[NOTE: The graphs that accompany the word-processed version of this 
report (available at http://www.cosn.org/EPIE.html) have been "translated"
in most cases into "ASCII art", but in one case into a purely textual 
rendition, because the figure was too complex to do any other way in 
ASCII text.  Graphs were translated by Stanton McCandlish, mech@eff.org.]


EPIE Institute




Creating Learning Communities:
Practical, Universal Networking
for Learning in Schools and Homes 

February 1996


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


A Report for School and Community 
 
Technology Planners 

and Policymakers 


 By

P. Kenneth Komoski                   
EPIE Institute                  
Project Director

W. Curtiss Priest
Center for Information, Technology & Society
Associate Project Director
                                 

Published by


The Educational Products Information Exchange (EPIE) Institute
Hampton Bays, New York


With Support From

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation




TABLE of CONTENTS


SECTION I	Introduction, Rationale and Overview Ñ Page 1


SECTION II	Achieving Practical Networking: "Do's, Don'ts, Maybe's and
Lessons"

	Creating Practical Networks within Schools, in Local Communities
(School-Home), and for Worldwide Connectivity Ñ Page 4

SECTION III	"Home Is Where the Time Is ... and the Payoff for
Improving School Learning" 

	Increasing the Quantity and Enhancing the Quality of At-home
Learning and Improving Parent-Teacher-Student Communication via
Equitable School-Home-Community Networking Ñ Page 72

SECTION IV	K-12 Networking Ñ Models and Benefits

	"Do the Benefits Justify the Costs?"   Modeling the Potential Impact
of Networking on the Development of a Learning Community Ñ Page 81


SECTION V	"An Achievable Vision" 

	Making Tomorrow Happen With Today's Technology Ñ Page 109

APPENDICES

	Appendix A - School-Home Computer Survey Form Ñ Page 122
	Appendix B - Bibliography Ñ Page 123

SURVEY RESULTS

	Community Networks Reaching Out to Schools Ñ Page 22
	Practical Networking Suggestions from CoSN ÑPage 63

Other Reports from Available from this Project:

	Priest (1995) Findings of the MacArthur Funded July 7th Workshop on
Cost-Effective K-12 School and School/Home Networking
	Priest & Risley (1995) Advances in Modelling School and School-Home
Networking
	Priest (1995) Results of Survey of Community Networking Activities
that Included Schools
	Priest (1995) Responses to Questionnaire Posted to the CoSNDisc
Discussion List on K-12 Networking
	Priest & Komoski (1995) Role for a Public Hand in Telecommunications
	Komoski (1995) Preventing the Virtual Ghetto: Electronic Equity via
Community Telecomputing

Project Partners:

EPIE Institute, 103-3 W. Montauk Highway, Hampton Bays, NY  11946.  Tel:
516-728-9100
Center for Information, Technology & Society, 466 Pleasant Street,
Melrose, MA  02176.  Tel: 617-662-4044

Sources and Acknowledgements



This report is based on information distilled from a wide range of
sources: the 670 print and electronic resources (referenced in Appendix
B), a workshop/conference attended by experts in school, community and
global networking (see Project Reports above), two online surveys of
schools and community-wide networks, and follow-up online and telephone
interviews with school technology coordinators, school administrators,
commercial vendors, networking specialists from schools, community
networks, businesses, universities and government agencies. 

All of the above generously shared their experiences, strategies,
techniques, criticisms, advice and vision about networking and its role
in enhancing in-school and at-home, community-wide learning.  We
gratefully acknowledge their individual and collective input which has
enabled us to base what follows on the realities faced by educational
networking advocates who are working within today's cost-cutting school
climate. 


We are particularly grateful for input from developers of nonprofit
grassroots community-wide networks and local educators and parents who
share a common vision of school-home connectivity as integral to the
development of learning communities.  We applaud all educators willing
to work with local community networks to achieve practical networking
economies and the benefits of school-home connectivity.  As such
cooperation becomes more common, learning communities of the sort
advocated in this report are likely to proliferate. 

We wish to express our gratitude to the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation for the generous support that has enabled the
Educational Products Information Exchange (EPIE) Institute to carry out
the work that has produced this report.  We particularly appreciate the
vision of Peter Gerber who encouraged us to undertake the work
accomplished with the aid of the Foundation's support.

SECTION I: Introduction

"We have access to grants, but we don't have access to communities" 
School Principal, Barry Vitcov, who is "...hoping to find money for an
Internet account for the school before the end of the academic year, but
he worries about the cost at a time when there are other concerns, like
fixing the school's roof which leaks during downpours." (The New York
Times, Jan. 29, 1996)


Introduction and Rationale 

This report appears at a time when most schools and their communities
are operating under increasing fiscal constraints.  This is underscored
by a recent federal (GAO, 1995) report alerting the nation to the eroded
physical condition of its public school infrastructure.  However, this
is also a time when national political and business leaders are urging
that by 2000 all the nation's classrooms and libraries be networked to
the National Information Infrastructure (NII). 

Ensuring networked connectivity of schools and libraries to the NII via
the Internet is seen as essential for preparing America's youth to share
in the anticipated educational, economic and social benefits of life in
the Information Age.  Yet many schools and communities may feel that
they are being asked to invest in a technology with unknown costs, and
largely undemonstrated benefits.  Others may feel that the goal, though
laudable, is impractical, given the constrains under which a their
schools are having to function. 

This report is designed to be a useful tool for those school and
community decisionmakers who may agree with the goal of networking, but
who are concerned about the practicality of achieving it for their
schools and communities.  The most obvious of these concerns are related
to technical, fiscal, and timetable decisions.  But other, ultimately
more important concerns relate to broader and deeper educational and
social dimensions and decisions.  

Among these concerns, there are two that are given particular emphasis
in this report: 

1.  How can networking be effectively used to strengthen and increase
(a) at-home learning for students, (b) parents' support of that learning
and (c) teachers' support of parents involvement in their children's
learning?

2.  How can at-home access to these networked benefits and enhancements
of at-home learning be accessible equitably to all students and parents
within all schools in a community?

The report attempts to relate specific fiscal and technical decisions to
such broader educational/social dimensions and decisions implicit in
these two emphases.  

We have tried to do this in ways that relate the networking of schools
to local and global opportunities to improve communication and learning
among teachers, parents and others who are major players within the
overall "learning ecology" within which students learn (Niebuhr, 1993;
Komoski, 1994).

Our goal is to help school and community decisionmakers develop
practical, equitable and sustainable telecommunication networks capable
of:

1.  Enhancing learning for all learners by contributing to the
development of local learning communities with school-wide,
community-wide/world-wide connectivity;

2.  Improving parent-teacher communication and cooperation via
school-home e-mail and/or voice mail communication networking and
supporting parents' interest in improving children's learning both at
home and in school via homework help, student progress reports,
home-school conferencing and access online learning resources;

3.  Encouraging students to devote significant amounts of out-of-school
time Ñ at home or at networked community learning centers in libraries
etc. Ñ engaging in computer mediated communication activities such as
information exploration, cooperative learning as well as through the use
of curriculum-related instructional resources;

4.  Involving the local community in positively supporting and
strengthening all elements of a community's overall "learning ecology"
(e.g., schools, libraries, families, peers, community centers, media,
neighborhood organizations, youth groups, health, social and civic
agencies, etc. (Niebuhr, 1993);

5.  Responding to the changing needs of learners, teachers, parents and
adapting to changing technologies and pedagogies;

6.  Being supportive of Ñ and being supported by Ñ the local community
as the infrastructure for an evolving learning community.

Answers to the many practical, technical, educational and fiscal
questions to be dealt with to achieve the outcomes implicit in the above
statements will seldom, if ever, be the same for any two schools and
their communities.  What is practical and affordable in one school
community may be judged not feasible by another.  What may be affordable
initially, because of an available grant, gift, or business partnership,
may prove otherwise once such funding has ended.  Some schools and
communities may be granted a "free launch" into cyberspace, but once
launched, is the momentum sustainable? 

The costs of sustaining the technology and ongoing staff development for
networked schools with local and global connectivity are largely
unknown.  Unfortunately,they will remain so until more experience is
gained and the results of that experience are accessible to schools and
communities, via the very networking capabilities addressed in this
report.  Nevertheless, this report is intended to be a practical, useful
work for those school technology planners and policy makers who agree
that the networking of schools and homes can facilitate the building of
learning communities in which equitable, universal access to electronic
learning can be achieved.

Through school-home networking there are those who envision (1) students
and their parents better understanding what curriculum goals students
are to achieve, and (2) students learning how to access the resources
they need to achieve both school's and their own personal goals.  Others
are questioning whether enough teachers are prepared to shift from
traditional chalk-talk-textbook instruction to mentoring, monitoring,
and verifying a student's understanding and progress as a result her/his
exploring and constructing knowledge via inquiry-based learning?  While
some teachers may be ready for such a transition, others are reticent. 
Some of their reticence may be justified, in that effective instruction,
no matter how it is mediated, always has educational value.  Thus, in
time, we feel that teachers and schools will find learner-appropriate
uses of both instruction and exploration learning (see EPIE/CITS Model
in Section IV of this report).

If and when the above-mentioned shift occurs in a particular school it
will depend on many factors.  Not the least of these is when and how
teachers, school administrators and school boards begin focusing on what
is going on around them in the overall learning ecology of the larger
local and global community of which schools are but a part.

The Dynamics of a Complex Undertaking

At whatever level school and community decisionmakers proceed with
networking, they are faced with a complex set of interrelated
educational, technical and fiscal decisions that are both difficult and
important.  They are particularly difficult because of four interacting
dynamics: 

1.  The dynamic of technological change, innovation and competing
networking solutions; 

2.  The dynamic interaction between new technologies of networking and
new approaches to teaching and learning, especially those emanating for
research in cognitive science and a tension between long-standing
pedagogy of teacher-directed instruction and an emergent pedagogy of
self-directed, knowledge construction and exploration learning; 

3.  The dynamic tension between the promise of the new networking
technologies and the many practical and fiscal questions that must be
answered with great specificity before that promise can be realized;

4.  The dynamic growth of computers and connectivity in the homes of
increasing numbers of students and the social tension resulting from the
absence of this technology in the homes of those who cannot afford it. 
Proposed solutions to this at-home access disparity are addressed.

In light of these four dynamics, the report is designed to be a useful
technical and educational resource of practical advice and information
on school/community networking, as well as a guide to other relevant
sources of help on a topic of great educational and social importance.

Overview of the Following Sections 

Strategies, suggestions, technologies and recommendations to consider
when addressing the four dynamics mentioned above are contained in
Sections II-V, as follows:

SECTION II deals with the "Do's and Don'ts" of creating affordable
in-school networks as well as school-home-local and global network
connectivity.

It describes issues and options related to developing practical,
affordable telecommunication networks that provide school-wide,
community-wide and world-wide connectivity.  It focuses on the "do's"
and "don'ts," the "hows," "whys," and lessons that can help schools and
their communities develop networks designed to enhance and extend
learning opportunities.  It emphasizes the importance of staff
development and the need for teachers, students and parents to have
ready access to information about relevant local, national and global
resources.  It also discusses the implications of newer technologies
such as wireless and DVD (Digital Video Disc) on networking.

SECTION III focuses on how networking technologies may be effectively
used to enhance student learning at home, and to improve parent-teacher
communication and cooperation focused on improving children's learning
at home and in school.  It describes:

-  The implications of the growing nationwide disparity between access
to computers in the homes of many students and in schools;

-  The capability of school-home networking to expand students' at-home
learning time and opportunities, and to facilitate parents' involvement
with their children's learning, homework and their communication with
teachers; 

-  The challenge of extending expanded at-home learning opportunities to
those students whose parents cannot afford a home computer.

SECTION IV examines more fully the purposes, promise, and benefits of
networking and telecommunications described in the first three sections.
 While acknowledging that the overall process of education defies simple
analysis, this section describes the directions in which networking
technology is capable of taking teaching and learning on the threshold
of a new century. This is done with reference to a multi-dimensional
dynamic model of K-12 Schooling and Networking and factors related to
learner effectiveness. 

SECTION V describes practical steps schools and communities can take
today with available networking technologies to develop an effective
learning community and to strengthen all aspects of the overall learning
ecology of school and community. In addition, practical strategies for
achieving equitable access to computers, connectivity, and training for
students and parents from low-income households are addressed.

SECTION II:  Achieving Practical Networking


I am not saying that a World Encyclopedia will in itself solve any
single one of the vast problems that must be solved if man is to escape
from his present dangers and distresses and enter upon a more hopeful
phase of history; what I am saying Ñ and saying with their utmost of
conviction Ñ is this, that without a World Encyclopedia to hold men's
minds together in something like a common interpretation of reality,
there is no hope whatsoever of anything but an accidental and transitory
alleviation of any of our world troubles.  As mankind is, so it will
remain, until it pulls its mind together.  And if it does not pull its
mind together then I do not see how it can help but decline.
H.G. Wells, World Brain, 1938, pp. 24-25


When this study was originally conceived, we imagined creating a matrix
of teaching objectives and comparing those objectives with networking
technology.  This goal was challenged in many ways:

-  Some proponents of networking technology are actually advocates of
technology-aided school reform.  How does one assess a moving target
where the objectives of curriculum are being challenged and changed by
the technology itself?

-  It became apparent that networking involved more than the conveyance
of information Ñ it involves communication, monitoring, and feedback. 
Out of this realization we expanded the scope of the project to include
motivational effects of networks such as feedback for improved student
self-esteem.

-  Schooling has traditionally been under local and state control.  This
complicates matters because each state and, often, each school district
defines its own curriculum objectives.  Different objectives imply the
need for different priorities among networking technologies and
networked resources.

-  Almost weekly there is yet another important technological
development that pertains to networking.  For example, we have been
tracking the developments of very high storage CD-ROM discs.  Called DVD
(digital video disc), these discs can contain nearly 20 gigabytes of
data, about 30 times the storage of current CD-ROM discs.  How does one
provide practical advice for K-12 schools when the relative costs of
local versus distant archival of knowledge can change so dramatically?

-  The costs of networking are also dependent on the Telecommunications
Act of 1996 which was passed by Congress on February 1st, 1996.  The
bill provides for affordable telecommunications for K-12 schools.  Yet
there is no guidance in the bill as to what determines affordability. 
The decision is left to State utility commissions and the FCC.  This
results in cost uncertainties about school costs for telecommunications
(see Rate Reduction tips below).

-  Some well regarded observers of education and educational technology
note that technologies that conform to how teachers teach in classrooms
are accepted, while those that provide other promises are consistently
rejected, decade after decade.  For example, it is often stated that the
blackboard and chalk has been one of the most pervasive technologies in
schools.  This raises the specter of digital network connections in
classrooms going unused.

-  In contrast, there are students and teachers building web pages in
cyberspace, some electronic portfolios are already available for both
employers and colleges to peruse, and some teachers are acceding their
control of the classroom.

-  There is not one network to consider but several.  There are existing
networks of people and practices. There are digital networks and there
are telephone networks (both within school and from home to school). 
And, there are video networks Ñ some for distance learning, some for
cable programming, and some for locally, but centrally, concentrated
resources such as VCR's.  There are proponents of a single network for
all these purposes pitted against the reality of network devices that
only work on cables designed specifically for those devices.

-  There are many players.  Media specialists bring one point of view,
librarians another, computer lab supervisors another, innovative
teachers another, Internet surfers another, and several thousand
software and content providers provide yet other points of view.  School
administrators determine the standards by which teachers are judged and
how funds can be spent.

-  Other respected observers note that the process of public schooling
is bound by several complex roles including "conserving cultural
values," encouraging creativity, acting as custodians, and credentialing
each student.  To these observers the relationship of networking
technology to all of these tasks is not clear.

-  Many teachers and students are eager for the excitement that
exploring the Internet brings inside the walls of schools.  Can learning
always be fun?

-  Roles of parents are in flux.  Parental involvement in every day
schooling has become technological more feasible.  Will enough parents
have the time and interest to make a difference in improving children's
learning?

-  The U.S. economy has entered a period of extremely high debt levels
at the personal, municipal, state and federal levels.  The federal
government hands off more welfare and health care activities to states
and localities, these demands will compete for scarce local funds. Yet,
despite these concerns many schools are eying bond issues to pay for
technology.

-  Eventual costs of telecommunications are largely unknown.  While the
costs of low volume traffic such as e-mail will remain trivial, the
costs of higher end applications such as video conferencing are yet to
be understood.  Also current congestion through many Internet providers
is paid for by waiting for responses causing some to say WWW stands for
"World Wide Wait."  What can schools expect for response times?

-  Most materials on the Internet are free of additional costs.  But the
development costs of high quality content, especially documentary
quality videos, are very expensive.  Schools do not know what charges
they will eventually see for networked resources when quality materials,
especially designed for teaching, are made available.

-  Large uncertainties exist around issues of digital copyrights. 
Industry has been quite vocal about protecting copyright and this will
restrict a school's ability to use these materials.  Legislation is in
preparation that looks especially onerous to users and educators' rights
under "Fair Use" may be abridged.  (Hearings on legislation are being
held as this chapter is being edited.)

-  In addition to many sources of uncertain costs and availability, the
value of networking is also vague and uncertain.  Already there are two
camps forming: 1.)  "Netniks" extoll the wonders of telecommunication
based projects as sources of "authentic learning" while, 2.) 
"Stollniks" (after Clifford Stoll, author of Silicon Snake Oil) fret
about the loss of real teachers and true hands-on learning experiences. 
As one of them put it, "Internet pictures of frogs are not real frogs
(Brown, Unplug, 1995)."

-  Many parents look to schools to provide highly structured,
disciplined environments.  Self-directed learning is low on their list
of priorities.

-  Many other parents do look to schools to provide opportunities for
independence and creativity, and welcome technologies that encourage
this.

-  In an era where 47% of today's jobs require computer experience
(McKinsey, 1995, p. 7) parents are encouraging students to gain this
experience.

-  But as noted in Section Three (Grunwald Associates, 1995) the
purchase of a home computer to aid a child's learning is now the
dominant driver of home computer purchases.  As also noted, home
purchases of computer software and Internet connectivity greatly exceed
purchases made by schools.  What role do public schools have in
redressing inequities in access between families that can afford these
tools and those that cannot?  And what role do states have to address
possible "pauper technology schools" Ñ similar to the state crusades
against pauper-schools such as occurred in Pennsylvania in 1834 and New
Jersey in 1838 (Cubberley, 1920).

-  Where does the time come from for teacher learning and adaptation? 
The recent National Education Commission on Time & Learning (Kane, 1994)
found teachers being asked to do more in an environment already time
deprived and "imprisoned" by time.

-  There is actually too much information, too many stories for any one
teacher to read.  Magazines, journals and books recount stories of
Internet projects, and networking examples.  The Internet, itself, is
increasingly populated by accounts of technology plans (e.g.
http://www2.msstate.edu:80/~lsa1/nctp) or school case studies (e.g.
http://www.ednet.apple.com or http://www.lloyd.com).  Yet there is too
little wisdom, perhaps because of the newness of the task before us.  In
reality many technology plans borrow from too few resources, fettered by
a limited access to counsel or expertise.

-  Where is the line between education and edutainment?  As parents we
witness how mesmerizing video games are to a child.  In recent months
several vendors have offered enhancements to MOO/MUD environments to
extend them towards places of virtual reality where students can become
virtual characters and interact with other students and fabricated
features of the environment.  Virtual online universities do exist (e.g.
Athena University, http://www.athena.edu) and very serious teaching and
learning takes place in these environments.  What is the relationship of
these virtual worlds to the world of the classroom, or to the
"classroom" of living in a community?

-  Where does the current technology for learning and collaboration lie
in relation to our educational technology needs?  The Web page, while
graphically alluring and more intuitive than earlier Internet tools, is
a morass of uneven, disjoint educational resources (Priest, 1995,
Primer).  Databases of quality and depth such as by Dialog, EPIC, and
Homework Helper are only available via the Internet for a fee (often
substantial).  And collaborative tools such as joint-authoring
softwares, web-based computer teleconferencing, threaded newsreaders,
and listserve exchanges are still at an awkward stage of development
where hours of interaction can produce little learning.  Information
"when needed, where needed, as needed" is still an elusive goal for the
developers of groupware and collaborative tools. (Perhaps one of the
most advanced so far is CSILE (in Means, 1995, p. 14).)

-  There is the Myth of the Online Expert and other resource fallacies. 
Some fortunate students have been privileged to partake in networking
experiences which have brought them in contact with scientists and other
experts.  In one study parents were reported to be envious of their
child's access to famous authors (Teles, 1991, p. 69).  We must
recognize that such opportunities cannot be common to all students. 
Some accounts of learning scenarios (in Fulton, 1995, and elsewhere)
promise unrealistic amounts of access to scarce resources.  Nonetheless,
we will have improved access to "secondary-experts" Ñ librarians and
teachers who specialize in particular knowledge areas and can be
contacted via networks.  And we certainly should continue to encourage
scientists and others to selectively identify blossoming student talent
that would benefit enormously from direct contact.

-  And the Everest Syndrome (Gallo, 1994, p. 17 Ñ "computers should be
implemented into the school curriculum 'because they are there.'" 
Indeed, when Honey (1993, Case Studies) identified the allure of the
Internet to teachers and students she used phrases such as "like an
ocean," "exploration, discovery, murkiness, mystery" and "uncharted
territory."  The thrill and challenge of such quests beckon many to the
Internet, but this exploratory call should not be equated with everyday
matters of curriculum and learning.

-  Some (e.g. Riel, 1995) depict significantly restructured schools
where teachers become just one of many resources at the tips of
student's fingers.  The description of this new kind of school is simply
vibrant.  No longer is there just teacher, but there are four levels Ñ
learning guides, entry teacher, mentor teacher, and master teacher. 
Made possible by the Charter movement, the students benefit from
Learning Centers built around themes, such as the "Ocean Center." 
Technological aids and tools are all about.

-  Stepping back, how readily will any one school system transform
itself into Riel's vision or something like it?  Will the Charter school
movement provide the necessary push?   Or will Charter schools stumble
as described in "Charter School's Hopes Collide With Reality (Avenoso,
1995)."

-  Will the business community be the impetus?  Will the National
Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee, along with Messrs. Gore
and Clinton provide a vision?  Will Richard Riley's leadership for
parental involvement and challenge grants to the states provide the
platform for change?  Will local superintendents and principals pave the
way?

It is in this bewildering torrent of complexities that this report
addresses practical school networking.  A common theme in the literature
is that there is no "one blueprint" for school networking.  Indeed, even
if everyone could agree on Ethernet vs token-ring, or CATV vs T-3
digital TV, the diversity of choices that relate to the specific
character of the state, localities, and personalities produces a myriad
of different choices for each school and each district.

There is no one right networking answer for all schools and communities.
 There are, however, a number of guidelines that help schools from
making mistakes.  We have distilled from the literature and from our
surveys and research a snapshot of do's and don'ts to serve as basic
guidelines for school and community technology planners.

Some of these suggestions are fundamental while others are relative.  An
illustration will help.  A fundamental do is "standardize."  Stick to
one type of wire, one type of LAN card, one brand of LAN card, one type
of PC, one brand of PC, etc.  Resist buying different brands at
different times because of changing prices or "close-out" sales.  You
standardize to reduce inefficiencies when you install equipment, when
you maintain equipment, and when you upgrade parts of the system.  The
few dollars savings on a "deal" is not worth the hours of aggravation
when a new "driver" is incompatible with an odd-ball PC.  If you are
going to encounter a conflict, you want the time to solve the conflict
to apply to all of your equipment.

Another do is to run more than one wire type when you wire a school. 
But this do is more relative to your circumstances and relative to when
you wire.  In the distant future one wire will suffice for all wiring
needs.  This single wire will provide electrical power, telephone
service, video service, and digital-network service.  Today, however,
each of these services have distinct and different wiring requirements. 
The cost of wiring is mostly the labor.  Category 3 wire is 4 cents a
foot, category 5 wire is 10 cents a foot, 1 fiber optic cable is 36
cents per foot, and 4 fiber optic cable is $1.02 a foot.

Technical aside:  there are many technical guides cited in our
bibliography.  The prices above are from MilesTek (1995) which is not
only a catalogue of wiring products but also contains wiring tips. The
choice of wiring relates to the speed of the signal passing through the
cable.  Category 3 wire is fine for telephone and can often serve for
digital data up to 10 Mbps (megabits per second).  Category 5 wire is
more common for data communications and can be used to about 100 Mbps. 
Fiber optic cable has an upward limit of 100 Gbps (gigabits per second)
(Chapman, 1995, Personal Computer).  CATV is often run using coaxial
cable RG-59U.  Digital data can also be run using RG58A/U or RG58C/U. 
Sometimes digital data is run over CATV, especially if there is CATV
cable already in place.  For affordable routers, terminations, and
interfaces the common practice today is 10 Mbps using Category 5 wire. 
While fiber cable, itself, is relatively inexpensive, the hardware
required to use its higher bandwidth is not.  (SAMS publishers sell a
guide Understanding Fiber Optics which contains 456 pages on all aspects
of fiber optics.)

If you decide that you do want telephone, CATV, and data in the near
future and the design of your school requires a high level of labor Ñ
say fifteen minutes per foot, at $45 per hour the labor-cost per foot is
$11.  In comparison, even 4 fiber optic cable is about 10% of the labor
cost.  In such as case you would seriously consider running fiber for
future use.  So running 4 cables at one time is often practical. (You
would leave the fiber unterminated as the cost of termination is
significant and the technology will improve over time).  If, however,
you have easily accessible conduits and can leave readily accessible
cords to pull fiber through in the future, then you might neglect fiber
now.  There is also the possibility that high speed transmission cable
(such as fiber) will change in the next ten years, but this doesn't
appear likely.

Also, one popular approach to wiring schools is with volunteer help. 
The temptation with volunteer help is to minimize all costs.  This can
mean that the coordinators are not thinking about multiple wiring needs.
 From a strict economic standpoint the labor cost is still the dominant
cost regardless of how it is provided (volunteer wiring of schools
simply is a contribution to the school in lieu of higher school taxes). 
Thus, rationally, the fullest complement of cables should be pulled. 
Nonetheless it is somewhat more difficult to pull multiple cables and
this additional burden may seem to be to much to ask of volunteers. 
(Often the volunteers have a "notion" that they are connecting their
school to the Internet, and the presence of other cables may feel
superfluous.)

Thus the pulling of multiple wires is a relative issue.  It depends on
many factors particular to each site, decisions about different
networking needs, and the source of labor.

Background on Networking

Networking choices for schools, for the many reasons outlined above, are
not been made with very clear objectives.  Rather, they are largely made
by imitating the low-end networking that businesses install.  This
occurs for three reasons.  Many schools work with a local networking
company.  Such companies have sprung up in every state and region. 
These companies spend their days networking businesses and have a good
idea of what connectivity seems to satisfy their business customers.  So
the first reason schools put in a certain level of networking comes from
the familiarity of these networking companies with "typical
installations."  (Some of these companies specialize in school networks
and have a better sensitivity to school needs.)  The second reason
schools tend to put in a certain level of networking is a result of the
current costs of equipment.  A 10 Mbps Ethernet card costs around
$30-$40.  Anything else costs more.  A 100 Mbps card costs a lot more. 
The same is true for the other components -- cabling, hubs, routers,
servers, etc.  The third reason is a little more idiosyncratic.  Video
teleconferencing via CuSeeMe (currently a slowly changing black and
white picture that occupies about 1/8 of the screen) is seen as a
benchmark for connectivity.  If you can't establish one such session,
you can't "show off" the network.  Anything more doesn't seem important,
yet.

Often there is already an existing MIS (Management Information System)
network in the district office of a school district.  This is most
likely a Novell network running an Ethernet LAN (Local Area Network). 
The purpose of this network is administrative.  It is actually the
"business end of the school."  In many schools there are labs running
ILS's (Instructional Learning Systems) and these use their own
proprietary networks (Sherry, EPIE Institute, 1990).  There are also
LAN's which permit schools to provide student computers which run
networked software.  And there are often small networks in libraries for
the purposes of sharing CD-ROM resources.

In our review of K-12 networking we found very little information about
how schools are combining and integrating these existing networks.  We
conducted a survey of members of the Consortium for School Networking,
selected networking companies and were able to find very little about
integration efforts.  Since many of the existing networks run Novell
Netware as their networking software we contacted a Novell SE (software
engineer) who discussed levels of integration.  

* Information passing along a digital network is comprised of data
packets.  A software program communicates to the network card via a
driver and/or stack.  The format of the packets is dependent on the
"protocol."  Novell has used IPX for a number of years.  The Internet
uses TCP/IP.  There are other protocols, e.g., DEC uses LAT.  There are
three popular hardwares associated with networks: Ethernet, token-ring,
and arcnet.  Ethernet is the most popular.  Token-ring is by IBM and
schools that want to standardize to IBM have stayed with token-ring. 
There are strengths and weaknesses of the three "architectures."  Apple
supports both Ethernet and localTalk.  LocalTalk (also called AppleTalk)
is popular because Macintoshes have been "network ready" for over ten
years by supporting the LocalTalk protocol which requires no extra
hardware to interconnect Macintoshes.  Many of the first school networks
were achieved using LocalTalk for the price of connectors.  LocalTalk,
however, is limited to 230.4 Kbps which is about 40 times slower than an
Ethernet at 10 Mbps.  (LocalTalk is somewhat slower than today's fastest
modems at 28.8 Kbps.)

Schools may integrate the different physical networks.  Both IPX and
TCP/IP packets can run simultaneously on the same Ethernet network. 
Bridges can be used to go between different network architectures, e.g.
a group of Macintoshes can be connected via LocalTalk to a bridge and
then onto an Ethernet.  For a school administrator to run, say Netscape
under Windows, there must be a second stack for TCP/IP in addition to
the IPX stack for Netware.  Alternatively the administrator can change
over from IPX to TCP/IP entirely using Netware IP.  For UNIX systems,
using Netware for NFS Services, both disk drives and printer
transparency can be achieved.  One third party vendor, FireFox, makes a
product that runs both IPX and TCP/IP as a single stack (saving memory
on the DOS machine).

More difficult to integrate are DOS (non-windows) based CD-ROM networks
in libraries.  McQueen (1990) reports on softwares that can be used to
provide telnet access to CD-ROM networks.  This permits students at
other telnet capable terminals to access these resources either from
within school or from home.  The number of simultaneous users in this
configuration, however, is very limited.  As libraries upgrade to
servers that can be placed on the Internet the technical problems of
remote access become easier.  Unfortunately there remain site license
problems since vendors of CD-ROM's do not wish the entire Internet to
access a disc licensed to one particular library.  Today there is no
effective way of determining the geographic location of someone on the
Internet.  While many domains can be matched with a geographical area,
domains such as aol.com and compuserve.com can be anywhere in the world.
 Access must then be confined using registration, ID's and passwords. 
An alternative is to require that a user have an account on a gateway
machine to the resource.  This is commonly employed by OCLC for access
to their FirstSearch databases.  Everyone who has an account on the
gateway machine (often a campus wide machine for students and faculty)
is site licensed to access FirstSearch.

Copyright and license problems will be an increasingly important factor,
and perhaps a major hurdle to affordable school networking (as discussed
above).

Networking using TCP/IP can be done quite frugally.  Since the protocol
has been the subject of research and development both inside and outside
of government and universities, there are many pieces of an Internet
network available for free or as shareware.

The choice of server is important.  UNIX servers are popular because
many of the first TCP/IP connections were among UNIX machines. 
Unfortunately many report that UNIX systems are pesky in terms of
administration.  The UNIX shell was originally developed with the
programmer in mind.  As a result UNIX never penetrated into businesses
and the same may be true for schools.  Nonetheless, there is an
excellent public domain UNIX operating system called Linux.  Linux is
available for both Intel based machines (the ones that often run DOS)
and for most other popular machines. (One consultant recommends the
Debian distribution of Linux over the Slackware version.  The same
consultant recommends Cyclades as a low-cost, multi-io card to run with
the system.)

Companies including BBN (1995) and Lloyd (1995) have entered the market
to provide Internet servers specially designed for schools.  Further,
Microsoft has announced they are working on a package of software tools
to facilitate school and home-school connections based on their NT
server (Microsoft, 1995).  The software tools will be donated to schools
to encourage them to adopt NT servers.  Microsoft also donates NT server
software to schools.

One of the features of the BBN server is a software component called
FrontDoorª which allows school staff to customize and administer the
server without having to access the server's underlying UNIX operating
system.  "This makes it easy for library and school staff to manage the
server Ñ regardless of their technical expertise." (BBN, 1995, Boston
Schools)

* Unlike other technologies such as photocopy machines, networks are
comprised of many separable pieces.  These pieces require a common
language and infrastructure to interconnect them, usually TCP/IP and
Ethernet, but the network can be comprised of many different machines
and architectures, even within a school district.  While the
standardization argument above encourages schools to adopt uniform
hardware and softwares across the district there are some good reasons
to break with this rule:

	1.  Administrative systems, such as MIS's will continue to have
network capabilities that cannot be attained via Internet tools.  For
example, client-server tools for accessing record databases may be only
available under certain operating systems and servers.

	2.  Library systems, especially catalogue systems, may be only
available under certain operating systems and servers.

	3.  For economic reasons parts of the network might be either:
	A.  Earlier DOS-based machines running DOS TCP/IP tools such as NCSA
telnet, University of Kansas DosLynx (web browser, Boutell, 1995),
University of Minnesota Minuet (graphical web browser, Boutell, 1995,
Gonsalez, 1995), or KA9Q, Phil Karn,'s TCP/IP DOS telnet program
(Horzepa, 1989, Karns, 1991, Snow, 1995)

	B.  Yet earlier machines that run public domain/shareware
telecommunications software to appear as VT-100's and be connected via
serial ports to a local terminal server (note: this is an excellent
solution to utilizing early Macintosh machines and Apple II's both
within schools and for connecting low-income, have-not, homes with
schools)  It provides these machines with text-based access to the
Internet and their local disk drives can be used to store e-mail and
other materials for students to work on with word processing tools that
run on the particular machine.  In particular, we have identified the
Coker Terminal Server software which can connect these machines to an
OS/2 server (OS/2 is an excellent multi-tasking operating system that
can run on a low-cost 386 or better PC).  The OS/2 server then connects
the terminals to a Linux Server with Internet access.  The terminal
server software is priced (including educational discount) as follows:

		Number of Lines	Price (U.S. dollars)
		4	$60
		8	$105
		16	$150
		32	$260

	Thus it would cost $8 per VT-100 machine to provide an Internet lab
of 32 machines.  Availability Russell John Coker,
rjc@snoopy.apana.org.au. (per e-mail, Priest, 1/7/96)  A single copy of
OS/2 for the server, at an educational discount, is $72.  Linux is
shareware.

4.  Inclusion of a Community BBS system to enhance home-school
connectivity.  To date the features of a BBS software such as Major One
by Galacticomm provides a better environment for community activities. 
These BBS's have been refined over a decade to provide features
including forums and local chat.  Nonetheless features of the Internet
are able to capture some of the flavor of a BBS by using local
newsgroups (and a news reader), IRC (chat), and interactive web pages
(forums).  Even major online services such as AOL (Internet World, 1995)
are conducting surveys to understand how they can provide a more "local
presence" to their users.  One major community BBS system, the National
Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN, 1994) Free-Nets, has been described
as "fraying" (Toronto Star, 1995).  With 50,000 active users the
Cleveland Free-Net's 75 public phone lines are "jammed day and night."
"Those who do get through often just use it as a local-call access to
Free-Nets in Buffalo or Tallahassee that are easier to use and have more
features.  And many have abandoned it in favor of the growing commercial
on-line Internet services. (Toronto Star, 1995)"

Fundamentally we are witnessing a struggle between maintaining a sense
of local community and the lure of "virtual communities" on the
Internet.  The LINCT Coalition (Komoski, 1995, LINCT) encourages local
community building efforts around a local BBS.  The LINCT program
includes volunteerism and encourages low-income families to earn donated
computers by learning to use them and by volunteering to help others in
the community.  An adaptation of the Time Dollar system (Burdick, 1994
and Cahn, 1994) called Community Service Credits is made an integral
part of the BBS.  For one hour of volunteer work anyone can earn 1 CSC
Credit.  LINCT is currently studying how its goals can be achieved using
Internet based tools to simulate the look and feel of a local BBS.

As discussed further in Section Five, the features of BBS's are becoming
more attainable using Internet tools.  We anticipate that within the
next couple of years the sense and feel of a BBS will be achieved using
Internet machines, causing many BBS's to become variant Internet
servers.  We are witnessing this transformation with Galacticomm's Major
One BBS.  Thus our advice is for schools and communities to work with
and link to existing BBS's.  For new efforts we suggest working with
Internet tools as described in Section Five.

5.  High School or community-center Computer Shop activities that permit
students to build "toaster nets" out of most any machines the shop can
obtain.  (Barry Kort describes the building of toaster nets Ñ a
collection of surplus machines tied together using public domain
software Ñ at the end of this Section.)  Recalling high school car shops
and A/V (audio-visual) clubs in schools, some schools are offering a
place where students can learn to take computers apart and put them back
together as part of a local network.  With the availability of LINUX,
the computer shop can take many common computers from IBM PC's to DEC
workstations and put environments on them such as MOO (Multidimensional
Object Orientations).  A MOO permits the creation of a virtual place
which can include features of a game, such as Dungeons and Dragons, or
of a learning environment with virtual classrooms, virtual slide
projectors, and places for students to assemble with online teachers. 
We suggest that one potential contribution of the U.S. Tech Corps could
be to help establish and advise such Computer Shops in schools and
community centers.

Authentic learning with computers involves the hands-on experience that
a computer shop provides a student.  It is this kind of experience that
will produce the next generation of engineers that this country needs if
it is to compete the global marketplace.

Working with donated computers and public domain softwares, students can
learn to "hack."  While the word hacker has gained some negative
connotation through association with unauthorized computer use, in the
computer world, being called a "computer hacker" is a compliment.  The
computer hacker goes beneath the surface of the computer and gets to
know it at its various levels of software interfaces.  The imagination
of a hacker should be recognized as a tribute to the inquiring mind that
is able to breach supposedly impenetrable software walls.  (School
administrators will be pleased to know that they can erect "firewalls"
to sensitive records, preventing breaches.  More anxious administrators
can insist on keeping administrative record systems (and their networks)
physically disconnected from other school networks and the Internet.)

