations by Ten thousand years ago, the basics ofeducation were quite different. much faster and more accurately than students hand. Moreover, it does not take very long tolearn to use a calculator to Reading and writing had not been invented_Information was stored and calculate a square root. The learning time that issaved can be devoted to passed on mainly through a combination of oraltradition and artifacts such as tools. The development of readingand writing clearly brought' other tasks. The point is that the calculator supports an increase incontemporary with it a significant addition to the basics. standards in arithmetic and mathematics. To alarge extent, contempo- Thus, the basics themselves can and do change.Howevet they do not based on levels of perfomiance expected change very often. The three Rs have been with usfor thousands of years. rary standards in education are of people working in business and industry. Businessand industty are less We have no indication that they will suddenlydisappeat constrained by the weight of history than are schools,and people working The higher order thinking skills associatedwith the basics have also that help them solve problems and stood the test of time. When we say "read and write" we meanthat there in business and indusny select tools and industry set contemporary standards should be intelligent, higher order processingof information through carry out tasks. Thus, business reading and writing. Indeed, we mean thatpeople should be able to meet based on the use of available, effective tools. This type of analysis should help us tounderstand the nature of the contemporary standards inthe use of these basics. For example, a few of the basics. But I want thousand yews ago nobody was evected to beable to read a bus or train basics issue. I strongly support the importance adult standards of performance. schedule. Now howevec a lack of highperformance on such a task is students to learn to meet contemporary too. Thus, I strongly feel that studentsneed to be educated in the environ- taken as evidence that our schools arefailing. The emphasis is on perfor- they define their own contemporary manceon being able toread and pmcess the information in order to ment of the tools that adults use as standards. Computers are now part of the basics! meet contemporarystandards. The idea that all students should masterthe basics is an important fSendyour questions for this column to Learningand Leading With part of our educationalgoals. If we were to go back just a fewhundred Technology, International Society for Tethnologyin Education. 1787 years. we would findourselves in a time when many people received no Agate Street, Eugene. OR 97403-1923;fax 5031346-5890; e-mail formal education in reading and writing. Ofthose who did, the highest [email protected]. You can e-mail Dr.Moursund directly at proportion received fewer than three yearsof formal instruction. Contem- moursund@ oregon. uoregon. edul porary standards were not veryhigh. Standards do change. September 1995 6 Learning and LeadingWith Technology 112 BEST COPYAVAILABLE From NowOn Vol 6INo 2I0ctober11.996 C. The PostModem School

by JamieMcKenzie New Ideas New technologies

The Net is for everyone

Highway," "the Net," the'Web," The Internet, variouslycalled "the Information communicate, learn, play,do dramatic changes inthe ways people etc., is creating changes which require anappropriate program business and solve problems - people for this schools, given theircharge to prepare young response from workplace. electronically networkedglobal village and network of scientistsand computer buffs to an The Internet haschanged from a and a rapidly growing communications mediumfor the workplace increasingly vital visual format makesit easy for anybody to number of households.The user friendly of the actions of will becomewidespread regardless enjoy and explore. Its use families who canafford home computers schools, especially amongthe more affluent Internet Machine and speed. Asthe much publicized with adequate RAM and is advertising onealready, the materializes at $500 - andSony has introduced available as we may even seethe Net as broadly WebTV Internet terminal - which manage tofind their way into NinTendo Game Boysand satellite dishes levels. homes pretty muchregardless of income The Web offersinformation treasures information treasures ...anything which potential for accessing the The Web offers rich sculpture, photographs.and drawings from .great paintings, can be digitized .. and books fromthe leading librariesof world ...great manuscripts museums of the statistics from governmentagencies and ..fresh and accurate of interest the world . .. aswell as information international agencies such asthe World Bank . of a car, the selectionof a movie, the choice .. toguide the purchase the to the family . famiiy savings, thetracing of a family tree or of a vacation spot,the investment of pursuit of a hobby. from the examples to emerge in recenttimes is an offering One of the most dramatic Thinker (http://www.thinker.org) is a San Francisco Fine ArtsMuseums. The

BEST COPY AMIABLE 113 images which the museumshave decided to share withthe collection of some 60,000 pride that they are committed Aft general online public.They mention with considerable entire collection while most museumscan only show five percent of lip to sharing their in basements and their holdings. For most museums,the rest remain stored away warehouses. breakthrough in the development The decision to share canbe seen as a phenomenal Francisco museums jointhe Library of Congress increating of the Net as the San is splash. The combined effectof these institutional investments a great digital earthquake. While Negropontehas been talking of a something on the order of an off the shelves and out digital age ( Being Digital).the images and the text must move of the basement if we are torealize the firll promise ofdigital exchange. and Fundamental to widespread usehas been the recognitionby leading entertainment that the Net will become asbasic to the world as communications companies playground for a small, privileged telephones and television.This is not a narrow segment of thepopulation. The Net is for everyone. take this new responsibilityseriously or they will find Schools must wake up and thinking in the next century themselves failing to preparestudents for learning and and an Age of Information. Information=Power

Information=Power. The laypersongains independencefrom In this new landscape, No more middlemen an "authorities" as one is nowable to find one's own answers. Buying a car, deciding treatmentfor a disease, middlewomen getting in the way. beware. The arranging a mortgage,all of these aretransformed. No more buyer buyer now has information as anally. what you're charging!" "That car's book value is twothousand dollars less than What is an appropriateprogram responsefrom schools?

benefits of the Internet .. What does it take to prepare youngpeople to enjoy the full landscape? What is anappropriate program responsefrom .this new information coach young people for thiselectronically networked schools, given their charge to in delivering such a global village and workplace?What is the role of teachers program? The Goal: DevelopingInformation Literacy providing students with theskills to manage theserich We might begin by and making meaningfrom data. information resources:investigating, researching the ability to create freshmeanings and novelsolutions to In times of rapid change, educators and businessleaders to problems becomes paramount.As states meet with bring in the way of skills tothe workplace of the next ask what our students must out on the topof the century, reasoning,problem-solving and decision-making come list. of new technologies such asthe Internet, databases Teachers may employ an array research and thinking and CD-ROM disks to supportthe development of strong 114 BEST COPY AVAILAr3LE. develop teaching skillsin these areas, skills. For staffdevelopment strategies to lesson plans on the check out the Bellingham SchoolDistrict's Web site. The Adventof Post ModemResearch descriptive research (premodem) on the There is a substantialdifference between much more than "wordmoving" and explanatory one hand,which was nothing answer the other hand,which requires real digging to research (post modem) on things happen, as well asjust what how and why things arerelated, how and why we mightdo about what welearn. had the answers. Thejob of students was to In pre-modemschools, the teacher required nothing Pre-modem, "go find outabout" research projects commit memory. words from an encyclopedia pageto index much more fromstudents than moving by such word in each sentence.Little thinking was required cards while changing one Madison! Go find out aboutMolly Pitcher! topical research. Gofind out about Dolly Go find out aboutthe Battle of BunkerHill! American states of a typical schoollibrary's books on science, The copyright dates Example from an affluentprivate school and foreign nations arepretty discouraging. education sent has not keep up withthe times. Pre-modem The old technology products and economieswhich no longer children to learn aboutcountries, states, exist. the answers. Teachersshow students how to schools, students make provide the In post-modem databases so as to locateinformation which will navigate through vast and rich. basis for new insights.Information is hot, fresh, current linked classroom schools "post modem?"It is because they are Why do we call such network) and to theInternet at large by adirect by classroom to aWAN (wide area the analog age, is a rapidlyobsolescing product of connection. The modem analog telephoneconnections. translating the computer'sdigital messages for provide students withthe "technology of In a post modemschool, teachers questioning." essential questions unanswerable questions provocative questions divergent questions subsidiary questions curiosity meaning(s). Questioningconverts Questioning is the primarytechnology to make into insight. data into informationand information Information Literacy The LearningStrategy: Practicing Teachers showstudents how to move from data to information

AVAOLABLE BEST COPY 11 5 Learning Strategy:launching student teaminvestigations with newtechnologies research which requiresstudents to work in Real time research isoften project-based of new solving or decision-makingquestions using a combination teams on problem Internet) with older ones (the technologies (the CD-ROMencyclopedia and the book). Students mayemploy the ResearchCycle:

Questioning Planning Gathering Sorting and Sifting Synthesizing Evaluating ----Reporting England shall we moveto? Which of the followingthree cities in New

Portland. Maine? Cambridge, Massachusetts? Hartford, Connecticut? of articles published inTechnology Previous issues of FromNow On and a series this research processin some depth. Theseries is Connection have described Modem World. available in the book,Net Profit in a Post Interpersonal andCooperative Learning Curricular Goal: Problem-Solving in Collaborating,Communicating and Groups telecommunications to carry on society rely increasingly on The workplace and the with teams working tocreate the daily business of the"global neighborhood" world (and their Schools must preparestudents for this present answers to issues. teams acrosslocal boundaries. future) by involving themin challenges which engage also offers teachers achance to step outsideof the The "global neighborhood"characterized the life ofteachers in smokestackschools, isolation which too long lines and acrossnational communicating with colleagues acrosstown, across state boundaries on how toachieve the best resultsfor students. and communicating.As Electronic publishing offers newpossibilities for learning electronic forms and theInternet, schools may engage traditional publishing shifts to research, the fruits oftheir creative students in publishing thefindings from their production and the bestof their thinking. launching globalproblem-solving, Learning Strategy: sites investigations andexchanges withe-mail and Web the University of Texashas collectedand organized Judi Harris, a professor at involving students inglobal partnerships several hundred of thebest Internet projects and investigations. categories: She has grouped theseprojects into three major

BEST COPY AVAILABLE toinsight literacy (the ability to makemeaning from Students must learn atleast three kinds of data). Text Literacy be critical readers, but thetask of Good teachers havealways taught students to thousands of pages ofelectronic text is a newchallenge requiring finding meaning in word searching at ProjectBartleby - an online new skills.(Internet Example: key Frost, etc.) For staffdevelopment collection of classics -Dickinson, Shakespeare, lesson on text literacy, go toBellingham Schools Numerical Literacy Understanding the modernworld requires someability to think mathematically, students have the vastdatabases of the analyze databases andcrunch numbers. Once their desktops, they mustknow how to ask powerful US Census available on spreadsheet to find answers.(Internet questions aboutrelationships and use a data about crime andinfant mortality at TheUS Census) For Example: understanding literacy, go to BellinghamSchools staff developmentlesson on numerical Visual Literacy learn more than halfof what they knowabout the world While most young people them how to probethe information through visual information,few schools teach critically. shift from print to We're in the middleof a major communications imagery. Politicians are awareof it, but I don't thinkeducators are. Mary Alice White below the surface to graspthe content of a Teachers can showstudents how to look painting. (Internet of an advertisement orthe emotions of a photograph, the strategies Library of Congress).For Example: analyzing turnof the century photographs at literacy, go to BellinghamSchools staff developmentlesson on visual This is not aboutSurfing! Information ATMs the equivalent ofinformation ATMs in Electronic information resourcesnow provide classrooms of networkedschools. Informationis many homesand across the airplane 24 hours a day. You can accessthe Net from an everywhere and available classroom far from anymetropolis. 40,000 feet off theground or an elementary they appear in real time research ...exploring questions as Students can now do class room. the here and now withfresh data right in the currency andquality. is it fast and The new tests ofinformation are speed of access, easy? Is it hot? Is it accurateand reliable?

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 117 Problem-Solving Projects,Save the Beaches From Collaborative as an example of asocial (http://ednhp.hartf0rd.eciu/WW7/Nin0/Be0ches2.ht7 action project.