Networking Models

Several studies have used "networking models" to help schools and
policy-makers make decisions about different "levels" of networking. 
The seminal work was by Newman (1992, Models) at BBN.  In his report
Newman sketches out the various ways in which schools were providing
connectivity including phone lines, local area networks, and various
forms of Internet connectivity.  While 1992 was not long ago, the ways
schools can achieve Internet connectivity have changed dramatically.  In
the late 80's and early 90's it was common for schools to connect
through a university.  But in the last couple of years various Internet
providers have offered affordable connections to both institutions and
homes.

In 1994, Warner (1994) and others developed a most useful extension of
Newman's work addressing the school decisionmaker.  One section shows an
overview of connection models features and benefits, and other sections
show how to extend existing networks to enhanced networks.

Also in 1994, Rothstein (1995) took Newman's models and extracted five
"cost models of K-12 Networking."  These were:

- Single PC in each schools, with modems (14.4), dial-up model, district
office with file server and 56 Kbps line to the Internet

- School with LAN and shared modem (14.4) to district office with file
server, LAN, Router, and 56 Kbps line to the Internet

- School with LAN, Router, and 56 Kbps line to the district office, and
district office with file server, LAN, router, and 56 Kbps line to the
Internet

-  School with LAN, file server, router and 56 Kbps line to the district
office, and district office with file server, LAN, router and 1.5 Mbps
(T-1) connection to the Internet

-  School with LAN, file server, router and 1.5 Mbps (T-1) connection to
the district office, and district office with file server, LAN, router,
and 1.5 Mbps (T-1) connection to the Internet

Rothstein computed a low and high cost of establishing and maintaining
each model for the all public schools expressed as a total and as a cost
per student.  For the last model the total U.S. one-time cost ranged
from $51 billion to $113 billion, and the annual costs ranged from $4
billion to $10 billion.

In 1995, McKinsey used an alternative "model of infrastructure
deployment."  They describe 4 models:

- Single room school Lab with 25 computers, Ethernet LAN in the lab and
10 telephone lines

- The above plus a computer and modem per teacher

- Partial Classroom model where half the classrooms have 1 computer per
5 students, Ethernet LAN across and within all classrooms, and a T-1
connection (1.5 Mbps)

- Classroom model with all above plus in all classrooms 1 computer per 5
students

The total U.S. cost for the last model is $47 billion with an annual
maintenance/operating cost of $14 billion.

McKinsey also presents the costs as a percentage of K-12 spending in a
year.  This is expressed as a percentage of "Public K-12 Spending in the
Final Year."  They take the deployment period (5 years for the first 3
models, and 10 years for the last), annualize the capital expenditures,
and add the operating/maintenance expense in the last year.  Since the
operating expenses are highest in the last year of deployment, this
figure represents a peak annual budget load.  For the 4 models, this
percentage is 1.5, 3.0, 3.4, and 3.9 respectively.  Also, the average
total cost of the fourth model, per school, is shown as $555,000 with an
average annual cost of $165,000, and the average total cost of the
fourth model, per student, is shown as $965 with an average annual cost
of $275.


Missing from these Models

Implicit in these models is a series of machines that are connected to
the Internet.  What these models do not show is any relationship to
other forms of teaching resources be they video tape, educational
software program, or local access to DVD CD-ROM material.

There is the sense that whatever is provided via the network will come
via telecommunications and from the outside.

We question this assumption for the following reasons:

- One of the "benefits" expressed about the Internet is that it is
always changing Ñ there is always new information.  We question whether
teachers want their curriculum materials to be "always changing" on
them.  While exploring the Internet can be a facet of education,
teachers and learners will also require resources that are more like
books Ñ stable, organized, and reliably available.

- As mentioned above, we are on verge of a dramatic increase in the
local storage of digital materials Ñ the 9/18 gigabyte DVD CD-ROM.  Ten
of these disks (at an estimated production cost of  $1.00 each) will
contain most of the materials residing on the Internet that any teacher
may wish to use.  The players for these disks are priced around $500 in
the first year of production.  A $700 carousel player containing 100
such disks would provide access to 1,800 gigabytes of material.  At 30K
bytes per jpeg image, this could contain 1,600,000,000 images.  If a
teacher decided to selectively view 1/10th of all these images for 1
minute each the task would take 270,000 hours looking at images or or
almost 200 years based on a standard school day.

There would be enough space for text material to keep students reading
for centuries.  Only as we might wish to provide full motion video does
this archive start to look small.  But even for all the video resources
one school might require this mechanism may be the most cost-effective
over the next decade.

- Steven Hodas and Gary Warren of NASA have demonstrated (Hodas &
Warren, 1995) their HorizonNet system for lower-cost school and
community networking in which they place a large caching disk on the
Internet server.  In the Yorktown Elementary School Demonstration the
cache fulfilled 92% of the information requests by students without
reaccessing the Internet.  This greatly reduced the need for high-speed
Internet access.

- If we combine the CD-ROM technology above with the NASA caching system
the resulting load on the Internet by all U.S. schools and libraries
would be almost nil.  A DVD archive could be established to respond to
the same URL codes constructed as Universal Resource Locators.  Thus,
instead of using megabytes of telecommunications resources to access
NASA photographs, the photographs would be pulled from the DVD archive. 
Already there is software that scans popular sites and alerts users to
updated materials.  This same software would ensure that any recent
additions to a site would be recognized and provided via the Internet. 
(Already very popular sites on the Internet must be "mirrored" because
of congestion.  DVD archives would simply extend the concept of
"mirroring" to the district level.)

EPIE Institute/CITS Networking Model of Resource Access

In developing the following resource access model we draw from the
insights of Larry Cuban (1995) and Margaret Riel (1995) presented at the
Office of Technology Assessment Technology Futures Workshop (Fulton,
Futures, 1995).

Cuban observed that elementary school teaching is much different than
high school teaching.  He notes that in many ways high school teaching
is modelled on college teaching.  He further comments that people aren't
running about asking why there are not computers in college classrooms!

The common pedagogy of high school, as of college, revolves about an
ongoing exchange of knowledge, ideas and questions between teacher and
students.  The technologies that fit that culture are those that provide
the teacher with the ability to illustrate, present, and explain
content.

In contrast, elementary school activities tend to be more fluid and
students often break into groups for various activities.  Cuban, thus,
suggests that the exploratory aspects of network computing will be
assimilated in elementary schools and rejected in high schools. 
Depending on teaching styles of individual teachers, middle schools will
tend one way or the other.

Consequently we see educational technology dividing into two broad
categories:

- High-end presentation machines that can draw on networked educational
software, CD-ROM, and the Internet in conducting teacher/class
interactive presentations.  The computer would have both high capacity
CD-ROM player, access to a local area network and school CD-ROM/Video
archive, access to the Internet, and high-quality projection
capabilities (Color LCD projectors or large high definition monitors).

- Exploration machines.  Ideally these should be high-end PC's, but,
depending on a schools budget, these could be donated older machines
with text web browsers, or the forthcoming HollowPC (new, low cost
machines primarily intended for looking at materials on networks). 
These machines would have wordprocessing capabilities, etc., but no disk
drives Ñ all materials would be stored more economically and safely on
the server.  ("Oracle plans to ship its first Internet PC in March:
Oracle Corp. is putting the finishing touches on its first Internet PC,
which it says will ship in March, and is working with Acorn Computer
Group on a second version.  The new device will meet the $500 price
goal, but will come without a monitor.  Instead, consumers will use
cable to hook it up to their television sets or PCs.  The manufacturing
cost, according to Oracle's VP of network computing, is under $200 Ñ
$100 for four megabytes of RAM, $30 for an ARM 7500 microprocessor, and
the rest for the keyboard, mouse and network connections (Wall Street
Journal, Jan. 11, 1996, p. B2).)

In most school districts (given Cuban's analysis) we would expect to
find the high-end, presentation machines most frequently opted for by
teachers in high school with exploration machines either outside the
classroom Ñ in convenient areas where students could access them and/or
at home where they have the time to make use of them.

We would also find the exploration machines in the classrooms of
elementary schools where students would be engaged in multiple
activities using them, either alone or in groups.  The teacher would
move about more as a coach and guide as in the scenarios described by
Margaret Riel (1995).

Further, we expect that facilities such as SmartSystem (Dukane, 1995)
will flourish in proportion to the relative costs of providing
resources, physically, in the classroom, via media server within the
school or school district, and via the Internet.  SmartSystem involves a
high quality monitor in the classroom with a remote-control; the
materials being called upon are located at a central room and the
facilities include VCR tape machines, CD-ROM's, and other media players.
 In this era, the video material is still provided via coaxial cable
using analog CATV.  In the next decade we see those installations giving
way to digital high-definition monitors and video digital data
transport.

* While most of college/university teaching occurs as Cuban describes,
there are various "distance learning" approaches that have succeeded. 
Some are conducted "asynchronously" using various computer
teleconferencing softwares.  Others use video links with audio return
links.  Another successful approach has been by Athena University
(described above) where a "virtual classroom" is created using the MOO
environment tool.  MOO enhancements can provide the user with a
"graphical appearing" classroom environment where a class room appears
on the screen and the members of the class "appear" on the computer
screen.  A related use of computers in a "teacher centric" classroom is
a system by Discourse Technologies (Discourse, 1995).  Students are
given small LCD display keyboards at their desks and the teacher has a
computer monitor that shows what each student is typing on a single line
of the monitor Ñ one line per student.  The teacher can glance across
the rows and know how active each student is and what they are "saying."
[A video tape is available called "Teachers See the Difference Not the
Technology."]

What is the relationship of these systems to both high school and
college/university teaching?  Will "virtual universities" put
traditional universities out of business?  The answer is not clear.  We
do know that many colleges and universities are scrambling to improve
their "distance learning" capabilities.]

In Addition

We also see an increasing use of telephone networks both within schools
and between schools and homes.  In our review of practical networks Ñ
actually in use Ñ we found many schools opting for telephone and
voice-mail systems.  In a U.S. Department of Education funded study,
Priest (1973) found that lower income parents in Albuquerque, NM had as
their highest goals for their high school children, better communication
among teachers, students and themselves.  In the Benefits Section (IV)
of this report we examine three dimensions of the effectiveness of
networks.  While voice-telephone does not provide a conduit for learning
resources, it rates highly along an inspirational (affective) dimension
and a discipline/monitoring dimension (see, further, Section Four).

With voice-mail, teachers are better able to receive and send messages
both within the school and outside.  The literature is filled with
disparaging remarks about the lack of telephones in classrooms,
describing teachers waiting in line for pay telephones with students.

The potential trade offs and complementarities between voice-mail and
e-mail systems is still unknown (an e-mail network provides better
access to learning resources).  While some parents have regular access
to e-mail through their work or through online services, most do not.  A
recent Rand study (Anderson, 1995) recommends universal e-mail access. 
Telephones are a convenient device; requiring little time to access and
use.  In contrast, computers have start-up time, connection time, etc. 
While services such as ISDN promise connection times of less than a
second, the rates by the Baby Bells have been too high for all but the
most serious Internet user (e.g. USWest proposed flat rate ISDN
residential service of $184/month, tap-info@essential.org, 12/27/95, see
rates below).

Community Expanded Model

Figure A illustrates one of many possible community-expanded models. 
Within this model, the school networks are part of a larger set of
networks serving the community.  In this illustration, the base of the
community server is in a local library.  In other communities it could
be an extension of the school server or an extension of an online
service providing "local presence."

When we recognize that government services, including social services,
are intimately entwined with families and schools, the possibilities for
using a local community network to strengthen the community's overall
"learning ecology" is enormous.  Networking promises to bring parents,
teachers, children, and social services together in responsive and
responsible ways not before achievable (Niebuhr, 1994).  Cook (1995),
however, warns us of how the government services of Washington State
have taken on a darker side as services become intrusive rather than
helpful.  Clearly technology cannot be simply applied without an
underlying model of conduct that respects privacy, acts responsibly, and
actually increases the well-being of the community.

One promising approach promoted by the LINCT Coalition (described above)
rewards members of the community for helping others.  When a community
is comprised of active, involved, concerned citizens, the responsive,
responsible community model becomes far more achievable.



FIGURE A: GUIDING INFRASTRUCTURE MODEL

[text version based on graphic in original document]

INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENT/USER             INTERCONNECTED WITH...

Library terminal                                Hub, and
                                        Local CD-ROM resources
Homes (Parents & children)                        Hub
Teachers (at home)                                Hub
Hub: Community Communication Server   Library terminals, homes
   and Bulleting Board                (parents, children, teachers)
                                       local CD-ROM resources, and
                                           telephone network
Local CD-ROM resources                 Local learning coordinator
                                      database, library terminals,
                                               Hub, LAN
Telephone network                              Hub, LAN
LAN (Local Area Network)             Telephone network, Internet
                                Local learning coordinator database,
                              classrooms, local CD-ROM resources,
                            State databases, State network resources
                               and Regional resources
Local learning coordinator database        LAN, LAB, ILS, Internet
                                   resources, Local CD-ROM resources
                            Stand-alone software, Regional resources
                          State network resources, State curriculum,
                                    and State datbases
LAB                              Local learning coordinator database
Classrooms                                     LAN
ILS                              Local learning coordinator database
Internet resources          LAN, local learning coordinator database
Stand-alone software             Local learning coordinator database
Regional resources          LAN, Local learning coordinator database
State network resources     LAN, Local learning coordinator database
State curriculum                 Local learning coordinator database
State Databases             LAN, Local learning coordinator database
   (e.g. NY State Gateway Jobs)

Note: An important distinction between data flows and information
flows is made.  Except as indicated below, all interconnections
indicate two-way data flows.  When people are designing networks, it
is the flow of data that is commonly thought about and planned for.
These flows are TELECOMMUNICATIONS FLOWS.

However, more important is the information flow about the 
relationships among learning resources and ways to permit users to
identify learning resources in relation to their learning needs.  It is
these flows that are the heard of our Challenge Grant proposal.
These flows are CURRICULUM-RESOURCE MAPPING FLOWS.

The latter, informational, flows are one way. The relationship between
the Local learning coordinator database and all the resources linked to
it is a one-way (FROM the other resources, TO the LLCD) relationship,
with the sole exception of the LAN (the relationship is present, but
there is ALSO a two-way data flow, as the LLCD is on the LAN).  All
other relationships in the chart, to reiterate, are two-way data
(telecom) flows.

Final note: 1) Web pages, or 2) Search enging for resource search and
alignment may be sited either at school admin. or on Community Resource
server.


[end Figure A.]



Do's and Don'ts of School Networking Ñ Tips

By this point it should be clear that the do's and don'ts relate to any
number of different models of networking.  Thus these guidelines imply
value judgements as well as network configurations.

Some of the tips found in the literature are conflicting.  For example,
some practitioners have found e-mail to pen pals to provide a way of
introducing students to the Internet.  Others disparage pen pal e-mails
as ineffectual and too unstructured to be helpful.  Actually, there are
elements of truth in both positions.

The tips are organized alphabetically by keyword.  The bibliography of
this report has nearly 4,000 keywords assigned to 670 references.  [A
future EPIE/CITS activity is to make these references available for web
browsing by keyword.]

The tips fall into 6 categories and are labeled: _ Project, ) Hardware,
Z Software, * Administration , C Environment, L Resources.  We provide
these categories as a legend in the footer of this part of the report. 
Project {_} related tips pertain to organizing and maintaining network
conversations or communications.  They are often "collaborative
projects."  Hardware {)} and software {Z} tips address the mechanics of
networking.  Tips regarding how to organize people or what people need
to be organized fall under Administration {*}.  Tips relating to the
atmosphere or ambience are labeled Environment{C}.  Finally, connections
to learning resources are labeled Resources{L}. 

_  (Do have an) Active Curator (Bull, 1994, p. 241)

In the area of computer teleconferencing and forums, active
participation depends on a facilitator or "curator."

"Research indicates that is not simply the organizational structure of
the menu but the presence of an active curator that results in active
use of instructional resources."  "The curator can identify and bring
resources to the forum and provide suggestions and ideas for ways of
integrating these resources into the ongoing curriculum."

Lesson: In constructing any forum-like discussion for learning, be
prepared to have an alert, talented individual massage content, prompt
members (of the forum) for responses, and ensure that the discussion
does not ramble.

)Z  (Use) Adequate State-of-the-Art Hardware and Software (Addessio,
1994)

Many uses of the computer are more user-friendly as hardware has
advanced and software has taken advantage of those advances, such as in
graphical interfaces.

We provide two caveats.  This statement came from a project where the
Los Alamos National Laboratory put technology into the Los Alamos Middle
School.  In such projects a school may become the recipient of a level
of technology that it would otherwise not be able to afford, thus
providing an unrealistic, non-scaleable situation.  Second, we note the
advances, described above, in making older machines into exploration
machines. (The exploration machines may be used to explore the CD-ROM
carousel, the cached Internet materials, or the Internet directly, as
described above.)

Lesson:  It may seem that there is an endless progression of computer
improvements and software advances.  According to "Moore's Law," the
density of computer chips quadruples every three years.  This is
expected to continue until the year 2000 (Kozma, 1995, p. 20).  Meindl's
projections are less optimistic, with the density of chips growing at 20
to 35 per cent through the year 2111 (Kozoma, 1995, p. 20).

Computers even today are overpowered for most of their uses such as
e-mail or wordprocessing.  Only in areas such as complex graphics and
artificial intelligence are even today's machines inadequate.

If the price difference is relatively small, always buy the more
"powerful" machine.  Someone will eventually develop an application to
push it to its limit.  However, 32 bit machines with 8-12 megabytes of
memory will meet many needs for a good while.  Even in the past when
"price was no object" there was seldom built a machine past 64 bits.

- A 32 bit machine means that the arithmetic registers and, usually, the
bus (connections) to the processor are comprised of 32 parallel bits. 
The width of the registers determines the complexity of instructions
that can be performed and the width of the bus determines the speed at
which data bits can enter and leave the processor.  The IBM XT was was
an 8 bit processor with a 16 bit bus.  The Apple II was an 8 bit
processor and 8 bit bus.  Most machines today are 32 bits except DEC's
Alpha and some of the new game computers for kids (64 bits).

Lesson:  Buy the most powerful machines you can afford unless you are
certain their use will not require that power.  Remember, even the
earliest PC is more than adequate for word processing and as an
exploration machine. (For example, this section is being written on a 16
bit Macintosh built in 1984.  With Versaterm's Versatilities program
(priced at $40 for educational buyers) this machine is connected to the
Internet running telnet as the client.  With telnet any text-based
Internet tool from a server can be operated including a text web
browser, [Synergy Software, 1995].  In conversation with Paul Reese (a
pioneer with Macintoshes in the classroom, COSN List, 1/11/96) we
learned that he is using Mac Plus computers running System 6.5 which
will run Mac TCP providing the full range of Internet tools including
Eudora mail and Mosaic web browser (there are many Macs that cannot be
upgraded to System 7 out of memory limitations).  Reese uses a TribeStar
bridge to interconnect the LocalTalk network with an Ethernet network. 
He also uses LCIII on the LocalTalk part of the network which run
Netscape.  "The Tribestar was designed to break a localTalk network into
8 separate sections and therefore reduce packet collisions.  It works
very well doing that but has also worked nicely giving TCP to my older
computers.  It is a nice way to speed up a LocalTalk network without
having to invest in Ethertalk cards and wiring." (Mac TCP is not
shareware and many introductory kits provide a copy in the $20-$30
range.)

Comparable telnet capabilities can be achieved on even an 8 bit DOS
machine by running Columbia Kermit (shareware) which provides the
machine, again, with telnet capabilities using a $30 Ethernet card on
the machine [da Cruz, 1995].  And full graphical web browsing can be
achieved on the 8 bit DOS machine using Minuet (shareware) [Gonzales,
1995]).

_  (Be sensitive to) Adjust the Pace (Kimball, 1995)

This pertains to an electronic conference or forum (as above).

When students participate in a conference at different frequencies, they
can become lost if material appears to go by too fast.  "One way to even
out the 'rolling present' is to provide cues that let participants know
which items are hot and active.  You can put this information in an
information file or in the first conference message, or you can send out
periodic e-mail updates (p. 56)."

Lesson:  Asynchronous communication (the ability for people to access an
on-going discussion at different times) is useful but can lose members
who get out of "synch."  One activity of the facilitator is to help
stragglers rejoin the discussion.

*  (Gain) Administration Involvement (Lipman, 1994)

A lone, dedicated teacher can only do so much without a committed
administration and a source of funds.  School-wide systems must have the
full backing of the school administration (and the school board).

Lesson:  Each school and school district is comprised of a unique set of
actors.  While there may be consensus about the networking plan or
changes needed in a current plan, there it may be necessary to shuffle
staff or to hire someone from the outside to get things rolling.

C  (Provide) Ample Time (Peha, 1995)

As the National Education Commission on Time & Learning (Kane, 1994)
emphatically notes, schools run short on time.  Yet networking projects
require time for orientation and time to carry on.

Lesson:  Embark on a student networking project only if you can provide
ample time for it to succeed.

C  Be Organized (Walker, 1995)

"Make a flow chart so students can see how the parts relate to the whole
and so they can understand how their contributions fit in.  For example,
in our weather project, students took daily instrument readings.  Then,
using spreadsheets, they created forecasts to produce long range
studies...(p. 32)"

Lesson:  The Internet is an interesting place to explore but as the
teacher tries to put an Internet project in the context of the
curriculum, the relationship of the Internet activities to a workplan is
essential.

C  Be Realistic (Walker, 1995)

"In planning an effective Internet project, it's important to keep your
feet on the ground.  That is why we chose Grade 6 meteorology as the
basis for our project.  It offered the potential to do real hands-on
field scientific observation.  Yet, it did not require expensive
instruments. (p. 32)"

Lesson:  It is one thing to find data on the Internet and another to
incorporate it into a project that requires that students accomplish
tasks to learn something.

_   Brainstorm Your Project (Walker, 1995)

Lesson: In running an Internet-based project engage others in the school
such as the librarian and a vice principal to think through the project,
break it into manageable sub tasks, and provide a showcase (a "Weather
Wall" for the library) for the results (p. 32).

)  Build New Schools with Networking in Mind (Bryne, 1990)

Lesson:  While existing schools can be very difficult to wire or provide
electrical power for computers, there is no excuse for a new building to
lack adequate conduits, wall plates, and electrical outlets.  (And as
discussed above, run cable for telephone, CATV, category 5 wiring, and
fiber for the future).

)  Cable Plant Standardization (West Ottawa, 1991)

New buildings are not the only places to concentrate cable
standardization efforts.  "Standard raceways of cable trays in the halls
and conduits to each room must be installed during the construction to
facilitate installation, maintenance and evolution of the communications
cable plant in the schools."  "Cabling designed to carry voice, data and
video communications must be installed to every room.  Additionally,
four strands of fiber optic cable will be installed to each room for
future use.(p. 9)"

"Currently fiber optics provides a cost effective solution for
building-to-building communications and backbone installations in larger
facilities.  For this reason, the fiber to the room in each school won't
be used except in a few select cases but it will be available for the
future as the cost of the electronics continues to come down.  In the
larger facilities, such as the high school and the middle school, fiber
will be used in the backbone networks in those buildings. (p. 9)"

Lesson:  As shown above, the labor component of cabling is the dominant
cost.  Wire for the future.

L  (Use) CD-ROM's for Research (Guerette, 1994)

As suggested elsewhere, CD-ROM's as learning resources will be a vital
way for schools to provide students with tools for research.  In this
reference "New Brunswick Leads in Network Technology," the district has
implemented advanced uses of CD-ROM's.

Lesson:  Reduce reliance on telecommunications and improve stability of
resources by using CD-ROM based resources.

C  (Use) CD-ROM to Maintain Acceptable Use (EPIE/CITS)

The new DVD CD-ROM not only has the capacity to hold all school-relevant
text and image resources from the Internet but it also passes through an
editorial stage where content is carefully chosen.

Lesson:  Our first amendment for free speech is likely to make the
Internet contain more materials than individual parents or school
systems will want to provide access to.  While there are software
approaches to "blocking" specific information, these approaches are
difficult to implement.  The DVD will provide the ability to chose
content, provide stability in retrieval, and reduce telecommunication
costs.

)  (Use) Central Pool of Modems for Home Connections (California Guide,
1994)

The California Guide is one of the most comprehensive compendiums of
information for K-12 networking.

Lesson:  Maintaining dial-up connections is expensive and requires
effort.  The California Guide recommends placing dial-up connections for
home access in a central pool.  (As an alternative the school might
consider buying a block of accounts from an Internet Provider.)

C   (Recognize that) Change Takes Time (Carlitz, 1994)

Section IV describes how much of teacher training is, in actuality, a
process of changing modes of instruction.  From the perspective of
introducing networking, this process change takes time.

Lesson: Introducing networking has more to do with changing how teachers
teach, than it has to do with learning to use a technology.  It is for
this reason that studies find the dominant "costs" of introducing a
network relate to "professional development" rather than the costs of
the physical network.  Whether these should be called "costs" is
discussed in Section IV.

*  (Networking is actually) Changing Teacher Practice (Means, 1995)

One of the most comprehensive reports about the relationship between
technology and change is Technology's Role in Education Reform sponsored
the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI).

"Placing technology in classrooms does not ensure that it will get used
appropriately, or even that it will get used at all.  Many of use have
visited classrooms with one or two computers in the back covered with a
plastic cover that is rarely removed.  The reformer's vision of 
project-center classrooms with students using technology tools makes
extensive demands on teachers.  Teachers are expected to orchestrate a
classroom in which students pursue different questions, work at
different speeds, use different materials, and work in flexible groups. 
Students will be working with original data sources, often pushing
beyond the limits of the teacher's knowledge, and learning to work
together to produce products that demonstrate what they have learned. 
All of this must be carefully planned and supported by a teacher in such
a way that the students take ownership of their projects and feel
responsible for their own learning, while at the same time ensuring that
the essential content in local, state, or national curriculum standards
in multiple areas are met and that students will perform well on
whatever high-stakes assessments are to be given.  There is no doubt
that the reform agenda calls for fundamental changes in teaching
practices on the part of most teachers.  In some ways, the introduction
of technology only adds another level of complication to what is already
a daunting task.  How does a school get all or almost all of its
teachers on board, particularly when many of those teachers have little
experience with technology? (p. 66)"

Lesson:  There are two basic ways people are proceeding, in accord with
the EPIE/CITS model described above.  If networking tools are simple
extensions of the traditional practice of teaching, little change is
asked of the teacher and the technology will be adopted as each teacher
sees its utility for traditional classroom teaching.  In contrast, if
the exploratory model is emphasized, significant changes in teacher
practices must occur.  This will require such a fundamental change in
the practice of teaching that chaos and uncertainty may fill many
teacher's lives to accommodate the change.

- The above reform report lists five precursors for "success" in
achieving technology-based education reform at a schoolwide perspective
(Means, 1995, pp. 165-166):

	-  Time devoted to developing a schoolwide vision.  A consensus
around instructional goals, and a shared philosophy concerning the kinds
of technology-supported activities that would support those goals.  Such
consensus takes time to achieve, and although it requires instructional
leadership, it also requires the active involvement of teachers. 
Site-based management and grant opportunities appeared to serve as
catalysts for such discussions.

	- Adequate technology access for all students.  To the extent that
there are only a few computers in regular classrooms or computers are
clustered in a few labs in one part of the school, most teachers have
little opportunity to integrate technology into their instruction and
indeed feel little responsibility for doing so.

	- Time for teachers to learn to use technology and to incorporate it
into their own curricular goals.  Particularly after the first initial
hurdles, learning to use a new piece of hardware or software in a
mechanical sense is a fairly short-term activity and can be accomplished
through the typical in-service session.  Thinking about how technology
can support one's own instructional goals, however, and learning how to
orchestrate a class in which students are doing challenging projects,
portions of which are technology based, take much longer.  These kinds
of learning need to occur over time, preferably with opportunities to
observe models, to practice, and to receive feedback on one's section.

	- Easily accessible technical support.  Most schools have a few
teachers who are comfortable with technology and able to do much of
their own troubleshooting.  But most teachers have limited experience in
this area, even if they are comfortable using a technology they have not
completely mastered in front of their students, these teachers will not
be willing to plan around technology use if there is a good chance they
will encounter technical problems that they cannot get fixed for days or
weeks.

	- Rewards and recognition for exemplary technology-supported
activities.  Like the rest of us, teachers are influenced by the reward
structure around them when it comes to deciding where to place their
energies.  Not surprisingly, school leadership that values technology
and education reform activities was associated with more widespread and
sustained emphasis in these areas.

The same report also associates "success" within schools to (pp.
166-168):

	- Good curricular content.  Although in some cases the availability
of new technology inspired a project (e.g., the production of multimedia
materials about local leaders), in all cases the most fully developed
projects had strong curriculum content and many 
components that were not technology based.

	- A structure within which teachers can innovate.  Many of the early
technology enthusiasts dreamed of a "teacher-proof" system embodying
sound principles of teaching and learning and engaging students directly
without the interference of a teacher whose knowledge base might be
incomplete or whose pedagogy might be faulty.  Studies of classroom
implementations of technology have demonstrated that this goal was not
only unrealistic but wrong-headed.  Teachers can subvert practically any
kind of instructional material to their own goals and ways of teaching. 
Thus, in newer conceptions, the teacher is an essential part of the
instructional application of technology.

	- Opportunity for teachers to collaborate with peers.  Just as the
difficulty of what we are asking teachers to do in moving to
project-centered instruction implies an advantage for building on
existing curriculum structure, it also suggests that the support
teachers can get from collaboration with their peers will be important.

	- Teachers and students already comfortable with project-based
learning.  Bringing technology into a classroom and implementing
student-centered projects is much easier if the teacher and students are
not trying to learn about a new technology at the same time they are
struggling with new roles and new structures for organizing classroom
activities.

	- Use of technology across subject matters and classrooms.  There is
a certain amount of "overhead" that goes with learning to use any new
technology.  Students need to acquire keyboarding skills and learn how
to get into programs and files and to store their work in appropriate
ways.  Passwords and Internet search skills require a certain amount of
knowledge that has nothing to do with most curricula and is unlikely to
carry directly over into adult settings for any but perhaps senior high
school students because of rapid changes in technology.  Given this
reality, the more classes and grades over which this "technology
overhead" can be spread, the better.  Teachers in schools that use
technology throughout the school find it easier to use technology
because they do not have to teach all the technology skills themselves. 
Moreover, when technology is used across a broad range of classes, many
more students find enjoyable uses and feel confident about their ability
to learn new technology applications. [EPIE/CITS comment: Many arguments
are made for introducing technology in schools to provide vocational
skills.  The author of this item clearly believes that technology is
changing at such a rate that only imminent graduates will benefit from
this exposure.]

CL  (Integrate a) Community BBS (Priest & Komoski, 1995)

As the expanded EPIE/CITS model suggests, schools are but one facet of
the resource and communication base for students and parents.

Across the country are many community networking projects.  Some of
these are funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and their
CWEIS program; others are funded under the Department of Commerce's
TIIAP program; many others are self-funded (see, for example, discussion
of NPTN above).  A study of 80 community projects that included schools
in their list of activities (Priest, 1995, Community Networking Survey)
showed that very few were successfully integrating their activities with
public schools.  This is be partly because the community networking
movement has preceded the use of networking within and for schools.

- Fifteen of the eighty community networks responded to our community
survey.  We asked respondents to describe how schools were involved in
their projects, cost-effective steps to keep the costs down or make the
process work better, relationships to outside partners and grant
resources, the role of training, and what advice the respondent had "in
making school/home and school networking happen in the next five years."
(Many projects didn't even have e-mail, indicating that networks were
not yet in place in at many sites.)

Many of the respondents were receiving funding from sources such as
TIIAP but expected activities to continue beyond the funding duration. 
Charlotte's Web of North Carolina has been one of the more successful
community networks in involving the schools.  "The school system hired a
trainer with part of their NTIA grant money.  They will retain her with
school funds.  this trainer is running workshops for teachers, creating
training "masters" at each school site to manage the training needs for
each school.  The training has been done in a series of week-long
workshops the teachers and media specialists attended during the summer.
(for public training, we do twice a month HTML training and once a month
unix file manager training.  Each unix session is two hours long with
the class limited to 10.  Each HTML session is limited to 10 and lasts
an hour. (lines 295-302)"

For school involvement, "The school systems had developed its own World
Wide Web pages accessible through Charlotte's Web (see
http://www.charweb.org/project/cms).  These pages contain information
about the schools for the community at large and teachers: calendars,
background reports, a 'Parent Center,' lesson plans, access to the
curriculum Research Center's library catalog, etc. (lines 1632-1644)"

Advice from Charlotte's Web is "Be willing to start small and scale up. 
Whatever you do -- DO something.  Don't wait for final approval of a
technology plan, a budget or PTA support.  Just get started and build
from there.  Plan carefully but know you must be willing to change the
plans radically.  The technology is evolving rapidly; better equipment
is becoming cheaper all the time.  Be willing to address sensitive
content issues up front -- bring them up and get parental and
administrative support in the beginning. (lines 321-330)"  In summary,
"a community network is a distributed network - the work of building it
is shared by many institutions, agencies and individuals.  A special
breed of volunteers seem to be attracted to this type of project and are
willing to contribute their time and talents...'It takes a whole village
to raise a child' ... the school's can't do the job alone. (line 1721)"

In contrast, The Iowa State University of Science and Technology (also
TIIAP recipients) is developing information materials.  Schools in Iowa
are connected either by private providers (often Iowa Network Services,
a cooperative of local independent phone companies) or through the State
of Iowa's Communications Network (a state-developed fiber optic
communications backbone for education and public development).  "We are
providing an information resource to educators and public planners.  At
this stage we are not providing an educational program.  We have
recently received $50,000 to begin building community analysis modules
to be linked with the information resource, providing education on
demand to individuals and groups that want to engage in public analysis
activities on a local basis.  This development is just barely getting
underway. (lines 510-515)"

Efforts in Los Angeles are held back by access to the same systems. 
"The main deterrent to more active participation is the fact that
relatively few members of the school community have LA Free-Net accounts
and only a few classrooms have an Internet connection.  From home, only
those students and staff who have computers and modems can participate.
(Lines 760-765).  Within those confines, "each participant school has a
menu area designed by and administered by staff members of the school
itself.  Characteristically there are menu areas for the Administration,
for curriculum, for parents/community, and for students.  Each of these
menu areas contain at least one interactive discussion area for public
dialog as well as for 
announcements. (lines 753-758)"

At the Greater Columbus, Ohio, Free-Net there are several school related
projects.  1.)  "Each school system has an area where it posts public
information such as telephone numbers, activities, schedules, general
descriptions, newsletters, etc.  In a few districts, teachers post
things about their specific classes.  2.  Several teachers use the
Free-Net to sponsor special, electronic projects for their students, and
3.)  There are several joint curriculum based projects with a couple of
specific schools aimed at integrating technology into an
interdisciplinary curriculum. (lines 987-997)"  Their suggestion for the
next five years, "The schools should try to form consortia across
district and municipal lines to handle a central modem pool and
centralized services for students in a municipal system.  Otherwise,
everyone will need to make parallel investments in equipment and staff
that are very inefficient.  There are economies of scale and scope in
creating shared systems. (lines 1084-1088)"

At a library based effort in Lexington, VA, another TIIAP funded effort
is only beginning.  Their response is like a number of groups contacted
in that they have identified target audiences (in this case libraries,
schools and local government) but specific plans or activities have not
begun.  At a Green Valley High School effort in NV, teachers and
students use Internet connections and the school district's FirstClass
Internet program Ñ but dial-up access from homes is not available and
they hope to receive another grant for that (lines 1334-1338).  A
Greater Knoxville Community Network (KNET) is also only beginning.  "As
KNET develops, we envision Knox County Schools publishing up-to-date
information and announcements within the menu items for citizens to
easily access.  Some mentoring between teachers and University of
Tennessee staff is already occurring. (line 2005)"

Project COnNECT, Denver, CO Free-Net, had plans for 3 educational
components, "1.)  mathenet - an online tutorial for students to post
questions and receive replies from student/teacher volunteers, 2.) 
electronic study groups - students throughout the state would engage in
online workgroups to discuss calculus, geometry, and 3.)  school health
- establish an online site of adolescent health info, with nursing
students responding to students' questions."  Yet "the first two of
these planned projects were never created due to lack of involvement of
the education partners.  The third, school health, is in the process of
being established. (lines 1482-1497)."  Instead, "a more general and
modest math and science online resource was established using the
gopher/Free-Port platform of Denver Free-Net and the www capabilities of
Boulder Community Network.  Contained within are curricular plans,
online projects, e-mail service, and numerous related usenet discussion
groups.  A local discussion group was also created for rural CO teachers
to share their experiences using technology in the classroom. (lines
1499-1504)"  Costs were reduced by using both the Denver Free-Net and
the ACLIN state library system for public access.  The overall project
is CPB supported and continuation is uncertain after the grant ends.

At a Santa Clara, CA project one school is involved (K5) and the
participants are networked by e-mail and through the Internet.  "School
administration, teachers, parents and students have formed a group
concerned with promoting computer literacy and access to Internet
information, particularly for those parents/students who otherwise would
have difficulty with online access.  The project was largely
parent-driven, with the active assistance of teachers who instruct in
computers.  The program is entirely extracurricular."  "An integral part
of the project is participation in Even Start, a federal grant family
literacy program that serves families at risk.  Donated equipment and
low-cost non-profit network fees put these families online so that they
can communicate by e-mail with their teachers, with school
administration, and with each other. (lines 1798-1889)"  For cost
savings the effort recommends employing VT-100 terminals with modems in
place of computers (donated or very low cost), use of a non-profit
community based Internet service provider, and use of volunteers as
trainers & shareware/freeware software as available.


_  (Use) Computer as a Communication Tool, Not as CAI (Teles, 1991)

In early application of computers the focus was on Computer Assisted
Instruction (CAI).  With networks, educators are learning that the
communication link can make up for the lack of intelligence of the
computer as a machine.

Lesson:  Computers are not very smart.  People are smarter.  Use
computers to get people to achieve learning by interacting with other
people.

)Z  (Use) Computer Shops (Priest, Interim Report, 1995)

Computer shops provide students with the opportunity to understand both
the hardware and software of computers and communications.

Lesson:  Inquiring students need the opportunity to go beyond just
running programs.  Some of these students will become future engineers
and scientists.