113 finally get a chance to expressthemselves in ways they had COLLOQUIUM only dreamt about. Artists used toworking with traditional media have whole new palettes oftools with which to work. The 4 Rs Nowhere has the popularity ofmultimediayrown as much as on the World WideWeb, which offers.many contributions to By Jason Oh ler paradigm evolution. It allows thecreation of distributed learn- ine communities. It facilitatesassociative learning through the DIRECTOR. EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM. use of hypermedia (mediathat are linked). And it ppvides the UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA first truly interactive form of massmedia in which almost anyone can become a publisher.Yet its largest contribution goes lamely unnoticed: it requires students tocommunicate as de- About 10 years ago. I had an experience that signers and artists. The citizens of theWeb, who number in the changed me irrevocably. I was teachin2 a classfor many millions, employthe multimedia presentation as their K-12 teachers about usine telecommunicationsin Esperanto. The effect is to spread thelanguage of multimedia the classroom. After I described the expectations throuehout the international networkedworld. In retrospect. it for the final project for the course, a student raisedher hand seems inevitable that WorldWide Web users would move away and asked.- May I submit a video instead of a paper?' What from laneuage-dependent text andtowards more universal lan- followed in reality lasted only a few seconds. But in mymind. facilitate communication. confusion unfolded as old thinking guages like pictures to an indeterminably lone With the erowing popularity ofmultimedia comes a pro- and new paradiems chafed aeainst each otherlike psychic tec- skilled in the Ian- After portional increase in the need for workers tonic plates. I couldn't just dismiss the student's request. Thanks to our struggle to use multimedia disciplines cuaee of multimedia. all, as director of one of the most rapidly evolvine effectively, the laneuage of art is taking centerstage. technology. I was mak- at my university, namely. educational There are three ma"or com onentsof this Ian ua e: an un- ing a living teaching others how to incorporate theswiftly derstandine of the "grammar- of aestheticpresentation. loosely moving information age into their lives and classrooms. referred to as "design-: a grasp of theskills needed to manipu- "Sure.- I finally squeaked halfheartedly. I was juststalling as I late media in meaningful ways: and theability to use these tried to figure out what that moment meant. skills to express a vision in terms others canappreciate. Tlie I would eventually understand that this momentmarked the three components are fully integratedwithin the domain of art, beginning of my realization that a new world was upon usin a field that. unfortunately,is currently considered outside the which the written word, whether on screen or on paper. was no scope of an essential education.For years, art has been viewed longer the primary way to present information orfacilitate com- as a skill only for thehobbyist and the hopelessly romantic. to munication. This student was unique at the timebecause she be cultivated after mastering Reading.`Riting, and `Rithmetic. was one of the few who had access toexpensive, sophisticated video equipment. But now, with relatively inexpensive, easy- of multimedia to-use multimedia-authoring technologybecoming available inBecause of the emergence many U.S. schools. studentscombine words, pictures. sound. technolog.); the 3 Rs arebecoming the 4 Rs: and movies in unified presentations. Because ofthe emereence and aRt. of multimedia technology, we are being forced toexpand one Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetic, ..'of the cornerstones of our academic culture. The3 Rs are be- forever. The rapidly coming the 4 Rs: Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetic.and aRt. The aee we live in has changed this which presentation. me- Multimedia technology is commonly understood tobe all growing domain of employment, in now embraces the that cool "stuff' used to create the desktop equivalentof dia. entertainment, and education converge, 500 inevitable channels of glitzy television. But it is much more than that.Multimedia Arts out of necessity. Each of the DVDs (Digital technology is assistive technology for those whomieht con- video, the millions of incipient CD-ROMs, home pages, as well as sider themselves "artistically challenged." Inmuch the same Video Disks), and World Wide Web conceive of, will be a cooperative way that the world of writing prior toword processine had the new media we can't even graphic designers. been limited to those who came to feel at homewith the often effort. involving musicians. videographers, consultants, and hun- laborious mechanics of penmanship or typing, theartistic script writers, choreographers. creative associated with the Arts. In world had been reserved for those who spentcountless hours dreds of other positions commonly learning how to draw, paint, play musical instruments,and an equation: Art = Jobs. mSiodext_taamitiz, manipulate media. We became a two-tiered culture:those who Quring the inevitable transitioner f of control. They will created art and those who appreciated whatothers created. media. teachers will experience a loss student multimedia projects Then along comes multimedia. Want to draw astraight line? not be able to guide and evaluate projects they are used Make orchestra sounds? Create a movie? Write a rapsong? The nearly as effectively as the text-based the curriculum, teaching tools of multimedia can make it all possible. Thosewho gave up to I see art teachers working across The "writing across the trying their hand at creating art because of the workinvolved others the language and skills of art. 119 LI TIIIMER I BEST COPY AMIABLE curriculum" movement of the past decade will be followed by ists. further separating the empowered and the disenfranchised. a similar movement in which art is infused across the curricu- Also, using these tools demands new. technical skills that will lum. There will be a lone transition as the text-based culture perhaps blur the lines between commercial and fine art more that dominates the educational structure retires and makes way than we would like. And while we routinely expect our stu- forone. But in time, students and teach- dents to develop an argument with text to convince the reader ers will be expected to communicate with a number of media of a particular viewpoint, when they do so with multimedia. it in much the_s_arne way that they are currently expead to read looks suspiciously like advertising. and write effectively, regardless of their field of study. While many respond to the coming Age of Art with excitement when I talk about the 4 Rs, it is precisely the power of Thanks to our struggle to use multimedia multimedia to overwhelm our senses and manipulate our emotions that worries discriminating consumers. Already sensitive effectively, the language of art is taking to an entertainment industry that values special effects and center stage. battle scenes over dialogue and thematic substance. they want to know: Will using multimedia take the place of learning an At present. the most pressing need is for graphic literacy: artistic craft? Never. Will the general public come to accept using pictures to communicate and present information. There technical dexterity in lieu of artistic vision? Perhaps. But. as are two primary reasons for. this. First, the creation of graph- the saying goes. while you can fool some of the people some ics has been within our grasp longer than other non-text me- of the time, you can't fool all the people all the time. While dia and is. therefore, more commonplace. After all. expanding multimedia can act as assistive technology, it cannot take the mass literacy to include graphics was the meta-message of theplace of vision, talent, or skill, whether developed or inherited. Macintosh revolution. Second. the transmission of graphics However one views multimedia. this new age of technologi- typically requires less memory, bandwidth, and other techno- cally driven communication makes clear the need for a critical logical support than sound and video, which is why graphics analysis of the relationship between people. technology, and and text currently dominate the Web. ethics in new and urgent ways. But once video, sound. music, and animation are better un- But these are the concerns of the cognoscenti. Back in the derstood in terms of their ability to communicate ideas and in-real world, parents dominate the discussion of education in formation effectively, and the technology that supports them simple terms. They stick with the very understandable bottom becomes cheaper, more pervasive, and less specialist-oriented. line that I have heard them espouse since [ entered education art literacy will embrace all of these media and more. New more than a decade ago: I want my kid to be able to get a good media are certain to evolve, including holography, virtual real-job. As education works to become more responsive to prepar- ity, and oAhers that we cannot presently ciiscei_jiI)na d romise ing students for the world of work, we must keep in mind that to assume positions of pedagogical importance_ Regardless of one of the true growth areas in the future will be the Arts. The their forms. they will be folde nil context and literate, knowledgeable person will be expected to be well learmthe language of art will be essential for those who versed in the 4 Rs. If we are to be proactive and give our kids seek to use new forms effectively. the skills they need, then art and design should become staples What will happen to the written word? As art and design be- of K-12 literacy. gin to challenge the primacy of text, which has dominated our culture since Gutenberg, we should not fear that we will lose text. Instead, we will rediscover it. We will emerge from the Jason Ohler isdirector of current Age of Presentation with a better understanding of the University of Alaska's when text offers the best vehicle for communication. the ulti- Educational Technology mate goal in using any medium. Is all this a "good" thing? In Program which offers a trying to make sense of a world changing at an unprecedented master's degree, creden- rate. we need to remind ourselves that print only seems con- tial endorsement, and servative because we have had half a millennium to get used preservice and inservice to it. True, books seem to be a stabilizing cultural force. They training in the effective offer inexpensive, readily accessible sources of information and creative use of tech- that don't break down or need 110 volts to work. But they have also created caste systems of literates and illiterates, wreaked nology in education. In his havoc on indigenous, non-text-based cultures, and. in general. off hours he uses the tech- caused considerable social upheaval. nology to compose music Similarly, multimedia technology and the new literacies of- and write for theater. The fer us much. but for a price. Even though multimedia tools are Educational Technology relatively cheap, they are still presently, expensive enough to be Program's home page is at out of the reach of the information underclass that already ex- h.tp://www.jun.alaska.edu/edtech/. 1 5 Computers in the Classroom of the Future By Charlotte N. Carter, Nancy A. Childress. Sarah L. Mullican. and Lindsay D. Sheubrooks

IN THEIR SEARCH FOR THE CLASSROOM OF 20I6..A TEAM OF FOURTH-GRADERS FOUND TODAY'S CUTTING- EDGE TECHNOLOGY. A COMPUTER-CENTERED CURRICULUM. AND AN INNOVATIVE IDEA FOR CONNECTING

AGING CLASSROOMS TO COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY.

ur vision of a fourth-grade classroom in the year 2016 no aced the teacher. She is still the on curricu- begins in a school that, at first glance. looks much like lum. learner behavior, and motivation. ours. While many newer schools will be built between 0 COMPUTER-CENTERED CURRICULUM now and 2016. most of the current school facilities will still be IN our 2016 classroom, the computer plays a larger role in the in use. so they will have to be upgraded to meet expanding techlearning process. Although there are still some books in use, more nology needs. Once inside those classrooms, however, many and more textbooks are on disks. These electronic texts include dramatic changes will be apparent. a broader range of materials than was available in printed books. You will quickly notice there are many computers in every The pictures. or graphics as they are now called. have sound, classroom. Each student has a notebook-size computer on his or color, and motion. Some are three-dimensional and give the her desk. The laptop computers of the 1990s have become the "reader" a virtual reality experience. The student plays an inter- desktop computers of the twenty-first century. These computers active role with this "iaterial. scanning barcodes to access options are small, but powerful. They are easy and fast to use. and they that can enhance learning with music. animation, charts, graphs, connect to a variety of other electronic learning tools throughout and simulations. The student can take notes, do calculations, or and beyond the classroom and even beyond the school. The write questions for follow-up study while the books-on-disk are classroom's computers are networked into the teacher's master on the screen. The computer is a true multimedia workstation al- computer. which acts as a file server and a massive storage de- lowing the user to access related materials that include videos, vice. The computers are also connected to the library where laser discs. CD-ROM encyclopedias, online newspapers, and a thousands of CD-ROM disks can be "borrowed" to the laptops. full ranee of reference materials in the school's library. CD-ROMAhsks in 2016 are made in the classroom. They hold Utilizing the modem. fiber optic cables. and a communication text. color. sound. video, and camera-quality graphics. satellite, the student can reach bevond_the walls_d_the_classroom and contact other people on the Internet. The studentran both The increased use of computer technology in hear and see the person to whom he is connected if he sits at the the classroom of 2016 will change the way teacher's computer which has the necessary auditory and visual devices. Global communications on the Warld..MEIde-WelLenatle that classrooms are structured. the student to join with other students and mentors around the globe to discuss issues. share ideas, and solve problems. This To activate their computers, students reach up and pull down gives the student nearly unlimited and immediate sources for coiled cables that plug into their laptops. The teacher loads soft- data. More importantly, it connects the student with experts and ware onto the server. and all the students can begin working. The leaders in the topic of most interest to the student. The flexible server is very powerful and can run several CD-ROM disks at curriculum allows students to make choices about what and how the same time so that each student can work on materials that fit they will learn. his or her needs, abilities, and interests. This server also helps do the record keeping for the teacher so she can tell at what level The teacher is still the resident expert on and on which skills each student is working. If a student has some difficulty, the server will both alert the teacher and provide curriculum, learner behavior, and motivation. the student with remediation and practice until a predetermined mastery level is reached. The increased use of computer technology in the classroom The teacher in this classroom has to play many roles. She is of 2016 will change the way that classrooms are structured. &- part computer technician and part information highway tour though students beein each day in homeroom grades, most of guide. A big_part of involves record management. thus ..their time is t itspgn_Lmulti-aee cooperative teams. Some teams her computer is largeLansimnre..expensive than t e stu ents include members from other schools within the district: a few laptops. Although the computer has made her job easier, it has teams connect students across the country. Students come

28 TECHNOS VOL. NO. 2 SUMMER 1 996 BEST COPY toeether for instruction according to their needs and interests. ask the student to redo the task and resubmit it. or it may pro- These teams of students are flexible and chanee as the students gram remedial activities for the student and have these waiting make progress. There are greater opportunities for individualiza- on the laptop when the student arrives at his or her workstation tion. Adaptive devices allow special-needs students to participate the next day. on an equal footing with their peers. Parents can download proeress reports. assignments. school When a student is home sick or hospitalized, a special laptop bulletins, and teacher messaees by calling, the school from their computer is lent to the student to keep him or her connected to home computers. They can even view their child's CD-ROM the classroom as much as possible. The student dials the school Portfolio, a collection of the student's work samples. video clips on the modem and inputs a special code that provides access to from musical and dramatic performances and grades and test the classroom's file server. From there. the student can access all scores. books-on-disk. workgroup members. assignments. and notes. Students still have to do paper-pencil tasks, but most tests. es- The teacher can activate both sound and video exchanges be- says. reports. an worksheets are done on their laptops. Fast and tween this student and the classroom. During class discussions, accurate k-E9hoarding is advantaeeous for the student. However, the missing student is visible on the teacher's monitor. or an in- in some lessons. the student uses head_Ph-oiTEcaigvoice-entry-re- frared beam can project the student's imaee onto a giant televi- sponses. Other lessons are "hands-on.- and the student partici- sion screen set on the classroom wall. The student can ask pates bv touchine selected areas on the screen. Finally, the power questions or contribute ideas as if he or she were actually in class. and flexibility of the computer make it the focal point of most The increased use of computer technoloey in the classroom lessons, rather than just a machine to use when the main work is of 2016 makes other significant chanees in the lives of the stu- done. Curriculum is written and teachine materials are selected to dents. They do their homework on computers and download take full advantage of the multimedia capabilities of computers. their work to the file server in their classroom. If the work isn't received at school by a certain time that evening, a warning mes- BREAKTHROUGHS sage is sent to the student's home computer. If there are major A number of developments and changes need to occur before errors in the home assignment. the file server may immediately our advanced computer classroom of 2016 can become a reality.

A NOTE FROM THE TEACHER

I was teaching the process of writing a research paper to my fourth-graders and found that Charlotte, Nancy, Sarah, and Lindsay had already mastered BERWILDE this skill in their gifted and talented experiences. I asked them to design a task that would be more appropriate. They decided upon a collaborative project that focused on computers, an area of interest to them all. When we learned about Toshiba's Explora Vision competition, the girls really went to work! Frustrated in their search for materials on computers in the classroom of the future, they wrote to leaders in the field and asked for their thoughts [see "Letters," TECHNOS 4:4 and 5:11. 4..1.7. ;4 j..e Working together was a real challenge, but the '1r students discovered areas of strength in each other, and the research was divided accordingly. The girls worked at home and at school, often giving up recess and coming to school early. The rest of the class took great interest in the girls' vision of the classroom of tomorrow. They patiently shared my time, attention, and assistance. Everyone lis- The four coauthors in the front row appreciated the advice and encouragement of tened and critiqued each topic as the research pa- their 17 classmates, shown here with their teacher Mary Finch. per developed. The long process of revising and polishing the final draft was a wonderful lesson for all of the fourth-graders. Even our principal helped the girls book,Miss Nelson Is Missing,by Henry Allard and lames proofread. Marshall (see page 311. When the last picture was colored and Toshiba also wanted a 10-frame storyboard for a brief the last paragraph was printed, our class celebrated a job well movie the students might make about their project. When the done! class was unhappy about having a substitute while I was on mary Finch, Fourth-Grade Teacher, jury duty, the idea developed to parody a popular children's Timberwilde Elementary School. San Antonio, Texas 9 Salary and energy costs were al- capital. and SI.350 for training ). Nearly all of the needed advances in computer technology are "Three-Year Cost of Educational ',ready developed and are available on the business-worldmarket not included in the figures (see Computing" by Daniel Kinnaman in theMay/June 1995 Tech- today. There are smart phones like BellSouth's "Simon.- a combination cellular phone. fax, video, and pager. There aretalking nology and Learning). When technology funds are available,they reach high schools modems and keyboards that speak and respond to voice,such as long before they filter down to theelementary classrooms. It will "Vocalyst" by Compaq. Every computer manufacturer isracing be 20 years before the cutting-edgedevices of today's workplace to put the latest models on the market,and each model is faster. and these devices will only appearif more versatile, smaller, and more portablethan last year's favor- Lppear in our classroom, they are more affordable and wehave access to funds. Enroll- ites. Many of these have related handheld informationand com- schools and budgets are tight. munication devices like Apple's "Pippin" and "Newton." ments are soaring in public Achievement in math and reading is stagnant.Administrators are looking for new ways toboaq productivity and quality with- Why doesn't this level of technology existin out raising costs. Maintenanceis being deferred. More and more students are housed in portables.Unfortunately. the technology schools today, and particularly, in a fourth- budget is caught in a squeeze playbetween the high costs of in- grade portable classroom like ours?Money! vesting in technology and increaseddemands on the overall school budget. Another breakthrough related to fundingis meeting the high Multimedia display devices and digital connectivity are essen-cost of retrofitting existingschool buildings to support evolving tial features in the competitive retail market. Thegrowing range technology systems. It will be veryexpensive to install the of peripherals includes photo-quality printers, colorcopiers. wiring, cables, phone lines, andnetwork connections in every scanners, digital cameras. LCD panelviewers, big screen digital school so that all students can use thistechnology to its fullest. that ac- television, massive memory storage systems, and towers We think there is a market forprefabricated linear panels that cess dozens of CD-ROM disks.Fiber optic cables carrying contain all the needed wiring. Wecall ouridea "Media-Links." devices sound. video, and digitized signals can hook all these Our product would be cheap. lightweight,and durable. It would into a powerful and elastic communications network. come in a variety of lenths. curves, and angles, or could be Why doesn't this level of technology exist in schools today, made-to-order. It would snap together like toytrain tracks. and like ours? 'and particularly, in a fourth-grade portable classroom could be attached at ceiling level tointerior or exterior walls. Money! In a survey of the 100 largest American districts,lack of tonnectors would punch into classrooms, wheresrnallerMedia- funding is the most frequently mentioned obstacle to school re- Links would disiribute_the wiring aroundthe rooms using the National form and technological development (32.7%) (1994 acot_Istkalseiling_suppatadap s woulcict tothese plan Survey for Education Reform, SIMBA). Insufficient time to cables using pull-down bungee cords. and organize (28.8%) and lack of training (5.8%) wereother factors that directly impacted technology acquisition. In a1990- 1994 study of the cost of network technology in itsschools. the Media-Links would snap togetherlike toy Tucson Unified School District in Arizona reportedthat the per- train tracks, and could beattached at ceiling unit cost was $4,350 (with $250 for maintenance.$2,750 for level to interior or exteriorwalls.

Finally, there must be a breakthroughin what and how stu- TODAY'S CLASSROOMS dents are taught. Our classroom in2016 isn't designed for 25 many of the computers at Timberwilde ElementarySchool are students all doing the same thins at the sametime! The technol- hand-me-downs from local high schools. Nearly all of our soft- ogy we envision_requiresmajor changes in education,,It can't ware is on 5-inch floppy disks; the newest programamong y_things_arg_done-taclay. Teachers and the jList be an acid:_ojitov those is dated 1989. The story is frequently the same in students will need to make more choices asthey utilize the diver- 105,952 public and private schools in the United States(Qual- sity of information the computersprovide. The screens will be ity Education Data). media will be interactive. the windows on the world, and because the The number of antiquated machines that cannot run The Internet will be the most up-to-date software is high. The picture isbleakest in el- the students will have a global audience. technologists, and educators will ementary schools. where 60% of the machines areold 8-bit field trip bus of 2016. Parents. thatitniakes the best use of this terminals like Apple Ils. Intermediate machines, likeIBM need to rewrite the curriculum so 8088s, account for 23%; only 14% of elementary computers dynamic technology. Then our equipment.in the hands of won-- are up-to-date and capable of supportingCD-ROM drives derful teachers, will work educationmiracles. (Software Publishers Association). Ten years ago, there was one computer for every 125 stu- CONSEQUENCES AND CHALLENGES will have many positive con- dents, K-12. Today, there is one for every nine students. Butif THE use of computers in the future the installed base is significantly outdated, those nine students sequences and present anumber of serious challenges. Comput- variety are being shortchanged (QED). ers make learning fun,easier, and more interesting. The Mary Finch C'onrinued on page 32

11)t vn 7. SHAIWPR 1006 123ijEgTCOPY AVAILABLE Continued from paye 30

of software programs available encourages have to be modified to handle this equipmak students to explore special interests and work Training people to use the computers takesW at their own pace. Computers can save you time that people may not have, and it also time, and they allow you to access informationcosts money. The community that pays for in- from sources far beyond the school, the home. creases in classroom technology will also ex- and the community library. Distance learning pect proportional increases in student test in cyberspace connects the classroom to the scores. and this may not occur. whole world, making the student-user a part People may find computers tobetoo ad- :411x of the global village. Computers with adaptive vanced for them. Some parents may not be devices like touch screens and voice entry al- able to keep up with their child's knowledge low physically challenged students to partici- of educational technology.Manydistricts may pate more advantageously in regular classroomnot be able to afford this technological growth. and the public school system could break down Mary-Lee Finch has taught in reg- activities. As more and more computers be- along socioeconomic lines. Low-technology ular, special, and gifted education come available in schools, other learning tools school systems might face legal actions on the positions for more than25years. like books, televisions, videodisc players. cameras, and telephones will be modified to grounds that they are failing to provide equal A teacher and campus technol- connect with this technology, allowing the educational opportunities for their students. ogy facilitator at Timberwilde El- creation of multimedia learning experiences. There could be a challenge to privacy as people ementary School , she is also Ultimately. students working with computers make unauthorized entries into files. We will training to become an Effective will be better prepared for the workplace of have to deal with the sensitive issue of censor- Teacher Practices mentor for the the future. ship. Not everything in cyberspace is appropri- Northside Independent School The use of computers in the future will also ate in the classroom, soguidelinesfor access District in San Antonio. pose numerous challenges. Even though com- will need to be set and enforced. Finally, there puter costs are decreasing, they are still too is a health issue. If students spend hours in expensive for all students to have adequate ac- front of a computer screen.what impact will cess tothem.The expenses involved are not that haveon their fitness, vision, and social just for the hardware and software. Classroomsdevelopment?

Sarah, Lindsay, Nancy, and IP(AVAILABLE Charlotte: The four coauthors are BEST gifted fourth-grade students in the Timberwilde Elementary School in San Antonio, Texas. Sarah Mullican is interested in the stock READINGS market and plans to be a special "Special Software for education teacher. Lindsay Karen Armstrong, Jacquelyn Brand, Robert Glass, and Lynn Regan, Special Kids," Technology and Learning (October 1995) Sheubrooks loves animals and wants to be a veterinarian. She Odvard Egil Dyrli and Daniel E. Kinnaman, "Part I: Technologyin Education: Getting the hasn't decided yet on Texas A&M Upper Hand," Technology and Learning (January 1995) or the University of California at Andy Reinhardt, "New Ways toLearn," Byte (March 1995) Davis. Nancy Childress wants to Report on the Effectiveness of Technology in Schools, 1990-1994,Washington, DC: be a lawyer or a nurse. She is in- Software Publishers Association (1994) terested in her Korean heritage. Judy Salpeter, ed., "Where We're Headed: Teaching, Learning andTechnology in the Charlotte Carter is the athlete of b. Future," Special Issue, Technology and Learning (Summer 1995) the group, and a killer soccer player. She plans to play as a pro- AlanTrussell-Cullen, Beyond 2000. Hong Kong: Shortland PublicationsLimited (1988) fessional and then be a lawyer. .12 TUCHNOS VOL. 5 Nn. 2 SUMMER I non 124 Jamie McKenzie