_)Z*CL  (Provide) Computers to Take Home (Means, 1995)

"According to estimates given by both the principal and the technology
coordinator, fewer than 1% of the students enrolled at Nathaniel
Elementary School have access to computers at home.  To enable their
students to compete with students from more affluent homes in future
education and work settings, Nathaniel staff felt that they needed to
try to provide these students with in-home as well as at-school
technology experience.  Nathaniel Elementary decided to purchase 78
Macintosh Classics for use in a special parent/student take-home
computer program.  The take-home program provides families with
computers on a 4-week loan basis.  Participation in the program is
self-selected. (p. 65)"  [EPIE/CITS comment:  While "buddy system"
loaning of computers has been popular the problem with these programs is
the child must return the machine.   In contrast LINCT (Komoski &
Priest, 1995) recommends providing children and their families with an
opportunity to earn a donated computer by learning to use it and earning
their training by doing volunteer work in the community.]

Lesson:  Home is where the time is.  Especially, low income families are
unable to provide their children with the same advantages that higher
income families are providing.  It is part of the mission of public
institutions, especially public schools, to help provide computers to
homes.

_)Z*CL  (Provide) Computers for Teachers to Take Home (Means, 1995)

"One strategy for getting teachers involved with technology that has
been used in many places is to give teachers computers for their
personal use. (p. 68)"

Lesson:  Home is where the time is.  Programs giving teachers computers
for home use give teachers a better idea of what can be done with the
equipment and get them accustomed to using the equipment as a tool for
their own productivity.

_  (Use) Conferencing that is Project Oriented (Levin, 1989)

"As an alternative initial activity to "computer pals", let me recommend
that you join one of the "project" oriented activities currently ongoing
on the network.  Read through the $IDEAS postings for the past month or
so and select the one that is most interesting.  Its much easier to
start out by joining in with an ongoing activity, and then once you've
gotten a feel for how these networks work, suggesting new ideas for
activities. (line 128)"

Lesson:  A task oriented discussion has better longevity and more appeal
than more idle networking chit-chat.


)Z  (Use) Consultant in Establishing a Network (Graham, 1995, Rothstein,
1995)

"Even a few hours with an experienced, professional consultant can be
significant in ensuring that the network is installed properly.
(Rothstein, p. 24)"

Lesson:  Expert advice can be accessed by working with Vendors and/or by
hiring a consultant.  For example, even something simple such as wiring
requires adherence to fire codes and the use of non-flammable cables
through fire walls.  As another example, each connection in a network is
a potential source of reflections.  Improperly made connections, of,
say, the incorrect impedance BNC connector can cause problems that even
sophisticated equipment finds difficult to locate.

)  (Consider) Converting School Intercom System into a Network (Hodas,
undated)

Many schools were wired for school intercoms.  While their cables were
never intended for data communications, they can be tested for their
potential to carry a local area network or to provide, at least,
telephone service.  While the speeds attainable may not be over 2-300
Kbps, this is adequate for Macintosh LocalTalk.  [Note: Also look for
existing telephone wires for the same purpose, see results of CoSN
survey below]

Lesson:  Many Internet and networking applications do not require very
high data rates.  If funds are very scarce, consider starting with
existing wiring, be it old telephone lines, CATV cables, or intercom
lines.  But be careful, investing in low-speed technology may be
wasteful.  Consider Macintoshes that can be used both for LocalTalk now
and Ethernet later.  Look into serial port LAN network software that
doesn't require more than a small license fee and serial cable boosters
that increase the range that data can travel on older lines.  (Perhaps
the thoughtful combination of existing wiring and a newer "backbone"
line would suffice.  The existing wiring reduces the labor going to the
many classrooms but the higher speed backbone provides the connection to
the server.)

*  (Consider) Coordinating Academic and Administration Networks
(Carlitz, 1994, section IV-8)

"Obviously there needs to be a level of interoperability between these
two systems so that teachers can provide administrative data and can
access this data as needed.  On the other hand there is a need for
system security in administrative systems which may go beyond that
required for academic systems. (line 921)"

Lesson:  Plan early on how an academic network will connect with not
only administrative networks, but library networks and community
networks as well.

)  (Use) Correctly Placed Servers (Gargano, 1994)

This advice comes from one of the Internet RFC's (Request for Comment)
documents.  RFC's are an entire catalogue of information about the
Internet. (The location of these is referenced in the bibliography) 
This document, K-12 Internetworking Guidelines, should be in any
networking administrator's top twenty Internet documents.

"Networking servers will be located where they can be managed and
supported, and also provide access paths with adequate bandwidth.  A
system of hierarchical servers should be created in larger school
districts, with automatic transfer of common information from a central
system to the secondary systems each night, or at appropriate intervals.
 Local servers will allow each school to provide on-line information
particular to its programs and community.  This model optimizes use of
network bandwidth as well. (p. 6)"

Lesson:  While an entire school district can run with one single, main
server, this may not make sense either in terms of distributing the
network load or in establishing more local servers that provide
information more relevant to the local users.


)  (Use) Cost-effective and Manageable School Interconnections (Gargano,
1994)

"School interconnect topologies (links) must be both cost effective and
manageable.  Communication between schools, district offices, county
offices of education, and the State Department of Education must be
reliable and of sufficient capacity to support the primary applications
as well as allow development of new applications.  Capacity is measured
both by total data traffic volume and by response time when information
is requested over the network.  Reliability is measured by the
percentage of time that the network is able to transport data. 
Reliability should be well over 99.7%.  Capacity should be such that no
more than 10% of the communications bandwidth is used during a typical
work day.  This is intended to leave adequate capacity for good response
time to short term communication demands. (p. 6)"

Lesson:  There are professionals whose entire job is to project network
load demand and design for capacity and reliability.  To the school
board that is contemplating "running some wires" we remind these
planners that an integrated network, especially for a school district of
any size, is a professional technical undertaking.

C  Create an Ambience (Kimball, 1995)

This is another tip in reference to conducting an online conference. 
"Even though your conference members or list may be part of a larger
network with its own culture, you can give your virtual group its own
flavor.  Think about how the first message or topic will set the tone;
about how you model message formatting; and about how you respond to
comments.  How can you help the group create a mental map of the
environment so that members develop appropriate expectations? (p. 55)"

Lesson:  Most conferences do not take care of themselves.  Facilitation
is important.

)  (Use) Custodians to Help Build Network (Graham in Priest, 1995,
Seaford, NY)

Many schools have wired and installed equipment using their own school
custodians.  These people know the buildings intimately, know existing
conduits and crawlspaces, and come at no added expense to the budget.

Lesson:  Think about spreading the wiring and installation process over
enough time that custodians can work it into their schedules.  With the
right spirit they can become an active part of the new enterprise,
giving them recognition they don't otherwise receive.  Make sure they
receive training.  This may simply involve their working with a
networking technician for one day to learn how to create a reliable
network.  Make sure they can call the technician back (or by phone) for
problems that may arise.

)Z  (Use) Dedicated, Qualified Staff for Networking (Addessio, 1994)

Network installations of some size require two categories of staffing. 
These staff categories are called the NIC (Network Information Center)
and NOC (Network Operations Center).  The NIC staff person(s) should be
able to answer questions ranging from "why does this e-mail bounce back
to me?" to "how do I put this scanned picture on the school web page?" 
The NOC staff person(s) is required to maintain the network and respond
to questions such as "I was looking up a student record and got a
message 'Internal Server fault, request requeued.'"

In a small school these two jobs may be assigned to one person, at
first, perhaps, to the technology coordinator and later to a trouble
shooter and an information specialist.

For a town of about 30,000 people, an administrator can plan on hiring
one NIC and one NOC type of person to handle networks throughout the
schools.  At about $35,000 salary and an overhead of 100%, budget $35K x
2 x 2, or $140,000 per year.

For the nation, this cost is about $1.3 billion to handle the technical
support for the nation's schools.

Lesson:  Plan ahead to keep a network running and to provide the
technical support teachers and students require.  There is no way to
avoid these costs, and provided well, the services will assure that the
investment in networks and teacher professional development bring the
full benefits of networking to the school.

_  (Be sure to) Define Roles in Networking Projects (Kimball, 1995)

"Once the purpose [of the project] is clear, you can begin to ask: Are
the participants peer learners?  Team members? Neighbors?  Is the
moderator expected to provide expert knowledge?  Support and
encouragement?  A guide to other resources? (p. 55)"

Lesson:  Facilitating online networking projects by providing clear
roles for participants will improve the results.

_  (Be sure to use) Designed Online Educational Activities (Teles, 1991)

"The design of the online environment is a key issue.  Online
instructors need to design the educational activities and learners need
to know in detail what they are expected to do online (Fredman, 1989;
Harasim, 1990; Riel, 1990; Rogers, 1989; Teles, 1991)."  "Timeline
considerations must be taken into account: short projects with
well-defined end-points have been successful (Fredman, 1989, p. 6)."

Lesson:  Structure is essential in assuring learning.  While "wandering
the Internet" is sometimes insightful, the educational use of the
Internet requires design and structure.

)  (Use) Disk Caching of Internet Materials (Hodas and Warren, 1995)

NASA plays an important role in aiding K-12 use of the Internet.  One of
the more useful Internet sites with many links to other resources is
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/OER/.

As described above, one important way to reduce Internet bandwidth needs
is to "cache" recent Internet requests.  Caching as many recognize is a
technique used on today's PC's to speed disk access.  A portion of the
machines fast memory, often 2 to 4 megabytes, is reserved to hold recent
disk accesses.  This greatly enhances machine speed since it is
generally more likely that the most recently used disk materials will be
reaccessed.

The same principle is true with the Internet.  The NASA HorizonNet
project found that students' access of the Internet was repetitive at
any given time.  For example, if one student downloaded an image of
sun-spot activities, other students tended to download the same image. 
In one elementary school, 92% of all Internet requests could be handled
from the cache.

Lesson:  Request that your Internet server be Internet cache enabled. 
Don't assume that because Internet usage is often not charged per item,
that conserving bandwidth doesn't reduce costs.  Indeed, when Internet
access is reduced by 90%, this means that an Internet bandwidth of 1/10
the size can be purchased, saving the difference between, say, a
dedicated T-1 line and more cost-effective Frame Relay connections. 
This can mean thousands of dollars per Internet connection per year. 
Also, as material is placed on the Internet on a per item basis (a trend
beginning with various news databases), a cached item will save a school
in access charges by many times.

)  (Install a) District Wide Telephone System (West Ottawa, 1991)

"To make communications as efficient, cost effective and easy to use a
single standardized phone system should be installed district wide. 
Each building will have a full function PBX (phone system.  Where
buildings are on common property a system may be shared by more than one
building ... "  "Using the fiber network, all phone systems will be
connected to a central system and share a common voice mail system at
that location.  All calls between schools will be across the fiber
network.  Long distance calling will be consolidated to gain discounts
based on volume access... (p. 11)"

- The strategic plan for the West Ottawa School District is one of the
most comprehensive and integrated plans reviewed.  The following
objectives show the careful thought behind the plan:

	- Maximize the non-print resources available to every classroom
	The recent proliferation of materials available in non-print format
Ñ- videotapes, videodiscs, educational broadcast programming, computer
software, electronic encyclopedias, etc. Ñ combined with the desire of
teachers and students to make use of these resources leads us to
investigate cost-effective means to bring them into every classroom

	- Put information management tools directly into the hands of
students and teachers
	If computers and related technologies are "down-the-hall" or in
another building or shared with many people, they are less likely to be
used.  Regular access is one of the first keys to successful use.
	- Encourage more active involvement in learning by students
	The most powerful feature of technology is its ability to put the
control of the pace, selection and use of information into the hands of
the student.
	- Enable students to participate in the process of producing
materials generated by technological tools
	Word processing, desktop publishing, video presentations,
interactive displays Ñ these represent common means of presenting
information in the world around us and our students are eager to try
them.  We need to provide alternatives to paper and pencil for student
presentations.
	- Increase the frequency of use of the tools of technology
	An overriding consideration is that the technology implemented must
be easy to use.  A second consideration is to find the right tool for
the right task.   Just because something can be done on a computer, for
example, does not mean it is time-effective or cost-effective to do so.
	- Ensure equity of access for all grade levels and all service areas
to the resources and tools of technology
	Although it might be very difficult to deliver the many technologies
suggested in this proposal, simultaneously, the distribution of
equipment and services should quickly become as equal as possible Ñ
across grade levels and geographically throughout the District.
[EPIE/CITS Note: From the standpoint of equity we encourage equal
access, however, as the EPIE/CITS model suggests, utilization of
networked technology is likely to be higher in the lower grades.]
	- Improved teacher-student-parent communication
	Through improved phone and data services, it becomes possible to
increase the quantity and quality of communication.  This is especially
true when face-to-face meetings are difficult: the ability to inquire
about homework assignments in the evening, for example.
	- Improve internal staff communication
	The use of voice mail, electronic mail, and electronic bulletin
boards give the educational professionals options which can reduce
annoying interruptions during class time, reduce traditional mail, and
eliminate "phone tag."
	- Increase staff efficiency
	Time that is devoted to any teacher task that can be done more
quickly or easily through the use of technology, can be reallocated to
students and instruction.  Reduction in time spent reporting attendance,
preparing lesson plans, record-keeping, and preparing report cards will
all be possible through the use of appropriate 
technology.
	- Improve staff support in the areas of training, curriculum
decisions, management of hardware and software, and troubleshooting and
maintenance.
	If efforts to support staff with training or outside help does not
accompany the installation of new technologies, then the expected
results for improved  instruction, improved communication, or work
efficiency will not occur.  The kind of training necessary varies with
the complexity of the application.  A flexible, but carefully monitored,
training program may best suit teachers' needs.  In many cases, expert
help is required.  This expert help may need to be on staff if the
situation warrants.  (West Ottawa, 1991, p 5-8)

Lesson:   As other parts of this report discusses, the use of telephone
may actually be more important for many tasks associated with schooling,
than digital networks.  Schools should carefully prioritize their
communications needs and ensure that telephone systems including
voice-mail and many other possible features are considered.

)  (Install a) District Wide Video Network Using CATV (West Ottawa,
1991)

"To maximize the district's ability to distribute video information
sources within the schools and across the district, a district wide
video network should be built.  Within each school a distribution system
should be installed to be able to broadcast video information from at
least six sources located in the media center.  At this time the network
should be based on Cable TV (CATV) technology to each room.  Each room
should contain a TV that supports the building network connection and an
in-room video source connection.  To start with, the sources in the
school should be video tape, laser disc, C-TEC CATV, video bulletin
board and the district video network. (p. 10)"

The media resources described include laser-disc, VCR, and live
production.  In anticipation of the Toshiba/Sony/Philips high storage
CD-ROM we suggest that all schools plan to install a DVD CD-ROM 100 disk
carousel player.

Schools will also wish to consider systems such as Dukane's SmartSystem
(Dukane, 1995) which provides automated access to the media center
materials using easily used remote controls in the classroom.

Schools will wish to consider multi-purpose monitors that can serve as
both CATV monitors and computer monitors.  Monitors are becoming the
most expensive item in a computer and/or video display system.  Avoid
purchasing two of these per classroom, when one will suffice.  And
remember, as teachers increasingly use such a monitor for teaching,
there are poor economies in purchasing too cheap a monitor.  The monitor
should be bright enough to be easily viewed throughout a class even on a
bright day.

Lesson:  As discussed elsewhere, the economics of the location of media
players is still uncertain.  The Internet should be seen as yet one more
media source with its attendant costs and uncertainties.  There is a
growing trend to avoid moving media players around in schools and to
concentrate them in media centers, distributing the content via CATV (or
via either CATV or digital network for DVD's)

)  (using) Donated Equipment (Snow, 1995; Komoski & Priest, 1995)

Perhaps no subject raises more debate among educational technology
experts than the use of older PC equipment.  Many in schools have seen
donated equipment sit in storage for lack of appropriate software.  And
many newer pieces of educational software require machines manufactured
in the last few years due to memory requirements, monitor requirements,
and operating system requirements.

Nonetheless, the use of "dumber machines" appears to have come full
circle.  As more content and facility is available via the network, the
computer can be less powerful, again.

Also, these machines should be viewed callously.  Most schools will not
have the requisite talent to make a non-operable one work or to fix one
that breaks.  So treat them as dispensable.  When one breaks, replace it
with another.  Give the broken one to one of a dozen organizations
across the country that can swap parts and fix it (see, e.g., German,
1995).  Alternatively, if you have a successful computer shop, give it
to them.  It makes an ideal puzzle for the inquisitive student.  There
is "nothing better than natural puzzles."

Lesson:  Many earlier machines can be made into both text and graphical
web browsers with software described above.  The VT-100 (addressable
cursor terminal) has become a defacto standard for the computer world
and every computer ever manufactured, including the earlier CP/M
machines are capable of emulating a VT-100.  (The Santa Clara, CA case
study reviewed above recommended obtaining actual VT-100 terminals for
community networking.  These terminals are so populous that they are
given away at most amateur radio "swap-fests.")

While it may take the glitz of Netscape running on a $2000 Windows-based
machine to attract a student to web pages, many learn to shut off images
as a way of getting to the textual information, quicker.  When
scientific photographs are the center of a web-based project, a
graphical browser is absolutely necessary.  However, if the decision is
between providing a student with a text-based computer for home use, or
no computer at all Ñ opt for the text-based computer.  It makes a fine
exploration machine and, because it won't run Myst and other diverting
games, it may actually propel the student to more exploratory learning
than a high-end machine.

- Earlier machines need not be viewed as only VT-100 emulators. 
Geoworks, a graphical based Windows look alike, runs on the original IBM
XT.  LINCT provides Geoworks with shareware software for word
processing, spreadsheets, and telecommunications to low income
households who earn their donated computer by learning to use it.  These
tools are excellent starting points for families that would otherwise
have no tools from which to learn.

) (Use) Drawings and Specification (Lipman, 1994)

"Once ... decisions have been made, involve a network designer and have
a diagram drawn.  It is best to have a formal diagram with
specifications done before you put out your bids. (p. 10)"

Lesson:  The more clear and specific a specification, the lower bidders
will bid.  A hazy specification causes bidders to include costs for
unknowns.

)Z  (Take advantage of) Education Discounts (Crawford, 1992; from
Edupage in Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 9, 1996, p. A21)

Many vendors, especially software vendors, provide exceptional low
educational pricing.  Some vendors do this because they realize that
schools find it more difficult to justify costs; others do it because
they wish to introduce prospective customers to their products while
they are students.

"Librarians, Unite -- for Buying Power: College librarians are banding
together to purchase electronic resources for their institutions. 
'We've found that this sort of group purchasing power has really enabled
us to leverage the dollars that we have and to get resources we couldn't
have otherwise,' says an associate librarian at the University of Texas
at Austin, which buys publications through the TexShare consortium.  The
group buying arrangement is also advantageous for publishers, who don't
need to spend as much on marketing: 'As a group, we'll pay the vendor
more money than they can realistically get by slogging it out school by
school.' says the executive director of OhioLINK, which includes more
than 40 colleges and universities.  The president of Britannica Online
figures that more than half of the 233 institutions using his product
are doing so under consortium-based licenses. (Edupage)"

Lesson:  Always ask what the educational discount is for any products or
services you procure.  Form or join buying cooperatives in your state. 
Team up with libraries.  The OhioLINK,see discussion below under (Use)
Online Databases, exemplifies how bulk or consortium buying can reduce
costs.

_  (Encourage) E-mail (Caruso, 1995; Anderson, 1995, RAND)

"Based on Rand's study of on-line communities (like Latino Net in San
Francisco and the Blacksburg Electronic Village in Virginia), and what
it discovered about how citizens use E-mail today, the report concluded
that 'use of electronic mail is valuable for individuals, for
communities, for the practice and spread of democracy, and for the
general development of a viable information infrastructure.' (Caruso, p.
D5)"

Students, teachers, and parents can use e-mail to tighten the loop in
communications (see Section IV).  E-mail also fosters improved writing,
especially in peer-to-peer environments.

Lesson:  While the use of "electronic pen pals" is not high on most
networking educator's lists of learning tools, e-mail is useful in
communicating amongst teachers, students, and parents.

_  E-mail Encourages Writing (Kuttner, 1995)

In The Revival of a Lost Art, Kuttner describes how e-mail "In a fine
reversal, e-mail is the revenge of print on video.  It is producing, of
all things, a generation of writers."  Kuttner, a journalist, recounts
how kids increasingly stay in touch with each other through e-mail, and
how kids at college stay more in touch with their families.  "E-mail not
only lends itself to a lot of correspondence but also to quick response,
hence to whimsey, and also, remarkably enough, to candid revelation. (p.
19)"

Lesson:  In an era of the video, writing is making a comeback.

)  (Use) Ethernet (California Guide, 1994)

To many, Ethernet is synonomous with networking.  It has become the
Kleenex of the networking world.  While IBM can still tell you good
reasons to use token-ring, most schools aren't listening.

Lesson:  When a predominant technology form emerges, prices drop and
features increase.  Not only do schools prefer Ethernet, but they prefer
10BaseT to 10Base2 wiring because the hubs provide more informative
diagnostic information (even though the range of 10BaseT is only 300
feet compared to 10Base2 at 1200 feet.)

- While this report is not a guide to the technology, it is recognized
that certain terms need defining.  In a basic network a cable (for
10BaseT this is 2 sets of 2 twisted wires) connect from a card in the
computer Ñ an Ethernet card Ñ to a device at the other end using a plug
that looks like a telephone plug, only wider Ñ an RJ 45.  In an Ethernet
the wires fan out from points of concentration like a "star."  The wires
must go to a device that boosts the signal every 300 feet.  The device
that both permits multiple Ethernet wires to come together and boosts
the signal is a "hub."  The hub can be smart or dumb.  Smart hubs
provide diagnostic information when there are problems.  The Ethernet
signals are passed from hub to hub to a server.  The server has an
Ethernet card in it, just like each of the computers on the network.  If
the server passes signals onto other destinations, such as the Internet,
it is called a "router."  If the only function of the server is to pass
signals onto another network, it is only referred to as a router, not a
server.  If signals from a different kind of network need to be
connected to the Ethernet, the device at the union is called a "bridge."
 The speed of the Ethernet is commonly 10 Mbps (megabits per second). 
Connections to other buildings or to the Internet are done at different
standard speeds.  Common speeds are 56 Kbps (dedicated phone line), 128
Kbps (ISDN adjusted phone line), 1.5 Mbps (a T-1 line), and 44.7 Mbps (a
T-3 line).  Higher speeds are available through services like ATM,
SONET, etc.  Frame Relay is a service of the telephone company that
provides more flexible speeds as required.  ISDN is a switched service,
while the other connections are dedicated to connecting one point in the
network to another.  Since the Internet acts as one large switched
service, the use of dedicated lines do not interfere with the ability to
send data from one machine to another.  Internet switching is unlike the
dedicated telephone switch.  The dedicated telephone switch maintains a
continuous connection from sender to receiver.  In contrast, digital
data is grouped in packets and the packets are routed to their
destination by a store and forward process.  Sometimes packets arrive
out of order, and the receiving machine must ensure they are resequenced
correctly.  Because of this characteristic and the fact that packets
take varying times to arrive at their destination, attempts to use the
Internet for telephone service provides a choppy sound and delays in
hearing the speaker.  Services such as audio and video require buffering
to avoid choppiness.  In one-way audio and video, this buffering can
provide clear reception to the listener.  Today's Internet does not have
the capacity nor the speed to support very many video connections.  The
cost and availability of full motion picture video by Internet, in the
near future, is largely unknown.

_  (perform) Evaluation of a Project as it Unfolds (Walker, 1995)

"...keep your project well-tuned.  Keep your eyes open.  Listen to your
feelings.  Find creative ways to bring out the best in one another.  Be
alert to encourage independent thinking as it cautiously emerges.  Real
talent must not be wasted.  Be brave.  Let your students astonish you
with the depth of their insight, with the beauty of their art work, with
the intensity of their writing.  Don't neglect your Internet partners as
you delight in your school's love of learning. (p. 35)"

Lesson:  Project-based Internet interactions require careful nurturing.

)  (Use) Existing CATV Cable to Carry Digital (Sun, 1995; Mundt, 1993;
LANCity, various; Zenith, 1995)

Some towns are in the fortunate position to have been wired with CATV
throughout the schools and municipal buildings.  Many cable company
franchise contracts required these installations, sometimes called
INET's, as part of the public service requirement of the contract.

Until recently, the cost of using cable TV lines for data was very high
Ñ around $7000 per connection.  While this cost could be justified in
some cases, it was not a universal solution.  In the spring of 1995
LANCity became a price leader in the field and introduced a $600 cable
modem.  Using one of the existing video channels on the cable, the cable
modem can establish a 10Mbps Ethernet link over the line.

Further, the other channels of the CATV system can be used for analog
video signals between media centers and classrooms, as well as
programming from the various educational programs carried on cable.

Mundt studied the implementation of a Zenith cable modem system in the
Glenview, IL school system.  They found that existing lines were not
always in good condition, but with help from the cable company they made
repairs and established the network.

Lesson:  If your school, and, or district already is wired for CATV,
seriously consider installing a network using cable modems.  Since over
90% of the cost of wiring is labor, an existing cable network could
speed deployment considerably.

)  (Use) Fast Modems ( Crawford, 1992)

While even 2400 bps modems are adequate for many text-based activities,
the prices of high speed modems have plummeted.  Currently,
state-of-the-art 28.8 Kbps modems are still distinctly more expensive
than 14.4 Kbps modems Ñ a price difference of 3 times.  For dial-up
ports there is no question but to use brand name 28.8 Kbps modems.

Within schools the trend is moving fast away from modems and towards
using Ethernet (Graham, 1995).  Schools that attempt to get their
Internet connectivity from providers such as AOL are faced with both
hourly charges and telephone message unit charges.  Graham strongly
recommends that schools abandon achieving Internet connectivity via
modem.

ISDN service is finally commonly available which permits connections to
the Internet at speeds up to 128 Kbps.  ISDN pricing varies widely
depending on the tariff filed and approved for the local carrier.  The
"Basic Rate" tariffs as of January, 1995 are:



                 Installation    Per Month          Per Minute
NYNEX               $124           $38                $.085
Pacific Bell        $125           $20                $.01
US West             Free           $60                Free
France              $119           $35                $.19
Germany             $79            $36                $.14
U.K.                $600           $42                $.19
Beligum             $171           $30                $.06

  Note: US West recently attempted to raise their monthly fee to $184.
  Source: Xyplex, undated [1995]
  


We include some foreign countries to illustrate how disparate the rates
are in different locations.  US West has indicated their rates are too
low and have attempted to have them raised.  Certainly the prospect of
being connected to the Internet 24 hours a day at 128 Kbps for a flat
rate of $60/mo. is very attractive.  In contrast, a connection at
$.02/minute for a month is $864 plus the monthly charge.  The Taxpayer's
Assets Project of Washington, DC have pressed for the telcos to lower
their ISDN rates (Love, 1995).  ISDN Internet Providers (David Berger,
in Carver, 1995) say ISDN connections are made in less than a second so
a connection need only be made while data is being transferred.  This
makes per minute charges more attractive since time spent reading a
screen is not done while connected (provided the software disconnects
and reconnects as required).

The above charges are for the connection from a house or school to the
Internet provider.  The Internet provider also charges for access to the
Internet.  As an example of these charges, PSI rates are as follows:

	Monthly Charge	Hourly (beyond monthly coverage)

	$9.99 (for 9 hrs./mo)	$1.50

	$29.95 (for 29 hrs./mo)	$1.50
 		Note: the 29 hrs is for prime time, 8 AM-11 PM
		Prices Current as of 1/11/96

Compuserve recently announced (Press Release, February 6, 1996) a flat
rate for ISDN connection to the Internet of $6 per hour.  This is
distinctly higher than the PSI rate and raises questions about what ISDN
Internet connection rates will actually be over the next decade.

ISDN connections at home are problematic if the ISDN line is the only
phone line.  An ISDN line is incompatible with all existing telephones,
answer machines, and many features such as call waiting.  Boxes are
available to connect these standard devices to an ISDN line but at
several hundred dollars per box.  ISDN probably makes more sense for
home offices and individuals who plan to make very serious use of the
Internet.

The utility of ISDN has been the current debate on a list called
isdn@essential.org (organized by Jamie Love, Taxpayers Assets Project). 
At press time we have this further comment about ISDN (dave@dexmn.com,
January 19, 1995).

"I have been reading this news list for about six months now, and as a
user of ISDN (I have two lines) I believe that the major problem at
least in Minneapolis St. Paul, is not the price, but the reliability.

We have found it a real bear to get working, and an almost daily
frustration to keep it running.  In fact we are seriously thinking of
going to 56K leased lines, and radio connections, in spite of the fact
that they will cost more, and in theory be slower just because they are
dependable.

Yes we have worked with our vendors, (telebit a reputable company who
makes our routers cannot solve the problem) and I believe that most of
the problem is with uswest.

Do other people have similiar experience? (dave@dexmn.com, ISDN List,
Jan. 19, 1996"

In response to this question another member of the list described how
every area of the country is "zoned" by color as to their suitability
for ISDN service.  Thus, before committing to ISDN, ask whether your
area has existing lines that support ISDN.  In areas that have the right
installed lines, ISDN is reported as very reliable.

Lesson: Schools are migrating away from modem use to Ethernet
connections.  From the home, if the student plans to leave images on in
their web browser or plans to participate in newer virtual reality
environments (VRML, see for example, Greening, 1995) then purchase a
28.8 Kbps modem.  Otherwise 14.4 Kbps modems have become very cheap
(less than $40) and will meet most other needs.  An older, or donated,
machine with a 2400 bps modem is still adequate for e-mail, chat, and
some text-based browsing of the Internet.

ISDN should be considered by schools as an alternative to other modes of
connecting to the Internet.  Especially if Internet caching and DVD
CD-ROM's maintain local archives of, say, 99% of everything accessed by
a school, an ISDN connection may be extremely cost-effective.  But don't
rush out an buy ISDN yet.  As the above account suggests, the telephone
companies are encountering troubles. (Remember: the telephone company is
attempting to take the same grade telephone line they run to a house,
and make it run at 128 Kbps, rather than 28.8 Kbps.  They can only do
that by: 1.)  placing signal conditioners around every three miles, and
2.)  making sure there are no faults, poor splices, etc., with the
existing line.)

C  (Use) Flexible Classroom Activities (forNews, 1995)

"An important part of each forum is a set of activities that are
designed for teachers to carry out in their classrooms.  Classroom
activities offer opportunities for teachers to experiment with, observe,
and reflect on how their students work on and talk about mathematical
issues.  Project staff have found that while the character of the
conversation among the facilitator and participants is important, the
quality of the classroom activities teachers are asked to carry out are
important too.  The most important characteristic is flexibility Ñ
teachers need to be able to interpret and implement the classroom
activities in ways that make sense for their students and classrooms. 
Teachers participating in the Forums teach a wide range of environments,
so activities need to be adaptable to a variety of circumstances. (line
322)"

Lesson:  Forums must remain flexible to adapt to needs of classrooms.


*  (Use) Flexible Technology Plan (McKanna, 1994)

"The Technology plan written today will probably start changing
tomorrow.  The district needs to be flexible and revisit the issues
annually making sure no wrong turns have been made on the information
highway. (p. 12)"

For example in the final days of writing this report, three significant
new references were added with today's date.  For example, advances with
the HollowPC (described above) have been announced weekly during this
period.

Whether it is the HollowPC, the DVD CD-ROM, or advances in Virtual
Reality teaching environments, the landscape changes continually during
these times.

Lesson:  Keep track of changes, stay in touch with organizations that
will alert you to important changes, and adjust your technology plan
annually.

_  (Use) Forums (Teles, 1991)

"Some of the 19 SITP [a Simon Fraser University Forum system] were
active through Phase 1, while others lasted only a few weeks.  In five
of the most active conferences the moderators had previous online
experience.  These conferences were: SITP.ETC, SITP-Prose, SITP-Write,
Law-Forum, and Wired.Writers.  Ask-An-Expert was also very active
throughout pPhase 1.  The variety of topics addressed and the open
access to both SITP and non-SITP schools helped to ensure their
continued interest and activity (p. 28)" [Note: this document, like many
in the bibliography is an ERIC reproduction; the reference page is the
page of the original document, not the ERIC assigned page number.]

Lesson:  Active, moderated conferences, forums, or lists can engage
learning.

)  (Use) Frame Relay (California Guide, 1994)

For background on Frame Relay see Apple, 1995, Frame Relay; Bigelow,
1995; Carlitz, 1994, Stages; Carlitz, 1995, Construction Set; Collins,
1995, Construction Set; Gargano, 1994; Schulyer, 1994; and Xyplex,
undated.

Frame Relay is becoming a more popular way for schools, and other
organizations, to establish a Wide Area Network (WAN).  It is also a
cost-effective way for schools to connect to the Internet.  Prior to
Frame Relay, schools, libraries, community networks, municipalities,
etc., had to lease connections to the Internet, the price of which
depended on the distance from the school to the nearest "Point of
Presence" (POP) on the Internet.  With Frame Relay, pricing is
independent of distance and schools can commit to a lower speed service
than they may occasionally need.  The concept of a CIR, a "Committed
Information Rate," means that the school is guaranteed the ability to
transmit at that rate, say 28 Kbps, no matter how much traffic there is
on the Frame Relay network.  However, if no one else is using available
circuits the school has the ability to "burst" above the 28 K to 56K
(the limit of the dedicated line from the school to the nearest
telephone CO (Central Office).

Some claim it is possible to contract for a CIR of zero and still be
able to operate.  The school would risk delays in Internet response but
the cost of the arrangement would be distinctly lower than one with a
CIR of 28, 56 or whatever.

- Frame Relay is similar to an earlier technology called X.25 packet
transmission.  Unlike X.25, however, the CIR is a new introduction and
unlike X.25, error correction is performed only at the destination. 
This puts less overhead on Frame Relay compared to X.25, since the X.25
protocol included error detection during transmission.

- Data Transmission 

		Rates:

		Fiber (limit)     100     Gbps
		ATM               155     Mbps
		100BaseT          100     Mbps
		FDDI              100     Mbps
		T-3 line           45     Mbps
		Token Ring         16     Mbps
		Ethernet           10     Mbps
		T-1 line            1.5   Mbps
		Frame Relay    Variable, up to a burst limit
		56K line             .56  Mbps
		28.8 Kbps            .29  Mbps
		14.4 Kbps            .14  Mbps
		2400 bps             .024 Mbps

Legend:  
		Fiber (optical strand of glass)
		ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)
		100BaseT (a 100 Mbps form of Ethernet)
		FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface)
		T-3 (telephone designation for a trunk line)
		T-1 (telephone designation for a trunk line)
		56K line (common leased telephone line)



_  (In online forums) Go with the Flow (Kimball, 1995)

"There is no right answer to what should be happening in a virtual group
Ñ there may be times when you are more or less active.  The key is to
use the information about what's happening to learn, so that you can be
a more purposeful facilitator. (p. 56)"

Lesson:  Facilitation is paying attention to what is happening in your
group, as distinct from what you wanted or expected would happen.

_  (In online forums) Identify Purpose (Kimball, 1995)

"The most important thing an online conference needs is an explicit
purpose.  Will members exchange information?  Generate new ideas?  Learn
and explore? (p. 55)"

Lesson:  A group can have many purposes Ñ and its purpose may evolve and
change over time.

*  Identify Technology Applicable to all Curricular Areas (West Ottawa,
1991)

"Every review of a curricular area should include a study of the
resources available through technology.  In some cases this is simply a
preview of materials (education software, for example), but in other
cases this study could reveal alternative teaching methods that become
possible through the application of a technology (computer simulations,
interactive videodisc, CD-ROM, for example.)  This is an emerging area.
(p. 14)"

- The EPIE Institute maintains a teacher-searchable databse on CD-ROM
that contains information and rated review citations on over 17,000
currently marketed education software products.  The products cover all
curriculum areas and all hardware platforms, plus CD-ROM and multimedia
applications, etc.  While states like Texas and Tennesse ensure that
teachers in all schools have access to this information for selecting
and integrating appropriate software into the curriculum, most teachers
and educational technology coordinators in the country are unaware that
in all likelihood there are many software and CD-ROM packages available
to meet most curriculum, teaching and learning needs.

Lesson: There should be regular curricular reviews that consider review
of media and technology.  It is critical that this review take the lead
in expanding on the K-12 Computer Curriculum to include other
technologies and their impact on all curricular areas.

*  (establish an) Implementation Team (Carlitz, 1994, Urban Setting)

"The means of achieving ... integration is the development of
implementation teams.  The teams should involve teachers and
administrators who know how to guide activities through the school
bureaucracy, and people with the technical expertise necessary to make
needed decisions in this area and guide detailed implementation. (IV-4)

Lesson:  A continued educational focus assures that project activities
are comprehensible to teachers in the school district, and that
technical experts are viewed as facilitators in the educational process.

)Z  (Use) In-House Expertise (Priest Interview with Graham, 1995; Graham
1995)

Graham describes the situation where an architectural firm bid $1
million on a school networking design.  Graham thought it was too high,
worked with local vendors to develop specifications, and arrived at a
cost of $250 thousand.  After negotiations the architectural firm agreed
to $350 thousand Ñ a figure that is 1/3rd the original bid.

Graham was originally a remedial reading specialist.  He helped network
the Seaford, NY schools by training internal staff to do wiring and
hooking up computers on a very low budget.  He has subsequently become
Director of Technology for a much larger school system on Long Island,
NY, in recognition of his accomplishments.

How many Ken Grahams are there in the country?  We don't know, but if
you have one, you can save big money by avoiding "just putting the
project out to bid." (see further the RFQ discussion below)

Lesson:   Encourage in-house people and people with technical expertise
in the country to dig in and work together on networking.  These people
will save the district money and provide continuous advice as technology
and curricula change.

)  Integrate Existing Systems (Gargano, 1994)

"Existing computers and terminals in schools and district office should
be integrated as much as possible into the communication system.  This
installed base represents a large investment, albeit in many cases a
somewhat dated set of equipment.  Wholesale replacement of that base
could be a large additional burden on funding resources. (line 368)"

Lesson:  Many physical networks can carry multiple protocols, e.g.
Novell IPX with Internet TCP/IP.  Many systems can, at least, behave
like VT-100 terminals, providing the means to give existing users access
to "shell account" Internet access.

- There are two ways in which most people access the Internet:  1.)  a
"shell account" which the user "logs into" and which runs Internet
applications such as Lynx (web browser), and 2.)  a direct TCP/IP
connection where the machine in front of the user is the machine "on the
Internet."  A machine is considered to be "on the Internet" if there is
an IP address (Internet Protocol address) associated with the machine.

	- These addresses take on two appearances:  1.)  as a set of names
separated by "dots" (periods), and 2.) as a set of digits separated by
"dots".  For example, a K-12 school in Florida named Pasco has an
Internet address: pasco.k12.fl.us .  If I ask NSLOOKUP what the IP
address is, it tells me: 199.164.64.7.  I can contact this machine using
either form of the address.  If I use the name-based address, the
associated numeric IP address must be looked up by a "Name Server."  It
is a Name Server that NSLOOKUP uses to report the IP address.  If I ask
WHOIS (telnet to WHOIS.INTERNIC.NET and type WHOIS) about k12.fl.us it
reports:  Florida K-12 Schools (K12-FL-US-DOM), Florida Information
Resource Network, 325 W. Gaines St. Rm B1-14, Tallahassee, FL 
32399-0400.  Administrative Contact: Stursa, Scott (SS286)
stursa@MAIL.FIRN.EDU (904) 487-8672; Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Houle, Art (AH) houlea@MAIL.FIRN.EDU, 904-487-0911.  As you can see
K12-FL-US is a recognized domain in the domain registry at Internic. 
Internic is run by a 3rd party to register domains, assign addresses,
and provide these addresses upon request.  The registry contains contact
information about most registered domains.]

Machines on the Internet have more "flexibility" than machines that are
connected through a shell account.  Netscape will only run on a machine
with an IP address, so shell account users must use other browsers such
as Lynx.  Graphics may or may not be available through a shell account. 
Services such as AOL provide graphical access not only to their own
online services, but to the Internet as well.  If the graphic is not
available from within the shell account the user is often able to view
the graphic by asking that the image be stored on the shell account
machine, transferring the image to the user's machine, and then using an
image viewer. [Most Internet users would not call this "surfing the
Internet" even though the final information is the same.  Also, while
many students quickly master such procedures, this process can bring
some users to a confused standstill.]

IP addresses do not have to be permanently assigned to a user.  Many
Internet Providers give the user an IP address at the time they connect.
 This "roving" IP address will be returned to a pool of reuseable
addresses when this user disconnects.  Connections to roving IP
addresses can be made via dial-up telephone access (SLIP and PPP) or via
connections made via a network.  Usually, however, most network machines
have fixed IP addresses.  One of the tasks of setting up a network is to
establish a sensible numbering scheme for machines.

*  Integrate Network with Curriculum (Carlitz, 1994, Urban Setting)

"... experimentation should [not] be open-ended and undefined in terms
of goals.  Rather there should be a close integration with the
curriculum of any experimental efforts. (IV-3)"

Lesson:  Integration is the key to whether innovations are used only
occasionally or employed regularly in the classroom.

*  (Encourage) Internal Competition for Resources (Carlitz, 1994, Urban
Setting)

"The mechanism in [the Common Knowledge Project] for encouraging an
integration with the curriculum has been the RFP process [see RFP
below].  This internal competition for resources has additional
benefits.  As technology is deployed, it is placed in sites where
teachers are committed to using it.  This maximizes the efficiency of
technology expenditures while rewarding individual initiative and
encouraging effective site-based management. (IV-5)"

Lesson:  The RFP process is a well known procedure for encouraging
progress.  Be careful in establishing the size of awards Ñ awards too
small will frustrate project personnel while setting awards too high
will result in too few awards, turning away good ideas.

_L  (Use the) Internet (Kurshan, 1995; many others)

"... the Internet can be a magical way to learn.  Imagine a place where
children around the world can meet and ask questions of one another
without leaving their homes or classrooms.  Founded by Odd de Presno, an
educator from Norway, KIDLINK now support a regular newsletter
distributed across multiple networks, an online conference, KIDCAFE,
moderated by students and a Worldwide Computer Art Exhibition.  With
over 23,000 kids responding to questions from 64 countries, it has
clearly generated intense excitement and interest around the world. (p.
56)

Lesson:  As Section IV details more thoroughly, there are many educators
finding great benefits in accessing the Internet.  In the first part of
Section IV this report looks at the purposes of networking to better
understand what networking, when, will be beneficial.

)  (Use) ISDN (Levitt, 1995)

"If you think the ISDN standard of the mid-1980's can't fulfill your
current networking needs, perhaps it's time you took another look.  The
market for integrated services digital network end-user products is
taking off.  ISDN is emerging as the best alternative to the plethora of
slower modem standards, antiquated 56-Kbit-per-second leased lines, and
switched 56-Kbps dial-up lines for making point-to-point network
connections.

For anyone seriously considering ISDN, this review article by Levitt is
nicely detailed and full of implementation details.

A PC ISDN card is priced just under $600 (DataFire) and has built in
network termination, eliminating a separate device sometimes required to
use ISDN.

An Ethernet to ISDN router/bridge costs just under $1700 (Ascend).  This
price should drop as ISDN becomes more popular.

Levitt encountered both limitations to 64 Kbps and incompatibilities
with security "handshake" protocols but these problems appear to be only
a matter of vendors making some adjustments and providing software
upgrades.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of ISDN is the lack of compression
standardization.  Compression is not part of the ISDN standard and is
provided by the manufacturer of the hardware.  Without compression
standardization it is necessary that identical protocols be used at both
ends of the line to achieve compression.  Since compression of 3:1 is
common in data transmissions, a 28.8 Kbps looks like 86 Kbps when
compared with ISDN at 128 Kbps with no compression.

Lesson:  The quick connecting and disconnecting of ISDN lines (less than
a second) can greatly reduce connect charges.  Before committing to
hardware make sure the compression capabilities at both ends match. 
Without compression a 28.8 Kbps modem with compression starts looking
comparable.

*  (Use) Leadership for Technology Implementation (Means, 1995)

"Although districts played an important role in shaping or supporting
reforms at most of our sites and three of the innovations certainly
never would have existed without district leadership, the most important
leadership in almost every case was at the school level. (p. 115)"

Lesson:  "Schools developed cadres of teachers active in designing and
implementing innovations.  The school principal appeared to be pivotal
in inspiring and coordinating these activities in roughly half of the
sites.  In other cases, a technology or project coordinator emerged from
the teacher ranks to play this role. (p. 115)"

_  (Use) Learning Circles (Levin, 1995; Riel, 1993)

Learning Circles were developed by Margaret Riel as part of the AT&T
Learning Network.  "Learning Circles are virtual communities that have
no fixed location or time zones.  In part a Learning Circle is group
conversation carried over electronic mail in slow motion.  But what
happens online is only half the story.  The other half is what takes
place in the classroom as a direct result of either the sending or
receiving of information.  The virtual and real classrooms are
inseparable. (Riel, line 10)"

Levin illustrated a theory of "network-based learning environments"
illustrating the theory with Learning Circles and related environments:

- Structure -- "one common dimension across the guidelines reviewed here
is the notion that a social structure is important for supporting
network interactions."  In the case of Learning Circles there were
"eight geographically diverse classrooms with a shared curriculum focus
joined together for a semester. (Levin, line 61)"

- Process -- "Network activity is episodic, unfolding over time through
a series of different phases.  The exact list of steps or stages listed
in the guidelines varies, but there is generally some sort of initiation
phase, a phase in which the educational activity is carried out, and
then some sort of wrap-up phase."  In the case of Learning Circles Riel
lists 5 steps, "forming the Learning Circle, planning the Learning
Circle projects, exchanging work on the projects, creating the
publication, and evaluating the process. (Levin, line 97)"

- Mediation -- "One key commonality among the guidelines is the
importance of active, effective moderators to initiate and sustain the
interaction on educational networks."  In the case of Learning Circles,
"Riel developed Learning Circle Coordinators to guide each Learning
Circle. (Levin, line 135)"

- Community-building -- "Several of the guidelines focus on the steps
involved in building a sense of community among the participants."  In
the case of Learning Circles, the Circles "start by exchanging 'Welcome
Back' among all the participating sites of a Circle. (Levin, line 161)"

- Institutional Support -- "Several of the guidelines point to the need
to embed educational network interaction within an institutional
structure that will support and sustain the interaction over time."  In
the case of Learning Circles, "Riel has constructed Learning Circles
within the institutional structure of the AT&T Learning Network (Levin,
line 198)"

*  (Include) Line Item for Repair (McKanna, 1994)

Lesson: A budget is complete only if it includes maintenance costs for
equipment and wiring.

*  Link Networks to Curriculum (Proctor, 1994)

"Mason (1989, p. 25) suggest that educators do not use networks very
often and when they do, they often do not know how to use the technology
for teaching purposes.  "Connecting schools via e-mail, or accessing
educational databases without strong foundations in the curriculum, can
prove to be a technical hassle with very little educational benefit. 
The identification of what types of teaching and learning electronic
communication is best suited for, what areas of the curriculum it best
serves, and how best to integrate it with other educational media Ñ
these are the kinds of questions which must be answered before
networking will be adopted by a significant number of educationalists.
(p. 19)"

Lesson:  As this tip and others suggest, network based-projects must be
designed to meet curricular objectives.


_C  Look at Problems Positively (Walker, 1995)

"Don't get discouraged.  In the course of any project there are bound to
be obstacles.  Think positively. (p. 34)"

Lesson: Time, funding, resources are scarce and will detract from
network-based projects unless dedication and resilience are applied.

*  Materials to Support Parent Support of Teachers (Bielefeldt, 1994)

This tip is from an article by an ISTE editor on "untapped resources." 
(Like many materials cited in this study, the article is available via
the Internet.  This one is at the ISTE gopher, see the bibliography for
the address.)

"Technology has penetrated the home much more than schools.  This
technology might be more available to support educators if organizations
like ISTE [International Society for Technology in Education] could
support parents in know how to use it.  That support could involve:

ó  Making available materials that will help families directly support
educators who want to use technology in the classroom.

ó  Welcoming parents into the organization as members.

ó  Sponsoring a new special-interest group [SIG] for parents.  (lines
640-659)"

Lesson:  Some parents become so involved with their children's education
that they "home school."  Other parents hardly know what their child
does in school.  As mentioned above, teacher/student/parent
communication is a high priority (Priest, 1973).  Explore how parents
can be involved in their children's education, building on information
contained in Section III of this report.

Parental Involvement and Networking:  At present, the most advanced and
fully featured networks for parental involvement are telephone-based
networks.

Here are features and references:

- Telephone Absence Notification (Homework Hotline 1995; SIM-phony,
1995)
- Telephone Attendance Status (Parlant, 1995;SIM-phony, 1995)
- Telephone Electronic Mail Links (Parlant, 1995)
- Telephone Emergency Notification (Homework Hotline, 1995, SIM-phony,
1995)
- Telephone Group Messages (Parlant, 1995)
- Telephone Home Call Out, also called "Out-dial notification" and
"outbound dialing) (Bauch, 1995;Homework Hotline, 1995,Parlant, 1995,
SIM-phony, 1995)
     	(Instead of the parent calling into the school, the system is
triggered by an event, and 	calls the parent)
- Telephone Homework (SIM-phony, 1995)
- Telephone Homework Hotline (Sivin-Kachala and Bialo, 1992)
- Telephone Homework Infoline (Robinson-Wilson, 1995)
- Telephone in Classrooms (Hart, 1995; McKanna, 1994)
- Telephone Leadership Strategies (Homework Hotline, 1995)
	"A Leadership Strategies Kit, designed for either principals or
site-based management 	teams, provides suggested blueprint for
implementation, training and community building 	around the Homework
Hotline (p. 20)"
- Telephone Parent to Teacher Messaging (Parlant, 1995)
	(Parlant provides for both telephone and e-mail integration)
- Telephone Parent Voting (Robinson-Wilson, 1995)
- Telephone School BBS (Parlant, 1995;SIM-phony, 1995)
- Telephone Student Voting (Robinson-Wilson, 1995)
- Telephone System Wide Common Voice Boxes (Parlant, 1995)
- Telephone Teacher Resource (SIM-phony, 1995)
- Telephone Transportation Hotline (SIM-phony, 1995)
- Telephone School Usage Reports (Parlant, 1995)
- Telephone Voice Mail (AT&T, 1995; Bauch, 1995; Hart, 1995, Hixson,
1995; Homework Hotline, 1995; McKanna, 1995, New York Times, 1995,
Parlant, 1995, SIM-phony, 1995)
- Telephone Voice Mail to Stimulate Parent Incall Messages (Bauch, 1995)
- Telephone Voice Memo (SIM-phony, 1995)
- Telephone Voice Reminders (Bauch, 1995)

Jerry Bauch (1995), a professor at Vanderbilt and a consultant to
Homework Hotline, provides strong evidence of the success and usefulness
of telephone networks.  Bauch introduced the "Transparent School Model"
in 1987 and since that time the technology has improved significantly: 
"There are two primary functions.  First, a teacher can record a message
for parents that summarizes the school day.  The 60-90 second message
give highlights of curriculum, concepts, special events and home
learning expectations.  Good messages also include suggestions to
parents on managing and supporting study and homework.  Parents can call
and listen to the message.  They are then prepared to greet their child
with an understanding of their learning experience for that day. 
Parents are also "empowered" to manage the out-of-school learning
experiences for their children.  (Bauch, Parent Involvement Report, Vol.
4, No. 2, 1994, p. 1)"

"The second function of the model is "outcalling," where the technology
system can store recorded messages and make automated phone calls to
parents.  Schools use outcalling for many purposes including: routine
reminders, weather and emergency notification, targeted information to
certain groups (e.g. play dress rehearsal notification), attendance
notification, and stimulating parent use of "incall" messages ('Your
child is beginning to slip in academic performance.  Please call the
hotline for teacher messages every day next week, and let's have a
conference next Friday.') (Bauch, Parent Involvement Report, Vol. 4, No.
2, 1994, p. 1)"

While many are discussing and developing the possibilities of using
online school-home networking, the point made here is that telephone
networking is feasible and in substantial use, today.

Further:

"When done correctly, the model usually produces an increase in
communication of at least 800%, and at least half of the parents call
every day to hear teacher messages (Bauch, Parent Involvement Report,
Vol. 4, No. 2, 1994, p. 1)"

In no other aspect of school networking are there claims of an eight
fold increase in anything.

A Web Based Alternatives:

Tom Murphy, president of Imperial Systems, Holbrook, NY has extended web
page functionality to provide access to teacher messages.  On February
1st, 1996, a web-based pilot for parental involvement will be available
at http://www.imperial-software.com.

The current implementation requires a SQL (pronounced sequel) database,
a server (currently Microsoft's NT), teacher software provided by
Imperial, and an SQL database/web page interface which makes database
information available from a web page.

The system will run on most servers such as OS/2 and Windows, but not,
currently, UNIX.  Murphy uses Borland's Interbase SQL, but any ANSI
standard SQL server could be used.

- Murphy originally planned to build a voice mail system like the ones
described above.  However, the cost of entry was too high.  Servers that
support voice messaging are more expensive and software that reads text
from databases was also found to be expensive.  In contrast, the above
system could be assembled with a few man-months of effort.  The
teacher-client software was developed in Visual Basic.  Taking data
elements out of a SQL database and presenting them in HTML format is not
trivial, but straight forward.

Imperial will give, at no cost, the teacher client and the software
required to web enable the SQL database.  However, many teachers use one
of many student record keeping softwares.  The free version of the
software requires that the teacher enter both information about student
performance and homework assignments manually (or by cutting an pasting
from notes).  A forthcoming version, price unspecified, of the software
will have features more like Parlant's ability to read many standard
record keeping formats and provide web links to that information.

- The largest unknown is the extent to which parents will access web
pages versus use the telephone.  Two years ago, without the ease of web
access, the answer would have been "are you crazy?"  Today, we judge
that a web based system will be effective, but for only 10% of the
parent population Ñ those that own computers with a web browser (or
access to one) and, of those, those who use networks enough to connect
to the school web page.  In a recent discussion,  Komoski, Priest and
Murphy discussed the relationship to the Suffolk Cooperative (Long
Island, NY) library Services program that provides free Internet shell
accounts (see above discussion on shell accounts) which include Lynx web
browsing.  Murphy was programming the web software using "table" access
Ñ a feature missing from Lynx.  As a result, he plans to provide tabular
data using HTML Level 1 so that these users are not excluded. (Telephone
conversation, January 12, 1995)

Ideally, both telephone and web access should be available concurrently.
 We expect Parlant, which already has e-mail enabled their system, to
move toward web pages, and, conversely, Imperial may move toward
telephone interactivity.

Also, school technology coordinators must be alert to the capabilities
that companies, such as Imperial, provide to extending web-based
systems.  Under "Online Computer Teleconferencing" (below) several web
based teleconferencing systems are presented.  These are general purpose
ways in which "participants" can "post" and read notes (or messages),
respectively, to and from a "web page."  The Imperial web-enhancement is
one kind of computer teleconferencing.  Thus the Imperial system should
be compared with other, general purpose teleconferencing tools.  What
makes the Imperial system potentially more appealing to schools is the
feature "in the offing" that relate to integrating web browsing with
commonly used teacher/student record systems.

_  (Make use of) Mathematics Learning Forums (CCT, 1995 in Levin, 1995)

Levin notes that the CCT (Center for Children's Technology) developed a
course called Mathematics Learning Forums which had many of the elements
(described above under Learning Circles) related to his "theory of
forums.


- Structure Ñ "..eight-week long classes conducted over networks."
- Mediation Ñ "...provided faculty facilitators..."
- Institutional Support Ñ "... built the educational network activity of
Mathematics Learning Forums into the institutional support of a College
of Education, using the existing structure of a course to provide
institutional support."

Lesson:  In creating learning forums pay attention to structure,
process, mediation, community building, and institutional support.

)  (Install) Network Outlets Every 150 to 200 Square Feet (California
Guide, 1994)

Lesson:  It is no longer advisable to put only "one drop" per classroom.

*  (Hire a) Network Operator (Lipman, 1994)

"A network operator needs to be specified.  This person should know what
to do when the system goes "down."  The operator needs to be able to
locate any wiring questions and get the system up and running as soon as
possible. (p. 12)"

Lesson:  Networks are multi-part machines.  While modern electronics is
remarkably more fault free than in earlier periods, parts of the network
will give trouble.  Some of the faults will be sudden and clear, others,
such as poor data transmission due to faulty installation, will come and
go, mysteriously, until the underlying fault is remedied.

C  (Do) Not Use a BBS for Teacher Discussions About Technology Options
(Riel, 1990 in Means, 1995)

"Riel has found that the use of bulletin boards is very time-consuming
and that it is sometimes inefficient for teachers to negotiate their way
through them in search of applicable and appropriate ideas or
conversations. (p. 21)"

Lesson:  Tinker "observes that many teachers do not have time for
'mining' the Internet and that 'the issue of free resources is
reminiscent of the days in which free software accompanied
microcomputers.  'Most educators have discovered that free software is
rarely useful in the classroom' (1993 p. 6, in Gallo, 1995, p. 19)"

Tinker's comments can be extended to Riel's observations about teacher's
use of BBS's.  Teachers do not have time to mine BBS's to learn about
yet other things they don't have time to do.

- As identified in Section IV on Models and Benefits, one of the major
benefits to the Internet is to provide an interesting place to explore. 
But many teachers are not explorers and asking some teachers to use the
Internet, as many currently use it, is too unstructured and unrelated to
teaching needs and curriculum goals.  The many tips related to
conducting Internet-based forums talk about how structure can be brought
to these activities.  Yet despite the best intentions, forum discussions
can become divergent and participants can lose interest.

)  (Do) Not Use Close Out Equipment (Crawford, 1992)

Using lower cost, close-outs works against maintaining standard
equipment in your network.  Close-outs may be fine for home use or for
providing equipment for the computer shop.

Lesson:  Resist using equipment close-outs or small quantities of
donated equipment in the main part of your network.  Do consider these,
however, for home or computer shop use Ñ places where lack of
standardization does not carry carry a substantial overhead.


)  (Do) Not Use Dial Access to the Internet (Graham, undated, ~1994)

Many schools get started by providing accounts such as to AOL only to
find that the hourly charges run up enormous bills.

Even when considering Internet Providers with flat monthly fees, most
schools must pay commercial telephone rates for local calls.  Again,
enormous line charges can be incurred.

Lesson:  Weigh carefully the costs of dial-up access to the Internet
against establishing a network.  Running a network has many hidden costs
(training, NOC's, NIC's, etc.) but those costs can be spread across many
applications and uses.  In the end, it is your school's priorities and
usage patterns that will determine what services are most
cost-effective.

_  (Do) Not Use E-mail with Pen Pals (Rogers, 1990; Levin, 1989)

Lesson:  Kuttner (above) commends e-mail as a way of bringing back
writing, but experts who have worked with students find that structured
projects provide much greater opportunity for learning.

)  (Do) Not Use ISDN for School Internet Connections (Rothstein, 1995)

"On the other hand, there are a number of drawbacks in using ISDN. 
First of all, it requires special ISDN terminating equipment in the
school.  This equipment is not included in many of the RBOC's and cable
companies' packages and will cost schools approximately $400 (two NT1
items @ $200 each)."  "Further, ISDN is not scaleable beyond a certain
point.  The bandwidth of the line is determined by the number of ISDN
lines running into the school.  Many schools will receive three ISDN
lines, which when multiplexed, give 384 Kbps (3 lines @ 128 Kbps per
line).  This is the maximum number of ISDN lines that can be
multiplexed, so that the school is confided to a ceiling of 384 Kbps. 
For schools that plan to use these ISDN lines to connect to the
Internet, or some other high-speed WAN, the bandwidth limitations may be
unacceptable.  Schools that make use of graphical clients (e.g. Mosaic)
and video (e.g. CU-SeeMe) will require infrastructure performing at a
rate of megabits per second, which is not possible with basic,
narrowband ISDN. (p. 23)"

Choosing Internet connectivity, as discussed earlier, depends on the
expected bandwidth "consumption."  While we expect disk caching and DVD
CD-ROM's to meet much school demand for bandwidth, video conferencing
and other bandwidth intensive applications do demand more bandwidth than
ISDN lines can provide.  Frame Relay may be a good alternative since the
CIR can be renegotiated once usage are clearer.  Nonetheless, Frame
Relay is not available "at the curb" and, thus, commitments must be made
for dedicated connections between the school district and the nearest
Internet "point of presence."

Lesson:  There is no substitute for thinking out the kinds of
applications you see your specific school employing and calculating the
costs of various connection options.  And keep in mind that Internet
costs are still uncertain.  While certain costs will continue to drop
with advances in technology, access charges for materials on the
Internet will become more prevalent.  Think of the Internet as another
media source and work out an overall media provision strategy.

_  Nourish Online Conversations (Kimball, 1995)

"Even if there are a lot of active participants in a virtual group, it's
important to keep adding new material to keep the group fresh and
growing Ñ both qualitatively and quantitatively. (p. 55)"

Lesson:  Online conversations are like any other conversation.  Without
substance and commitment they will whither.


_  (Use) Online Computer Teleconferencing (Teles, 1991)

Computer teleconferencing has a long history.  Mason (1989) with the
British Open University wrote a comprehensive review on
teleconferencing.  The following teleconferencing systems have been used
in various teaching/learning situations:

- AKCS
- Caucus
- Com
- Confer
- CoSy
- DEC Notes
- EIS2
- Lotus Notes
- Participate
- Portacom
- VAX Notes

Beyond these specially designed softwares, web extensions have been
developed for teleconferencing.  These include:

- WIT (CERN, http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/WIT) (public domain, early
effort)
- HyperNews (based on HyperMail, http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/ HyperNews)
(public domain)
	also at wsk.eit.com/wsk/dist/doc/admin/hypermail/hypermail.html
	see also, prism.prs.K12.jn.us:70/0/WWW/OII/disc1/mintons/index.html
(K12 use)
	see also,
http://www.gii-awards.com/cgi-bin/HyperNews/get/HyperDocs/community.html
- Georgia Tech (http://www.cba.uga.edu/groupware) (public domain,
requires Netscape)
- Webboard (http://www.best.com/~duke/webboard/ (commercial)
	see also, http://hub.terc.edu/terc/teach/discussions.html (Teaching
research use)
	see also, http://www.hamptons.com (Community BBS use)
- Web Crossing (http://webx.lundeen.com/ (commercial)
- Interactive/IP (http://www.ifi.uio.no/~terjen/interaction/
(commercial, Macintosh, free beta 	version to non-commercial sites)
- Metanet Webcaucus (http://www.tmn.com:8001/cauweb1.html) (commercial)
	See also, http://www.tmn.com
	Note: an extension of Caucus (above)
- Proxima Inc.'s Podium (http://www.proxima.com/Podium/ (commercial,
requires Netscape)
- Pathfinder by Time Warner (http://pathfinder.com) (unclear if this may
be licensed)

- Some of these web extensions are public domain; others are commercial.
 Some of these extensions can be run with a text browser; others require
a graphical browser such as Netscape.

Four other widespread forms of teleconferencing include:

- UseNet Newsgroups (over 10,000 discussions conducted worldwide using
threaded newsreaders, feeds, and archives)
- BBS Forums (Galacticomm, PC Board, TBBS, etc.)
- FredMail (see, e.g., Kurshan, 1994)
- Listserve's (thousands of discussions, for a comprehensive list of
lists send mail to listserv@vm1.nodak.edu, and place in the body of the
message LIST GLOBAL, a list within a subject can be received, e.g., by
LIST GLOBAL/Business)

- The structure and format of computer teleconferencing is an entire
field of study.  Many teleconferences achieve some level of hierarchy. 
For example, a threaded newsreader considers the original message at the
"top" and subsequent "posts" to the original message below the top
message.  A reply to a message other than the original message becomes
yet another "branch."

Many computer teleconferencing softwares considered topic labeling and
sub-topic branching to be so integral to the teleconferencing process
that they incorporate the concepts of "parent topic" and "child topic." 
Any message from the participant had to either start a new topic,
respond to a child topic, or, yet, branch from one of the existing
topics.  "Participate" was robust in this regard.  The University of
Georgia web-based teleconferencing software maintains these features
(and thus may not be navigated with a text based browser because of
certain page design choices).  Another feature of a robust
teleconference system is a means to track whether a particular user has
read a message.  In Participate the unread messages appear in a user
"inbox" with a line indicating the relationship of the message to the
topic thread.

Many Internet users access Newsgroups via a Newsreader (built into
Netscape) or available as a separate program.  Many such newsreaders
track which messages have been read during a session, but do not keep
track of messages read between sessions.

Universities such as the New York Institute of Technology built their
distance learning courses around computer teleconferencing.  It was an
ideal way to maintain asynchronous discussions with a class that did not
meet at the same time.

Lesson:  It is the computer-teleconference that is the heart of much
interactive learning on the Internet.  As the structures of the
conferences become complex, using hierarchies, the user can become lost.
 Interactive, hierarchical web pages are a simple extension of earlier
technologies.  Simple listserve technologies are bulk mail systems where
one message to the list appears as e-mail to everyone on a list. 
Frustration is high among participants of these lists since the time
required to find useful information is high.  Nonetheless, such lists do
form "virtual communities of interest" and some of much of the time
spent is in experiencing that sense of community.

L  (Use) Online Databases (Teles, 1991)

Teles documents the uses of online databases by students.  Access to
online databases was found to be a useful resource for students.  Many
"newcomers" to the Internet think only of "web pages" as resources (see
Priest, 1995, Primer).  While web pages with a powerful web crawler like
the new DEC Alta Vista (http://www.altavista.digital.com) can turn up
some curious information, almost all of academic reference materials are
not on web pages.

A premier source of online databases is Knight-Ridder Dialog.  Dialog,
BRS, and SDC have maintained the most comprehensive set of academic
databases for over twenty years.  Nearly every abstracting service
publication is available through one or more of these services.  For
business information there are online services such as Dow Jones.

In the last decade, OCLC (the organization that keeps track of what
books each library in the country has) began an online database service
in response to higher education schools' need for less expensive access
to online databases (called EPIC or FirstSearch).  Also, companies such
as Silver Platter started putting some of the abstracts such as ERIC on
CD-ROM so libraries could provide access without online charges.

Some states such as Ohio have established state-wide library access to
online databases (see, e.g. Kohl, 1993 description of OhioLINK).

Access to useful databases, is, as a consequence of all these
distribution mechanisms, uneven and sometimes costly.  Colleges pay
large site licenses to OCLC to permit all their students to access
FirstSearch.  A CD-ROM disc of a periodicals index costs around
$1000/year and is limited to patrons of the library.

When networking people attempt to get, say, home access to a CD-ROM
database they run into technical difficulties (discussed above) and
licensing difficulties as contracts restrict the use of the database
materials.  Some Dialog databases cost $200-$300 per hour, putting them
out of reach of all but the most serious business customers.

Yet it is many of these databases that students actually need access to
via networks to get quality information.  Fortunately, two of the more
popular databases Ñ ERIC (education) and MEDLINE (medicine) are produced
by the federal government and the costs of CD-ROM's and online access
are substantially lower than other databases.  But, for example, Medline
at $18 per hour is still a significant cost.  If a student idly roams
about it for a couple of hours, someone must pay the $36 bill.

Teles found that access to Grolier's encyclopedia and ERIC were very
popular online databases for students (Teles, 1992).

A recent addition to the Internet is by Infonautics Corporation, creator
of the Homework Helper online research service for students.  In
February, 1996, they announced the introduction of The Electronic
Library on the Internet at http://www.elibrary.com.  The library
"aggregates more than 150 full-text newspapers, 900 full-text magazines,
two international newswires, two thousdand classic books, hundreds of
maps, thousands of photographs as well as major works of literature and
art." (Press Release, 1996).  The charge is $9.95/month for unlimited
access.

The offer by Infonautics illustrates the kind of low-cost service that
is currently possible on the Internet for resource materials.  Note that
the service offers more periodicals than one popular CD-ROM source
called Infotrac but the coverage does not include magazines such as
Newsweek or Fortune.  The newspaper coverage is surprisingly good for
this cost of service, but does not include major newspapers such as The
New York Times, Wall Street Journal or the Boston Globe.  It does,
however, include the LA Times and the Magill's Survey of Cinema.  The
book coverage is mostly out-of-copyright pieces such as the King James
Bible, but does include Compton's Encyclopedia, THE WORLD ALMANAC, and
Webster's NewWorld Dictionary.  By online search standards, the search
capabilities are limited, but there is always a trade-off between good
(and difficult) search capabilities and less precise (but easier)
capabilities.

Also, American Online continues to expand their coverage Ñ
"comprehensive reference desk provides consumers and students with fast
and easy access to information.  AOL offers more than 80 sources on
virtually every subject imaginable. (Press Release, Feb. 5, 1996)"  New
partners to the initiative include the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia,
the Macmillan Information SuperLibrary (reference books), and INSO
Corp.'s Columbia Encylopedia, Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, and Wall
Street Words (definition of investment terms.)  Current rates for AOL
access is $2.50 per hour.

- As illustrated and discussed, some online databases and references
remain very expensive via the Internet while others (e.g. Infonautics)
are at very low prices.  What is the teacher or administrator to make of
all this?  The answer is a matter of the comprehensiveness, depth and
quality of the information.  For example, for coverage of commerce and
business, the Wall Street Journal  (WSJ) maintains a level of
comprehensiveness, depth and quality that very few other resources even
compare to.  Dow Jones, owner of the WSJ, doesn't even share their full
text version of their publication with the leading online database
vendor, Dialog.

The result is that the low-cost online database resources lack the
"educational protein" of some of their cousins.  A student can "thrash
about" at an online search site for hours when a simple visit to the
Reader's Guide or to Sociological Abstracts would have put the student
onto key articles in minutes.  But those resources are online only at
higher costs.

Perhaps the student is learning something, in an exploratory way, by
using a "second-best" resource, but the student is not learning to use
the best research tools this country has to offer.

Lesson:  The Internet will provide spotty coverage of useful online
databases that schools can afford.  When such databases are accessed via
the Internet there are almost always online charges.  Whether services
such as by Infonautics or AOL will be able to provide access to
databases such as ERIC, MEDLINE or the higher value databases such as
offered by Dialog, at low, monthly costs is unknown.

In contrast, CD-ROM's with network licenses are likely to be the most
cost-effective way for schools to provide database access to those
databases not available through services such as Infonautics.  Whether
CD-ROM's will be more cost-effective for materials than those materials
available through services such as Infonautics depends on how CD-ROM
publishers respond to Internet competition, how many accounts a school
might pay for to provide Internet access, and the ability for CD-ROM
networks to provide for multiple use of the same CD-ROM.   In
establishing those site licenses, schools should opt for licenses that
permit students to access the CD-ROM databases from home.

Z  (Use) Portable Eudora (Addessio, 1994)

There is a feature of Eudora that permits using Macintoshes by more than
one student for e-mail.  "The e-mail software was not installed on any
of the systems in the computer lab.  Each user was given a diskette that
contained Eudora, the e-mail utility, and a unique settings file that
identified them as the user.  With the diskette, users would retrieve
and archive mail, and they could move freely between systems while
preserving the privacy of their e-mail. (p. 8)"

Lesson:  E-mail systems that store messages and forward them based on
user ID rather than machine ID are useful for students who do not have
dedicated network machines.

*  (Work for) Principal Involvement for Change (Weir, 1992)

Weir's Electronic Communities of Learning: Fact or Fiction draws from
her years of experience with Seymour Papert at MIT and at TERC.  This
"must read" report is an excellent resource on educational change.  In
addition to appreciating the role of principals in bringing about
change, Weir's discussion on whether the teacher or the student
"controls learning" is revealing.

Lesson:  Successful introduction of networking into the curriculum
requires not only the involvement of the principal, but the principal's
leadership as well.

*  (Provide) Professional Development and Support (Solomon, 1995)

Lesson:  Participants in the DOE National Technology Plan discussion
(see bibliography) continually emphasized the need for Professional
Development of teachers for technology to be successfully used.

*  (Involve) Professional During Planning Stage (Lipman, 1995)

Lesson:  "Get a professional involved in the planning stages.  If
cabling can be done during new building construction, it is much more
cost effective. (p. 12)"

*  (Involve) Professional to Oversee Contractor (Lipman, 1995)

Lesson:  "Hire a professional to work with contractors and oversee the
networking from start to finish. (p. 12)"

*  (Use) Promotion Techniques to Aid Success (Robertson, 1995)

Introducing technology is about change.  And change can be aided by
promotional activities.  Robertson lists these:

- Hold Executive Briefings
Show board members, community leaders, teachers, facility planners,
finance directors, and the superintendent the latest technology.  Ask
hardware vendors to send representatives their latest products.

- Coordinate Tours to Other High-Tech Schools
Visit schools within a 5-mile radius to learn about equipment being used
there

- Hold "Computer Day" for Parents
Invite parents for a hands-on computer day.  Provide child care and
after computer instruction.  Teach them to use the software their
children use daily.  Plan enough instruction on word processing to allow
them to create and print out a brief letter to their child.

- Have Students Evaluate Software
Choose a class to evaluate each new piece of software, a CD-ROM
resource, or an Internet Resource.  Better yet, develop a "techie tribe"
that always, when new software arrives, fills out the registration card,
boots it up, and explores its capabilities.  Let the students
demonstrate it to their teacher and the technology coordinator.

- Hold Contests Regularly
Carmen Sandiego Day - Broderbund has a catalog of Carmen Sandiego
shirts, folders, context suggestions, stickers, and prizes.
Create Word Processing Contest - Promote keyboarding, word processing,
and writing skills by integrating them into a contest.
Computer Art Contest - Students enter computer generated art work.
Internet Scavenger Hunts - Have students pick topics of interest and use
Internet tools to find information.  Have students compare information
found on the Internet to other sources, such as going to the library.

- Seek Publicity
Write articles for local newspapers, magazines and chamber of commerce
newsletters.  Call the local newspaper every time you plan a networking
contest or project.

- Develop a Media Center with a Trained Technician
Train the technician to use software and suggest networking projects. 
Have software catalogues, computer magazines, and Internet resource
guides available (see e.g. Williams, 1995)

- Send Out a Newsletter
A regular, professional looking publication to the community is a great
way to spread the word about your projects.

- Seek Outside Funds
Write grant proposals and ask local businesses to support the computer
and network you want, what needs it satisfies and how much it costs. 
Enter any contest that offers equipment or software as prizes.  Hold
fund-raisers.

- Maximize Technology Use
Create mobile-laptop or multimedia stations, a video production studio,
cable TV station, telecomputing station or satellite learning center. 
Allow students to checkout laptops, VCR's, video cameras, and classroom
computers.  Have your Computer Shop hold an annual fair where parents
can see what was accomplished and members of the community can drop off
computer equipment for the Shop.

- Reward those who Come for Training
Give tickets at the end of the session, have a drawing.  Give away
software, coupons for dinner at local restaurants, two T-bone steaks,
candy, key chains, and paid vacations.  (A paid vacation consists of one
hour of freedom for the teacher while someone else teaches his/her
class.

- Enlist Help
Help networking staff by selecting and training a computer contact
teacher at each school.

- Train Students to be Troubleshooters
Teach them to set up and break down a computer, to understand networking
monitoring tools and be able to locate a network fault.  At the end of
the year, recognize them with certificates of appreciation.

[Note: Above list was adapted to include network related activities]

_  Provide Feedback (Kimball, 1995)

"Encourage those writers who contribute good messages by sending them
private thank-you notes via e-mail, and by acknowledging them publicly
in the conference or list. (p. 55)"

Lesson:  Online environments lack many of the cues we are used to in
face-to-face communication.  Have your teachers and students learn to
use symbols in their e-mail to communicate cues such as  :)  Ñ "I'm
smiling" (it's on its side!).  A conference without personal and public
notes of appreciation may collapse for the lack of rewards and
recognition.

*  Provide Resources for Teachers (Carlitz, 1994, Urban Settings)

"It clearly makes sense to provide resources for pioneers.  While it
might seem like a frill for some districts to encourage teachers within
their system to experiment with new approaches to education, the cost of
this exercise is minimal compared to the expenses that can be incurred
by false starts and dead-end approaches to change. (IV-2)"

Lesson:  The pioneering teachers in any school district are a valuable
resource Ñ one to be cultivated and used as a means of exploring new
paradigms and models.

*  Provide Staff Development (Massachusetts Software Council, 1994)

The Switched-On Classroom provides those school districts that are
beginning to develop technology plans with a set of resources and
instructions about how to involve "stakeholders" in the process.