Making WEBMeaning

Students can triumph over the Internet and each otherin a wide area network. After a year and a half of robust access tothe Web, we have information overload of the Internet found three strategies to make the learning experience by contributing to virtual museums most meaningful to the 10.000 students in our18 on their school's Websites, using schools (12 elementary. 4 middle. and 2 high schools): Virtual museums annotated Web curriculum lists, Curriculum pages and conducting research in The research cycle cooperative teams. Virtual Museums The once popular "surfing- metaphor is now Because our schools are all connected to the Internet. pretty much discredited as the Internetreveals it was a simple matter to create Web sites (home itself as the greatest yard sale of information in pages) at each school. We began by asking-Why human history. Poorly organized and dominated by bother?" in February of 1995. amateurs, hucksters, and marketing gurus.the net A quick scan of several hundred school Web sites offers INFO-GLUT. INFO-GARBAGE. and INFO- revealed little of consequence. We found pictures of TACTICS. Schools that plunge students into this INFO- principals and pictures of buildings. Here and there we SEA with nothing but mythical or metaphoricalsurf- found examples of student work. There were lists of boards are courting disillusionment, chaos, and what Internet but we found-little substance, little content, and little utility. The several dozen staff membersmany of whom were library media specialistswho joined inthese -virtual field trips- were quick to call for something better. Entranced by the vivid graphics and superb information provided by adult virtual museums such as the Web Museum(http://sunsite.unc.edu/louvre') and the Franklin Institute thttp://sInli.edun. they seized on virtual museums as a centerpiece for Web site development. Our virtual museums are student-constructed collections of digitized artifacts that illuminate somemajor aspect of the curriculum. EllisIsland. for example. is one elementary school's virtual museumdevoted to diversity, national origin, and immigration. Students ( half of whom are first-generation Americans)share the In building a Web site or conducting research,books stories of their families voyages to Americafrom Laos. are still important to FairhavenMiddle School Cambodia. Vietnam. Greece. and Russia. Another students and teachers. museum. the Fairhaven Turn ofthe Century Museum. concentrates on local history. (Seethe next page for beach folk call "Wipeout!" Good planning and staff Fairhaven's home page.) The students include scanned development can convert the chaos into treasure. photos and documents, as well as short video Before schools invest millions of dollars to provide segments. to welcome visitors. For afull listing of access to the World \Vide Web(WWW). they would be Bellingham's museums, go to http://www.bham. wednet.edwbpsmuse.htm=-Bellingham: for a global wise to stop and ask "Why?" Bellingham. Washington. Public Schools spent nearly listing of school museums, go to http://www.pacificrim. half of its 56 million technology bond on infrastructure neu-inckenzie. to connect all 1,500 desktops across 18schools to the Students act as curators under the tutelage of 30 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP 125 BEST COPY AVAILABLE ...... :::: Ne I staost.N4USISID4.::-.,N=-zr.+ -.1,''',":.-1,':,. '.- 7' ...,10:, -.' ....'''' ''.f,, 'S !Z.:I N j I itt 1 I, 0.1 In't. gej 1: a. 1..40I i :SW ':'-'10Z ''''Z'i. .,. 4'''' **. ! `.r1.4"-- : B.* .lite...nit Move .1 Regal- I : Ogo4 -1-ma ::f ; r.fv!....;;1-,..,..:,-- .,.- .7 ..... 14Stlee:httri/rovlant..1...... sibsplat Yltallre 'OW, OW? Ara*. 11VSsetiii; ilm DIreaftiv ...... :,.::- -:-- Fairhaven Bistory Minium .- ...... 0.:._ 4-..,.... -.-...... _ Wutsiota Statement . _ .. teachers who help them learn the _ .1... .n - -7at.: IS twisterdts.10117121120,901IIWIDOSMASIZOMONAWidlikithleil IDAVZbangalMetkV 121VMV/1601M/brIOZDIROPOOMISir special coding necessary for Web page N. O. design (called HTML. or hypertext To conoty.oro to OW on topp rr,o mai a. Halm. sc a tatet. If vsseoNN,ftilipptdelWI II PW01111100 14ft.11101 thltpap- Thai Too 7 ...... :"'-'7.-4: markup language), as well as the skills

- 'FAQ Z ..., . of gathering and interpreting artifacts QUIROZO _., ..A QOM= ot to Mau to to Mono itOsoilyAeod -...... 7 and information. Virtual museums are a .. . Architecture and Buildings,_ great way to engage students in .,. ComooralsoObolormal octavo= ..... Zloo Borcaryal Oki FOOL .Dal "making meaning" while publishing Geography "7-, Fame= Paapie globally. They challenge students to Tto Osogooto at OM ?chino 'Palm Pop' laPC6062

. _ : a...-.- learn in a fully constructivist manner. . Events j . A_SOCI010SY '&0ula ' teal Cama a Olt halm j building meaning into cyberspace. MOE Imola OM Potion i- , ...... -. Reirreation '7dr- CityPlan Otos oar o OM ?Oho= . .... 77:me Phnom of PlaboOr: Curriculum Pages . . The second way we helped our ' Makingow Virosal Museum. Hismry ofF. M. S. students find good content CZ.T.i. TM Mai 0 Ito hamMUManter TOMoots!hohnos MOO Wool was through building our .. silo own lists of curriculum- related sitescurriculum Such guidance seems prefer- pages. In our Web searches. able to censorship and site- we found that many of the blocking software. lists available did not point us to quality. The typical user The Research Cycle had to visit dozers of sites Our third strategy to enrich and pass through many students learning experiences levels of menus before involved new approaches to finding solid content relevant research. We learned quickly to the curriculum question that old approaches to at hand. student research were inade- For example. only about quate to meet the essential learning goals set by the 10 percent ofYahoo's (http://www.yahoo.com) lists Fairhaven Middle School staff and students meet to plan district and were ill-suited to of curriculum-related sites the Fairhaven turn-of -the-century virtual museum, with the information-rich environ- had rich content. Our a focus on local history. ment we had created with -curriculum page- team our 1,500-computer network. saved dozens and potentially thousands graphics (which take a long time to With all those computers and all those of other teachers the trouble of visiting access or download) and can provide classrooms connected to great informa- those "empty- sites by publishing our a sketch of the content. tion on CD-ROMs and the Internet. we annotated selections on our Web site. To protect explorers from unneces- needed to reinvent our concept of To examine examples of such lists. sary and wasteful passages through research, upgrading the questioning visit the Bellingham Public Schools at menu levels. our Web page designers and elevating the reasoning required http://www.bham.wednet.edu. and their student helpers used HTML while encouraging students to work in Because Web lists rarely include coding to link the content at useful teams. annotations and because many of the sites to our page. We would often Our teachers now participate in a people who name sites or build lists bypass the introductory pages of these staff development course titled seem to know little about categoriza- sites and go directly to the heart of the -Launching Student Investigations." tion or labels, it is difficult to identify information. This course is based on theResearch from simple lists the sites worth Good curriculum resource lists also Cyclefirst published inMultimedia visiting. The solution is to add annota- offer a healthy alternative for districts Schools(McKenzie 1995). We teach tions that warn and inform the explorer concerned about students coming into teams of students to move repeatedly regarding the site's offerings. These contact with controversial materials. through each step of the research annotations can include comments Staff and students may visit sites on the cycle: questioning, planning, gathering, about whether the site has large list (and stay on them) without risk. sorting and sifting, synthesizing, evalu-

NovENIBER 199631 BEST COPY AVAILABLE with learning (http://www.ilt.columbia ating, and reporting. After several repe- later is dangerous when coping .edu/k12/livetext/webcurr.html). titions, these steps lead to insight. (For INFO-GLUT. In addition. teams need to the a detailed descriptionof these phases. be aware that they should use Internet only when that sourceis likely On the Horizon see a six-part seriesof articles devel- to provide the bestinformation. In At Bellingham. our students are published by Technology Connection oping more information literacy as the [McKenzie, April 1995 through many cases, booksand CD-ROMs will prove more efficientand useful. information landscape shifts with December 19951.) powerful new technologies. For the Questioning. Most research done for Sorting and Sifting. The more the same reason, the importanceof library school projects is topical. Students must complex the research question. sorting and sifting media specialists has been growing "go find out about" DollyMadison or more important the the dramatically, particularly as research Connecticut. These assignments turn that provides the data to support While the becomes central to student-centered, students into simple "word movers." next stagesynthesizing. teams must select and sortduring the constructivist classrooms. The journey previous stagegatheringnowit will probably take a full five years of staff development, team planning. and must systematically scanand organize Virtual museums are a the data to set aside what is mostlikely inventionhut it is a journey well to contribute to insight.(McKenzie worth undertaking. The payoff for this great way to engage investment is the graduation of a 1993, 1994). students in "making Synthesizing. In a process akin to generation prepared to make their own working jigsaw puzzles. students meanings in an often confusing, rapidly meaning" while arrange and rearrangethe information changing world. II fragments until a pattern begins to publishing globally. emerge. Synthesis isfueled by the References question. Brooks. M.. and J. Brooks. (1993). In tension of a powerful research Search of Understanding: Tbe Casefor New technologies make word Evaluating. At this point, the team Cunstructivist Classrooms. Alexandria, needed moving--cutting and pastingeven asks whether more-research is Va.: ASCD. more ridiculous. We nowemphasize before proceeding to the reporting Eisenberg, M.. and R. Berkowitz. (1990). Information Problem-Solving: The Big research questions that require either stage. For complexand demanding often Sir Skills Approach to Library and problem solving or decision making. research questions, evaluation the cycle. Information Skills Instruction. Examples: How might we restore the requires several repetitions of insights is Norwood. N.J.: Ablex Publishing. salmon harvest? Which New England The time to report and share McKenzie, J. (December 1993). "Grazing infor- city should our family move to? determined by the quality of the the Net: Raising a Generation of Range Planning. The student teams now mation revealed during evaluation. Free Student.s." From Now On 4,4. World Wide Web: http://www.pacifi- carve up the questions intosubsidiary Reporting. As multimedia presenta- crim.net/-mckenzie/grazingl.html. questions. They ask: Where might we tion software becomesreadily available students are increas- McKenzie, J. (March 1994). "Culling the find the best information) What sources to our schools, our Net: A tesson on the Dark Side." From are likely to provide the mostinsight ingly making more persuasive presenta- Now On 4, 7. World Wide Web: charged with with the most efficiency? Which tions. The research team. http://www.pacificrim.net/-mckenzie/ solu- resources are reliable? Howwill we making a decision or creating a FNOMar94.htrnl. findings? (For tion, reports its findingsand its recom- McKenzie. J. (May/June 1995). "BeforeNet sort, sift, and store our and AfterNet." Multimedia Schools 2, 3: example, should we use a database or mendations to an audience ofdecision makers (simulated or real). 6-8. a word processingfile?) McKenzie, J. (April 1995-December Gathering. If the planning has been Two excellent additional print 1995). "Planning a Voyage into thoughtful and productive, the team sources to expand thereader's under- Cyberspace." Technology Connection swiftly and efficiently finds good infor- standing of information problem (Vol. 2, Nos. 2-7). Six mation sites, gathering only relevant solving are Michael Eisenberg's Big Copyright CD 1996 by Jamie McKenzie. 1990) and useful information. Otherwise, model (Eisenberg and Berkowitz Brooks 1993 teams might wanderfor many hours. and Jacqueline and Marty Jamie McKenzie is Director of Tech- scooping up hundreds of filesthat will ASCD book. In Search ofUnder- nology and Media for the Bellingham Public Schools, 1306 Dupont Street, later prove frustrating and valueless. standing: The Case for Constructivist the Bellingham, WA 98225-3198 (e-mail: Students must structure findings asthey Classrooms. An electronic source is [email protected]). gather them. Putting this task offuntil WWW page devoted to constructivist 12- BEST COPY AVMLABLE MINING THE INTERNET BY JUDI HARRIS