The guide lists 10 areas of training and staff development (see Section
8):
- Introductory training
- Computer ethics instruction
- Technology-specific training
- Subject/grade level training
- Software courses
- Curriculum writing courses
- Distance learning instruction
- Classroom management strategies
- Technology as an assessment tool
- Process training

"Staff development implies more than training Ñ it also refers to
professional growth.  Teachers must not only know how to use various
technologies, but also must clearly understand how technology changes
the learning process. (p. 8-1)"

Lesson:  Staff development implies more than training.

C (Use a) Public RFP (Chapman, 1995, Austin)

"The City of Austin released a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking a
private partner for a new city-wide information network based on
fiber-optic media ... and includes the principles of universal access,
an open system, interoperability, abundant bandwidth, true competition
among service providers, etc., all in contrast to the cable TV model or
the monopoly model of the telephone company."

There were critics that said the City's proposal was so outrageous and
unworkable that no companies would respond.  "So we're pleased to
announce that the City  of Austin got about a dozen proposals ...
including proposals from major telecom companies like AT&T, MCI,
Scientific Atlanta, GTE, and others (lines 47 -54)."

Lesson:  Traditional telecommunications providers may provide
unimaginative solutions unless schools and cities ask for more.

)  (ask for) Rate Reductions Based on the 1996 Telecommunications Act
(Priest, Universal Service, 1995)

The Snowe-Rockefeller Amendment of 1995 added to the Telecommunications
Act of 1996 a provision for affordable rates for schools:

Section 254 -- Universal Service
(B) Educational providers and libraries.-- All telecommunications
carriers serving a geographic area shall, upon a bona fide request for
any of its services that are within the definition of universal service
under subsection (c)(3), provide such services to elementary schools,
secondary schools, and libraries for educational purposes at rates less
than the amounts charged for similar services to other parties.  The
discount shall be an amount that the Commission, with respect to
interstate services, and the States, with respect to intrastate
services, determine is appropriate and necessary to ensure affordable
access to and use of such services by such entities.

However, this money does not come out of the "pockets" of the
telecommunications companies, but rather from the total amount allocated
for universal services as stipulated further in the Act:

A telecommunications carrier providing service under this paragraph
shall--
(i.)  have an amount equal to the amount of the discount treated as an
offset to its obligation to contribute to the mechanisms to preserve and
advance universal service, or
(ii)  notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (e) of this section,
receive reimbursement utilizing the support mechanism to preserve and
advance universal service.

Within a state it is the role of the Public Utility Commission (PUC) to
determine what the amount of the discount will be.  The PUC could decide
that the costs to schools for telecommunications will be zero dollars,
but, whatever they chose, those monies then must come from other
universal services provided within the state such as rural subsidies and
"lifeline" services.  However, the State PUC can also raise the overall
payment by telecommunications companies into the universal services
"pot."  Further, it can be expected that the total revenues of all
telecommunications activities will increase as telecommunications
becomes an increasingly larger part of all activities Ñ business and
personal.  And as the total revenues increase, the monies available from
the universal services payments would correspondingly increase,
providing the additional funds to offset the school subsidies.

For schools to receive the rate reduction requires that the PUC
implement this reduction.  To ensure that the PUC does this and to
ensure that the reduction is sizeable, it is the role of all interested
in K-12 education to "lobby" the PUC for this reduction.  The same is
true for library rate reductions.

In determining the rate reduction, the PUC may wish to consider "means
testing."  In other words, it may wish to provide higher rate reductions
for poorer school systems.  Elsewhere in this report we discuss the
problems of the "have's" and "have-nots."  This is yet another
opportunity to provide for the have-nots Ñ in a way that provides
increased learning benefits to the poor.

The Telecommunications Act does not, unfortunately, address the
disparities among states when considering school subsidies for
intrastate telecommunications.  Since use of the Internet involves both
intrastate and interstate telecommunications, the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) will decide what subsidies will be applied to the
interstate portion of the charges.  The FCC may wish to consider "means
testing" for these subsidies, and thus subsidize either poorer states
and/or states with more rural populations (and thus higher intrastate
telecommunications costs).  Since universal services decisions by the
FCC will fall under the control of a "joint federal-state board," the
education (and library) communities will want to influence this board in
providing for higher rate reductions.

_  (In online groups) Recap by Weaving (Kimball, 1995)

"Weaving is a networking term that refers to the process of summarizing
and synthesizing multiple responses in a virtual group.  The weaving
item or response tells people where they've been, where they are, and
where they might want to go next. (p. 56)"

Lesson:  Weaving gives all members, however long they've been
participating, a chance to start fresh or take off in a new direction.

*  (Use of) Reflective Dialog for Professional Development (Spitzer,
1994 in Levin, 1995)

Lesson:  Teachers and Staff need special attention using reflective
dialogs when receiving professional development over networks.

*  (Provide) Release Time (Graham in Priest, 1995)

Lesson:  Professional Development involves providing release time for
teachers by using substitute teachers.

*  (Use an) RFQ not an RFP (Crowe, 1994)

Several tips have addressed the savings that can be achieved by schools
that can provide careful specification of the network and other aspects
of a school information infrastructure.

Lesson:  An RFQ (request for quotation) can be issued when requirements
are well specified.

C  Reconstruct The Role of School Within Larger Community (Hodas,
undated, Culture)

"In Medocino, California, for example, an area devastated by declines in
the traditional fishing and timber industries, the local high school has
taken the lead role in developing a community-wide information
infrastructure designed to encourage a fundamental shift in the local
economic base away from natural resource dependency and toward
information work.  While initially dependent on NASA's K-12 Internet
program for connectivity, the school district has moved to create
partnerships with local providers to both secure its own
telecommunications needs and be able to resell excess capacity to
community businesses brought online by the school's own adult education
programs.  The school is moving toward a project-based approach that
relies on Internet access in every classroom to devise an updated
version of vocational education (Many of their students will not go on
to four-year colleges) that meets both state requirements and the wishes
of the Mendocino staff to work with their students in a radically
different environment. (lines 872-899)"

Lesson:  A hard pressed community has embraced technology both as a
means of schooling and as a skill to be learned.

)  Run Fiber (McKanna, 1994)

"The cost of labor is the highest portion of the installation.  Having
to rewire the buildings at some time in the future would result in
paying the labor charges twice.  The district installed fiber optic
cables capable of carrying data at gigabit speeds in all buildings." (p.
5)

Lesson:  As demonstrated in the discussion at the beginning of this
Section, cabling labor can easily cost 90% of the entire wiring project.
 While fiber technologies will improve significantly in future years,
the actual fiber cable will change little over that time.  Install fiber
optic cable today.  For long, inter-building runs use it.  Within
buildings, however, use Category 5 (or equivalent) cabling for use
today.

_  Search the Internet First (Peha, 1995)

"Search the Internet yourself before asking students to.  As one teacher
said, 'Know what to look for in advance, so you and your students will
not be disappointed.' (p. 21)"

Lesson:  A scavenger hunt for something not on the Internet may be a
waste of time and incentive.  Remember that most useful academic online
databases are not accessible by the Internet without providing an online
account at a search facility.  Materials that are out of copyright are
most likely to be found on the Internet.  So plan on finding Shakespeare
and not finding authors within the last 100 years.  There are
exceptions.  Some publishers permit authors to put a chapter on the
Internet as a "teaser" to encourage sales.  News releases, especially
those where the publisher pays for the release, such as PRNewswire, are
more likely to be on the Internet than stories sold to publishers, such
as those by Associated Press or Reuters.

_  (In Internet projects) Set Clear Goals

"Students will learn if they can see that they are involved in doing
something real.  To learn science, let them really be scientists.  They
had specific tasks to perform and data to analyze. (p. 31)"

Lesson: Clearly establish tasks and goals for Internet-based projects.

_  (Use) Short Projects (Teles, 1991)

Lesson:  Short projects have more easily identified beginnings and
endings, providing the student with a whole learning experience.

C  Show, Don't Tell Students (Walker, 1995)

"Using library visit times and moments from planning periods, we showed
small groups of students the basics of using Ottawa's Free-net, Usenet
newsgroups, and resources retrievable by gopher. (p. 32)"

Lesson:  Showing students results in active learning.

*  (Use) Small Implementation Steps in Introducing Technology (McKanna,
1994)

"Take one building or technology at a time.  Allow the staff and
students time to absorb the changes. (p. 12)"

Lesson:  Grow teachers, staff, and students as the technology grows.


*  (Use) Specific RFP (Lipman, 1994; McKanna, 1994)

If you don't have the confidence to issue at RFQ (see above) then 
"...be specific in your RFPs.  If district staff or architects don't
have the necessary skills to write detailed specifications then find
someone who can write them.  All too often, specific details are left
out leaving much to chance in the end. (p. 11)"

Lesson:  It is easier to hold a contractor accountable with a thoroughly
detailed specification than one which has left much to the imagination. 
Remember, assembling new technology is part of a discovery process that
requires study and preparation.

*  (Use) Standard Naming Conventions in the Network (McKanna, 1994)

"Standardize on naming conventions.  One of the very first tasks of a
large district is to establish a standardized naming convention for
users as well as devices both for ease of use and for security.  For
example, have all student IDs begin with an "S," all teachers with a
"T," administrators with an "A" and clerical staff with a "C."  This
immediately provides the first level of security for any large network.
(p. 11).

Lesson:  Standard Naming Conventions are part of the larger
standardization process that can reduce costs and ease operation.

)  Standardization on Equipment (McKanna, 1994)

Lesson:  "With the limited dollars available in education, it is much
less expensive to maintain standardized equipment right down to the
bulbs in the overhead projectors.  Service is easier, replacement faster
and diagnosis of problems less time consuming. (p. 11)"

*  Start Small If Necessary (Walker, 1995)

If your school doesn't have a network you can still start Internet-based
projects.  In the case of an Ottawa, Canada site, the school could
access the Internet through the Ottawa Free-net, saving on provider
charges.  A single machine was connected via phone line and students
prepared e-mail material on other machines Ñ using the one Internet
machine to send and receive e-mail.

Lesson:  Using e-mail, even simple arrangements with older equipment can
provide satisfactory projects.  While dial-up access is not recommended
for networking an entire school, it is a way of introducing students and
other teachers to potential uses.

- It is possible to access almost every resource on the Internet via
e-mail.  Web pages, gopher resources, and even newsgroups can be
accessed via e-mail.  There are addresses on the Internet where an
e-mail request is sent and the receiving machine processes the request
and sends back the desired information.  Nonetheless, this method of
access requires patience and imagination.  Also, it often takes an
administrator or teacher seeing Netscape, perhaps with Acrobat and
RealAudio, to get excited about the Internet.  Indeed, there are many
documents on the Internet in PDF format which require an Acrobat reader
(some of these documents are networking resources and are labeled PDF in
the bibliography of this report).  There is a version of Acrobat that
runs under DOS (not requiring Windows) and using that reader and e-mail,
one can obtain any of the listed PDF files in the bibliography and read
them.  Since PDF files can be several hundred thousand bytes large it
can take many minutes for the document to appear via the Internet unless
the user has a very high speed connection.  Therefore it is common to
store PDF files locally if they are used for reference. 

- About fifteen years ago the postscript format for representing text
and drawings was developed.  To this day it remains the most universal
method of describing documents.  On the Internet there are both
Postscript files and PDF files.  PDF is a compressed form of Postscript.
 To view Postscript files there are shareware readers for Windows and
Macintosh platforms (see Aladdin, 1995).  To view PDF files there is
Adobe's Acrobat (see Adobe, 1995).

RealAudio is one of a few ways to receive audio recordings via the
Internet.  For example, National Public Radio's "All Things Considered"
is available over the Internet (visit http://www.prognet.com).  This
kind of Internet use is really quite useful.  An index of NPR's readings
is provided via Netscape and a particular segment can be chosen and
listened to.  (Of course what makes this possible are "contributors like
you" and tax dollars that support NPR.  The recent rescue of federal
funds for public radio attests to the value that many place on NPR and
PBS.)

*  State Size for Contracting Power (Kohl, 1993)

Some states have found that they can achieve economies by contracting
for access to online database materials.  Ohio has done this in the case
of OhioLINK.

Lesson:  This suggests that school districts should cooperate with state
agencies in determining database needs and purchase state-wide licenses
for materials.  As an example, as noted above the EPIE Institute
provides a database of over 17,000 educational software products on
CD-ROM.  States that have purchased membership in EPIE's State
Consortium for Improving Software Selection (SCISS) can receive and
distribute CD-ROM's to libraries and schools for an "at-cost" fee beyond
an annual license fee.  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is providing
the database to schools, parents, and students through MCET
(Massachusetts Corporation for Educational Telecommunications) via a web
page; Texas provides the database via WAIS on their state-wide network
called TENET.

_  (for online conferences) Support (and Recruit) New Members (Kimball,
1995)

Since online conferences are often continuing discussions, a new member
can be confused or lost.  "Although new members can stimulate a virtual
group, they may have problems figuring out how to enter a fast-moving
discussion.  One way for them to introduce themselves is to create items
that anyone can respond to, even those who don't think of themselves as
experts on the topic.  Send a message to newcomers encouraging them to
respond to those items. (p. 56)"

Lesson:  Online conferences should be facilitated to welcome newcomers.

*  (Have) Support of Administrators for Implementing Networking
(Carlitz, 1995, Urban Setting)

Suggestions above about using internal competition and effective
planning will not work without "...the support of administrators in the
school district."

Lesson:  "While grass-roots efforts must be at the heart of any
effective educational reform, such reforms can never pass out of the
classrooms of the first adopters and across the entire school district
unless they are clearly endorsed at all levels of the school
administration. (IV-6)"

*  (and Have) Supporting Infrastructures (Carlitz, 1995, Urban Setting)

"Any technology plan must include not only the elements of necessary
hardware and software but also a supporting infrastructure adequate to
maintain equipment that has been purchased and to assist teachers in its
effective use in the classroom. (IV-9)"

Lesson:  Maintenance, network information services, network operations
services, and network projects related to curriculum objectives must all
be available to teachers for networks to provide benefits.

)Z  (Use) TCP/IP (California Guide, 1994; Gargano, 1994; Warner, 1994)

Lesson:  As described above, even Novell has provided TCP/IP as an
alternate to their proprietary IPX networking protocol.  Since the
Internet and its many tools have been built on TCP/IP, it has become a
standard throughout networks.

*  Teacher Training (Addessio, 1994; Apple, 1995, Staff Development;
Benson, 1994; Bull, 1994; Carlitz, 1994; Chamberlain, 1995; CPB, 1995;
Espalin, 1995; Fulton, 1995; Gallo, 1994; Guerette, 1994; Harris, 1995,
Hunter, 1995; Internet World, 1995, Global Schoolhouse; McKanna, 1994)

No single factor for the success of networking is mentioned more often
than teacher training and professional development.  Section IV of this
report discusses the issue of teacher training in relationship to
networking models and the benefits of networking.

C  (Use) Technology to Promote Change (Hodas, undated, Culture; Solomon,
1995)

School culture, change, reform, and conditions are the subject of many
discussions and debates.  Section IV discusses these issues in
relationship to technology.

Lesson: While technology can aid in school reform, technology, alone,
will not cause reform.

_  (Use) Telecomputing Projects (Rogers, 1990, 1994, undated)

Rogers and others have studied many instances of successful and
unsuccessful use of telecomputing projects in schools and learning. 
Above, under the discussion of Learning Circles, Levin's discussion of
the theory of telecomputing projects provided a number of
characteristics of successful projects.  Here we review Rogers'
guidelines for "successful online learning experience with your students
(Rogers, 1990, line 70)"

- Design a project with specific goals, specific tasks, and specific
outcomes.  The more specific, the better; the more closely aligned with
traditional instructional objectives, the better.

- Set specific beginning and ending dates for your project, and set
precise deadlines for participant responses.

- Phased deadlines establish a sense of accountability to the other
participants in the project and make it easier to secure follow through.
 Even if the teacher is inclined to drop out, students who know the
deadlines will often hold their own teachers accountable to complete the
project.

- If possible, try your project out with a close colleague first, on a
small scale.

- Request collaborators by posting messages on electronic bulletin
boards, and by sending out flyers if possible

- Give specific information about your project in the call for
collaboration including goals, your location, grade levels desired,
contact person, timeline and deadlines, how many responses you would
like, and what you will do with the responses.

- Provide examples of the kinds of writing or data collection that
students will submit.

- Find responsible students and train them to be part of your project.

- At the conclusion of the project, follow through on sharing the
results with all participants.

Lesson:  "For some teachers, telecommunications expands the horizons of
their classroom, opening the doors to real audiences and exciting
interactive activities from locations around the country and the world. 
These teachers know its capacity to motivate students and involve them
in productive learning experiences. (lines 13-18)"

_  (Use) Telementoring (Means in Levin, 1995)

Lesson:  Stanford Research developed telementoring structures for
on-the-job learning

_  (Use) Telecollaborative Projects (Harris, 1995 in Levin, 1995)

Lesson:  Harris describes sixteen different activity structures for
telecollaborative projects, which she groups into three "structure
genres": interpersonal exchanges, information collections, and
problem-solving projects

*  (Find) Time for Teacher to Learn to Use Technology (Means, 1995)

"Providing time for technology-supported education reform is critical. 
Observers of pioneering efforts in this area argue that changes do not
occur overnight.  In earlier studies, researchers have concluded that
something on the order of 3 to 5 years is required for teachers to
become really adept at incorporating technology into their teaching
practice (Sheingold, 1990; Sterans et al., 1991).  (p. 76)"

Lesson:  The relationship between technology adoption and the practice
of teaching is not a simple one.  This issue is discussed further in
Section IV.

)Z  (Make use of) University Assistance (Graham, undated; Rothstein,
1995; Carlitz, 1995)

Many K-12 schools received both technical assistance and connections to
the Internet in the late 1980's and early 90's.  NASA, NSF, and other
government agencies support projects through Universities that assist
K-12 schools such as the "Common Knowledge Project" between the
University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh schools.

However, with increasing numbers of schools developing networks, the
majority will not be able to receive such individualized attention.

Lesson:  Universities may be an alternate source for expertise and
advice, depending on circumstances.

)Z   (Make use of) Vendor Information (Graham, undated; Lipman, 1994;
Graham in Priest, 1995)

Earlier we noted that Ken Graham saved 2/3rd's of the cost of installing
a network by specifying the network himself.  Yet he was "only" a
remedial English teacher.

Graham relied on two sources of information: 1.)  the expertise of a
principal member of a local networking company, and 2.)  the literature
from networking and network supplies vendors.

For example, he related how the MilesTek (1995) catalog of Ethernet
supplies provided short tutorials on subjects from choosing the correct
"Thinnet" cable to trade-offs in kits supplied to terminate fiber
connections.  A simple call (see bibliography) brought this most
informative resource in a couple of days.  Another expansive catalogue
of networking products is by Black Box (1995).  This distributor carries
not only a wide range of cabling but hubs, routers, and associated
equipment .  Another call to Xyplex brought Xyplex's introduction to
ISDN (1995).  And another call to Novell brought materials on Netware. 
[Note: these are illustrative sources and may not be the lowest
cost/best service vendors for you.]
 
In addition to advice from vendors, there are numerous people who have
placed detailed, how-to guides on the Internet.  We note Rackley (1994)
on network wiring standards, Spurgeon (1995) on many aspects of both 10
Mbps and 100 Mbps Ethernet, Bigelow who describes both LAN and WAN
choices including the use of Frame Relay (1995), the California Guide
(1994) with a wide variety of practical information, various Apple
tutorials in text and PDF format (Apple, 1995, many), PacBell's ISDN
Guide in PDF format (PacBell, 1995), Smart Valley's networking plans and
guidelines for schools (1995), HaLevi's postscript file on the
evaluation of intelligent 10Base-T hubs, and Wasley's technical model
for school networks in postscript. (For a PDF viewer consult Adobe, for
a postscript viewer consult Aladdin, both in the bibliography of this
report.  Recall that a PDF or postscript file is able to include vital
diagrams and figures that simple text files cannot.)  Cisco, a leader in
routers, has posted many materials on internetworking and connectivity
(Cisco, 1995, several).  Another "jumping off place" is to visit
http://www.industry.net.  This site has a page dedicated to networking
hardware, software, and cabling. (Do keep in mind that this is a
selective subset of many possible vendors.)

Lesson:  Whether it is someone who comes from within the school, or
someone you hire from the outside, your technical support person should
rely on local networking companies, vendors, and Internet resources to
fill out his/her knowledge and save the school money, time and
aggravation.

*C  (Use) Volunteers (Boulder Community Network, 1995; Snow, 1995;
Komoski & Priest, Eliminating Virtual Ghetto; Massachusetts Tech Corp,
1995; W3.COM, 1995, NetDay96)

It is important to distinguish between four types of volunteers that
relate to school networking:

1.  Community Interest Volunteers Ñ these are the kinds of volunteers
that have supported the community bulletin board movement (see Snow,
1995; BCN, 1995) and have supported broader learning community efforts
such as LINCT (Learning and Information Networks for Community
Telecomputing) see Komoski & Priest (1995).

2.  School Project Volunteers Ñ these volunteers are organized around a
project, such as wiring a school (see for example W3.COM, 1995,
NetDay96; Reuters, 1995).

3.  Networking Assistance from Local Companies - these are people who
often aid specific individuals in schools on networking questions out of
an interest to "be of assistance."

4.  US Tech Corps - a project begun by Gary J. Beach, publisher of
Computerworld.  In Massachusetts the co-sponsors are Comnputerworld,
Deloitte & Touche, and the Massachusetts Software Council.  In early
1995 over "300 volunteers were recruited in January and February, with
schools and volunteers meeting in early March to define their projects."
 "The Tech Corps provides human resources that can support and enhance
the school's technoogy planning, training, and implementation power. 
The 'people power' offered through the Tech Corps helps schools offset a
portion of their costs of bringing classrooms and schools in the the
Electronic Age. (Mass. Software Council, 1995, lines 41-45)"

A Massachusetts Tech Corps Newsletter
(http://www.swcouncil.org:80/techcorps/newletter.
html#projects) describes over 100 projects involving local volunteers,
e.g.:
- A Hingham volunteer assists staff once a week with hardware and
software questions
- A Worcester volunteers is providing network support for a LAN
- A Dennis-Yarmouth volunteer is mentoring an advanced high school
technology student
- A Pentucket volunteer created a brochure to assist with community
outreach

Lesson:  Schools have several important volunteer resources to choose
from.  To establish a community base, start a chapter of LINCT.  For
access to technical assistance contact either a local networking compnay
or a chapter of the US TECH Corps.  While Massachusetts may be further
ahead than other states, there are TECH Corps chapters in every state
(send mail to ustech@cw.com to obtain a contact).

_  Well Defined End Points (Fredman in Teles, 1991)

"Timeline considerations must be taken into account: short projects with
well-defined end-points have been successful. (p. 6)"

Lesson:  Keep the project short and contained.

)  Wireless (Frezza, 1994; response to Frezza (1995) by WinForum;
Komoski and Priest, 1995, Vision Paper for Workshop; Metricom, 1995,
Lovette, 1995)

Bill Frezza, president of Wireless Computing Associates and the chairman
of the wireless modem standards committee of the PCCA, caused a stir
when he published an article (1994) called "Bypassing Your Way Onto The
I-way" in Network Computing.

In reference to the problems of on-ramps to the superhighway he said
"Why not just skip over the whole mess by slapping an antenna on your
PC."  Frezza was responding to Metricom's ability to connect a PC to the
Internet using a wireless modem.

Metricom sells a wireless modem, which will operate at "raw" rates of up
to 100 Kbps.  Data throughput is less than the raw rate, but distinctly
higher than a 28.8 Kbps modem.  The wireless modem sells for $299 when a
one year subscription is purchased and $600 separately.

Internet access is charged at a flat $29.95/month.  In a recent press
release (10/11/95) the prices of other wireless services (ARDIS, RAM)
which charge by the amount of data were quoted as follows:
"If you send/receive 10k in e-mail or Internet/Web data per day, other
packet data services cost: $100-$250."
"If you send/receive 50k..., other services: $475-$1,250"

There is a major qualification, however, for Metricom's Richochet
network.  It requires a set of transceivers to be installed every 1/2
mile.  So far only a couple of communities are connected, such as Santa
Cruz, CA, but Washington, DC is projected for some time in 1996.  ARDIS
and RAM wireless services are available nationwide.  These services
began as an extension of paging services, and the bandwidth is limited,
thus requiring charging by the amount of data.  The transceivers are
located miles apart in contrast to the Richochet arrangement.

David Hughes raised awareness about wireless possibilities when he
purchased two of the modems and demonstrated wireless Internet
connectivity.  Since the modems can talk to each other as well as to the
transceiver, Hughes could place one modem on a phone line to the
Internet and the other (within a few hundred feet) to the PC.  Hughes is
currently evaluating a wide range of wireless equipment under an NSF
grant.

Metricom makes use of a frequency hopping technology in an "unlicensed"
part of the spectrum (902-928 mhz).  While this is crowded with other
wireless applications, there is usually sufficient clear channel
capacity.  Metricom recently petitioned the FCC to prohibit vehicle
monitoring uses of the band for fear that this use would interfere
unduly with their applications.

Also, there is competition from the providers of digital cellular
services, but, again, this is not widely deployed.

Priest and Komoski (1995, Vision paper; Priest, Spectrum, 1995) see the
opportunity for a $100 PC modem using vast unused areas of the UHF
spectrum and by hopping around users in other bands, such as 6 meters
(used by Amateur radio operators).  Such a wireless board would have a
10-20 mile range and could place an entire community on a wireless LAN
estimated to carry a total capacity of 300 Mbps.  While such a network
would not meet the demands of a heavy Internet user, it is ideal for
universal service.  Further, as the solution is deployed in rural areas,
the technology has more unused bandwidth and performs better.  Priest
and Komoski are promoting the concept to regulatory commissioners as a
means of providing digital universal service for the country at
extremely low cost.

There have been other proposals for wireless access.  Lovette (1995;
Warren, 1995) petitioned the FCC for additional unlicensed wireless
space and last year the FCC granted 20 mhz from 1910-1930 mhz for
unlicensed wireless use.  And Lovette has petitioned for additional
space, some are calling the NII band, in the 5 ghz area.

- Radio spectrum consists of transmitters and receivers that send and
receive "radio waves."  These waves are described in terms of how many
times they cycle in a second.  An AM radio station transmits in the area
of ten thousand cycles per second.  Recently, in honor of Heinrich
Rudolf Hertz who was first to artificially produce a radio wave, the
term "cycles-per-second" was replaced by "hertz."  Thus an AM radio
transmits at around 1000 khz (kilo-hertz, or thousand hertz).  The FCC
band granted last year is at 1910 mhz (or 1,910 million hertz, also
called 1.91 gigahertz, giga for a thousand - million).  Shannon's
theorem (Van Nostrand, 1995, Bandwidth) describes how much data can be
transmitted over a certain bandwidth, at a certain radio frequency, in
the presence of noise.  Bandwidth is the "width" of the signal, usually
centered around the signal's frequency.  There is always "noise" in
radio bands - tune a radio (that doesn't shut off noise) in-between
stations and you will hear noise or "static."

One characteristic of radio waves is that lower frequency waves travel
further (Meresman, 1995).  Thus higher frequency transmissions,
especially those in the gigahertz, can only be reliably used over
hundred's of feet.  Tennenhouse (in Priest, 1995, Trip Report) describes
the world moving toward smaller and smaller "cells."  A cell is an area
covered by a radio transceiver for local signals.  This is why we have
the phrase "cellular phone."  As frequencies reach the 5-6 ghz range,
cells typically drop to less than 100 feet.

For reliable universal service using the Priest/Komoski wireless card
plan, lower frequencies such as in the range of 50 to 500 mhz are more
reliable in semi-urban areas.

Another popular use for wireless transmissions is for "point to point"
communications.  Companies such as Proxim, Freewave and several others
offer transceivers for around $1200, each, that can reliably transmit,
point-to-point, at distances of up to twenty miles at data throughputs
of around 120 Kbps.  These are comparable to ISDN speeds but incur no
monthly charges.  In the right setting, say between one school building
and another, a wireless point-to-point link will be more cost-effective
than any other alternative.

Lesson:  Schools should consider wireless for inter-building,
point-to-point connections.  A pair of transceivers is around $2400 and
have no monthly costs except for possible maintenance.  Within schools,
solutions such as Metricom's are more expensive and lower bandwidth than
typical wired solutions.  Other services that charge by the message are
distinctly too expensive.

Support of the Priest/Komoski $100 wireless card would help connect
communities.  At this cost, any student with a wireless card and a
donated PC have a means of reaching out to the learning ecology of
his/her local and global communities (see Section V).


Survey Results with Participants of the Council of School Networking
List

Over seven hundred people subscribe to the list cosndisc@list.cren.net. 
We posted a series of 6 questions on the list at different times, asking
questions about cost-effective techniques.

Over the course of six months we received a total correspondence of
about 350,000 bytes (around 80 pages).  This compendium is available as
a separate document (Priest, 1995, CoSN Survey).

Responses ranged from very specific technical instructions about hub
choices to discussions about the morality of using lottery funds to
support education.  We recommend that technology coordinators download
the document when it is posted on the Internet for "a read."  It is a
set of stories and excursions that provide a down-to-earth sense of the
experiences of schools at varying stages of networking.

There were no "magic bullets" in the responses, but there were a lot of
sensible comments about the networking process.  The following are
selected quotations from the survey:

We leverage a common Linux box (486 running Linux as operating system -
$3300 for hardware, software is free) as our name/mail/web/gopher
server.

Or we start simple LANs from scratch.  We just came back from Smithburg
H.S.  They now on [are] online with hub connecting macs and Linux box
and router in a simple 10BaseT net.  We know a heck of a lot more than
we did a year ago.

Two teachers from each school will receive training in integrating
techniques of computational science into their courses at special
workshops

We use CATV broadband cable to shape one T-1 connection between five
districts, two municipal governments, and a public library [see Cable
Modem, Mundt, Glenview, above]

My school system wants to train high school wizards to
fix/install/salvage computers, but we haven't started yet

[regarding school-home connections] This is surprisingly cheap - $1200
in hardware and $1K in software, and you have a complete 4 port
voicemail system with total flexibility.  Of course, since most schools
don't have phones in the room, how do the teachers use it?

Pull Cat[egory] 5 4 pair, even if you don't need it now
Use a punchdown block & octopus for maximum flexibility at low
incremental cost
Use a central "stackable" hub, with at least one connection per room. 
This allows any room to have a low cost hub if there are more than one
computer per room.  Use another stackable in a lab.  Cheap hubs work
fine

Pull video and phone at the same time

Borrow a wiring certifier.  Wonderful device, and I've always found
someone willing to let me use it for a few hours.

My company [a local networking firm] allows teachers in our town a
dial-up account on our Unix servers for free.  I volunteer in my schools
to select equipment, install, train

I am a parent.  We did it ourselves, no consultants were used.  [We]
conducted a survey of kids, parents, teachers, administrators, staff,
board members and community members about their familiarity, attitudes,
needs and desires with respect to technology... Having the kids do the
demo rather than staff or parents was very effective.  Made a good
impression on the board... Establish a fund for in-house grants.

One important thing you want to make sure of in any purchase is that you
buy a "PBX" type [telephone] system and not a "key" system.  The reason
you want a PBX is that the total cost is always, in my experience, less.
 The more phones you have, the more this is true.

Buy a used phone system.  Used phone systems are cheap, and if you buy a
quality system, will last a very long time.  [And] buy a software
controlled system; there aren't many really old software controlled
phones around.  Insist on all the manuals before you sign the contract. 
Make sure you get everything you need to program it yourself.  Negotiate
spare cards with your purchase.  A spare line card and a spare station
card will allow you do do most first level maintenance yourself.

When you install [telephone], install network wiring at the same time. 
If you do nothing else, do this one.

Let me add that you can upgrade these systems [donated from
corporations] as well as your older PC systems inexpensively:
We will train several enterprising high school computer buffs to do
upgrades
We can buy 486SX motherboards with 2MB of memory for $150, plus an
Ethernet card for $40.  We keep case, power supply, floppy disk, hard
disk, video, monitor & controller
We will clean the machines, swap the motherboards, clean the floppy disk
drives, reformat the hard disk, and reload DOS
We also purchase and load Windows and also load a public domain network
client.  With a Linux based server, we can live with the small hard
disks that are typically on these systems.
On some of the monochrome systems, we buy a new monitor ($150-$200) and
an SVGA card ($50)
We are careful to make sure that the motherboard is a standard size,
with standard mounting holes.

I'm looking for a way I can connect 24 IBM clones (386SX33mhz) to the
net without having 24 MODEMS, and 24 phone lines
[In response] I have been thinking about this for our local school
system, and there has been some discussion about it in past posts.  The
general answer is that you network your 24 IBMs together, hook a single
modem to one of them, and they share the access.  Saying that is easy,
doing it is less easy.  One possible solution is to buy Windows with
Workgroups, and a program that will share the serial port across the
network.  All the IBMs would be networked with WfW, and the serial port
sharer would be used to share access to the modems.  This is easy, and
not very expensive, but only one user at a time could access the
network.  If you have a machine that can be used as the server, then
this [an Ethernet network] will cost you less than $200.

	- The Terminal Server software discussed above a discussion box,
provides yet a different alternative.  Serial lines are used to connect
the PC's and they all have simultaneous telnet capabilities running as
VT-100's.  For machines of the class, here, this is probably a waste of
their ability to run Windows and Netscape, etc.  If the machines were
more limited, say Apple II's, the Terminal Server solution is ideal.

For your Netware buildings, there are a number of NLM servers that will
allow TCP/IP connections.  I favor running a TCP/IP stack in parallel
with the Novell IPX/SPX stack.  Commercial TCP/IP servers (PC-NFS,
Chameleon, etc.) does this, and, I think you can run WfW with
Microsoft's TCP/IP stack with Novell. It eats memory to do this. [See
discussion above about newer products that will provide Novell IPX and
TCP/IP as a single stack, reducing memory requirements.]

For the Unix server, an excellent choice is the new Sun Netra line.  If
you are strapped for cash, a perfectly acceptable alternative is a
decked out PC running Linux (free, or <$100), but you need more
expertise to set it up.  The Unix server is not "in line" with all the
clients, it is used to interface DOS clients to the net, and it is the
e-mail "post office", as well as the name server, etc.

[teacher speaking]  The trouble with our profession is that while we
prepare children for the world, we're so busy we often do not know what
the rest of the world is doing!!!

[for installing Frame Relay]  Just went through this.  I recommend a
Fastcomm EtherFRAD.  For about $1500 total, you get a CSU/DSU, FRAD and
IP routing for 56K frame relay connection.  The router is not at all as
configurable as, say, a Cisco, but it's a whole lot less expensive, and
works very well.

[the following is a multi-step program suggested by Brian Rosen
(br@nomos.com)]  ... so here is my list, assuming that budget dollars
are available, but pretty tight.  Warning - I'm a Do It Yourself kind of
person, a taxpayer and a techie.  This plan only works if you can beg,
borrow or steal some expertise.  Find a parent who will help.
1.  First year - building nets, frame relay WAN.  In each building:
Pull Cat[egory] 5, 4 pair to each room, RJ 45 wallplate termination in
rooms.  If lengths are short enough, terminate all in one closet,
otherwise, multiple closets & pull Cat 5 from each closet to one central
site.  Note: if you don't have it already, pull a 2 or 3 pair telephone
cable, and a video cable at the same time.  Wire is cheap, labor is not,
but the whole job can be done by volunteers.  [Note: EPIE/CITS also
advises pulling 4 strand glass fiber if the labor costs exceed $10/foot,
but leaving the fiber unterminated for later use]
Terminate closets with Cat 5 rated punchdown blocks.  I find 66 blocks
with telco connectors + octopus the least expensive, but patch panels
with 110 [volt] style IDC contacts and patch cords to the hub are nicer.
Get the wiring certified to CAT 5
Cost: depends on labor, materials are $200/1000' wire, $5 wall plate, $4
per room for block + $5 octopus or patch cord.
Put an unmanaged, stackable hub in the closet.  Choose one that can be
upgraded to SNMP managed: $35-40/port.
If you have to use multiple closets you can:
Best - purchase a low cost router for the building, connect the closet
hubs to the router.  This will allow you to use a hub to the router. 
This will allow you to use a hub in any room that has more than one
computer in a room.  Use cheap unmanaged hubs in the rooms if you must. 
If possible, buy ones that can be upgraded to SNMP managed later. 
Router costs vary all over the map.  Cheap unmanaged hubs are $150,
upgradeable ones are $250.
Not as good - use a bridge to connect each closet hub to the central
hub.  Also allows a hub in any room.  $1000 per bridge.
Worst - pull cable for each computer to the computer hub, or very
carefully plan the system so that there are no more than 3 hubs between
any two computers.
Get the least expensive Ethernet adapter you can find.  I like the
Kingston one, which is about $40 apiece.
Connect buildings together & to the Internet with Frame Relay.  Use a
Fastcomm EtherFRAD (CSU/DSU, FRAD & IP router for $1500) one per
building.
Get a decked out (big disk, big memory) PC & run Linux to be your server
($3K).  If you have more money, use a Sun Netra (?$8K), or something
like it.  You can go for Netware everywhere but that is big bucks.  You
only need one in the district if you don't provide file sharing this
year.  Run e-mail, news (bulletin board), ftp, WWW, Gopher, Telnet, etc.
everywhere.
This gets every computer in the district on one big, not very well
routed network.
2nd Year:
Put a server in every building, provide file sharing using NFS, LAN
Manager, Netware, Appleshare or some combination.
Put in a district router for the WAN & Internet traffic.
If you needed multiple closets, and you didn't get a building router, do
it this year.
Upgrade to SNMP managed hubs.  Purchase a decent SNMP management
software package.  [EPIE/CITS Note: SNMP is Simple Network Management
Protocol, an industry standard, that permits the network manager to
analyze traffic flows, balance the network, and find faults.]
3rd Year:
Upgrade WAN to T1, or better if available

Our asbestos abatement crew has offered to lay our lines above the
ceiling tiles.  We will have four Asante Hubs with 24 RJ45 ports.

[Kurt Richter FTKBR@aurora.alaska.edu provided this reality check] Well
... Our technology committee pushed for this for this [volunteer wiring
of schools] for past three years.  When we finally met with the director
in charge of buildings, he pointed out at least three areas that would
be impacted by parent accomplished wiring of a computer system.
First, the liability issue is a major concern.  Were a parent to injure
themselves during a volunteer activity such as this, the school's
liability would be total.  This was not acceptable to our
administration.
Second, there are too many connections and too many possible technical
problems that could be a problem.  Though this was less of a concern, it
might negate the efforts of the individuals and still result in a system
that was not able to function properly.
Third, the issue of structural and fire codes being violated is real, at
least in our school.  There are any number of walls which would have to
be dealt with and the subsequent holes and penetrations were not
acceptable from a structural and public safety point of view.
Thus, saith the buildings guru ... and our wiring plan for the building
remains stalled within the lineup to get all the building wired.  We'll
likely be wired up soon ... before the turn of the century ... hopefully
... maybe.

- The issues raised here are serious and certainly challenges the idea
of using volunteer wiring.  But they can be dealt with:
1.)  Liability -- have all volunteers sign release forms that have been
drafted by the school's attorney; make sure there are no glaring dangers
in your school (while a release form usually protects the school, an
unusual danger might still become grounds for a law suit); 
2.)  Connections: indeed, each connection is a potential source of
network difficulty and needs to be performed very well; have a
technically proficient person perform the actual connections, preferably
someone who does network wiring regularly; check the network with a
device that locates faults (while these devices do not find all faults,
such as an intermittent problem, they will reveal many); 
3.)  Firewalls: wires that run through firewalls may not be PVC covered
(such wire is more expensive but necessary), all holes through firewalls
must be sealed (or sufficiently tight) Ñ have your local building
inspector involved to be sure.  In summary, the highest cost to wiring
is the labor cost.  Many schools have been successfully wired using
volunteers.]

We had a lot of insurance/liability concerns raised, but in the end, it
was not a show stopper.  In one building that had asbestos, we couldn't
even talk about it.  We did not have union concerns in our district.  We
do use the maintenance staff to do incremental wiring. [in response to
the EPIE/CITS question on using parents to wire schools]

I am a district technology coordinator and I have worked with a student
and with maintenance men to add 10BaseT cabling in our building.  If
proper attention is paid to a few details, students and parents ought to
be able to be very helpful in laying cable. [A KY coordinator]

Our computer club is putting in 10BaseT wiring to about 5-8 locations. 
They have already done our main computer lab.  We received permission
from the district - main caveat was to avoid asbestos areas - in this
situation the wire is run along the intersections of wall and ceiling.

[This respondent spoke to networking content] This past winter we
launched the Discovery Learning Community (Focus On: The Promised
Land)... and our focus has been on providing teachers, learners and
their educational partners, a supportive environment (lots of hand
holding) so that they might find the significant reasons to incorporate
technology into education on their own.  The media specialists in each
school have played a critical role - once the interest has been sparked,
the media specialist can help the teacher one on one.  We are finding a
*projects based* approach most helpful ... it gives teachers, learners
and their educational partners (community based mentors, museum,
institutions, research centers, etc.) a REASON to log on.

I have many wiring stories.  I first wired the building with single pair
for a Corvus network in 1986 or 7.  [This respondent is a veteran of
school networks, Paul Reese]  I purchased a heavy drill and masonry bit
and then plotted paths through our 1917 building.  Realizing that the
New York city bureaucracy might not be supportive I wrote a very general
letter to the Custodian not asking for permission but stating in as
general a way as possible what I planned to do.  I had the good fortune
that general repainting of the building was planned for the summer. 
When that wiring became obsolete I resorted to draping long lengths of
Apple LocalTalk cabling out windows and around the outside of the
building.  It worked find for several years.  The school had a local
exchange installed.  All planning was done at the central board without
asking about our possible needs.  However, with rare but limited
foresight they put redundant level [Category] 2 wires.  They also
installed large wire chases with removable covers.  However, they failed
to provide conduits through the walls.  In any case I learned how to use
punch-down tools and attach wires to the blocks.  Within a week I have
been drilling new holes; then running coaxial cable along the wire
chases for an even faster network.  This time we left a string in the
chases so that we don't have to remove the covers. 

- If you can't convince your school to buy fiber, at least run a strong
nylon cord when you wire through any enclosed areas, so, later, someone
thanks you mightily for your forethought.

On Unix hosts on the Internet I use PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) for
dial-up access.  I use native SMTP Sendmail with Pine or Elm for native
mail reader.  I use Popper and Eudora for client/server mail.  I use Tin
as my newsreader. Gopher and Web Servers are standard and public domain.
 I use Lynx as my generic Web browser, but the Gopher Browser can also
be used.  FTP and Telnet service is standard on Unix.  On LANs, I use
DECnet LAT or TCP/IP to workstations and terminal servers.  On small DOS
machines I run Kermit as the Terminal Emulator. [Note: this user has
extensive Unix and DEC experience.  Kermit supports a telnet presence on
a DEC LAT net.  Kermit also, as discussed above, supports a telnet
presence on a TCP/IP net as well.  Both Kermit connections require an
Ethernet connection to the network, in contrast to the serial terminal
telnet software discussed from Coker.]

To run general TCP/IP out a DOS Ethernet card, you need a driver [as
well as a TCP/IP stack].  The Crynwr Driver Collection is free and
covers most popular cards.

[regarding the use of donated machines]  The rare ingredient isn't
hardware.  The rare ingredient is knowhow.  Schools have auto mechanics
shops where they do miracles with old clunkers.  They have to do the
same with computers. [Note: see discussion above on Computer Shops]

At our HS we are planning to use the extra existing phone cable (we have
25 pair into the school but only have 5 lines) for our first phase of
networking.  Though it is only Cat[egory] III, it is capable of carrying
Ethernet traffic.  It has the tremendous advantage of being ubiquitous
at our school and we won't have to dig up the enormous concrete patio. 
It will let us get started while we figure out if we can pull the fiber
through the existing conduit. [An Albuquerque teacher]

The BD of ED in NYC has put in three different phone lines into our
school building which is 6 floors tall.  WE have used the phone line
which precedes our current line to use as our Internet connector from
network room to network room to office to library.  We are using an
abandoned phone line, which is adequate for such purposes, to alleviate
the cost of having to do it again.  In addition, we have been told that
when the third, most recent and current system was installed, they also
attached a data line with the voice line.  It just requires minor work
at low expense.

NETWORKING YOUR SCHOOL ON A TIGHT BUDGET OR "JUST DO IT!"  Networking
was certainly not a new notion to many of us, and indeed the long-range
plan for technology on our campus [Germantown Academy Lower School]
already included a fiber-optic network for our entire school community. 
But, because of the expense, such a system loomed out-of-reach.  A
consulting firm provided us with a figure of $18,000 (not including net
modem and QuickMail software - an additional $3000) to wire the lower
school on a "make-shift" basis, providing what would indeed be a
"throw-away" network once fiber-optics become a reality.  ...we decided
there had to be a better or, at the very least, a cheaper way.... By
mid-July our fearless group was ready for the "fun" to really begin. 
Neil showed us the technique and we were off.  Hoisting a drill with a
15 inch bit, first grade teacher Sally Wolf began drilling holes in
every classroom on the first floor.  Following close behind were Micki
Vieille, fourth grade teacher, Sue Hunsinger-Hoff and Charlie Muir who
wielded, believe it or not, paper clips with which he secured the wire
to the ceiling ... inch-by-inch connecting their vacationing colleagues
to the network.  Becoming technicians, they spliced wires and mounted
phone jacks. ... And now, the addition of a NetModem we've begun to
explore the exciting realm of cyberspace on the Internet all for a total
cost of under $5,000.  No more excuses.  Just do it!

Yes indeed!  It's a great adventure to learn how to wire your own
school.  It's an even greater adventure to construct a working network
out of surplus computers.  Randy Zeitvogel and I [Barry Kort,
bkort@copernicus.bbn.com] do it.  You can do it too!

[commentary from a Fairfax County, VA, Training Specialist] One of our
first lessons in this job was to realize that spending money on
technology puts computers in the classrooms, but the equipment often
sits there, unused, because the teachers have no time to learn to
explore how to implement the technology in the classroom!  We all want
our students and children to have access to this technology, but who is
going to make it happen?  Who will learn how to work the technology,
integrate it with curriculum and train others to do the same?

[in response to an EPIE/CITS question about cost-effective alternatives
to ILS'] There are lots of alternatives!  But what is cost-effective? 
Products range from the basics, Reading-Writing-Math from PK-Adult to
packages that include Sex Ed, Drugs, Employment Skills, Social Skills as
well as the basics.  Prices range from $6500/station to $400/Station or
less in some cases...for some that is a paid up license, for others you
can add a recurring 5-20% annual charge to be current.  Some work on
PCs, some on Macs, a few on both! Some require Windows, some won't
tolerate it!  Some expect to OWN the server, some are good neighbors to
third parties.  Nearly all are rehashes of out of date teaching and
learning models, several are trying to break the mold, many are illusory
with spiffed up graphics with no substance... they're kludgy at
integration, but good in pieces.  Is there an expert system frontend to
any of them?  Haven't seen one at the ILS level but would LIKE to 
Anyone working on that?  I'd love to do some testing! [Larry Noyes,
lanette@k12.com]

The growth of the World Wide Web comes at an exciting time in education
and school reform.  In the Web environment, users engage in an
interactive process of learning, discovering, and responding to online
information.  The term "interactive" has become something of a buzzword
in American education.  Yet beyond all of the hype and rhetoric
surrounding interactivity in education, many educators agree that
students of all ages learn better when they are actively engaged in an
interactive process, whether it comes in the form of a multimedia
package, a classroom debate on current events, or an online encounter
with real science data [excerpt from Andy Carvin's Web page, see Carvin,
1995)]
Around Claremont High School, we have nearly 6000 feet of Level 3 wire
pulled through old conduits which span our 30 year old campus.  'Twas a
real headache to locate any specific run since the District office had
no electrical blueprints!  Using extended-length unshielded twisted pair
(UTP) Ethernet, we could span long distances using unused phone "pairs"
combined with pulling new wire where necessary.  To date, we've got
drops to over 80 locations and nearly 200 computers fully on the
Internet.  The cost of wiring, routers & gateways, bridges, and
repeaters to date is less than $30,000.  While we may not have fiber
everywhere, we _ARE_ adequately connected.

[continuing] There are lots of highly-paid advocates of "structured
wiring" schemes.  These consultants will insist that, as you design your
network topologies you should have cat 5, full home-runs, dedicated
conduits, etc.  While all that may be well-intentioned advice, it is
often unrealistic within most school budgets.  As many have testified
[in the CoSN discussions], "pragmatic wiring" -- doing what you can
within budget constraints -- though not ideal, is quite functional. 
Also, when deciding on networking design... In spite of the many
advantages of 10BaseT, don't forget that 10Base2 (thin coax) allows for
longer segment lengths, permits "daisy chaining" as more boxes are added
to the networks, and doesn't require additional hubs as the network
grows.  In our experience, 10Base2 provides for flexible LAN design well
suited to dynamic LAN structures.  Each has its strengths.

- This testimonial to 10Base2 over 10BaseT stands out because many
systems default to 10BaseT.  This observer reports that 10Base2 is the
better choice in a dynamically growing environment.  The reasons
presented are convincing.

[in response to the EPIE/CITS question about schools that were using
lottery monies to wire schools and the possible moral problems with this
form of funding, one Riverside, CA teacher commented]  My school, and
many other schools in my district, use lottery funds for technology.  In
California, a certain amount of all lottery revenues are given to the
schools, but because the amount may fluctuate, the monies cannot be
included in the regular budget.  (This is not to say that sometimes the
lottery money doesn't end up in salaries, anyway, if the budget is
off!).  So called one time lottery funds have helped my school site
purchase hardware and software.  We are wiring part of the school this
year, and will wire the rest once we have determined the educational
effectiveness of the Internet connection (or have inserviced the
teachers well enough that they understand its effectiveness).  We see no
moral dilemma ... Our children benefit.

[another response to using existing wiring]  I worked on a major, campus
wide, wiring project at Goddard College in Plainfield Vermont.  This
college is an old farm.  Their main administrative building is a huge
barn.  Their main office building is the old farmhouse.  There is a ten
year old phone system installed that used 25 pair category 3 wires to
most of the offices.  We discovered, by borrowing a 10 Mbps network
tester, that these wires were just fine for the shorter, inside runs. 
We used new category 5 for any additional rooms, often going from an
adjacent office that had extra cat 3 pairs.   We also used Cat 5 between
buildings.  The moral of the story is... If you are on a tight budget
(who isn't?) beg, borrow, or steal a network tester and see if you can
use existing cabling.

[in response to the EPIE/CITS question about school inequities within
states and between states]  Equity is something I chuckle at because of
our position.  We are a school district that is in great financial
difficulty but yet we are not in the bottom quarter of districts in the
states [OH] $-wise.  That bottom quarter will be helped considerably by
the state to bring computers in the classrooms and wiring in those
districts.  Our state has a program called SchoolNet that will provide
money to every district that applies for it for wiring.  The dollar
amount will be based on our "daily membership" and for our school
district that means at best the amount provided by the state will be
about half the cost of wiring.  At the present time we do not have the
other half.  And, of course, that does not include any classroom
hardware.  We are just beginning to work in creative ways with our
community and the university here to formulate some technology plans for
the future.  This is a slow process.  Many of us are hopeful.

[continuing] In our state the equity problem comes from the way schools
are funded.  If that changed, maybe the equity problem in technology
would take care of itself.  It is a bigger problem than one school
district can solve and it goes all the way to the state legislature and
the voters state-wide.
[in a Rhode Island school] This year's budget started with a line item
of $500,000 to support a district wide plan for technology that has been
two years in the making.  The line was quickly cut to $400,000 but we
were told at every turn that we were over the hump and that real
progress at all levels was going to be made.  This week as the school
committee wrestled with the funding offered by the Town Council (who
publicly supported our technology efforts) the entire line item was
slashed.  We are back to square one and as you might imagine very
discouraged.

[continuing] I don't know what the answer is.  School districts can't
rely on grants, there aren't enough to go around and successfully
applying requires too much energy that could be better directed toward
instruction.  My district is middle class.  If we can't do it, I don't
know who can.
[regarding connecting rural and isolated urban high schools] I would
encourage rural areas -- any isolated site, urban or rural -- to
investigate wireless technology.  FreeWave makes a great wireless
transceiver for $1,300.  Optimum range: 20 miles. Optimum speed: T1. 
Spend another few hundred dollars on an omnidirectional antenna for the
hub site and about $95 each for directionals at the remote sites.
[EPIE/CITS Note: The FreeWave transceiver described here is more likely
a 120 Kbps unit.]

[A librarian in Elmira, NY, who is located in a cable modem test area
had this to say]   We provide Internet access to our schools through the
WAN.  Every workstation has the potential of being on the Internet. 
But, and this is big in our area, we do not have the bandwidth to
provide graphics.  Our Internet connection is a T1, but our WAN is
56Kbps and also carries 20,000+ e-mails daily, payroll, student info,
etc.  So with the cable modem, there is at least one access point within
each building with graphics.  The cable congestion is new and is not
always consistent.  There are certain times in the day when it is "slow"
but keep in mind that slow is fast compared to 14.4 modems.  The
software is not one I would choose and I hope it changes with the new
year. 

- One of the greatest unknowns about shared cable modem access in a
community is the response time, once there are many subscribers.  The
first few customers enjoy a speed (10 Mbps) which is faster than
anything they will likely connect to (such as the Internet), but as the
10 Mbps channel is filled with, say, 1000 customers, the performance
will be very uncertain.

[Michael Radlick, Dir. Ed. Programs, NYSERNET commented to CoSN
recently] First of all schools have only a very limited amount of funds
allocated for technology each year.  These limited funds force schools
to focus on just trying to add a few workstations each year or to
replace outdated equipment.  To give you a sense of the shortfall in
technology funding, I did a study about a year ago while I was still
Director of Technology for the New York State Ed Department in which I
examined actual school expenditures.  I computed this technology to
total expenditure ratio with the actual expenditure data from each of
the 717 public schools in New York State.  the State average for
technology expenditures (as was very broadly defined) was a little over
2% of total budget.  The range of expenditure was from 0% to 8% across
the 717 school districts.  Data from industry varies, but I have seen
reports (IDC) suggesting 5-6% average expenditure in industry for
technology, and in knowledge intensive "industries" which presumably one
might consider schools to be in, the percentages are much higher.  The
bottom-line?  I believe that too little funding is committed in school
budgets, on an on-going basis, to technology.  Technology can be a
powerful tool in restructuring teaching and learning, but only if it is
accessible and used in schools.

[Terry Lee of USWest] Anyone using Novell & IPX is living in the past in
my book.  They bought a cheap network paradigm that only provided file
sharing service.  They are now trying to hand on to that legacy service
when they want IPX to run over TCP.

[Terry Lee on issue of CD-ROM storage of Internet materials for school
access] Now I see your point.  The teacher needs reliable, well
researched information sources.  They are not all that reliable nor well
done.  In this way though, the media you suggest becomes like a giant
encyclopedia.  Not only that, it is a "net" encyclopedia."  So, yes, I
can see your point.  The content is stable enough to have some Gigabyte
resources on-line and static.  Teachers even need that more than the
interactive communications the net brings.  I can now see how you have
to make the distinction early when introducing the technology to
teachers and work with them towards a reasonable emphasis on USE of the
information available on the Internet.  Such emphasis would help to
build the CD-ROM farm you speak of instead of spending as much on the
Internet connection.  I guess it depends on if they want/need the
communication more or the research arm more.

[Steve Sisler of Apple Computer on our NASA/Hodas proposal for fast disk
caching of resources]  Fast disk caching is probably a good idea, but
some commercial discs don't allow that for license reasons.  Maybe with
the new sizes [of CD-ROM discs] they will re-think that prohibition.  In
the old day when Lotus was selling a product on CD-ROM for a lot of
money, they actually recommended moving it all to a hard drive.  I think
the etiquette and politics revolving around who can mirror Internet
information and how is going to be a big issue.  For instance, I don't
want AOL caching the things I write on their servers, but I don't have
the time or clout to prevent that legally.  Still, it's in my copyright
notice.  Storing a snapshot of part of the Internet on a big CD-ROM may
be possible technically very shortly, but the rights and permissions
issue may hold it back.






SECTION III

"Home Is Where the Time Is ... and the Payoff for School Learning"
(Komoski, 81 Percent Solution, 1994)


"... it is through networks that we are beginning to see some healthy
dialogue and the breakdown of walls that have divided home and school
... networks are color-blind, age blind, and treat all children and all
adults as learners and teachers ... Networks are allowing us to reach
some common understandings and common ground. ... " [from an online
parent discussion (Priest, Parents Compilation, 1995)]
 

Parents, Children's Learning Time, Computers and Networking 

We live in a country of some 100 million households, roughly a third of
which contain the parents of the 50 million school-age children who
spend 180 days each year attending the nation's 85 thousand K-12 public
and 15 thousand private schools.  During 1995, for the first time since
the appearance of home computers in the late 1970s, millions of parents
of school-age children emerged as the driving force of home-computer
sales.  It is also interesting to note that although the majority of
these parents agree that schools are doing well by their children, they
feel that they "must supplement what the school teaches" (Grunwald
Associates, 1995). 

This means that for more and more parents, a home computer is viewed as
the most desired means of helping them to supplement school learning. 
Their reasoning seems be: if a computer increases the time my child
spends actively learning rather than passively watching T.V. or playing
video games (from three to five hours a day for many children), then
I'll get a computer.  In this regard, parents seem to be ahead of most
educators in their awareness that home is where the time is (Komoski,
The 81 Percent Solution, 1994).

It is not that educators aren't concerned about how to increase
students' learning time.  But many educational policymakers want to
accomplish this by lengthening the school day and/or year.  Although we
know of no comparative cost-effectiveness study of more at-home versus
more in-school learning time, a national commission places the cost of
lengthening in-school learning time to be in excess of a billion dollars
a day.  In other words, in excess of $180+ billion a year, year after
year (presumably quite a bit more per year, if the present 180-day
school year were to be lengthened). (Copple, 1992, p.7) 

One year of such a policy would cost more than twice as much as the
current, high-end $47 billion estimate for installing computers and
networking in all the nation's classrooms (McKinsey, 1995).  Given these
costs, cost-effectiveness seems to be on the side of improving the
quantity and quality of children's learning time at home rather than
than increasing their in-school time.  Millions of parents who can
afford a home computer, it seems, are choosing to move in that
direction.  But will schools join them?  And what about the estimated 12
million students whose parents can't afford to have them join their
peers in high-tech, at-home learning (Komoski, LINCT, 1995)?

In no way wishing to seem glib, we call attention to the comparatively
reasonable cost of equipping all school-age children from low-income
families with high-tech, at-home-learning tools (i.e., compared to the
estimated $180+ billion-a-year cost of increasing in-school time for all
students).  The estimated cost of doing this would add roughly another
$23 billion to the $47 billion estimated for in-school computers and
networking.  

This estimate includes the use of networkable software that could
monitor a student's use and progress on a variety of school-home network
activities.  Such monitoring of at-home learning could be done as a
straightforward extension of the monitoring and progress reporting
features of an in-school ILS network.  Other, more real-time monitoring
might be accomplished by using software such as Cyber Patrol (Bray,
1995) and Discourse (Discourse, 1995).  The latter is marketed by the
DuKane Corporation.  Cyber Patrol is by Microsystems Software, Inc.
(http://www.cyberpatrol.com).

In addition, non-software-specific monitoring of at-home learning is
already being used by a Utah school district, in which one teacher
monitors 40 at-home junior high school students via a district-run
BBS-based school-home network (Education Week, January 10, 1996).

The estimated combined, nation-wide cost of $70 billion for this
high-tech, school-home networking solution would (a) be about one-third
the cost of the $180+ billion spend-more-time-and-money in schools
alternative, and (b) not be a recurring annual expense.  In addition, it
would have the added capability and value of being able to provide
high-tech learning, information and communication to parents whose
potential employment opportunities would be greatly enhanced.

Do we expect to see such a nation-wide strategy for increasing students'
at-home learning time implemented any time soon?  Unfortunately, we do
not.  Given the temper of the times, we expect that schools and
communities, and the poverty-level families of students within those
communities will have to find low-cost, grassroots solutions to
school-home-community networking on their own.  Thus, in keeping with
our goal of providing practical advice about school-home-community
networking, such low-cost solutions are explored in Section V of this
report.
 
If Parents and Policymakers Were to Agree, What Then?

But if millions of parents and policymakers were to agree that children
should be spending more time learning at home via school-home-community
networks, can we expect to see schools, parents, and teachers
communicating and cooperating in ways that make this happen?  If so,
what form will their shared concern and cooperation take?  And how can
networking facilitate the necessary communication and cooperation to
improve learning at home and optimize learning time at school?

Such questions are best answered within the larger systemic context of
technological, social, and market dynamics within which schools exist. 
Yet, many schools seem unable to respond, or even acknowledge that they
ought to be responding, within that larger systemic context.  As a
result, "systemic change," for many educators, is incongruously viewed
as as something that they are supposed to make happen within a school
system. 

But a school system is not the sort of "closed system" such a view might
suggest.  Rather, the view of "systemic change" that educators need to
focus on is the change that is happening throughout the larger system of
societal learning (i.e., change in behavior) within which, at present,
school systems seem to be among the slower learners.  Just as students
and teachers surfing the Internet are being opened to the world, school
administrators, too, need to open up to what is happening within the
local and global learning ecology in which their schools' seem to be
occupying a much smaller niche than they once did.  Sixteen years ago
Niebuhr presciently addressed this issue as follows:

"Clearly there is a crisis in our schools.  The high tech revolution
will exacerbate it, and many adjustments are needed.  But if adjustments
are made out of context of other changes in American society and other
institutions' vital role in the learning process, they will inevitably
fall short of our goals." (Niebuhr, 1984, p. 12)

Today a parent puts it this way:

"Public education is in trouble.  There just aren't enough teachers...
and enough parents who are willing to work to promote systemic
changes... and the importance of instilling a love of learning in all
children that can carry them all through adulthood. ..."[from the online
parent discussion cited above] 

This online parent is just one of the millions of home computer-using
parent for whom school and state technology planners have yet to design
educationally appropriate responses:
 
"State long-range technology plans include teacher training and student
learning in their goals.  None that I have seen include parents, a
serious omission (Dunn, 1996)."

Just how serious this omission of parents this is, is underscored by the
1993 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll that found that parents' lack of
support and interest was one of the top ten problems facing schools
(Elam, 1993).  School decisionmakers and technology planners should view
parents' growing interest in computers and connectivity as a propitious
opportunity.  The opportunity is one of joining with and supporting
parents in a shared interest in improving children's learning through
the effective use of networked educational technology in schools and
homes. 

The Growing School-Home Computer Disparity

Currently, those educators and school board members interested in
developing the full educational potential of computers and networking
are missing the most rapidly growing aspect of that potential: computers
in students' homes. Everyday more and more students are using computers
and acquiring at-home network connectivity because parents are convinced
that having access to a computer and connectivity "helps my child to do
better in school" (Grunwald Associates, 1995).  Thus, while most
teachers do not have regular access to a computer, in-school networking
nor telecommunications, increasing numbers of their students do.  

While estimates vary as to how many millions of computers there are in
homes of school-age children (50 percent for high-incomes to 5 percent
for low-incomes), the more important facts are: 1) more computers are
entering children's homes every day, and 2) the child with a computer at
home has far greater access to a computer at home than at school.  (In
schools, the computer-to-student ratio may range from 5:1 to 20+:1, and
computer-access time is seldom greater than an hour per week.  However,
in computer-owning homes the child-to-computer ratio children is most
frequently 1:1 and seldom greater than 3:1.  In addition, access to a
home computer usually is limited only by a child's interest and its
parent concern. 

An interesting result noted among children with ample access to
computers, software and online connectivity at home are comments like:
"I'd rather be doing something else at school than computers, because I
already learned at home what they are making us do, and I'm bored.... I
know I could help some of the other kids, like I do after school here at
home, but the teacher doesn't see that."  Or, "whenever they let us work
with computers on our own at school, there's not enough time to do the
kind of stuff I can do at home." [a West Hampton, NY, high school
student] 

* It would be both impractical and inadvisable for schools to attempt to
make as much time available for computer use in school as the 10-to-20
hours a week some children now spend interacting with software and
communicating online at home; hours they once spent passively watching
television.  Given this increasing reality of information-age life, how
much time should students spend using computers in school?  How much
time should be spent in discussing, assessing and evaluating what's been
learned?  And how much should students apply what they have learned via
computer in non-computer contexts Ñ in the living, breathing,
non-virtual reality of human give and take, of conflict and resolution,
of cooperation and competition.  These are just some of the educational
implications of the the structural and motivational shifts being
prompted by an evolving information society.

Parent Interest, Educator Disinterest 

Many school decisionmakers seem disinterested in the large home-school
computer disparity being widened everyday by parents interested in
helping their children to do better at school via the purchase of a home
computer.  Schools seem to view this parental interest as more of a
curiosity than something of importance that should be factored into a
school's technology planning.  If and when a school's decisionmakers
begin to take a more serious interest in this activity, they will find
they are dealing with a structural disparity that is here to stay.  And
that it is a disparity with many important implications for the design,
development, and use of networking by schools and the communities that
support them.

Given parents' interest in computers as at-home learning tools for the
entire family, from now on homes will own many millions more computers
than schools.  Just as they have always owned many more T.V. sets, cable
boxes and telephones than schools could possibly own, or even use. 
Rather than being disinterested in this development, educators might see
it as a significant opportunity.

The precipitator of this opportunity Ñ the home-school computer
disparity currently being fueled by parents Ñ will become an
increasingly important fact of life for schools in the information-age. 
Clearly, this structural home-school computer disparity and how schools
deal with it over the next decade has many implications for schools,
teachers, children, parents, communities and the nation.  School
technology planners responsive to the growing presence of computers and
connectivity in students' homes by building school-home connectivity
will be enabling the growing "learning communities" vision (Niebuhr,
1984; Komoski, 1987, 1994; Benson, 1995; Cisneros, 1995; Gates 1995) to
continue evolving.  However, as noted above, strengthening parent's
involvement with their children's learning is not yet a focus of
technology planning in most schools.  Regrettable as this is for all
children and parents, it is particularly so for those who are most at
risk.  Their parents need as much support as they can get.

Recognizing this, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
(Cisneros, 1995), intends to have HUD apply the learning communities
vision in communities with public housing.  If successful, this strategy
could be one way of addressing the equity of access issue that must be
resolved if learning communities are to achieve inclusiveness (see
Section V for other, complementary strategies for addressing the at-home
computer access disparity between the nation's information "haves" and
"have-nots").

For now we need to address a prior question that is fundamental to
schools' potential role in the development of learning communities: Will
schools, limit themselves to developing technology plans that network
students and teachers across classrooms and across the world but that
fail to connect with those same teachers, students and their parents
across town? 

Especially when: 

1)  School-home connectivity has so many positive implications for
improving parent-teacher communication and enhancing and expanding
students' at-home learning time (Moursund, 1993; Komoski, 1994; Riley,
1995); 

2)  There is growing evidence that many parents across all
socio-economic levels consider having a home computer and online
connectivity important to their children's success in school (Grunwald
Associates, 1995);

3)  A majority of parents Ñ even those who feel that schools are doing
well by their child Ñ also feel they "must supplement what the school
teaches." (Grunwald Associates, 1995)
 
What Parents Have to Say About Their Need to Be Involved in Improving
Their Children's Learning

Consider these comments from parents concerned about the importance of
focusing on their involvement with their children's learning: 

What is behind orienting parent involvement to the school rather than to
children's learning? ...I spent lots of hours involved with the school
before I figured out the payoff seemed higher when I got involved in my
children's learning.  Why does the emphasis seem to be on parent
involvement in school rather than on directly involving parents in their
children's learning?


... as a parent I'm looking for engagement and a desire to learn. I'm
looking for ... an increase in the involvement of all segments of the
educational community. ... And I want kids, teachers , administration
and parents to know and understand each other when they speak about
collaboration, communication, community... [from the online parent
discussion cited above]

We sense that these two comments could well serve as a useful,
single-item test for every school in the country.

Question: Do parents in our school feel this way?

As they consider this question, educators might also consider these
findings from a study of the way parents feel about at-home learning via
assigned homework. 

The parents who were questioned said they:
 
-  felt ill-prepared to help their children with homework, not "unable"
to, just inadequately informed about changes in the curriculum and
pedagogy;

-  wanted more information about the classroom teachers' expectations of
their child and of their roles as parents in helping with homework;

-  wanted their children to be given adequate homework assignments; 

-  valued hands-on homework and projects in which the whole family could
participate; 

-  wanted a two-way communication system that would allow them to become
partners on their child's instructional team." [emphasis added] (Kay,
1994)

If a familiar reality resonates for school decisionmakers from within
such comments, it should serve as incentive to make learning-focused
school-home, teacher-parent connectivity an essential feature of a
schools' networking plans. 

In saying this, we recognize that for many school technology planners
this may require rethinking a current networking design Ñ technically,
educationally, even philosophically. The challenge is to think as
systemically and comprehensively as possible about the potential of
improving learning for all students and their families via a
community-wide network.  Much of what we have said in Section II should
be helpful for the technical side of such rethinking; and Section IV
provides a structured model to help with the learning and
educational-values aspects of the task.  Section V describes what can be
done to apply the results of such thinking in developing
school-home-community networks using today's technologies in ways that
prepare schools and their communities for a future as a learning
community.  The important first step in that evolution is to create a
network that responds to the needs of students and parents "where they
live."Home is where the time is Ñ- and where educators will find the
most cost-effective pay off for improving school learning.  

Supporting What Parents Say: Research and National Leadership

Were all schools to consider both thinking and acting systemically in
the direction of school-home-community networking, they would not only
be responding to concerned parents, but also to the urgings of
longstanding research evidence and political leadership.  The research
evidence of a generation ago mentioned in Section II (Priest, 1973), and
of many other researchers has been newly and greatly reinforced by the
research-based message contained in the recent, A New Generation of
Evidence: The Family is Critical to Student Achievement (Henderson,
1994). In addition, the need for schools to attend to the importance of
school-home networking is also reflected in one of the eight National
Education Goals developed by the nation's governors during the Bush
Administration and which is currently being greatly emphasized by the
former South Carolina Governor and now Secretary of Education, Richard
Riley.  This National Education Goal Number 8 reads as follows: 

Every school will promote partnerships that will increase parental
involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and
academic growth of children. (Riley, 1993)

This goal is the focus of the Department of Education's 1993
publication, Strong Families, Strong Schools: Building Community
Partnerships for Learning, (Riley, 1993) that addresses the importance
of parental involvement for improving children's' learning at home and
at school.  The case made in Strong Families, Strong Schools makes clear
that despite decades of research demonstrating the importance of
parental involvement to children's success as learners, schools and
parents still have much to accomplish. 

Most schools have lack an identifiable mechanism for actively engaging
parents and teachers in a cooperative process of communication focused
on producing consistent positive effects on student learning.  For
instance, in too many schools, the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is
more of a parent-parent association that that does not often succeed in
making parent-teacher communication and cooperation around the issue of
children's' learning a major priority.  

Nor do many school administrators make teacher-parent communication and
cooperation around the issue of children's learning a high priority. 
One encouraging sign, however, is the increasing use by schools of the
parent-teacher voice-mail messaging systems mentioned in Section I.  It
will be interesting to see if, as we suggested in Section II, whether
during the next few years such systems begin: 

-  focusing more on promoting and enhancing learning (as Homework
Hotline now does) rather than simply reporting on a student's progress
or lack of progress; 

-  evolving into e-mail or hybrid voice/e-mail networks (as Parlant's
ParentLink now does). 

Schools considering such voice messaging systems should be looking for
signs of evolution in these directions as they make decisions about
school-home-community networking. 

* Whether schools opt for a turn-key voice messaging system or for
adding a school-home online connection to their existing networking
plans, the evidence is that teachers and parents will welcome it and use
it (Bauch, 1995).  And if the parent-teacher communication made possible
by such systems is focused directly on communication related to
improving learning (not just reporting on learning), the long-range
effects on learning are likely to be quite positive.  We say this not
only on the basis of Bauch's well-documented efforts since the late
1980s (Education Week, January 10, 1996), but also on the basis of the
positive outcomes of: NYNEX's Project TELL in low-income homes in New
York City; a 40 household experiment in Birmingham, Alabama by the IT
Network of Dallas, Texas enabling parents to view teachers' lesson plans
as well as their child's school work and homework assignments, and the
State of Indiana's Buddy Project that has placed computers in students'
homes in many communities (Lightspan, 1995)

But the existence of school-home networking does not automatically lead
to its being used to communicate about learning.  In fact, the one
example we found of a PTA actually communicating via a school's computer
network was not related to the improvement of student learning. But
perhaps a move in that direction has started in the months since we
discovered this brief online report: 

I am helping the PTA organization for our [county] school system, which
comprises about 180 schools, begin to look at how we can improve
communications through the use of online communications.  We have
traditionally used meetings, phone calls, a [PTA] president's letter,
and a printed newsletter for most of our communication. Within the last
year or so we have added FAX capability as well.  Now, more people have
the capability to use a computer and modem and we are finding it
increasingly effective to use the new electronic network our school
system set up this year." [from the online parent discussion cited
above]


How the technology seems to be motivating parents

Although it is difficult to know, it is tempting to speculate about
whether some parents' purchase of a home computer is accompanied by a
feeling that, because school doesn't make it easy for them to help with
their child's learning, buying a home computer will enable them to take
positive action in that direction. 

 As noted, parents know first hand that: 

1)  Children have considerable time at home during which they could be
using a computer to enhance or extend their in-school learning
("Otherwise, they'll just continue learning God knows what from T.V. and
video games"); 

2)  The three to five hours a day many children spend on T.V.and/or
video games could be better spent learning "information-age skills" via
a computer that will prepare them for a future in which most jobs will
require them to use a computer.

But the mere presence of a computer is not going to transform at-home
time into school-related learning time. However, its acquisition by
parents can send an important message to their children.  The parent who
expects, and ensures, that a child devote at-home time to using a
computer is communicating a great deal.  And, if a parent devotes time,
as many do, to the selection, purchase and use of appropriate learning
software and online connectivity, the communication is reinforced.  If,
in addition, parents actually spend time jointly exploring and learning
with their child via computer, two additional messages are being
communicated: 

1.  Devoting time to learning together with computers is time well
spent; 

2.  Spending time like this more important than watching TV.

These messages are particularly important not only because so many
children spend as much time watching TV and playing video games as they
do learning in school, but because they promote the value of learning as
a family.  Whether primarily motivated by frustration with children's
video habits or other reasons, every week millions of parents are either
acquiring their first computer or buying more software and/or online
access for one already acquired.  Despite this growing evidence of
parental interest in at-home access to computers and connectivity, most
schools Ñ literally and figuratively Ñ are not yet making the connection
with at-home learning time and teacher-parent communication and
cooperation toward optimizing that time.

In most cases, whether parents are looking for guidance about which
computer software, about specific homework assignments or about
strategies for improving their child's learning, they are not being
helped much by what ought to be their most obvious, informed and
trustworthy source. This is particularly unfortunate regarding software
advice, in light of evidence that children who used software at home
that was directly related to in-school activities learned significantly
more from home computer use than children using software that was less
related (Hess, 1987)

Let's consider the situation of any parent who might ask a school for
some help related to the purchase of a computer and appropriate learning
software/online learning experiences for their child. While the parent
may get some informal advice from a computer savvy teacher or technology
coordinator, most schools have no outreach effort to assist parents in
their search for appropriate computer learning experiences for a child
at home.  

As a result, most computer-owning parents are faced with a dilemma: on
the one hand they lack educationally sound information about software
and at-home computer use; on the other hand they are deluged by
commercial services offering software products in an info-mercial, mode.
As schools lack a proactive means of providing parents with the help
they need, the vacuum is filled with information about heavily
advertised products Ñ that will seldom be appropriate for meeting the
learning needs of a particular child within a specific aspect of the
school curriculum at a particular time. 

Schools Ñ perhaps working with the community's library Ñ could readily
provide a parent-friendly, curriculum-connected appropriate source of
assistance.  Even without a community-wide computer network, such a
service easily could be integrated into a community-wide e-mail and/or
voice-messaging system.  However, a local, online computer network could
have the additional capability of actually providing a range of
appropriate electronic learning resources to homes, via extended
site-licensing agreements for resources stored on a network server. 
At-home, "homework site-licensing" arrangements could be negotiated with
software products are being used at school.  In a way, textbooks have
always come with such licensing. 