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VOIG, r-11`. 01234:. 7 , TELE 11-; _-IHARVES 1NG [ WPM.. .MO.7 1. Information-Seeking and Information-Synthesis on the Internet More than a year ago, the Internet offered you approximately 2.5 mil- amount, and appearance of all tnat can be found that is related to a par- hosts, or computers to which you could connect to access information ticular area of inquiry. In a sense, we become Information Age hunters ,...atrix Information & Directory Services, 1995). The Internet has been and gatherers in cyberspace, sharing news of the richest locations by ex- growing at a rate of 80°4-100% per year for more than six years now changing addresses and URLs with members of our virtual clans. Yet it is (Quartermann & Carl-Mitchell, 1995). One estimate says that a new In- here, at the point of information access, that many current knowledge- ternet host is added about every 30 minutes (Calcari, 1994). Obviously creation efforts falter. We find ourselves confronting a much more there is a lot of Internetworked information to which you and your stu- important educational issue: what students do with the information once dents have access, and that amount is growing quickly. they locate it. This is the step at which mechanical assistance cannot re- But. as I suggested in October's Mining the Internet column, merely place human interaction. (Specific instructions for use of Internetworked accessing information should not be confused with constructing knowl- information-searching tools are included in Way of the Ferret: Finding edge. The making of knowledge is an active, holistic, and idiosyncratic and (Ising Educational &sources on the Internet [Harris, 1995]). process for each learner that can be greatly enhanced with a teacher's In prehistoric terms, how can the fruits of the hunt be turned to food guidance. Information accessed using the Internet can become some of for the clan? Part of the answer to this question lies in the plan for infor- the elemental substances learners use to create knowledge, much in the mation-seeking itself. If students know clearly how they will use the same way as a plant uses air, water and light in the process of photosyn- information they eventually locate, their chances for purposeful search- thesis. Unlike the production of chlorophyll, though, the production of ing, rather than aimless surfing, increase. As teachers, we can help our knowledge often benefits from direct, interpersonal assistance. As teach- students formuiate and enact these plans. My virtual travels on the Inter- ers, we know it is our responsibility to provide this guidance to our students. net have revealed five purposes that students seem to have (often at the Yet, with most of us being newcomers to the overwhelming amount and apparent suggestions of their teachers) when engaged in such "virtual variety of information available online, how can we know how to do this? foraging." I share them with you now with hopes that these categories will assist your online activity planning. Information-Seeking The usual answer to this question is technological...and insufficient. 1. Students can practice information-seeking skills. ipormation-searching programs. such as veronica in Gopherspace and During the spring of 1995, Brian Callahan, a teacher working with iriety of search engines (such as WebCrawler) on the World Wide public television station WHRO in Norfolk, Virginia, organized several Web, are certainly powerful, useful tools that can help our students locate grade-level divisions of the Great Computer Challenge Internet Scavenger large numbers of diverse and timely documents. In schools with the luxu- Hunt to help his students collaboratively hone their Internet information- ries of easy access and flexible class schedules, students (and teachers) seeking skills. Here is Brian's introduction to the Scavenger Hunt and happily "surf the Internet," and are often impressed with the range, some of the rules for joining in on thisteam-oriented competition: 128 On Your Marks...Welcome to the first ever Great well-conceivedactivitythathecalledTheGeographyProject-4. (Please - Computer Challenge Internet Scavenger Hunt! There are three parts to the Scavenger Hunt: The noteMr.Gathergood'ssurnameisnotatopicallyreferenced.cleverwrit- Ouestions. The Log and The Team Defense. Although ingtechnique.Hadicreatedafictionalnameforthiscreativeteacher this isa competition. we're much more interested in would have chosen,ofcourse,Gatherwell )Axoniing to helping students learn about the Internet. Please keep teacher involvement to a minimum. Gathergood'sonlinemessage,theprimarylearninggoalsforthisactiM You will have a little over two weeks to answer the were to: questions. Please pay close attention to the A) hone students' skills in researching scientific submission deadlines on page 2. and social information and map interpretation. The Questions (please see attached page) El) [encourage] students to communicate with others Each question has a different point value.Please try in other countries. to answer every question, but remember: we're interested in not only the right answer, but howyou C) help students to develop an understanding of the get the answer. differences between scientific fact, presumption. The ag and errors based on misinformation based upon stereotypes and prejudice. Each team is required to keep a detailed Log telling us how you got your answers. There is no set format Participants were paired with student partners from different coun- for The Log just make sure it tells us everything. The more detailed The Log, the better. Even ifyou tries and then asked to to get to know their keypals by sending introductoty don't get the right answer, you'll probably get lettes and responding to 30 "icebreaker interview" question& At that point partial credit for trying. the project took on aninteresting and powerfuldimension. In Mr. The Team Defense Gathergood'swords, On the day of the competition each team will be asked a series of questions by the judges. Team After sending this to their partner, the students members will be judged on the quality of their will then be instructed to learn as much as possible responses. about the other student's country through research. They may look at maps, books, magazines, and any Several of the questions posed to the Division 2 teams (grades 3-5) computer-generated data they can find. After the were: research is complete, each student must write "A Day in the Life" of the other student. The paper should 2. What is the phone number for VA.PEN? (2 points) include what each student thinks the other student's 3. What does :A.PEN stand for? (5 points) life is like. What are schools like? What do the 7. What are the complete lyrics to "Won't You Be My students do for fun? What kind of work/ Neighbor?" (7 points) [Hint: Mr. Rogers sings the responsibilities do they have outside of school? song and makes his home on Learning Link.] What is family life like? What are most students' 10. Who is Linda Berry? Send her an e-mail message. attitudes about the future? (10 points) These questions should be answered to the best Bonus Question ability of the student who has researched the other 13. What month and year. according to the NASA Fleet country. So if John Smith. of Central Ohio, is Manifest. is flight 63 scheduled for? (10 points) working with a student in Japan. he would communicate with a student from there and then begin is you can see. the purpose for participation in this activity is for stu- research using as many sources as are available to him. He will then write a paper entitled "A day in dents to prachce. reflect upon. and share their Internet-based the life of ." The student in Japan will do information-seeking strategies. (We should also hastento naention.as the same thing, studying the American student. did Brian in his directions to the eight teams in Division 2. that an addi- When the papers are finished, they are sent to the tional requirement for the activity Ivasto "WAFM/F.) student in that country. When students receive the paper about their lives, they will critique it. Obviously, they will discover mistakes. John Smith Information Synthesis may not understand how Japanese life has become Honinginformation-seeking skills is an important prerequisite for modernized while the Japanese student may have false assumptions about what Americans do with their much of what students will do online that is related to their curricular leisure time. studies. It should not be forgotten. though. that developing these skills is In the critique, each student should point out which but a means to an end. The synthesis and evaluation of multiple types. observations are correct and which are wrong. Then formats. and sources of information are truly at the heart of knowledge each will write about what his or her day-to-day life is really like. construction. Why might a student apply information-seeking skills? The In this way, students will use research tools to four purposes for teleresearch that follow are possible answ-ers to this learn about real people in other cultures and have question. the opportunity to separate myth from fact stereotypical prejudice from actual social behavior. 2. Students can become informed about a topic of inquiry andior answer a question. Please note that information-hunting and information-gathering of-410 Much online information-seeking serves this purpose. For example. ten complement telecollaborative activity, as we see in this kewal project from March through May of 1995. William Gathergood coordinated a (Other educational telecollaborative activity structures are described in

December/January 1995-96 Learning and Leading With Technology 37 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 129 AIDS does not stop with their own edification. Instead. they share the fruits of their new understanding with other studentsby producing instructional ra uhirnedia packages for younger students and Looking foran by usingcomputer conferencing facilities to directly assist thesestudents in their learning. This points to an important goal for Internet project use of information collectedonline: to publish syntheses and critical appraisals of the content fromthe full thatgoes beyond range of located resources. In this way, theresults of students explorations can become the information "crops" that other studentscan harvest. penpals? 5. Students can publish synthesized and/orcritiqued information overviews forotber studentsto use. Ivo Perhaps the single most important trend in theevolution of online resources is the development of a technologically simpleway for Intemeiworked explorers NI1 to share the fruits of theirseeking and synthesis labors worldwide. The a N. most common way to do thisis with a locally maintained but internationallyaccessible World Wide Web (W1IW)server. In late August 1995 there were more than 450 K-12schools in the world 41111119 with such WWWservers, and this number promises to grow rapidly by the turn of the century. (For more details on how to create TWWservers, see last month's Mining theInternet column.) Checkus out! Several teleresearch projects incorporate such publicationefforts into http://www.ici.wednet.edu the structures oi the students. activities. The previouslymentioned SECs project. coordinated from LBJ High [email protected] School in Austin. isone example. The 1995-96 Earth's Crust and Plate Tectonics Project.a multidisciplinary interdisciplinar y. international effort Interactive organized'DyHannah Sivan and David Lloyd from Sde Boker. Israel. PUGET SOUND Curriculum requests that students createdatabases Educational Service District Institute ici and www pages thatsummarize their discoveries of how phenomena o'77 # An": related to plate tectonicsappear in their daily lives. And in Project colleague. Cathy Gunn. Population. organizer Martha a faculty member at the University ofNorthern J. Harris from Wayland.Massachusetts. requests that participants examine local Arizona. for her creation of this insighffulconcept and term.) Teleharvested historical census datato identify and eventually explain. "[time] information has been remotelycultivated. perhaps bygroups of KI2 periods of rapid growthor decline." By publishing these local analyses students and their teachers.The effective processing of on the Project Population WebPage, Internetworked participants from all over the U.S. will informationthat is, itsuse by learners in the construction soon be able to deducecommon of patterns (and perhaps causes) of population knowledgeis a principal challenge rate changes across sites. to learners and teachers in the Information Age. Like theancient farmers who invented Examples of publishin g synthesizedonline information for agriculture, we educational have much to learn, and use are impressively numerous. Exploring ultimately share. about theart and practice of only a few of themany K-12 servers online will give evidence of this "infoculture... trend. Fortunately"Internet an- gel" Gleason Sackman has madesuch exploration [Judi Harris: ibharric@tendedu: easy for us. Just use Department ofCumezdum and your Web browser to open this CRL: Instruction. 406 Sanchez Building,University of 7kxas at Austin, Austin. 1X 78712-12941 http://www.sendit.nodak.edu.k2/ This useful Web page contains links to all known K-12servers. plus References sites set up by other organizationsto benefit precoilege students and teach- Calcari. S. (1994).A ers. It is updated frequently and snapshot of the Internet. InternetWorld 5(6), supports use of any WWWbrowser. 54-58. including Lynx. Harris. J. (1995). iray of theferret:Finding and using educational resources on the Internet (2nd ed.). Tel eharvesting Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education. Those of you raised in urban environments might be surprisedto learn, Quarterrnann. J. S.. & Carl-Mitchell. os 1 was. that crop harvesting is S. (1995). Matrix size update. not comprised primarily of thecollection Matrix Neus. 5(1), 1, 5. and bundling ofmature plants. Instead. it involves mostly theprocessing Matrix Information & Directory gathered cropsgetting them ready Services (MIDS). (1995). Summary for sale or consumption. of the results. second TIC/MIDS The same is true for teleharresting. Internet demographic surveyMatrix (I am indebtedto my friend and News. 5(4), 1-10.

DecemberiJanuary,, 1g95;96 Learning and Leading WithTechnology 39 BEST CIWY AVAILABLE -Ij'J the March. April. andMay 1995 Mining the Internet columns.as well as in Way of the Ferret: Intemetworked resources. Informationaccessed online might be Finding and UsingEducational Resourceson more the Internet (Harris. recent. more varied in form. and 1995].) In fact,we could argue that information- perhaps more plentiful than inf seeking and information-synthesis tion available locally: but online as primarily independent resources. no matter how much theyare activities have hyped by technocentric limited educational benefit advocates, should for most ofour students. Therefore. it not replace offline resources. is im- Instead. all kinds of information portant to considerways in which located should be used incombination, and information can be according to the requirements collaboratively examined andcritiqued. dictated by each learningsituation. 4. Students 3. Students canreview multiple can solve authentic problems. perspectives onan issue. Advocates of constructivist Students can seemto be convinced that there notions of learning and teachingstress the are discrete and simply importance of having students explore stated answers tomany questions. Fortunateh: the and find solutionsto real-world. world is muchmore complex problems. Online compleX`andinteresting than that. Online information-seeking can greatly information-seekingcan help assist these students consider multiple efforts. This year. for example.Martha McPherson's perspectives upon issues theyare exploring. students in Fort Worth. For example. Kay Corcoran. Texas. used information culledfrom existing Internet a middle school teacherin Mendocino. Cali- resources. data gen- fornia_ helped her students erated throughsurveys written and administered form questionsto ask historians who contribute by students. and to a number of scholarly discussion information available via electronic lists about ancient discussions %;ith subjectmatter ex- history. According perts to discover why the homed lizard to Ms. Corcoran. this wasa culminating activit is endangered. She provided the y. helping sixth- andsev- enth-grade students to "extend following overview of theproject. their research... on ancient historv The basis for this project is rich and educationally Students will use onlineresearch and survey sound. As Ms. instruments to collect Corcoran stated in her project51111111121): data througnout theUnited States, Canada. Mexico. ana Central Americaon the To enliven andengage the middle Horned Lizard. Thisinformation will be school learner. pooled and project-based units based analyzed to discoverreasons why this species on guided researchare a is now popular feature in the endangered. Electronicmentoring will be provided History/Social Science scientists from Texas A&M. by curriculum. Typicalresearch projects resources of school and utilize the community libraries,and Greg Rawls junior high school students need to learnto read information students in Conroe, Texas.used online and thoughtfully. closely With the availabilityof resources to both identify and explore local telecommunication and larger scale soda. resources for researchon chosen problems. Here is his description of topics, they soondiscover that his project open to interpretation, "historical fact" is contradiction, and The "Problems"program is a student-based occasional controversy. problem- solving project in whichstudents focus on the As a culmination process involved in determining activity to theirresearch project interdiciplinary, presentations, those real-world solutionsto local and societal students who havebeen Students use online issues. "critical readers." whohave recorded resources to researcha topic, send out surveys to collect inconsistencies, who haveexhausted their additional data, and and who have unanswered resources. exchange e-mail with questions may utilize experts and contentspecialists listservs to provide for guidance. It is clarification. expected that the projectwill be ongoing throughoutthe year with students A variety of history producing a technical listservs abound, paper as a result of their and the research. discussions cover a widerange of topics. Not will sixth and only seventh graderssee that ancient history is alive andwell, but that Gail Carmack's high schoolbiology students used Internet fact" is open to "historical resources interpretation based on evidence. via TENET. the Texas EducationNetwork. to explore the scientific History listservs providean excellent and for middle school opportunity social challenges presented byAIDS and other imrnuno-suppressive students to observethe give and dis- take of inquiry and eases through a well-constructed to dialogue withthe experts. project entitled Students Exploring Alternative perspectives Cyberspace (SECs). She postedthe following description: can also be discerned from filesof inforrna- tion stored on Internet-accessible Project SECs will allow servers. Din Ghani. theorganizer for biology and social studies KIDLINK's 1994-95 What's in students to study AIDSand other current topics a Name? project. for example,posted a list in a multinational, interdisciplinaryfashion. Students of helpful Internerworkedgenealogical will use TENET resources to 3SSist participants resources such as Gopher,Veronica. worldwide with their onlineand offline explorations Archie. Telnet. and FTPto research current of the etiologies. simi- information about AIDS larities. and differences pathology, epidemiology. among related groups of treatment, and social surnames and naming implications. Additionally. they will communicate conventions in different parts of theworld. Mr. Ghani. who with students from other moderated countries through e-mail this richly conceived.telecollaborative "information to find out how AIDS search- project from impacts other societies.They will then produce Newcastle-upon-ltrie in the United multimedia packages Kingdom, also provideda list of offline that can be used toteach resources to help participating students [about] AIDS at feederjunior high schools. High locate informationabout the school students will names or naming practices they use TENET newsgroups tomentor were researching. In thisway, he illus- junior high studentswho are also studying AIDS. trated an important and often-overlooked aspect ofthe educationaluse of Note tlit nulminatingactivity for these students' exploration of BEST COPY AVAILABLE RESEARCH WINDOWS III BY KARIN VVIBURG

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I first began thinking seriously about the impact of computers on learning down the professional isolation of teachers and in providing students ing environments while directing a computer camp during the summer of with tools they can use to improve their thinking. 1988. I remember watching about 15 middle school students working on the several different types of compumrs I'd been able to scrounge for the Technology-Rich Environments and Changes in Teaching project. The students moved easily between different platforms. building cit- We know that when teachers teach for several years in technology- ies using LogoWriter on IBMs. cleating cartoons with Hiper Card on Macs, rich environments, there are significant changes in the way they teach and exploring the beginnings of multimedia using an Amiga. Wow, those and in the way students learn (Dwyer, Ringstaff, Sandholtz, & Apple kids looked bright But when I asked a couple of students how they were Computer, 1990; Sheingold & Hadley, 1990). O'Connor and Brie (1994) doing in school, they told me about the Ds and Fs they were getting. Why reported on a three-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Edu- had these students, who seemed so bright and motivated to learn when work- cation to empower high school mathematics and science teachers to ing with technology during the summer, failed in their schools? improve their curricula by using technology. These researchers concluded that technology had made a significant change in the class- The Need for Teacher-Centered Reform room environment. Specifically, they reported "less lecturing and more Odvard Dyrli and Daniel Kinnaman (1995) set the stage for this doing of science and math, improved feedback to students, more prob- month's Research Windows column when they suggested in a recent ar- lem-solving, more hypothesis generating and testing, more perfor- ticle that if technology is to be a powerful and positive force in our schools mance-based assessment, increased student creativity; increased student it will be necessary to design a new curriculum. They also suggested that motivation, and increased teacher productivity- (p. 27). teachers take the lead in this process. The curriculum they imagine is not This month's Research Windows column looks at research on how the sort that comes in a box and often sits unused on shelves. Rather it is technology can be used to support innovative teaching, ranging from the- a curriculum that evolves through teachers' thoughtful integration of matic teaching to the use of technology to support cooperative learning technology tools with those teaching strategies that get students more in- and provide authentic audiences and tasks. volved in their own learning. In a comprehensive review of the science education reform movement, Thematic Teaching Using Technology Marcia Linn (1992) echoed Dyrli and Kinnaman's concern for teacher Theory has it that one of the ways to get students interested in science involvement and leadership: is to get them involved in doing science and to present it in a way that relates to their interests. Valerie Bristol and Susan Drake reported on a Collaborative efforts to reform science education depend more and study in which technology was used to link language arts and the learn- more on the participation of teachers. ... However, such benefits ing of science content. are likely to arise only if all members of the collaboration are equally respected. Frequently the rhetoric surrounding science education Bristol, V. & Drake. S. (1994). Linking the language arts and content reform suggest that new approaches be teacher proof, rather than areas through visual technology. T H.E. Journal, 22(2), 74-77. being informed by insights from teachers. (p. 836) The integrated science and reading project described by Bristol and Linn continues. "Teachers are often the recipients of a knowledge- Drake is currently in the last year of a five-year longitudinal study. The telling approach to educational reform rather than partners in efforts to project was conducted in an urban school district in Florida. Three fourth- improve science instruction" (p. 831). The rest of Linn's article discusses grade classrooms with average and above-average students took part dur- the role of technology in science education reform both in terms of breaking the first two years. In the third and fourth years, fourth- andfifth- elftI gala anreol 1 es '1'inkl° cON MORE .,..rade at-risk students were also involved in the project. The science/lan- sessment in mathematics. Positive factors influencing this success centered uage arts program replaced the traditional reading/language arts in- around technology use and cooperative learning. Some of thereasons teach- struction with a daily two-hour time block of in-depth science instruc- els gave for believing that the goals of the project could not have been action. Students weie involved in hands-on science, writing and discussion. complished without technology included the following: and the use of visual technology materials, including instructional television. laserdiscs. and computers. The authors describe how several teach- 1. With computers. math makes sense, math has meaning, math is ers in the project used visual media to connect language ans with con- fun. tent-area learning. 2. The computer reinforces the understanding of math concepts. 3. Technology makes us aware that change in attitudes towards Christy Bradford. who teaches a drop-out prevention Ci3SS of fifthgrad- ers. used cable television for many learning activities. Her students learned mathematics iS necessary. 4. Technology provides both individual and small economics by taking part in a 10-week competition centeredon the stock group emphasis. 5. Technology is.multisensory market. Eulalee Burke's fourth-grade at-risk students watchedReading 6. The computer is there to respond immediatelyto errori as well as Rainbow's Hill of Fire to learn about volcanoes. Her studentspretended successes. to be on-the-scene reporters who witnessed the eruption ofa volcano in 7. Children develop self-esteem by using technology and helping Mexico in 1943. They then gave reports in front of the classroomvideo camera. A student teacher. Karen lasagna. began a social studies lesson others. (p. 17) by showing the -land grab- scene from the movie Far andAway The One teacher also commented on her -new and different roleas a movie brought to life the race for free land in the early West. teacher." She said that her "ability to make a child think...and to find Analv'sis of data in this project showed that those students participat- and create those situations for that, or those children, has added lifeto ing in the reading/science progranfshowed significantly higherlevels of teaching !" (p. 17). achievement in both reading and science than students whoreceived in- Teachers also described how cooperative learning is facilitated using struction through their regular basaI reading and scienceprograms. The computers. As one teacher explained: researchers reported that the studeas in the project also displayedmore positive attitudes toward reading and science. Just walk through any classroom that has more thanone child on a computer and your question will be answered. There is no doubt Technology and Cooperative Learning that two minds are better than one when you see this happening. God gave children such inquisitive minds which they Uslick and Walker provide an interesting overview ofa teacher-driven use for asking incredible questions, and for justifying answers. There is educational innovation in which tedmology is usedto support cooperative no need to justify an answer if there is no one to question it. Peers learning. The authors describe the evcitition ofa four-year project. the Light- certainly question! (p. 14) house Education Enhancement Project. in which therewere significant changes in the way students learn antkteachers teach mathematics. In addition, many teachers mentioned that they were learning touse the Uslick, JoAnn. & Walker, Carole. (1994, April).An evaluation of an computer along with their students and that many of their low-achieving innotation: Standardized test scoreswere not valid indicators ofsuc- students were often the most skilled with the computer. One teachercom- cess. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational mented that "students are aware of the power of thegroup to solve problems. Certainly the computer enhances cooperative learning. Since I'm Research Association. New Orleans. LA. (ERICDocument Reproduction Service No. ED 372 099) learning too, the students help me learn and grow as well" (p. 15). With the help of cooperative learning and computer support, the teach- The Lighthouse project is a collabaiative effortamong an urban school ers began to spend more time asking questions, looking for patterns, and district and two suburban districts in Which 74 teachers in six elementary encouraging mathematical thinking. They moved from a dependencyon schools are making an effort to implement mathematicsreform as sug- textbooks to the use of a problem-solving approach to mathematics in gested bY the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics(1989). Specifi- the context of cooperative, computer-based learning. cally, the goals of the projectwere to -:!improve elementary math teacher effectiveness and student competencies in criticalthinking, cooperative learn- Assessment Issues ing, problem solving, and the use of technolog" (p. 2).The project also As the project continued with growing observational evidence of the intended to demonstrate that a technology-enhanced mathematics curricu- effectiveness of the intervention, frustration grew with the original goal of lum would significantly improve stucknt performanceOn standardized evaluating the project using the district's standardized test. Teachers be- achievement tests. This second goal turnedout to be problematic. gan to realize that the test was not measuring what they were teaching. In The teachers were assisted in improving mathematics learning through fact, 30 of 36 teachers surveyed reported that the standardizedtests and ongoing staff development in mathematics teaching, cooperativelearning, students' report cards did not adequately evaluate the type of learning and the integration of technology and instruction. They also received five that was going on in the Lighthouse project. Inresponse, the teachers computers for each of their rooms. After four years. it was concluded that the asked for staff development in alternative forms ofassessment, such as project was successful in changing beliefs. curriculum,instruction, and as- portfolios or projects.