The "Edutainment" Factor

In the absence of such locally-networked information, a marketing
network of children's "edutainment" products is constantly competing for
parents' attention and dollars.  Such products are being targeted to the
almost 50 percent of high-income U.S.homes with children that currently
own at least one computer (Tagliabue, 1995).  Children in these homes,
as members of the younger generation of "information haves," are all
potential points-of-sale for edutainment products and related online
services.

While "edutainment" products do engage learners (especially the
preliterate young), many such products suffer from developers who invest
more in entertainment value than in valued learning outcomes.  This was
the practice that prompted the term's invention a generation ago, when
it was initially used to contrast Sesame Street's high quality
"edutainment" (educationally-effective, rigorously-researched and
engagingly-entertaining), with a spate of funny-but-frothy audio-visual
wanna-be's that hit the school market and bounced off (Komoski, 1972). 

It remains to be seen whether parents will become as discriminating as
many teachers became about the lack of learning quality of those early
"edutainment" products.  If they do, must they do it on their own?  Or
will schools and parents find ways of positively and cooperatively
shaping the home and school learning marketplaces so that these related
marketplaces can best serve the learning needs of all of America's
children. As mention in Section II, there are currently more than 17,000
educational software products within the school/home educational
marketplace (EPIE Institute, The Educational Software Selector (TESS)
Database, CD-ROM Version, January, 1996).  Although, about a third of
these products are being marketed primarily to homes, there is wide
overlap.  Schools would do well to make teacher-parent communication and
cooperation on the evaluation and appropriate in-school and at-home use
of these school-home overlapping products.  We believe that schools will
find that teachers who are also parents of school-age children will be
effective leaders of such cooperative teacher-parent efforts. 

Beyond the Edutainment Diet: "Educational Protein"

Such parent-teacher cooperative efforts could greatly facilitated by the
use of a school-home-community network. Such a school-home-community
network would enable effective communication, guidance, and access to
information and learning resources between schools and homes plus the
community's libraries, museums and other commercial and noncommercial
learning resources.  Their collective task will be to discern and to use
those resources in which "educational protein" is not diluted and
dissipated by attention-grabbing irrelevancies, but enriched with
intrinsically-motivating content presented engagingly, even humorously,
in student-relevant contexts.

Communication about such matters on a school-home-community network
would not only be teacher-to-parent, but parent-to-teacher,
parents-to-parents, students-to-students, student-to-teacher,
teacher-to-student, etc.  It would also include communication between
all of the above with local libraries, museums, and a range of local
social services and volunteer organizations. It would relate not only to
information and resources about computer-facilitated learning, but to
the full scope of learning, teaching and other concerns that parents,
teachers, students and the community share. 

We see the learning-enhancing potential of having all parties
communicating and sharing information, ideas and strategies as enormous.
 Such networked, learning-focused communication would form a dynamic
matrix through which an evolving learning community could be
successfully self-generated, self-examined and continuously improved. 

Within this communication matrix we also see the potential for schools,
teachers, students and parents to continuously improve the
long-imperfect loop of feedforward and feedback upon which successful
teaching-learning depends (Komoski, 1988)  The models presented in
Section IV of this report reflect this approach to school-home,
community-wide networking.

Imagine for a moment, a community-wide network through which teachers
communicate with parents about: the importance of working with their
child on a particular project during the next few weeks.... about
visiting a specific web site on the Internet with a child, and what to
do once there... about the how's, why's of using specific software
programs to meet a child's particular learning needs...  about taking
their child to a particular exhibit at a local museum... about reading
to their child from a particular book in the next few days... or
discussing a current local or national issue... or about some
recommended "kitchen science" experiments for parents to do with their
children and... oh yes, also providing online progress reports on how a
child is doing at school....and on how well he or she is able to apply
and discuss when in school has been learned at home. 

* A student's ability to discuss, to interrelate and perhaps debate with
others what she/he has learned and produced becomes increasingly
important in the networked world of knowledge exploration,
constructivist learning and computer-aided portfolio building (see
Section IV: K-12 Networking Model).  As students becoming increasingly
adept at producing "professional-looking" multimedia works, constructed
with point-and-click facility and increasingly sophisticated text and
style editors, teacher and parents may need to assure themselves that
students are as conversant with content as they are with process. 

Imagine also, parents communicating with other parents and teachers
about other matters related to their child's learning: about organizing
a field trip around for students around a group science project ...about
helping another parent get the most out of some new music software for
their child that another child has both enjoyed and learned from...about
how to get the most out of a particular productivity tool... about
software that doesn't measure up ....about communicating with a teacher
on a homework assignment that's confusing or that seems unrelated to the
curriculum as the parent understands it. 

Imagine further, small groups of students engaging in an online, at-home
discussion of an assigned topic and producing a point-by-point summary
of their conclusions, agreements and disagreements for peer and teacher
review... students working with a local mathematics, science, music or
literature online mentor... students designing their own projects,
gathering online data.... studying local civic issues online....
conducting online interviews, and, oh yes.... developing an on-the-net
language-learning relationship with a "net pal" in the country whose
language a student is learning at school.

Now consider both the human values and educational benefits evidenced in
these scratch-the-surface examples. All of the above could begin
happening, today, in any school community willing to commit to making it
happen.  

The important point for school technology planners and community
policymakers to realize is that making this happen need not be
approached as something to be achieved at some future date..." when we
have the resources and the luxury of taking on this sort of outreach
with parents and the community."

While we understand such feelings, expansion of a school's planned or
existing network into a school-home-community network for learning and
communication is something any school and community can start doing
today with today's technology (see Section V, An Achievable Vision). The
major resources required for the task are commitment, clarity of purpose
and creativity. It's not that money is not needed also. However,
financially, any school that is planning to spend money on networking
can very likely expand its current networking plans without expanding
its networking budget. It is not the networking budget that needs to
expand, it's vision, careful planning and money-saving ideas for getting
the job done that can make school-home-community networking a reality.

SECTION IV: K-12 Networking Ñ Models and Benefits




PART I:  The K-12 Schooling and Networking Model

Teachers, administrators and school reformers need to clearly see the
purposes and implications of K-12 Networking in relation to the overall
learning ecology in which schooling occurs, to decide what to adopt and
what to reject.

Schooling is a serious responsibility among all involved.  Teaching is a
respected art form.  A good teacher is recognized by students and
colleagues.  By a good teacher, we mean one that brings a coherent
learning process or pedagogy to his/her teaching, inspires learning, and
encourages discipline among students.

These three goals of schooling are also the goals of school networking. 
Networking, like good teaching, is about communication and corrective
feedback (the process that makes communitication in teaching and
learning a success).  (Komoski, 1988).

The following graphic guides our discussion.  We present the three goals
of schooling and school networking (learning source, inspiration, and
discipline) along three axes of the graphic.

Along the Learning Sources continuum schooling ranges from instructional
to explorational.  Since the Internet is a source of exploration and
teachers are sources of instruction, this dimension will aid us in
sorting out the respective roles of teachers and networked resources.

Along the Inspiration continuum each student experiences motivation or
inspiration from external sources and from internal sources. 
Psychologists have long recognized that extrinsic and intrinsic
motivation distinguishes among personalities and learning style.  In
building networks we must both respect these learning styles and provide
students with whatever external inspiration they require to assimilate
learning into their patterns of behavior.

Along the Discipline continuum we have behavior that ranges from highly
disciplined to low discipline.  The subject of discipline occurs
regularly in parents, teachers, and administrator's concerns about the
success of schooling.  Can networking provide improved discipline?

As an educator knows, these three dimensions interrelate and certainly
do not capture everything we care about in schooling.  Regardless, we
need a model that reaches beyond the machines and wires of the network.

Let us look at two points in the space of the graphic.  Points A and B
can be thought in terms of two different kinds of students, or in terms
of two different goals and outcomes of the arrangement of schools and
networks.

Learner A receives his/her information about the world almost entirely
through instruction.  Since student A is externally motivated, the
student pays close attention to the cues of the classroom.  The
discipline of the student, as illustrated, is low.  While the student
may be caught up in the moment of the class, the extrinsic orientation
of the student will cause the student to be easily diverted from paying
close attention to tasks outside the classroom or in self-study.

A teacher finds Learner A problematic but rewarding.  Due to poor
discipline homework assignments are sketchy, yet the learner listens
attentively in class, asks questions both to clarify instructional
points and to establish rapport with the teacher.


[Figure.]

   K - 1 2   S C H O O L I N G   &   N E T W O R K I N G
                _________________________________
              /|                                 |
            /  |                                 |
          /int.|_____________________________    |
        /      |                           /     |
      /        |                         /       |
    / INSPIR-  |                       /         |
  /   ATION    |                     /           |
               |                   /             |
           ext.|____              * B            |
               |  /                              |
               | * A                             |
               |_________________________________|
        low   / Instruction        Exploration  /
 DISCI-     /         LEARNING SOURCE         /
 PLINE    /                                 /
        /                                 /
 high /                                 /
    /                                 /


int. = internal
ext. = external

NOTE: This should be understood to be a 3-d graph, with point B sticking
out toward the viewer, along the DISIPLINE axis, much closer that point A.


[end figure.]



Learner B is a complete contrast to Learner A.  Learner B is
intrinsically motivated.  While Learner B identifies role models among
teachers, a parent or other adults who communicate that they are always
learning, he/she quickly internalizes the values that accompany the role
model's personality and operates from this internal set of values. 
Learner B is exploratory.  It is this kind of learner that resists or is
bored by routine instruction.  This is the learner that Weir (1992,  p.
19) identifies as appreciating learning that is "not canned" and wishes
to "learn on one's own."  Further, we have given Learner B a high level
of discipline.  Learner B will persevere on his/her own out of the high
level of discipline and the learner's intrinsic drive.

Is Learner A or B Better?

This is a silly question intended to sharpen the focus.  Let's examine
why.  Discipline is perhaps the easiest to approach.

This graphic suggests that a learner's effectiveness in a team rises
with better discipline to a point, then further discipline causes the
learner's team effectiveness to taper off.  The cooperation among other
learners diminish when one learner becomes so focused on the task that
"it's not fun any more," for other team members.

Also personality traits tend to cluster and high levels of discipline
can come at the expense of missing social skills.

What about sources of inspiration?  Someone who remains highly
extrinsically motivated is said to lack skills to "work on his/her own."
 High intrinsically motivated learners can become pre-occupied by their
own interests and miss a learning opportunity that a more extrinsic
orientation might produce.


[FIGURE.]


              |
              |                           _-^^-_
              |                         _^      ^_
TEAM          |                       _^          ^_
EFFECTIVENESS |                      _^            ^_
              |                     _^               ^_
              |                   _^                   ^^_
              |                _-^
              |           __--^
              |___----^^^^
              |____________________________________________
                 Low                                   High
                                 DISCIPLINE

[end figure.]


And what about the prefered sources of learning?  Exploration is fine if
the learner has the sense of what and how to explore.  But many skills
are not gained and mastered through exploration.  We would much rather
have a "trained doctor" than one that "explored his/her way through
medical school."

Stepping Back

A resounding "benefit" to networking and Internet-based projects relate
to all of these dimensions.  The word exploration is used again and
again to emphasize the attraction of the Internet.  Kids say it's "not
boring."

In terms of our model, this benefit is, in effect, a challenge to
teachers and administration to change how learners should be distributed
in the K-12 Schooling & Networking Model, above.  As any teacher knows,
a classroom is comprised of learners that all have a unique position in
the Model's "space."  Many proponents of networks want to move the
"cohort" of learners toward more exploratory experiences along the
learning source continuum and toward more intrinsically motivated
learners who like to "learn on their own."

And what about discipline?  Some proponents equate intrinsic motivation
with discipline, but is that necessarily true?  In fact, out of the over
six hundred references reviewed in this study, not one mentioned
discipline, per se.  What was mentioned were discipline-related
monitoring systems (and these were only present in the telephone
monitoring networks and the management functions of ILS's).  In the
features of the telephone network systems described in Sections II &
III, we find attendance monitoring and reporting.  We have frequent
reporting of a learner's progress or lack of progress to parents, and
the opportunity for parents to respond.  So to understand the success of
telephone network systems we need to pay close attention to how these
"closed-loop, feedback systems" aid in both enhancing discipline and in
providing extrinsic motivation.

Summary

Networks are systems of communication that relate to three continua of
schooling: learning sources, inspiration, and discipline.  Only when
networks are gauged as to their abilities to meet the goals of schools
and educators for students can the actual benefits of networks be judged
and appreciated.

Further, a school's first step in establishing a Technology Plan is to
assess what kind of learning approach(es) and learner(s) they wish to
encourage.  They may decide there are a plurality of goals Ñ some which
certain forms of networking aids and some which they actually work
against.

Anything short of such an assessment will leave unstated conflicts
embedded in the school's plan.  These unstated conflicts will arise
again and again, causing disturbance, until their underlying causes Ñ
the consonance of networking strategies with both teachers', students',
administrators', and parents' objectives for schooling Ñ are recognized
and treated.

An Alternate Scale for Learning Sources

"There is now widespread agreement among educators and psychologists
(Collins, Brown and Newman, 1989; Resnick, 1987) that the advanced
skills of comprehension, composition, reasoning, and experimentation are
developed not by passive reception of facts but by the active processing
of information.  This constructivist view of learning, with its call for
teaching basic skills within authentic contexts (hence more complex
problems), for modeling expert thought processes, and for providing
collaboration and external supports to permit students to achieve
intellectual accomplishments they could not do on their own, provides
the conceptual underpinnings for, .. technology's role in education
reform.  (Means, 1995, p. 3)"

"Although variously described, the student-level outcome goals of most
reform efforts are to increase learning, especially of advanced or
higher-level skills, and to enhance student motivation and self-concept.
 In our view, the catalyst for this transformation is centering
instruction around authentic, challenging tasks.  (Means, 1995, p. 3)"

Thus, there is another scale required to more fully identify the K-12
Schooling & Networking Model:


				LEARNING SOURCE
     |
     | Single, simple tasks                Complex, authentic tasks
     |_____________________________________________________________
    /
   /
  
(Source EPIE Institute/Center for Information, Technology & Society, 1996.)


In Barbara Means' introduction to authentic learning it is useful to
observe that she refers to the "centering of instruction" and "to
enhance student motivation."  Both instruction and motivation relate to
the prior graphic.

Focussing on a specific example, From afar, Kids Do Science on the Net
(Chandler, 1995), we begin to appreciate the contrast between authentic
learning and, more simple, exploration.  "In early October, thousands of
students across the nation and around the world will have a chance to go
Ñ virtually at least Ñ where no young student has gone before: Eight
miles up in a flying astronomical observatory."  "Linking students to
computer networks, in addition to giving them access to research in
remote places, also allows scientists to use students as a
data-gathering resource.  A project initiated by Vice President Al Gore,
called GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the
Environment), enables thousands of students in the United States and
other countries to catalog local daily weather conditions and plant
species and sizes on a plot chosen from a satellite picture, and then
enter the information into a worldwide database. (p. 28)"

Yet the author of the article mixes up aspects of the K-12 Schooling &
Networking model when he says, "In many cases, the students can design
their own research projects to be carried out in those distant
locations."  How many learners can actually design their own research
projects?

We need to carefully separate out the complex instruction made possible
through networking from the dimensions of motivation and the facet of
exploration.  Furthermore, a "reality check" requires us to consider the
extent to which learners can and should be part of real scientific
research, for example, versus "rehearsed scientific research."

A teacher may wish to provide authentic instruction but provide
extrinsic motivation such as encouragement and test scores to ensure
that each step is followed.  That teacher may be pleased there is an
exploratory sense to the project but the exploration is "contrived."

Learners know the difference.  Weir (1992) notes that some students
prefer activities where the "answers are not known beforehand. (p. 19)" 
Weir surveyed students and found that 80% of the students in one class
preferred to tackle the known to the unknown.  But also found that after
a term of experiences provided in a school setting, the number of
students expressing interest in tackling the known dropped to 64%.

The reality check required revolves around the ability of schools and
teachers to provide "real-life" learning situations.  Hunter and
Goldberg (1995) involve learners in a scenario in the year 2004 called
the "Big Dig" (based on the Boston "central artery" roadway project). 
This very instructive view of authentic learning experiences suggests a
world, however, where learners have access to preparing a "Tunnel Team"
exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science, and to Bechtel employees
regarding tunnel simulations.  Such authentic learning stories might be
improved by describing access to people that are more typical for the
average student.

Running throughout the authentic learning and networking literature is a
phenomenon that we label "expert myth."  This is the myth that every
student across the country will have access to experts and facilities
via networking.  (In Section II we suggest that librarians and others
can play some role in this regard, but that the "real scientist" doesn't
have time for but one student in a million.)  Data collected by students
will be interesting but flawed many more times than not.  For example,
just remember how hard it is just to measure something in a graduated
cylinder.  Do you measure to the top of the miniscus, or to the bottom? 
What if there is a very small residue of soap in the cylinder?  Now
multiply these problems by a few thousand and you have the degree of
difficulty associated with good data collection.

Furthermore, while we admire the learning involved in project GLOBE 
(above) and agree that current collecting data on the environment is a
very important learning exercise, we do wonder whether a project
involving kids collecting data on international trade might avoid
alienating some people on local school boards less and advance the cause
for authentic learning in schools more.

In summary, we note that authentic learning is a fourth dimension to the
K-12 model and one that will challenge teachers in the development of
learning tasks.  While authentic learning can involve exploration, it is
not synonymous with exploration.  And while students can design their
own experiments, at times, good instruction involves providing students
with pre-designed, thought-out, and well tested, appropriate tasks.

And Relating Learning Source to Learning Resource

This further modification of the K-12 Schooling & Networking model helps
direct our focus to the materials that aid both the teacher and the
learner in meeting learning goals:

				LEARNING RESOURCE
     |
     |Limited, unindexed, monoview       rich, diverse, multisource
     |_____________________________________________________________
    /
   /

(Source EPIE Institute/Center for Information, Technology & Society, 1996.)


Recall a time when, as a learner, you looked at the Encylopedia
Britannica, in contrast, to say, Compton's Encylopedia.  For the same
subject, the world looked much simpler, and easier to comprehend, in
Compton's.  Does this make one resource better than the other?  Again,
we ask the question to help focus the discussion Ñ as a learner 
approaches a subject, field or concept, the learner brings a perspective
Ñ one that may be limited or broad.   The objective, then, in providing
resources is to provide a resource that permits the learner to extend
his/her knowledge without that "drowning feeling" they get when a
resource is "beyond them."

For teachers, networks will serve their need for resources as networks
provide a level and kind of material that enhances what they have to
teach and does so within the same framework of thinking.  There are many
ways to present knowledge and a networked resource must correspond to
the way the particular teacher presents knowledge.  (Indeed, many
teachers form their presentation of knowledge around a "key textbook" Ñ
making this textbook the central resource.  In the era of the
"presentation computer" discussed in Section II, the teacher may be able
to depend on CD-ROM based materials and/or Internet linked materials.)

Learners need access to materials for the performance of homework
assignments and in performing on projects.  While simple encyclopedic
sources suffice at first, more advanced learners, in advanced grades
need greater access to online databases, library catalogues, and access
to knowledge creation software whether a simple word processor or a
hypertext engine to build a linked database.

Furthermore, there is another important resource that networks provide: 
peer-to-peer interaction.  Teachers talk a lot about isolation in their
profession and how networks with other teachers greatly reduces this
isolation.  And learners talk about the excitement of working with other
learners, collaboratively, over the Internet.  These "resources" go
beyond being sources of knowledge but they affect the "inspiration"
dimension as well.

In summary, while the dimensions of the K-12 Schooling & Networking
model relate to value-ladden aspects of schooling, we have endeavored to
present these dimensions without judgement.  It is the teacher's and
school's role to judge, in cooperation with parents and learners, what
kind of schooling they wish to provide and how varied the schooling
should be with respect to the varying characteristics of their learners.

PART II: Causal Modelling of School and School/Home Activities and
Processes

The model in Part I is suggestive of key elements of a school and
school/home activity and process model.  Clauset and Gaynor (Clauset,
1982, 1992; Gaynor, 1984, 1985) studied improving school effectiveness
using a relatively recent tool of causal diagramming.

Causal diagrams are graphical aids for thinking, planning and designing
processes and associated networks.  These tools are in regular use for
"business process reengineering" and could receive wider recognition in
the design of school Technology Plans.

A causal diagram contains three common parts.  There are boxes in which
things can accumulate Ñ such as knowledge, or such as self-esteem.

There are sources of causes of these accumulations Ñ such as sources of
knowledge, or such as encouragement.

There are processes that increase or decrease the effect of the cause on
the outcome, such as the length of a learning period (sometimes called
time-on-task), or such as encouragement by parents or teachers.

Taking these basic concepts, the graphic on the next page shows
relationships between parental encouragement, homework completion, and
student self-esteem:

Follow some of the paths.  In the lower right we see student self-esteem
contributing to the accomplishment of homework.  We see homework
completion levels contributing to the encouragement activity that both
leads to parental encouragement and causes more encouragement activity. 
Near the top we see the build-up of self-esteem, itself, out of positive
reinforcement, one of these which comes from parent encouragement.

If we now add a school model and a communications model to this process,
we can begin to "simulate" home/school dynamics related to K-12
schooling and learning discussed in Section III.



[FIGURE: HOME.]


               Positive Reinforcement       ____
   * -----------------------|------------> |____|
          Delayed  O -----> O <______________/
          Message           ^
                            |
                           / \____O  Self Esteem Goal   
                          |
                          |
                           \_______________
                                           \ 
                                            \ 
            Encouragement Activity          ____ Parent
   * ------------------|-----------------> |____|Encouragement
  Time-sensitive   __> O <____________________/
  info from  O ___/    ^
  School Sector        |
                      / \____________O  Encouragement Goal
                     /
                     |      Homework
               Homework    Completion Level
               Activity       __|_                  
  * -------------|---------> |____| --------|-------- *
              _> O <_________/   ^         O
    Self  O _/   ^                \_______/  Homework Pulser
    Esteem        \
                   \_______ O  Homework 
                               Goal

[end figure.]
                    


In the school model (see next page) the final goal, achievement, is
shown in the upper right.  The learning rate is determined by aptitude,
grade standards, and student motivation.  (Of course there are other
influences on the learning rate, including the teacher's abilities, but
we are focussing on the "inspiration" part of the K-12 Schooling and
Networking model.  Thus there is a cloud shown to the left of learning
rate, indicating that there are other parts of the causal process that
are outside of the diagram.)  

Teacher effort, from the lower left, leads to a level of facilitation in
the student, and contributes to motivation buildup (to the right). 
Existing self-esteem, teacher facilitation, motivational goals, and
student motivation level all contribute to determine the increase in the
student's motivation level, and this increase in motivation level leads
into the process described in the last paragraph.

Let's now couple these processes.  A further causal diagram was created
to indicate the communication of encouraging messages from the school
model to the home model (see further Priest & Risley, 1995).  This
resulted in the following overall model (see the next graphic).

The composite graphic shows the screen of a Macintosh computer running
Stella, a causal modelling language and simulator.  The Creative
Learning Exchange in Acton, MA promotes the use of Stella in K-12
education as a way for students to better grasp processes in school,
whether biological processes or business processes.

Here we use the same tool to better grasp the dynamics of the
school/home connection.

When correctly programmed and calibrated, the causal model takes on the
behavior of real-world situations.  For example, the rectangles in the
causal diagrams which represent levels of achievement or motivation can
be observed to "fill" when the model is run.

A Result of Running the Model:

Our intent was to use causal modelling to introduce elements of
schooling and home that relate to learning.  Causal models are a
discussion vehicle.

Nonetheless, Priest and Risley (1995) developed the integrated
school/home model to the extent that some preliminary simulations were
"run."

Turning to the home causal diagram, there is a small circle labeled
"Time Sensitive Information from School Sector."  This is the point in
the model where teacher messages from school to home were (first)
introduced into the home model.  A message flowed from the teacher to
the home every week.

When the message was introduced into the "encouragement activity" of the
student at home, the final impact on achievement (shown in the school
diagram) via the increase in self-esteem was "washed out."  There were
too many "integrators" between this flow of messages and any visible
result on achievement.  (Is this a fault in the model or a true result? 
Only further testing will tell us.)

To provide a more direct result, the teacher message flow was connected
directly to the "positive reinforcement" flow leading to self-esteem. 
This produced rises in self-esteem, leading to improved achievement.

Running the model with this "adjustment" (moving the impact of
teacher-home messages closer to the self-esteem box) the following
result appeared:  the level of achievement came out about the same but
with more frequent messages from teacher to home there is a distinctly
earlier peaking of self-esteem in the student.  (Perhaps this means
student confidence is improved even if the learning remained the same.)



[FIGURE: SCHOOL.]

                                                   Achievement
                               Learning Rate           ____
         * --------------------------|--------------> |____|
               Aptitude  O --------> O <________________/
                                     ^
                                     |
                                    / \___ O  Grade 
                                   |          Standards
                                   |
                                    \_________________
                                                      |
                 Level of                         Student
      Teacher   Facilitation    Movtivation      Motivation
      Effort        ____        Buildup          Level  ____
  * ----|--------> |____|    *-----|-----------------> |____|
     _> O                      __> O <___________________/
 O _/   ^                     /    ^
Effort  |\___________________/     |\________  O  Motivation
Factor  |\                         |\__________       Goal
        | \_____________ O         |___ O      \
        |           Facilitation        N1      \
        |               Goal             |       \____
        |                                |       |____|
     _> O Normalized Data                |       Self Esteem
 O _/   ^__________                       \         |
Grade   |__      __|_                      \_> O <__| 
Standards |     |____|                    Self Esteem
          |       Achievement               Over N1
          O
          N2

[end figure.]




[FIGURE: FLOWCHART.]


  SCHOOL ------------------->  COMMUNICATIONS
    ^                                |
    |                               /
     \________ HOME <______________/

[end figure.]


Summary:  This is the first school/home dynamic model using causal
modelling.  The result of such a fledgling model is therefore less
important than using the model to view school/home network
relationships.  The model focusses on self-esteem.  This is only one of
many factors effecting learning that school/home networks can influence.
 Another would be causal loops involving the regular performance of
homework and the involvement of parents in those dynamics.

We strongly urge further development of these guidance tools.  If an
extended model combined the "Transparent School Model" of Jerry Bauch
(Bauch, 1995) with the work of Priest & Risley, schools would have much
more solid guidance about what school/home networks to construct and
what aspects of the communications loops are most important to
establish.  Further, such work cannot be done in "the lab."  These
models must be continually calibrated and informed by real-life
applications of such networks.


PART III:  The Benefits of K-12 School and School/Home Networking

Parts I and II of this Section contain the EPIE/CITS K-12 Schooling and
Networking Model.  It is within, and only within, the context of this
model that benefits can be ascribed.

To illustrate this, we consider one of the most commonly ascribed
benefits to networking Ñ "excitement."

"I've seen kids who I know have been turned off by school in general
become excited about learning for the first time in year. (Larry Geni,
High school teacher, Evanston Township, IL, in Chandler, 1995)"

"There is also a strong motivational aspect to network use: kids bring
an energy and enthusiasm to it that's often missing in traditional
classrooms, and teachers are thrilled to be able to share ideas,
problems and solutions with colleagues across the country as easily as
if they were next door. (Eisenberg, 1992)"

 In terms of "intrinsic" factors encouraging high school teachers to
continue using the Internet, "Only one included term surfaced under the
domain of influences that was intrinsic in nature Ñ exciting.  This term
represented the aggregate of the many words or phrases the participants
used to describe their feelings.  These included "exciting,"
"thrilling," "fun," "envy," and curiosity."  Julia said that the
Internet 'opened up a whole new world to me.  It's very exciting with
lots of possibilities and I'm thrilled to be on it.  It's the most
exciting thing. (Gallo, p. 33)"

"Nobody knows the full potential of the Internet as a resource for K-12
education because it is still an emerging, rapidly growing, and largely
unmanaged library of information, but educators nationwide are excited
about the prospects.  Already, teachers are using the Internet to share
lesson plans, software and curriculum ideas; to connect students from
different cultures in order to let them share their views and concerns
about the world; and to download current information useful in the
classroom from any number of free resource centers along the vast super
highway. (Wilson, 1995, p. 77)"

In terms of the EPIE/CITS model we can see that excitement extends
across a number of the dimensions.  For example, the last speaker was
excited about the "Learning Resources" possibilities, while the Gallo
reference talks about the "Inspiration" dimension.  The first quotation
was from a piece that described "Authentic Learning" and the excitement
described there was derived from this change.

Reflecting on this, excitement, itself, is a hazy benefit.  It is great
to say one of the benefits of networking is excitement but what
excitement?  Some of these include:

-  Excitement gained from accessing resources "Learning Resource"
dimension
-  Excitement gained from shifts to authentic learning "Authentic
Learning" dimension
-  Excitement gained from teacher-to-teacher sharing "Learning Resource"
dimension -- peer-to-peer
-  Excitement gained from exploration "Learning Source" dimension -
exploration versus instruction
-  Excitement gained out of sense of magic probably related to the
exploration dimension
-  Excitement gained from collaborative projects "Learning Resource"
dimension -- peer-to-peer

Networking, per se, is not exciting, but causing any one of these
networked activities to occur, is exciting.

And it is important to ensure that the perceived benefit is a derived
benefit.  Consider the benefit of networking to access resources (as
exciting).  After a period of confusion, a teacher accessing the
Internet perceives what appears to be an almost unlimited set of
resources.

	-  Perceived benefit Ñ almost unlimited resources on the Internet

What exists on the Internet (for free) at any given moment is one of the
oddest assortment of materials imaginable.  Priest (1995, Primer)
describes the reasons for this assortment.  Copyright restricts many
valuable materials from free Internet access.  Academic online databases
are not free on the Internet.

Perhaps the three most touted resources on the Internet are 1.)  The CIA
World Factbook (http://www.odci.gov/, 2.)  NASA photographes
(http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/ and 3.)  the Weather map
(http://www.mit.edu:8001/usa.html).  Williams (1995) provides a useful
catalog of these and similar sites.  At this moment we have connected to
the CIA World Factbook, and, choosing Afganistan, we note that most of
what we find here is in a typical atlas of the world except that life
expectancies are presented with two significant digits to the right of
the decimal point Ñ the male life expectancy is 44.72 years Ñ a level of
detail the not found in the atlas.  Also, we note that the connection to
the CIA site has about a 30 second delay (probably due to its
popularity) making it somewhat slower than using a paper atlas.  It is
interesting to note the number of miles of paved and unpaved runways in
Afghanistan but we are at a loss about what to do with that information,
at the moment.

One can love the Internet, its conferences and resources are
interesting, but its resources for K-12 teaching are very limited.  So
while some teachers' perceived benefit from Internet connectivity is
high:

-  the current derived benefit to K-12 teachers from access to
curriculum resources is likely to be extremely low.

The "netnik's" response to this qualification of the benefit of the
Internet is to say it is too early to judge the benefit of free
resources on the Internet.  Our response is that much of what is, and
will be, available for free is, in fact, already on the Internet.

[Note:  The hype and excitement about the Internet makes almost any kind
of judgement about it offensive to someone.  Many technology-based
school reformers see sufficient leverage due to Internet interest among
the population that disparaging the Internet, as in Clifford Stoll's
Silcon Snake Oil, is cause for immediate ostracism.  But this report is
designed to be a "practical" guide to K-12 networking, and as part of
practicality we are obliged to attempt some perspective.  Part of that
perspective is to identify the existence of "netniks:"

-  Netnik  Ñ a person dedicated to promoting the value of networks
without fully acknowledging the limitations that may be derived from
networks as they exist in practice.]

In contrast, there is considerable evidence that peer-to-peer networking
among teachers using e-mail and lists has both high perceived benefit
and high derived benefit.  Eisenberg notes this benefit (1992) and Gallo
(1994) found the reduction of teacher isolation through contacts on the
Internet to be far more important than the teacher's use of the Internet
in the classroom.

Practical Benefits of Networking

The above discussions on excitement and reduced teacher isolation
relates a good deal about the derived benefits of networking.

Further benefits are:

-  (Internet is) A Puzzle (Gallo, 1994)

Relation to Model: Learning Source Ñ exploratory

-  (Students are) Able to Explore Current Issues (California Guide,
1994)

Relation to Model: Learning Resources

-  (Students have) Access to Electronic Networks (Eisenberg, 1992)

Relation to Model: Learning Resources


-  (Networking) Allowed Students to Share with Greater Group ( Teles,
1991)

Relation to Model: Learning Resources Ñ peer-to-peer

-  (Networking is the Basis to) Alter Roles of Student Teacher (Peha,
1995)

Relation to Model: From instruction to exploration

-  (Networking Projects helps Students ) Appreciate Science as a
Collective Enterprise (Weir, 1992)

Relation to Model: Learning Source Ñ toward authentic learning

-  (Networking) As an Interactive Communications Medium (California
Guide, 1994)

Relation to Model: Generally

-  (Networking leads to) Authentic Learning (Kozma, 1995; Chandler,
1995; Newman; 1992; etc.)

Relation to Model: Learning Source Ñ toward authentic learning

-  (Networking leads to) Awareness of Global Community (Peha, 1995)

Relation to Model: Learning Resources

-  (Networking) Brings Real World Relevance to Classroom (Teles, 1991)

Relation to Model: Learning Source Ñ toward authentic learning

-  (Networking is a) Catalyst for Paradigm Shift (California Guide,
1994)

Relation to Model: Networking encourages shifts along multiple
dimensions of the model (as described above)

-  (Networking produces) Change Teacher Role (Means, 1995)

Relation to Model: Various shifts from instruction to exploration and
varied use of resources

-  (Exploring Internet produces) Character Building Against Threat of
Drowning (Honey, 1993)
This benefit requires clarification.  Margaret Honey presents the
Internet as a journey into the unknown, akin to a "frontier expedition."
 The vastness of the journey poses a "threat of drowning" Ñ as a sea
journey poses a threat of drowning.  Nonetheless, the challenge of such
an expedition helps build personal character strengths.

Relation to Model: Learning Source Ñ toward exploration

-  Classes Finish Units of Study Faster (ACOT study in Brown,1995)
(attributed to networks and other Apple Classroom of Tomorrow
technology)

Relation to Model: Various, including Learning Resources

-  (Students) Communicated more Effectively About Complex Issues (ACOT
study in Brown, 1995)
(attributed to networks and other Apple Classroom of Tomorrow
technology)

Relation to Model: Learning Sources - toward authentic learning


-  (networking) Communication Leads to the Respect of Other Cultures
(California Guide, 1994)

Relation to Model: Learning Resources Ñ peer-to-peer

-  (The) Computer Inspired More Active Learning (ACOT study in Brown,
1995)
(attributed to networks and other Apple Classroom of Tomorrow
technology)

Relation to Model: Learning Sources Ñ both exploration and authentic
learning

-  (Networking enables) Computer Mediated Communication (Teles, 1991)

Relation to Model: Generally

-  Computers Inspired more Collaboration (ACOT study in Brown, 1995)
(attributed to networks and other Apple Classroom of Tomorrow
technology)

Relation to Model: Learning Resources Ñ peer-to-peer

-  (Students) Develop Skills for Questioning, Researching, etc.
(California Guide, 1994)

Relation to Model: Learning Sources Ñ toward authentic learning

-  (Networking leads to) Discovery (Honey, 1993)

Relation to Model: Learning Sources Ñ toward exploration

-  E-mail Encourages Writing (Kuttner, 1995)

Relation to Model: Learning Resources Ñ peer-to-peer

-  (Networking Technologies) Encourage Student Leadership (Weir, 1992)

This benefit is reported as part of the TERC Star schools networking
project.  Teachers reported "that the open-ended nature of the
activities encouraged them to adapt or modify their teaching methods;
that their students carried out more group work than usual; and that
collaborative work in their classes resulted in a positive experience
for them and their students.  (pp. 8-9)"  A survey of 184 teachers
reported on how the program was "encouraging students to take leadership
roles."  From a regular curriculum to the Star School Activities the
following increases were reported:  Male students - from 31% to 61%;
Female students 28% to 55%; minority students - 20% to 44%; those with
poor academic performance - 12% to 38% (p. 11).

Relation to Model: Learning Resources Ñ shift to peer-to-peer,
collaborative learning

-  (Networking leads to the) Energy and Joy of Collaborative Learning
(California, Guide)

Relation to Model: Learning Resource Ñ shift to peer-to-peer,
collaborative learning

-  (Networking leads to) Enthusiasm or Excitement or Exploration
(addressed above in text)


-  (Networking) Fosters Interpersonal "Intelligence" (Eichleay, 1993)

A pervasive way of recognizing learning styles has resulted from Howard
Gardner's theory of "seven intelligences" (Frames of Mind, 1983, 1995). 
Eichleay presents a "map" showing the relationships of various kinds of
software and networking to the List of Seven Intelligences.  We briefly
summarize this list:
-  Linguistic - Magic Slate, Bank Street Writer, etc.
-  Logical-Mathematical - Reader Rabbit, Oregon Train, Bank Street
Filer, etc.
-  Spatial - Kid Pix, SuperPrint, Muppet Slate, etc.
-  Musical - Magic Music Maker, Music Theory, Joshua's Reading Machine,
etc.
-  Bodily-Kinesthetic - Lego LOGO, Stickybear Typing, Operation Frog,
etc.
-  Interpersonal - telecommunications, Oregon Trail, Social Skills on
the Job, etc.
-  Intrapersonal - Playing to Learn, Math Blaster, 3-2-1 Contact, etc.

To the extent networks provide interconnectivity for shared software
experiences (e.g. Oregon Trail), networks provide access to tools and
experiences that foster all of the seven intelligences.  In particular,
however, the key characteristic of a communication network is
interpersonal communication.

Relation to Model: Interpersonal communication relates to the full range
of the model.  Discipline is improved as students make commitments to
others, whether in promising to e-mail a pen pal or committing to
participation in a collaborative research project.  There are many
external rewards to communicating, fostering involvement and encouraging
work on task.  And interpersonal communication provides access to
Learning Resources - peer-to-peer as well as student-mentor
relationships.