BEST COPY AVAILABLE December/January 1n95 Learning and Leading With Technology 47 quality of the writing and the length of writing.There were no differences The project evaluators. using both qualitative and quantitative tests. both genders in the experimental group did found significant improvement in teacher and student attitudesand be- on the attitude surve; and control group. iois toward mathematics, as well as instructional practices that aligned better than their respective genders in the 'Imre closely with the recommendationsof the NCTM. However, achievement scores, as measured on the one standardized testused by the district, Conclusion These studies have several common themes.First..they suggest that were inconsistent and showed statisticalsignificance only for students who focus on the machine or the test began the program in kindergarten. The evaluators,administrators, and research in the field has moved beyond a learning environments and the complex in- teachers who worked with the classrooms in the project becameconvinced to an interest in developing Second. the research projects that the test was not measuring the type of mathematics learningadvo- teractions that make up these environments. all began with the goal of improving instructionand then looked at how cated by NCTM. also involved teachers Other researchers have commented on the lack of emphasis onhigher technology could become a partner in learning. They implementation. both classroom teachers and level thinking skills in standardized achievement tests (Meir. 1989:Romberg as essential partners for future teachers (the college of educationstudents who responded to the & Wilson. 1992). A study supported by the NationalScience Foundation fifth-grade students in the study described by Allen andThompson). Teach- found that "only 3% of the questions on standardized mathematics exams technology to support new teaching strategies were test conceptual knowledge and only 5% testfor problem-solving and rea- ers and their uses of inseparable, essential components that contributed tothe success of each soning skills" (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.1993, p. 7). As the power of collaborative educators begin to change teaching to involve more technology use, it may of the projects. Finally these studies support research in real-world settings in which teachersand researchers work also be necessary to reform current assessment practices. together with the assistance of technology to improvelearning. Authentic Tasks, Real Audiences Research based on learning in natural settings suggeststhe impor- References Dwyer, D., Ringstaff. C.. Sandholtz, J.. & AppleComputer (1990). Teach- tance of real tasks and audiences forlearning. The following study exam- II. Support for change. (ACOT Report). ined the effects of a computer-mediated, networked learningenvironment ers beliefs and practices. Part on the writing of fifth-grade studentswho used word processing to write Apple Computers. Dyrli. 0.. & Kinnaman, D. (1995). What everyteacher needs to know ilor texts collaboratively over aneight-week period. about technolog. Part 1. Technology in education:Getting the upper hand. Allen. Gayle. & Thompson, Ann., (1994, April). Analysisof the effect Technology and Learning, 15(4), 38-43. in a fifth- of networking on computer-assisted collaborative writing Linn, M. (1992). Science educationreform: Building on the research grade classroom. Paper presented at the Annual Meetingof the Ameri- base.Journal of Research in Science Teaching.29(8). 821-840. can Educational Research Association,New Orleans, LA. (ERIC Document Meir, 1 (1989, January/February).The case against standardized Reproduction Service No. ED 373 777) achievement tests. Rethinking Schools, 3(2), 9-12. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.(1989). Curriculum The 93 fifth-grade students, 45 males and 48females, all had access and evaluation standards for schoolmathematics. New York: Author. to computers and werecomfortable using technology for writing. Half of National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.(1993, January). Re- these students were randomly assigned to anexperimental group that port claims standardized tests do notmake the grade. Nall News Bulle- had access to a telecommunications networkthat allowed them to send their work via e-mail to an audience of readers, inthis case. students in a tin, p. 7. O'Connor, J.. & Brie. R. (1994). Mathematicsand science partnerships: college of education. The college students readthe students written work Products, people, performance and multimedia.The Covuting Teacher, sent via e-mail and respondedin a supportive fashion. The students in the control group had the same assignments asthe experimental group 22(0,27-30. Romberg, TA. & Wilson. L.D. (1992). Alignmentof tests with the stan- and had equal access to computers for writing,but they did not have ac- dards. Aritbme& Teacher 40(1), 18-22. cess to an audience via anetwork. Accomplished teach- The researchers were interested in whether the studentswith the dis- Sheingold, K.. & Hadley, M. (1990, September.) ers: Integrating computers intoclassroom practice. Center for Tech- tant audience would write longer,higher quality texts, whether their atti- nology in Education, Bank Street College ofEducation. tudes about writing would change, and whether therewould be any gen- der differences in writing when using the network. Threecollege writing instructors evaluated the students' writing by using a holisticwriting scale. Note: We welcome your assistance in locatingresearch related to teach- Ilich scorer read all texts, and the scores that occurred two outof three Please send or e-mail your suggestions es were used. Text length wascalculated, and students were given an ing and learning with technology. State University, Box 30001. Department attitude survey before and after the eight-week experiment to Dr. Karin Wiburg, New Mexico [email protected]. The experimental group had significantly higher scores onboth the 3CUR, Las Cruces, NM 88003;

134 BEST COPYAVAILABLE . Imnr en, PreparinganInstructional Lesson

Using Resources Offfhe Infernef

by DR. LAWRENCE A. TOMEI, Professor Duquesne University Pittsburgh, Pa.

Iake your students on a tour of the White . Top Five Questions About theHolocaust House. Observe the Solar System with- locating spe- www.ushmm.org/education/5quest.html out visiting the local planetarium. Anne Frank's Amsterdam House "Can't be done" you say? "Don't have cific web sifeswww.channels.nl/annefran.html the time or the funds?" is your response. The Children of the Holocaust Technology can provide the avenue for this has been 198.76.24.4/education/children.html exploration; actually, it can provide the The Cybrary of the Holocaust Information Superhighway. An adventurous made easier www.best.com/mddunn/cybrary spirit is the key prerequisite, along with a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum little help to take those first tentative steps with search www.ushmm.org/ in preparing a classroom lesson using the Bibliographic References. Lessons Internet. engines. This article describes the step-by-step should not 5e based on data obtained from a evolution of "Exploring the Holocaust on single source even if that source is as rich the World Wide Web," a highly successful as the Internet. Thevolumes of appropriate lesson presented to students from a local books, magazine articles and other reference high school Social Studies class. materials found during the online search appeared unlimited. II Step I: Design the Lesson Goals Other Materials. To augment the com- Lesson development begins by resolving puter-based presentation, other materials including a a specific Instructional Goalthat should be were added to the session, identified before "surfing" the Web. The videotape on the subject of racial discrimi- for Holocaust lesson began with the following nation, plus a Quick Reference Guide Netscape Navigator and a list of selected information: Web Sites, all suitable for expanded learning igy Subject Area: Social Studies Teacher's Name: Mr. Tim Plosnik opportunities outside formal classroom Grade Level: High School Juniors/ Seniors time. Length of Lesson: 3.2 hours Unit of Instruction: World War II and the II Step 3: Write Specific Learning st & Atrocities of War Ob jectives and Lesson Content le Specific Topic: Holocaust the Final Learning objectives generally contain tes three components: behavioral terms, situa- Solution . Mac tions or conditions under which thebehav- 8MB Instructional Goal: Promote understand- of per- ing of the Holocaust and its implications in ior is to be performed, and the level formance to be achieved. As an example, pt. of our lives today. SC, here are the Lesson Objectives, Content the 486; II Step 2: Conduct the Research Items, Procedures and Assignments for A Methodology for Searching Web Sites first objective in the Holocaust Exploration: Locating specific subject matter web sites has been made easier with search engines Objective I: Using a personal computer such as www.webcrawler.com. The key word and Web address list (condition), students will: navigate the Internet (behavior)locat- "holocaust" returned over 240 potential (crite- locations, such as: ing two specific educational Websites rion); explore selected sites (behavior)using Guidelines for Teaching About Holocaust and, locate, 198.76.24.4/education/guidelines.html two search engines (criterion); lOURNAL 93 t5:ECT NW/AVAILABLE 1 3 5 download, and print (behavior) selected Objective IV: After locating a given Web files from one site (criterion). iach studentsite, a student will review the information and analyze the images presented of the Content Item 1: Netscape Navigator Web is given fheirHolocaust to support or defend the thesis Browser that the Holocaust never happened. Procedures: Identify Uniform Resource own copy Objective V: Using Internet search Locators (URLs), home pages, book- engines, a student will locate at least three marks; of the additional sites pertaining to the Holocaust Demonstrate the primary window icons and select images, sound files and video (Back, Forward, Home, Print); workbook andclips of personal interest. Demonstrate use of links (Blue and Red) Assignment: None encouraged fo Step 4: Design Student Workbook Student workbooks contribute significant- Content Item 2: Internet sites of specific coopeliafivelyly to the learning process. The questions interest to Education posed in the Content Items, Procedures and Assignments portion of the Lesson Plan are Procedures: Locate specific colleges and engagefheir universities (www.duq.edu); compiled in the workbook to guide stuaents Locate Peterson's Catalog of felow through the lesson objectives. Critical com- Colleges/Universities (www.petersons.com) ponents of the student workbook included: Student Name. Self explanatory. Assignment: Students will visit a campus classmafes in of their choice (e.g., Notre Dame) Date of Internet Exploration. Self explanatory. Content Item 3: Internet search engines an ongoing Instructions. Each student is given their Procedure: Locate Web Crawler search own copy of the workbook and encouraged engine (www.webcrawler.com); discussion. to cooperatively engage their fellow class- Locate Excite search engine mates in an ongoing discussion as Internet (www.excite.com) exploration progresses. They are instructed, Assignment: Have students use search as a minimum, to visit the specific sites engines to locate subject areas (e.g., identified in the workbook. Problems should dinosaurs) be reported immediately to the teacher. Key Questions. Probing questions, along Content Item 4: Downloading selected with targeted Internet site addresses where files from the Internet answers to those questions could befound, Procedure: Locate map of Washington, were added to this section of the workbook. DC (sc94.ames1ab.gov/TOUR/tour.htm1) Microsoft Word (or any integrated word Assignment: Students will download and processor) can incorporate the images and maps of the Washington, D.C. area text found during the online research and produce a professional teaching product. An For brevity, look at the remainder of the outline approach for capturing student objectives used in the session. Content responses facilitated the onlineexploration Items, Procedures and Assignments have and promoted continued study. been omitted. Lesson Evaluation. The final question in Objective II: After locating a given Web the workbook provided an opportunity site, a student will review the information for a student to evaluate the lesson's and answer the questions: "Why did the effectiveness. Holocaust happen? What were the world events that permitted such an atrocity?" The III Step 5: Deliver the Lesson answer must contain information quoted Agenda. The length of a session will and referenced from the Web site and be depend on many of the usual factors: scope grammatically correct. of the material to be presented, manner of Objective III: After locating a given Web presentation, and available time (see (Figure site, a student will review the information 1 for a sample schedule). To present an and answer the questions: "What was the Internet lesson, class time should be true magnitude of the Holocaust? Were the increased to accommodate the commute Jews the only group targeted for extinction time to the location of the computers be by the Nazis?" The answer must contain that across the hall to the computer lab or information quoted and referenced from the across the city to an available Internet Web site and be grammatically correct. provider.

1 3 6 94SEPTEMBER 1996 BEST COPYMALWA Incidentals. Since this Step 7: Conduct was a field trip for the high Figure 1: Lesson Asenda Broken Down By lime Follow-up Activities school, appropriate Duquesne's parental signatures were '8:45am Bus Departs High School for Duquesne Univ Multimedia Classroom secured before the children : afforded the teacher departed campus. In addi- .9:3Oam BusArrivis Duquesne University additional opportuni- tion, a one-hour lunch t4'1..1-5.knkf Tf!. 9:40am.W.eloorne and Introduction to the Lesson ties apart from online period was built into the Internet access. In the schedule along with two .9:45am Navigating the Internet same teaching facility, breaks. With all the public- - ..1010am Break students viewed a ity surrounding "inappro- videotape entitled "The priate" sites on the 10:15am Why the Holocaust? Eye of the Storm" and Internet, the research con- TheNazi Party and Their Rise to Power discussed its theme of ducted prior to the presen- 7`. racial discrimination in 10:45am The Magnitude of the Holocaust tation of the lesson the United States. ensured that students were 11:15am The Images of the Holocaust Could the Holocaust not exposed to offensive happen again? Readers material. 11:40am Lunch are reminded that the Delivery Format. The 12:15pM Personal Exploration entire Internet-based lesson began with a formal Holocaust lesson was welcome to the School of 12:35pm Break merely one chapter in a Education. Students were 12:45pm Videotape "Eye of the Storm" semester-long and acquainted with diverse Social Studies Duquesne's Multimedia 1:00pmClosure and Certificate Presentation program. Classrooms and received . .:1:15pm BUs Departs Duquesne University instruction in the use of _ s-- --!:-.:ttrocl. their Power Macintosh 4'1'' 6100 multimedia systems, how to open and close files, and how to launch application ;programs. Lawrence Tomeiis the Director of Institutional Technology Microsoft Power Point software was used at the Center for Communications and Information Technology (CCIT),Duquesne UniversityAve., Pittsburgh, with an overhead projection system to deliv- Pa. E-mail:[email protected] er the lesson. Power Point offers three other acceptable forms of presentation: printed The complete package of "Exploring the Holocaust on the World Wide Web" is available either on diskette or copies of the slides, overhead transparencies a printed booklet from the author. The package and 35mm slides. Each of these formats sup- includes: an unabridged version of this article; example ports a pedagogically sound delivery format resource materials obtained from the Holocaust search; for K-12 presentations. a copy of the Student Workbook; complete set of Lesson Plans; a Quick Reference Guide for the Netscape World Wide Web Browser, a list of Selected 0Step 6: Evaluate Student Learning Educational Web Sites; and the 10-slide PowerPoint Proper evaluation of an Internet-based presentation for $20 (postage include). Send requests to: Dr. Lawrence A. Tomei, Duquesne University, 600 lesson is critical because of its fairly recent Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh PA 15282. Please specify IBM- adoption as a teaching methodology. The PC, Apple Macintosh, or printed Booklet format. student workbook provided ample opportunity for the teacher to evaluate student progress towards satisfying lesson objectives. On the last page of the workbook, students were asked to complete a question- naire describing their success with the new format. The teacher also conducted a quiz following the students' return to campus. A Certificate of Attendance was presented to each student. 3EST COPY AVAILABLE

137

1411. RONAL 95 puterEfficiency EASURING THE INSTRUCTIONALUSE OF TECHNOLOGY

By Christopher Moersch A local news station documenting the Use the instrument described inthis article to evaluate your current status of computers inthe schools recendy provided a provocative compari- computer efficiency in supportof concept-based and process- "haves" and son between the stereotyped learning, and the development "have nots:' At one school, parents, teach- based instruction, consequential ers, and students were viewed astrapped skills. with aging Apple Ire computers collect- of students' Hgher order thinking ing dust in some remote computer lab soning, solving real-world problems). The while their contemporaries on the other Assessment, "the most common uses of instrument is based primarily on my pre- side of the tracks were seen enjoying the technology today are the use of videos for vious work (Moersch, 1995) and my fruits of a recently passed bond levy that presenting information, the use of com- identification of specific levels of technol- had brought them new Power Macintosh puters for basic skillspractice at the framework computers with full AV capability con- elementary and middle school levels, and ogy implementation. A nected by an Ethernet network with the use of word processing and other gP- describing the levels of technology implementation (Loll) is given in Table 1. The unlimited access co the global Internet. nericprogramsfordeveloping LoTi framework categorizes six levels of The reality of the situation is that kids computer-specific skills in middle and computer efficiency, rangingfrom Non- are no better off in either an agingApple high schools" (O'Neil, 1995). use (Level 0) toRefinement (Level 6). He lab or a new Macintosh/Windows lab The often-cited reasons for tech- As a school site progresses from one if a fundamental shift has nor been made nology's meager performance are com- level to the next, a corresponding series in the way technology is being integrated mon to most educationalchange efforts: of changes to the instructional curricu- in the classroom. This shift involves re- inadequate staff development, lack of lum is observed. The instructional focus commissioning existing computers (yes, teacher preparation time, insufficient shifts from a teacher-centered to a even those old Apple lie,Macintosh SE/ equipment, and a basic lack of an overall learner-centered orientation. Table 2 30s, and IBM XTs) as data analysis cen- vision. shows three developmental levels and the ters, probeware stations,multimedia changes that occur in instructional prac- publishing oudets, and research kiosks to An Instrument for tices at each level as a school site changes prompt students to think, reason,make Measuring Technology Use informed decisions, and communicate Clearly, educational practitioners need its orientation. It should be noted that this approach information based on the available data. to embrace a newparadigm that positions to measuring computerefficiency de-em- A myriad of research and conceptual technology as a powerful catalyst in the phasizes the importance of (1) the brand, papers have documented themodest im- school reform process. To aid in this pro- type, or age of computers atthe school pact technology has madetoward altering cess, I have developed aninstrument that site; (2) the ratio of computers to stu- the prevailing curriculum design based on measures computerefficiency at the dents; and (3) che amount of funding subject matter and its emphasis on se- school sire level. The term computer effi- allocated for infrastructure (e.g., modems, quentialinstructionalmaterials, ciency is defined as the degree cowhich cable, networking configurations). In- traditional verbal activities, and exposi- computers are being used to support con- stead, primary emphasis is given to the tory teaching strategies(O'Neil, 1995; cept-based or process-based instruction, degree that technology is used to support Stoddard & Niederhauser, 1993;). Ac- consequential learning, and higher order classroom 0'; cording to the Office of Technology thinking skills (e.g., interpreting data, rea- a constructivist orientation to

Learning and Leading With Technology December/January 1996-97 138 BEST COPYAVAILABLE pedagogy based on the available hardware Table 1. The LoTi Framework and software at the school site. By using the Computer Efficiency Rating Chart on Le _Serfer7...... - a, 4 4.. ' :. ..4.r.i6 ...;..... trc "--1,.; ,'.. page 55, school districts can reexamine ' . - '. ...' '.4 0 4,1. -.., laCi8f 'keeni8teChnology ; 7 Of timeto their technology purchasing practices, ileCtiOnietechnOtocjy implementation: Existind. jeanoitigy is pre- staff development opportunities, and or- ,_itninatelytect-beseti (e.g., ditto sheets, challdtroaktoverread projector). ganization of the school day in light of a . 13M%Vtij.t..51;i:; warefiess z' :::_._,.._ ofOriiiiisters it gene;ally one iitziOr:.renicived friiiii-tti.e3elassroom much broader goalelevating the level of '- niiiilitiel. (e.g.; it occurs:1h integrated learning iiiiiiii'labiiiiiieCial com- A, . ,.:: --puter-based pull-out progranwcomputerliteraCYClassei;arel Central word technology implementation systemwide. ...,r,Cessing latis). Computer-based applications heivi little oinoreleyance .:,..,- .;-: - , ,-.- -:4- Individual teacher's instructional program.: '.: -----"4-! ' , '"4,-.-r, 2; 7 Two Real-World !Ogy7based tools tine eis a supplement (e.g; educationa I Computer Efficiency Audits mrs, to the existing iristructional program." Theelectronic Schools can use the Computer Effi- logy:is employed either for extension activities.or forenrichment ciency Rating Chart to conduct a .,-.-ommilsesto the instructional. program. technology audit using the computer ef- .:-Tedirkalogi-based tools including databases, spreadsheeti; graphing pack- Infusion . ficiency instrument. For example, the two !Nes; probes, calculators, multimedia apptications; desktoprpublishing, -Aid telecommunications augment selected instructional events(es, sci- schools identified in Tables 3 and 4 on ;eke kit experiments uaing spreadsheets or graPhs to analYzirestrits, tele- page 56Allendale Elementary School ..rtriununications activities involving data sharing among schools)::. and Evergreen Elementary Schoolre- 7 -;!-..71:-:',Z 4e Integration cendy completed the audit, allowing them (mechanical) Technology-based tools are mechanically integrated, providing a rich con- toassesstheir results in an objective, in- text for students' understanding of the pertinent concepts; themes, and processes: Heavy reliance is placed on prepaciaged materials and sequen-. formed way. tial charts that aid the teacher in the daily operation of the:instructional Allendale Elementary School is Curriculum. Technology (e.s, multimedia, telecommunications; databases, equippedwith a new Macintosh spreadsheets, word processing) is perceived as a tool to identify and solve authentic problems relating to an overall theme or concept computer lab complete with Internet hookup and a local area network (LAN) 4b Integratiori connected to the district's wide area (routine) Teachers can readily create integrated units with. little intervention. from outside resources. Technology-based tools are easily and routinely inte- network (WAN). Most of the compuzers Slated, providing a rich context for students' undestandingofthepertinent in the lab at Allendale are used as : concepts, themes, and processes. Technology (e.s., Multimedia;..telecom- workstations where students develop munications, databases, spreadsheets, word processing) is:Perceived as . a tool toidentify and sotve authentic problems relating toan overall theme/ their computer literacy (e.g., keyboarding) skills or as integrated learning system c9ncept. . , - (IL.S) terminals where they improve their 5 Exoansion Technology access is extended beyond the classroom' Classroom teach- cis actively elicit technology applications and networkins from business basic math and communication skills. In arteronses, government,' agencies (e.g., contacting NASA to establish a the classrooms, the computers are used link to an orbiting space shuttle through the Internet), research institutions, and unNersities to expand student experiences directed at problem mostly for activities (e.g., students playing issues resolution, and student activism surrounding 'a major theme or drill-and-practice games at the end of the 1:9ncePt class period, making simple movies using

6 Refinement Technology is perceived as a process, product: (e:s.,. nviiition, Patent, HyperStudio, and sending e-mail : new software design), and. tool for students to use in solving-authentic messages over che Internet). These Problems related to an identified real-world problem or issue..In this con- Wick technology provides a seamless medium for information-queries, activities supplement the teachers' problem solving, and product development. Students have ready access instructional curricula. Fifteen percent of to and a complete understanding of a vast array of technology-based tools the computers are nor used during the to accomplish any particular task. instructional day. At Evergreen Elementary School, a learning lab" is equipped with 10 Power Macintosh computers. The remaining . computers are distributed in classrooms throughout the school. The learning lab has full Internet capabilities and is used BEST COPY AVAILABLE exclusively for student informari.,-.

December/January 1996-97 Learning and Leading With Technology1111 139 For Tech Leaders computer technology will never occurif searches, "purposeful" multimedia pro- These points closely parallel rhe find- duction, and data analysis. In the ings from Becker's (1995) studyof purchase-order acquisitions of new hard- take classroom, teachers use their Apple IIe exemplary computer-using teachers. Us- ware and infrastructure items and 286 computers as data analysis and ing national survey data collected from precedence over quality staff development "probeware" stations where students teachers of academic subjects in grades 3 opportunities. The billions of educational dollars that have already been spent during gather, tabulate, and graph data for vari- 12, Becker identified roughly 5% (45 our rhe past 20 years on hardware ranging from ous instructional activities.They also use of 516 teachers) as being exemplary com- Commodore 64s ro Power Macintoshes ar- the computers co solve pertinent and rel- pucer-usingteachers.(Exemplary with any evant problems related to anunderlying compurer-using teachers were defined as rest to this fundamental fact. As change effort. our investment needs to be in theme or concept. educational practitioners who engaged teachers and nor exclusively in hardware. From this brief account of computer students in computer-based activities that The Computer Efficiency Rating Chart use at the two elementary schools,the fol- involved higher order thinking. These described in this article was designed to help lowing points emerge: activities included interpreting data, reasoning, writing, solving real-world educational practitioners bridge this gap be- 1. The level of computer efficiency is in- problems, and conducting scientific inves- tween computer acquisitionsand computer fluenced directly by how teachers are tigations.) Contrary to expectations, the use by providing valuablebaseline data for using computers to develop students' exemplary computer-using teachers a school's current computerefficiency pro- higher order thinking skills. Becker identified did nor disproportion- file. Such data can be instrumental in 2. Neither the age or type of computers ately reach classes of high-ability students, shaping future staff development interven- nor the level oftelecommunications nor were they over-representedin high tions that target elevated levels of technology infrastructure has an impact on the ef- socioeconomic communities. implementation. ficiency rating. 3. The differences in the socioeconomic What's the Solution? Christopher Moersch, National Business Edu- status of the two schools was not a Unfortunately, changing classroom prac- cation Alliance, P.O. Box 61, Corvallis, OR factor in the efficiency of their com- tices so that they unleash the potentialof 97333; [email protected] puter use.

Level 3 Level 1 Level2 Determined by the problem areas Organized by the content; Emphasis on science kits; Warning Materials under study; extensive and heavy reliance on textbook hands-on activities dKrersified resources and sequential instructional materials (e.g., AIMS, FOSS) Emphasis on student activism Traditional verbal actNities; Emphasis on student's active role; Learning Activities andissues; investigations and problem-solving activities problem-solving activities with little or no context; verification labs using resolutions; authentic hands-on science kits and related hands-on inquiry related to a problem experiences under investigation; focus on experiential learning

Facilitator; resource person Coleamer or facilitator Teaching Strategy Expository approach Multiple assessment strategies Traditional evaluation practices, Multiple assessment strategies, Evaluation integrated authentically throughout including multiple choice, short including performance tasks the unit andlinkedto the problem/ answer, and true/false questions and open-ended and problem- based questions theme/topic; portfolios, open- ended questions, self-analysis, and peer review

Expanded view of technology as a Computer-based drill-and-practice Technology integrated into isolated Technology process, product, and tool to find programs (e.g., traditional integrated hand-on experiences (e.g., the solutions to authentic problems, learning systems IlLS) computer games); tabulation and graphing of data to communicate results, and little connection between technology analyze a survey or experiment); retrieve information (e.g., use and overall theme or topic information searches using telecommunications use of spreadsheets, graphs, probes, databases, CD-ROM-based simulations, 140 and telecommunications) BEST COPYAVAILABLE Ell Learning and Leading With Technology December/January 1996-97 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) Educational Resources information Canter (ERIC) ERIC

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