-  (Networking Enables Learning) Freed From the Limitations of Buildings
(Eisenberg, 1992)

Relation to Model: Learning Resources Ñ more transparent access from the
outside

-  (Networking Enables Learning) Freed From Classroom Restriction
(Eisenberg, 1992)

Relation to Model: Learning Sources Ñ shift to authentic learning

-  (Networking Technologies) Frees Teacher (Teles, 1991, p. 9)

Relation to Model: Learning Sources and Learning Resources Ñ shift away
from instructional

-  (Networking Brings) Gains in Content Knowledge (Weir, 1992)

In the evaluation of the NGS Kids Network, "students demonstrated gains
in specific content areas: significant gains in place knowledge, and
significant increases in the ability to use lattitude and longitude to
identify map location.  Students' understanding of the factors
contributing to acid rain and their ability to reason about the impact
of these factors improved significantly from pre- to post-test: For
example, causal explanation of the relationship between factory
emissions and wind patterns increased by 26%. (p. 16)"

Relation to Model: Learning Sources Ñ shift to authentic learning;
Learning Resources Ñ peer-to-peer

-  (Networking Brings) Gains in Data Interpretation Ability (Weir, 1992)

In the evaluation of the NGS Kids Network, "students demonstrated
significant gains in their ability to organize and represent data. (p.
16)"

Relation to Model: Learning Sources Ñ shift to authentic learning;
Learning Resources Ñ peer-to-peer

-  (Networking Provides) Greater Access to Information (Teles, 1991)

Relation to Model: Learning Resources Ñ shift to more sources

-  (Telephone Networking) Helps Parents to Call Every Day to Hear
Teacher (Bauch, 1995)

Relation to Model: Improved Monitoring (Discipline); Extrinsic
Motivation (Inspiration)

-  ILS Network Benefits (Sherry, EPIE Institute, 1990;Van Dusen, 1995)
   (Integrated Learning Systems)
-  Access to Learning Resources
Relation to Model: Learning Resources
-  Effective Assessment and Reporting
Relation to Model: Improved Monitoring (Discipline); Extrinsic
Motivation (Inspiration)
-  Guaranteed Individualized Instruction
Relation to Model: Learning Sources Ñ using Learning Resources such as
Computer Assisted Instruction
-  Increased Time on Task
Relation to Model: Learning Sources Ñ using Learning Resources such as
Computer Assisted Instruction
-  Teachers Not Dispensers But Guides
Relation to Model: Learning Resources Ñ teacher role shift from
instruction source to resource

-  (Networking Technologies Leads to) Improved Observation Skills (Weir,
1992)

In the evaluation of the NGS Kids Network "students' skill at data
interpretation also improved significantly.  More students were able to
make observations about the data set on the post-test (p. 16)"

Relation to Model: Learning Sources Ñ shift to authentic learning;
Learning Resources Ñ peer-to-peer

-  (Networking Technologies Leads to) Improved Self-Esteem (Weir, 1992;
Means, 1995)

"Teachers gave specific examples of the benefits of a hands-on,
technology-based approach to teaching science to students with learning
difficulties, both with regard to self-esteem and in increasing
understanding of the material. (Weir, p. 10)"

"A second frequently cited rationale for introducing technology was to
stimulate motivation and self-esteem.  Through either personal
experience or a review of the literature, many innovators perceived the
dramatic effects that technology can have on students' interest in class
activities and their sense of their own capabilities.  Although these
benefits are perceived as occurring across the board, our case study
sites, most of which serve student bodies coming predominantly from
low-income homes, felt that these benefits would be particularly
important for their students.  Thus, a related reason for using
technology was the promotion of equity.  In the case of the teacher
network, the districts recognized the wide disparity in the resources
available to them and felt that a unifying network could promote a more
equitable use of those resources.  In the case of several schools
serving students from low-income homes, technology innovators stressed
the importance of giving these students the technology tools that would
equip them with a needed edge to compete with children coming from more
affluent homes, where technology is commonplace. (Means, p. 103)"

Relation to Model: Learning Sources Ñ shift to authentic learning;
Learning Resources Ñ peer-to-peer

-  (Networking Technologies Leads to) Increased Citizen Participation
(California Guide, 1994)

"As the social and economic issues of the information age have increased
in complexity, our society has found itself lacking in tools for
engaging and educating its citizenry.  Declining voter registration and
even greater declining voter turnouts attest to the toll the alienation
of our citizenry is taking on our democracy.  Though mass media is
pervasive, it presents information as though there were ready answers to
the complex issues.  Because it is very difficult for mass media to
convey significant detail about a topic in a manner that is interesting
to its broad audience, it is relegated to finding the acceptable level
of detail, or lack thereof, and an engaging way to present it.  By
virtue of the medium's technological constraints, viewer participation
is extremely limited.  The Internet, with its volumes of materials,
voices, points of view, and images provides educators a serious but
engaging tool for fostering student curiosity and literally demands an
interactive relationship between the individual and the information
he/she is receiving. (p. 22)"

"Through thousands of news groups, mail lists, and e-mail dialogues,
users are encouraged to participate, ask questions, dig deeper, and
study more extensively.  Curious lifelong learners are respected and
supported, regardless of their level of expertise.  The impact of this
social design has for education is revolutionary in scope. (p. 22)"

* Priest (1995, NetNews Primer) did an investigation of newsgroup
messages that occurred within 24 hours of the Japanese earthquake
(1/16/95) for a Forum on Journalists and the Internet (Emerson College
and Telecommunications Policy Roundtable - NE).  What Priest found was a
use of news groups to mainly provide emotional support and a way of
sharing the grief.  "Many American otaku are anguished and prayerful
about the disasterous earthquake befalling our brothers and sisters in
Japan.  Some of us have friends and family over there.  Perhaps it would
help if we articulated and shared our wishes and prayers - just let them
know that there are those who care. (mendosan@aol.com, Mendo san, Jan.
17, 1995, rec.arts.anime)

Surely this form of international communication plays a role that
transcends borders and races.  News groups are perhaps one of the most
fascinating aspects of the Internet.  Divided into over 10,000 topics,
using threaded newsreaders, anyone can become part of an on-going dialog
regardless of stature.  While each group has regular members, with both
written and unwritten rules about the expectations for the dialog, a
student can track a news group to understand the purposes and limits
before making a "post."

Also, it is surprising the care and time some people take, without pay,
to help others in news groups.  While an unstated rule of news groups is
to answer questions, that you can, while asking a question and following
the list for responses; there are "regulars" in each news group that
contribute far more than their "share" in informing others.  Whether
newsgroups can sustain this level of generosity as the numbers of
participants grows is a remaining question.

Relation to Model: Learning Resources Ñ peer-to-peer

-  (Networking Technologies Leads to) Increased Understanding (Weir,
1992)

In analyses of the TERC Star School networking activities, Weir found
substantial increases in 'students' understanding of academic content. 
Comparing the regular curriculum to the Star School activities the
following improvements were measured: male students - from 54% to 66%;
for female students - from 52% to 64%; for minority students - from 43%
to 58%; for students with poor academic performance - from 24% to 38%.

Relation to Model: Learning Sources Ñ shift to authentic learning;
Learning Resources Ñ peer-to-peer

-  Intercultural Use of Telenet and the Source Helps Bring Cultures
Together (Mason, 1989)

"The Intercultural Learning Network:  Faculty at the University of
Illinois, the University of California, Aoyama Gakuin Women's
University, Tokyo, and Hebrew University, Jerusalem, have collaborated
to develop personal computer-based activities in which geographic
distance and cultural differences become useful devices to focus student
interest.  International networking provides depth to the study of the
natural and social sciences and scope to the development of written
communication skills.  Using public dial-up satellite links (Telenet)
and a commercial information utility (The Source) to pass email
messages, the Inter-cultural Network has linked classrooms in four
states and three foreign countries.  Students in upper elementary,
middle and high schools work together on projects in which they compare
observations of the different ways that local people handle problems and
organise activities that are common around the world. (p. 41)"

Relation to Model: Learning Resources Ñ peer-to-peer

-  (Computer Technologies Enable) Learning by Modelling (Kozma, 1995)

As students gain access to modelling tools, they are better able to
understand subjects and relationships.

Relation to Model: Learning Resources


-  (Networking Leads to) Learning to Use Rapidly Changing Information
(Newman, 1992)

Relation to Model: Learning Resources

-  (When Using Networks) Learning Disabled Did as Well (Weir, 1992)

Weir found that students classified as "learning disabled" did as well
as those not disabled in some of her networking evaluation studies.

Relation to Model: The educational literature addresses how students in
a typical classroom setting can be labeled as disabled, yet when these
students are placed in different environments - say an authentic
learning situation - these differences disappear.  (Some studies have
gone so far as to provide mis-information to teachers about good and
poor students, to find that based on these misperceptions, the
performance of the student actually mimics the false label.

-  (Networking) Makes It Feel Real (Wilson, 1995)

Relation to Model: Learning Sources Ñ shift to authentic learning

-  (Internet) Not Fixed, It Changes with Arrival of Every New User
(California Guide, 1994)

* The California Guide covers the networking landscape with an
exceedingly wide sweep.  It is commendable in its range and depth for
both educational and technological issues.  We simply point out that
this "benefit" is similarly boundless.  One could almost say the same
for every birth in the world, and with "six degrees of separation" every
birth affects everyone, some time to some extent.

Relation to Model: Boundless Learning Resources; exploration

-  (The Internet is) Not a Benefit, but a Waste of Time (Stoll in Wald,
1995; PBS debate between Clifford Stoll and Damor Moore [Science
Teacher], 1/3/96)

Stoll's presentation on PBS, while somewhat theatrical, speaks to a
number of concerns critics of computers and networking voice about the
technology.  Stoll returned many times to the "Inspiration" dimension of
our model, emphasizing the role of the teacher in raising student
interest and instructing in the ambience of the classroom.  Moore
countered that the purpose is not to "replace the teacher" but to
provide resources that extend the teacher's ability to instruct.

Relation to Model: Stoll focuses on the extent to which networks have a
certain inspirational sterility; Moore focuses on Learning Resources -
especially those that extend the teacher's capacity to instruct.

-  (Networking Facilitates) Parental Involvement (Boston Globe, 1995)

The Boston Globe produced a special Learning Section on parental
involvement in schools.  A number of the articles are based on the work
of Don Davies at the Center on Families, Communities, Schools &
Children's Learning located in Boston.

Davies formed the Institute for Responsive Education in the early '70's
(see Clasby, 1975; Davies, 1977; Institute, 1977; Zerchykov, 1984).  The
Institute has received foundation support to improve the process of
parental involvement in schools and has published numerous parental
resources.

"As education reform grips Massachusetts and the nation, parent
involvement in a child's schooling needs to - and can - extend well
beyond the old bake sale and annual parent-teacher conference, say
education specialists."
"From building playgrounds and volunteering in classrooms to joining
school-based parent councils and reading their child every night, many
parents play a crucial role in trying to improve their children's
education."
"'When parents and teachers develop good working relationships, teachers
offer students more support in the form of higher expectations and added
encouragement,' said Nancy Sconyers, senior research associate at the
Center on Families, Communities, Schools & Childrens' Learning in
Boston.' (p. 72)"

Parent/teacher/student communication is a high priority, especially
among lower income families (Priest, 1973).  "Ask the teacher for
specific ways you can reinforce at home what is taught at school, be it
helping with homework, reading with the child or monitoring
television-watching. (Boston Globe, 1995, p. 73)"

Relation to Model: Parental Involvement provides the widest range of
relationships to the K-12 Schooling & Networking model of any area of
benefit.  Parents can, as illustrated above in monitoring their
children's TV watching or homework activities, improve student
discipline.  By working with teachers, they help form "higher
expectations and encouragement" and thus affect the inspiration
dimension of the model.  And by reading to children and being actively
involved in homework assignments, they provide the child to one of the
most responsive "Learning Resources" - the parent.

As discussed in Sections II & III, under telephone voice mail systems
and home/school web pages, the technology for making the home/school
connection is flourishing in a way that prior technology could not
support.  As the time required for parents to have meaningful
relationships with teachers and schools decreases, and as different
modes of communication, be it e-mail or voice-message, provide more
comfortable ways in which teachers, parents, and students can discuss
learning opportunities and problems, the prospect for improved parental
involvement-based learning expands.

-  (Students Can Learn from Others through) Peer Communication
(Eisenberg, 1992)

Students and teachers can "communicate with peers and gain access to
electronic resources as they wish... (p. 1)"

Relation to Model: Learning Resources Ñ peer-to-peer

- (Networking has a) Positive Impact on the Classroom (Sun, 1995)

Preliminary evaluation of networks in classrooms under the ModelNets
study finds "[i]t is possible to address the issue of effective[ness of
networks] by equating it with "positive" impacts and by letting these
positive impacts be an indicator for effectiveness.  "  Specifically,
one can say that effective networks create positive impacts on classroom
teaching and learning. (line 43)."

Relation to Model: Generally

-  (Networking Technologies Leads to) Preparing Students for the Future
(Means, 1995)

"The concern for equity [see self-esteem, above] is related to a fourth
motivation for introducing technology - to prepare students for the
future.  'I don't care what field they're in, be it factory worker,
office worker, medicine or whatever. [There is not place where
technology will not be used.]  It's getting harder and harder to get
jobs.  You want your kids to get a leg up.  It's becoming a necessary
ingredient. -- Middle School principal' (p. 103)"

-  Relation to Model: Generally

-  (Networking Technologies Leads to) Promoting Interest (in Science)
(Weir, 1992)

In evaluating the effect of the TERC Star Schools project, a survey
found that the networking project promoted students' interest in science
over the regular curriculum: for male students - from 51% to 73%; for
female students - from 47% to 66%; for minority students - from 43% to
59%; and for students with poor academic performance - from 16% to 49%.

* Many of the government supported networking-based projects are
susceptible to the "Hawthorne Effect."  [The Hawthorne effect was noted
when a study purported to uncover the positive effects of "improving"
working conditions by changes in layout and lighting.  When these
"improvements" were made, measured productivity of the workers
increased.  In the Hawthorne study, the researchers then "improved"
working conditions again, by putting things back the way they were. 
Measured productivity of the workers increased a second time.  Thus, the
actual cause and effect was not the impact of the surroundings but
rather the attention given to the workers.]  In Weir's survey there is
no way to separate out the various influences that a special science
project has from its relationship to networking, per se.

Relation to Model: Assuming that interest and inspiration are related,
networking provided improved extrinsic motivation or inspiration for
students.

-  (Networking Leads to) Reduced Teacher Isolation (Eisenberg, 1992;
Gallo, 1994; Means, 1995)

Networking technologies have two major effects on teachers: 1.)  reduced
isolation through peer-to-peer networks, and 2.)  increased professional
development (discussed below).

"Technology has the potential to support a much greater degree of
communication and collaboration between teachers and others outside the
school walls..  'I don't know of any other profession in the world that
isolates themselves more from what others do than teachers.  We walk
into our classroom.  We close the door, and there is no connection with
the rest of the world.  Networking is going to change that - TeacherNet
teacher' (Means, p. 156)"

Bonnie Bracey (moderator of nii-teach@wais.com) plays a critical role in
encouraging teachers to break out of older teaching styles and to
embrace Internet resources.  Terry Moore and others operate GENII Ñ a
welcoming service for teachers and students.  When teachers receive an
e-mail account, members of GENII are alerted, and send welcome messages
to these teachers. 

Relation to Model: While we have largely referred to Inspiration in
terms of the student, teachers, too, need inspiration to adopt new
teaching styles.  Networking teachers also provides Learning Sources Ñ
peer-to-peer.

-  (Networking Technologies Leads to) Students as Active Learners
(Internet World, 1994, Global Schoolhouse)

The Global Schoolhouse is an ongoing project that demonstrates the use
of videoconferencing on personal computers over the Internet." "Cornell
University's CU-SeeMe software allows students to sit down at an Apple
Macintosh or MS-DOS computer and work with students in other locations.
(p. 12)"

Relation to Model: Learning Resources Ñ peer-to-peer

-  Students Become more Socially Aware/Confident (ACOT study in Brown,
1995)
(attributed to networks and other Apple Classroom of Tomorrow
technology)

Relation to Model: Inspiration

-  Students become more Independent Learners and Self Starters (ACOT
study in Brown, 1995)
(attributed to networks and other Apple Classroom of Tomorrow
technology)

Relation to Model: Shift from extrinsic to intrinsic along Inspiration;
use of Learning Resources

-  (Networking Technologies Leads to) Teacher as a Facilitator (Peha,
1995)

"When students spend class time browsing the Internet rather than
listening to a teacher's lecture, they encounter more diverse expert
opinions, work more independently, and proceed at their own pace.  In
fact, we observed that students experiencing computer problems were more
likely to consult peers than the teacher.  Throughout this process, the
teacher becomes more of a facilitator, helping students find information
and, more, important, figure out what to do with it. (p. 21)"

Relation to Model: Learning Resources Ñ shift to peer-to-peer and
outside resources

-  (Networking Technologies Leads to) Teachers Shifting from Dispenser
of Knowledge to Coach (Newman, 1992)

"The answer to the instructional delivery paradigm can be stated quite
simply.  Information required for productive citizenship is changing
rapidly.  It is now essential to present instructional content that is
live, that comes from active information sources such as weather
satellites, data collected by students in other locations, and responses
from working scientists.  School work must include primary information
sources so that students are simultaneously learning the critical
content while gaining first-hand experience with information sources
themselves.  At the same time, information access technology is evolving
rapidly and dropping in cost: Changes in the teachers' role from a
dispenser of information to a coach who helps guide students' first-hand
experience with the live sources of information will require support of
teachers in finding and using these sources... (p. 3)"

Relation to Model: Learning Sources Ñ from instruction to exploration;
Learning Resources - diverse

* It is perhaps this picture of the "wandering student" with the teacher
as "coach" that has frightened more educators than other networking
pictures.  Surely we recognize what compels Newman to describe this
situation - the intrinsically motivated student, exploring and building
his/her reach and knowledge.  What needs to be added to this picture is
the role: 1.)  Extrinsic motivation plays in the classroom or in
learning groups, 2.)  the need for exploration to trigger in the mind of
the student his/her ignorance or ineptness, compelling the student to
elect a more instructional approach to a body of knowledge that requires
carefully building up requisite knowledge blocks that enable exploration
to begin again.  Some students come from homes of scientists and other
professionals, and have already had the benefit of these role models and
became intrinsically motivated very early, often pre-kindergarten.  But
many other students must wait for the schooling process to provide
structure, inspiration, and provide the instruction required to build
from.

-  (Networking Technologies Leads to) Teacher Increases in Professional
Activities (Means, 1995)

"One of the major effects of the technology-supported education reform
efforts for teachers was an increase in their involvement in
professional activities.  Project-related teacher professionalization
enhancements can be roughly classified into two categories: (1)
activities and change in circumstances that were part of the reform
effort or technology implementation per se and (2) increased
opportunities for professional activities and a state- or national-level
exposure that arose as a side effect of involvement in technology
innovations. (p. 157)"

Studies of the costs of implementing networking in schools (Rothstein,
1994; Hodas & Warren, 1995; McKinsey, 1995) note that the major cost of
implementing networking is in "teacher training."

EPIE/CITS Note:  The phrase teacher training is the most commonly
misrepresented notion in achieving practical K-12 Networking that we
come across.  The phrase conveys something akin to "refresher course" or
"in-service training" or getting some more credits for the next pay
scale.

A common alternative for teacher training is professional development
for but this phrase conveys something even worse.  It sounds as though
the teachers are not professionals and require development to become
professionals.  Teachers are, indeed, professionals at what they do Ñ
instruction.  They have taken their courses, gained their degrees,
performed supervised teaching, and spent years perfecting their courses,
style, and presentations.  While some teachers might coast, most stay
current with their field, read avidly, and are very good at what they
do.

What we are talking about, in contrast, is professional redevelopment -
in business it is called reengineering - and it is the shifting of
skills and techniques of teachers in tandem with a shift in a school's
commitment to moving the schooling of students from one cluster in the
K-12 Schooling & Networking model to another cluster.  (By cluster we
mean if you took the current schooling objectives and placed the current
students in the "model space" the points in the space would cluster in
some distinct pattern.  As suggested earlier, this cluster would have
many students closer to the instructional form of learning sources,
closer to extrinsic inspiration than intrinsic inspiration, and closer
to lower discipline, than high discipline.

A school district can chose to change this distribution of students. 
They can elect to shift the "cluster" along these scales, and the others
described above.  When the school district elects to move the cluster,
they have also committed to moving the skill sets of their teachers.

So when people talk about "training costs" being large compared with
hardware costs, we suggest they think of these as redevelopment costs -
which surely will be very large either as 1)  personal investments by
teachers and administrators in changing how they teach, or 2)  budgetary
expenditures on the professional redevelopment of all school staff.

Relation to Model: The shifts in learning elected by schools in the
model entail extensive changes in teaching skills.

EPIE/CITS Note:  A clear sign that the networking technology will not be
used is if there is not a massive redeployment or redevelopment of
teachers and administrators.


PART IV: Barriers to Achieving the Benefits

There are three sources of barriers:

-  Perceived benefit is too low
-  Derived benefit is too low
-  Cost to achieve the benefit is too high

There are two major types of costs:

-  Monetary, budgetary
-  Personnel inertia, changeover costs

The literature raises a number of "barriers" (-) and they are discussed
here, in alphabetical order (by significant keyword):

-  (Lack of) Access to Technology (Cable in the Classroom (based on QED
data), 1995; Newman, 1992; etc.)

What is the appropriate ratio of computers to students?  Papert has been
saying for years it is 1:1 yet the McKinsey study's highest cost model
provides for only 1:5.  As pointed out in Section III, the nation is, in
fact, 1:1 in most homes of students with home computers.

Barrier Summary:  As learning requires access to technologies from video
teleconferencing to high-end computer simulation tools, there can never
be too much technology (at least for some learning).

-  (Lack of) Accounts (Honey, 1993)

Barrier Summary:  Networking accounts have become less costly, but the
costs will continue to be a barrier to providing enough networking
accounts to carry out telecollaborative projects and other network
intensive applications.


-  (Problems with) Administration (Hodas, undated; many other)

The most common story is about the pioneering teacher with "arrows in
his/her back" from principals and others who were "not supportive."

Indeed, in Section II, one of the dominant tips was to be sure to have
the administration behind any networking plan.

Hodas (Hodas, undated, Culture) describes the most perceptive account we
located on the role of administrators in accepting or "refusing"
technology.  This article is a chilling account of the many ways in
which administrators, teachers and parents can stand in the way of
adopting technology.

As the model in Parts I & II of this Section raises, adopting networking
technology is fundamentally about shifting the character and kind of
education a school offers.  The character and kind of education a school
offers is the province of the school board and the administration. 
Teachers often have little say in the process, except as the parents of
children in the school system.

Barrier Summary:  Networking is about pervasive change in schooling.  If
administrators do not favor a specific outcome of networking, they will
(rightly) oppose the technology to preserve the educational process they
favor.

-  (Accessing) Administration Networks (Sun, 1995)

A major finding of the ModelNets study of schools attempting to
implement networking was high resistance from MIS (Management
Information Systems) to permit teacher and student access to these
networks.

"While the ModelNets Infrastructure researchers found that in some
cases, administrative networks could provide "positive models" for
network management and development, we also found that the transition
from administrative-only to a broadly used student, teacher and
administrator network turned on issues of power and control with
sometimes negative or at least disruptive results.  MIS departments were
reluctant to allow teachers and students onto sensitive or controlled
networks.  Teachers who had often discovered the educational uses of
networks at home or in other non-managed locations were sometimes
resistant to the "authority" and control on network use as imposed by
district MIS staff.  The result was a separation of teachers from MIS
staff into two "camps."  This situation, when found, was not functional
in terms of growing the network and its use, expanding connectivity
(i.e., creating student accounts), or even in writing systemic
educational technology plans. (lines 201-234)."

Barrier Summary:  In terms of the learning model, network uses that
encourage exploration will clearly conflict with MIS staff's goals of
maintaining tight control over records.  The issue extends beyond the
matter of "sufficient firewalls" (see Section II) to a cultural
difference between the "two camps."

-  Change is a Process, Not an Event (Weir, 1992)

(see next entry)

-  Change Takes Time (Solomon, 1995)

"Participants agreed that change takes time, and those promoting change
must be patient and persistent.  Technology can facilitate this change,
possibly accelerate it, and to some degree can promote common standards
and equity.  Change will reflect the character, diversity, and creative
effort of local communities. (lines 107-114)"

Barrier Summary:  Time for change is a barrier; yet true change does
take time Ñ just as it takes years to raise a child, it also takes time
for significant changes in schooling to occur (we note Means'
observations that changes can take three to five years, p. 76)


-  (Problems) Coping with Hardware and Software Change (Means, 1995)

"'We have continually upgraded the machinery and software since we
began.  We've been through three or four versions of MacPaint and now
use Canvas as a drawing program; three or four versions of MacWrite and
AppleLink....  Just as soon as you think you've got a handle on
something, it disappears or version 4 comes out.' - Elementary school
teacher (p. 84)"

Barrier Summary:  While Bikson (1987, 1994) emphasizes that "resistance
to technology" is often overemphasized when users see clear benefits in
its use, nonetheless, software and hardware "improvements" to some are
barriers to others.  (And it is not easy to "stand still."  If one
doesn't upgrade say, a wordprocessing program, an imported image from
another program may not print correctly.  The same is true of the
Internet, where features in HTML 2 and 3 are inaccessible to users
capable of only HTML 1.  See, for example, the discussion regarding
Imperial software in Section II.)

-  (Lack of) Funding (Cable in the Classroom (based on QED data), 1995;
etc.)

"Survey reveals higher than expected use of technology in the classroom
-- also reveals other barriers, beyond funding."

Barrier Summary:  The McKinsey study puts the peak average cost of
networking classrooms (5 students per computer) at about 4% of the
annual school budget.  Yet the average spending on the most used
teaching resource, the textbook, is less than 1% of annual expenditures.
 While some may interpret the McKinsey study to demonstrate the
"smallness" of the expenditure, the costs are more than four times
higher than for traditional teaching tools.

Further, the hidden costs of teacher/administrator redevelopment are
probably much larger than any study projects.  While we can expect more
teachers graduating from schools of education to have skill sets more in
line with changing expectations, the major impact of these changes will
require redevelopment of the existing teacher base.

-  (Problems) Getting Connected to a Resource (Teles, 1991)

Five years ago it required very high Internet proficiency to obtain
anything of value from the Internet.  Teles' experience, around 1990,
reflects those realities.

Today, Internet tools have become easier to use, but to many teachers
they still represent a challenging technology to operate.

Barrier Summary:  It is said that to make technology "fool proof" you
are inviting "fools" to use it.  In Section II we describe the use of
presentation machines and exploration machines.  The use of either of
these tools will continue to require skill and will, therefore, stand as
a barrier to its use.

-  Inadequate Electrical Power (GAO, 1995)

The GAO study finds it will cost $112 billion to fix or rebuild the
Nation's schools.

Barrier Summary:  In many schools the problem of wiring a network is
dwarfed by the need to get electrical power to operate hubs and
computers in the classrooms.

-  Inequity (Newman, 1992; Komoski & Priest, 1995, Virtual Ghetto)

"Cut off from potentially life-changing information, learning and
earning, these potential sharers and producers of wealth are being
isolated in a virtual ghetto.  The cost of escaping this ghetto is the
cost of the technology and training needed to learn how to share in, and
contribute to the growth of an information-based economy. (line 24)"

Barrier Summary:  As extensively discussed in Section III, the costs of
technology can be afforded by the affluent, and many families and
schools will be deprived of access to important learning tools

-  (Lack of) Integration of Computer Mediated Communication with the
Curriculum (Teles, 1991)

The gulf between exploratory or peer-to-peer resource uses of the
Internet (such as computer mediated communications) looks like a barrier
when the activity is not viewed as a part of the curriculum.

-  (Lack of) Knowledge About Various Services (Cable in the Classroom
(based on QED data), 1995)

"Lack of knowledge about the service, lack of training and workshops,
lack of time to learn how to use, lack of access to equipment, and lack
of phone, cable and data lines in the classroom were barriers to usage
of online services and Internet for approximately 80% of teachers, and
media coordinators, compared to 50% to 60% for Cable in the Classroom
(p. 9)"

The Services include computers, Cable in the Classroom, Channel One, the
Internet, and Online Services.

* Cable in the Classroom programming included in-school television
programming such as by PBS, The Discovery Channel, and CNN.  Forty
percent of the country's teachers and media coordinators used PBS
programming during the last school year, 34% used The Discovery Channel
programs, and 28% used CNN.  Cable in the Classroom is the cable
television industry's 5320 million public service initiative to enrich
education.  It serves over 70,000 schools (approximately 70% of all
public and private schools K-12) reaching 80% of all U.S. students with
commercial-free, educational programming (p. ii)

Barrier Summary:  Lack of information on network-based services are a
barrier to their use.

-  (Presence of) Latent Values (Burron, 1995)

"By resolving the value-laden philosophical differences among school
personnel, parents, and the general public, we can all approach reform
in the cool light of reason. (p. 92)"

"I see four community values that have become bones of contention:
-  safe passage (e.g. not having a student's values ridiculed)
-  opt-in (e.g. agreement about objectionable materials)
-  parents' rights (e.g. banning showing of tape on breast
self-examination)
-  child-centered curriculums
-  individuals will eventually gravitate toward self-fulfillment, and so
will focus on aspects of the curriculum they value, and forget things
they don't
-  society is strengthened most by the diverse contributions of people
whose gifts are most fully defined (p. 93)"

The issues raised here further illuminate aspects of the model
introduced in Parts I & II of this Section.  This article was written by
the Director of the National Center for Community Consensus on
Education, and clearly demonstrates a keen appreciation for underlying
issues.

Barrier Summary:  There are strong, often unspoken values that control
the freedom schools have to move about in the "model space" we describe
above.  Without the flexibility to move within the space, there is doubt
that networking technology will succeed except as teacher presentation
tools described in Section II.

-  (Networking Technology Leads to) Marginal Impact to Schooling
(Newman, 1992)

"A serious development effort will be needed to fill the technological
gap.  More importantly, a research and demonstration effort will be
needed to articulate an alternative model.  Few school systems are
likely to take advantage of their installed local infrastructure for
instruction or staff development unless there is a compelling
pedagogical rationale. (p. 7)"

Barrier Summary:  Networks that are installed outside of the framework
of how schooling really occurs are likely to go unused.

-  (Problem of) Mismatch between School Values and Technology (Hodas,
undated, Culture)

"Yet despite the tenor of the current hand-wringing our schools are not
'failing.'  On the contrary, they are doing exactly the job they were
set up and refined to do.  It is the world around them that has changed,
and this mismatch between school and society is so blatant, so
pervasive, its consequences for the nation so malignant and ineluctable,
that a trans-ideological consensus has congealed around it: something
must be done. (lines 32-38)"

Barrier Summary:  Without redevelopment of both teachers,
administrators, and schools, the system's intertia will prevail.

-  (Problem that there is) No One Blueprint (Gargano, 1994)

As discussed in Section II, each school district's networking needs are
unique Ñ defined by its individual culture, staff resources, and
existing technologies.

Barrier Summary:  The uniqueness of each school district requires that
each district develop and design their own technology plan.  While there
are guidelines discussed throughout this study that can be drawn from,
there is no one, economical design that can be adopted by each school.

-  Not a Problem with Relevance to the Curriculum or Teacher Motivation
(Cable in the Classroom, 1995)

"Only some 40% felt that lack of relevance to the curriculum and lack of
motivation on teachers' part were barriers to greater usage of Cable in
the Classroom [and other technologies such as Online Services and the
Internet]. (p. 9)"

This statement must be taken within the context of the Cable in the
Classroom/NEA/QED study.  These two barriers were relatively less
important than issues such as funding, knowledge, training, time, and
equipment access which ranged from 60-85% of teachers reporting them as
barriers.

Barrier Summary:  Teachers and Media Coordinators see "Relevance to
Curriculum" and "Teacher Motivation" as significant but as less of a
barrier than other barriers.

-  (Problem that) Online Databases Carry Higher Costs Outside the School
(Teles, 1991)

Various vendors of online database services provide significant
discounts to schools.

Barrier Summary:  When students graduate, they find that database
resources often cost more than they can afford, negating the benefits of
learning to use them.

-  (Problem with) Parents' Displeasure over Student Cognitive and
Affective Changes ( Hodas, undated, Culture; Kozma, 1995)

"What is perhaps less clear is public acceptance of this approach to
learning and of a system of assessing students in the context of
authentic group projects.  As Cohen (8) points out, the majority of the
public adheres to a very conventional model of education as knowledge
transmission and assessment as performance on standardized
multiple-choice tests. (Kozma, p. 34)"

"If students, parents, and teachers are all pleased with the cognitive
and affective changes induced locally by working with these types of
tools (and it is by no means certain that they will be), it may become
difficult to sustain the older, more repressive features of school
organization of which centrally-administered and imposed technology is
but one example. (Hodas, lines 855-859)"

Hodas's paper Technology Refusal and the Organizational Culture of
Schools is frank to the point of being brutal about the many ways
cultural values can place a halt to the educational use of technology. 
If Lewis Perlman's School's Out represents one extreme along the
expression of the viability of schools, Hodas's paper represents the
other extreme, indicating that schools are well entrenched and likely to
remain that way.  Both writers draw from the same realization of
cultural rigidity and arrive at different conclusions about where
schools will come out. [Author Note: this morning (1/24/95) the City of
Hartford announced they were abandoning their attempts to privatize the
public schools.]

Barrier Summary:  There are schools, today, drawing up thousands of
technology plans, but it is not clear if these plans reflect the
underlying "biases" in the school's culture.

-  (Problems with) Principals (Peha, 1995)

"Probably the most disturbing problem came out in direct interviews with
teachers who were not part of the Pittsburgh project.  Not only are
rewards for innovative teachers often small, but some principals and
teachers actually discourage resourceful teachers from disruption of the
status quo.  The reasons for such opposition may include two fears: that
benefits will be small and not worth the effort, and that benefits will
be great, so other teachers will be expected to keep up. (p.22)"

Barrier Summary:  School principals, and other administrators, must
"buy-in" to changes or pioneering teachers will be undermined and left
unsupported.

-  (Lack of) Quality Time (Solomon, 1995)

Participants agreed that technology offers opportunities for new
learning experiences at the K-12 level for both teachers and students. 
A critical component of technology use is professional development and
ongoing support; it's as important as the hardware, software, and
curriculum.  Finding quality time may be the biggest issue in training
teachers to use the equipment and professional development for
integrating technology into classroom activities. (lines 128-132)"
[emphasis added]

Barrier Summary:  Insufficient time.

-  (Lack of) Role of Technology (OTA's Report: Teachers and Technology:
Making the Connection, in O'Neil, 1995)

"A third explanation for the somewhat disappointing status of technology
use is an overall lack of vision and clarity of goals in the school. 
Technologies are changing rapidly, and so are the ways schools are
expected to use them.  Schools were first urged to teach students
computer programming, for example; a few years later, they were prodded
to focus on applications such as word processing and spreadsheets.  Add
in the fact that 'getting the technology' sometimes overshadows the
question of how teachers want to change their instruction, and what role
technology can play in assisting that, 'It is a small wonder that
teachers have become confused, and administrators frustrated, with many
educators unclear where they should be heading in technology use,' OTA
says. (p. 12)'

Barrier Summary:  From the model discussed in Parts I & II of this
Section, this perspective is not only not surprising, but epitomizes the
frustration felt when technology is put before setting clear educational
goals that include the use of technology.

-  (Technology Causing) Teacher and Technology Embarrassment (Hodas,
undated, Culture)

"Much of the question of teacher self-definition revolves around the
anxiety generated by their unfamiliarity and incompetence with the new
machines.  The fear of being embarrassed is a major de-motivating factor
in the acquisition of the skills required to use computer technology in
the classroom (Honey & Moeller, 1990; Kerr, 1991; Sheingold & Hadley,
1990). (lines 552-556)"

Barrier Summary:  In many cases student proficiency with technology
exceeds the teacher; in traditional roles this is a source of
embarrassment.

-  (Lack of) Telephone Lines (Honey, 1993)

Until recently, the only means a teacher had to connect a classroom
machine to an outside network resource was the telephone.  More
recently, those schools that elect school-wide network connectivity can
achieve a connection to outside resources more cost-effectively than
using the telephone.

Yet, with the newer telephone network systems by Homework Hotline,
Parlant, and others, the telephone has taken on a difference importance.
 It is an important means for a teacher to maintain contact with:
-  Other teachers
-  Administration
-  Parents (and students)

Barrier Summary:  Schools that do not install telephones prevent
network-data uses in schools where there are no school-wide local area
networks(LANs).  Also, schools that do not install telephones inhibit
the growth of voice-mail based systems which have been found to be
extremely effective in improving teacher-parent relationships and in
coordinating activities within the school.

-  (Lack of) Time (Cable in the Classroom, 1995; O'Neil, 1995, Teles,
1991, National Commission, 1995)

Barrier Summary:  In Section II a guideline was to "provide sufficient
time," but as many point out, there is not sufficient time for teachers
to carry on five classes a day and learn/develop a networked-based
curriculum.

- (Problem with) Top Down Integration (Means, 1995)

"When teachers are not involved in selecting technology and do not see
the connection between its capabilities and what they are trying to
accomplish, the technology is likely to be either ignored or used in
ineffectual ways. (p. 114)"

Barrier Summary:  Bottom up integration is ineffective when
administration is not supportive, yet top down integration is
ineffective when teachers are not involved in selecting technology. 
This strongly suggests that Technology Plans will only be successful
when there is a continual dialogue between teachers, administrators, and
designers.

-  (Lack of) Workshops and/or Training (Cable in the Classroom, 1995;
O'Neil, 1995, Pitfalls; Kozma, 1995)

Barrier Summary:  Lack of time, constrained budgets, and lack of clear
educational goals using technology leave too little effort in teacher
professional redevelopment.



SECTION V: An Achievable Vision



Making Tomorrow Happen With Today's Technology

Tempting as it may be, we will refrain from ending this report with a
future vision, or visions of how networking may or may not transform
learning in schools, homes and communities by 2000 or 2010.  Our goal
here is more immediate. It is to provide guidance to schools, and the
communities that support them, regarding what they can begin
accomplishing today Ñ using today's technology and even some of
yesterday's that they may have been wondering what to do with Ñ to
achieve the type of school-home-community networking described in
Section III of this report. 

Before we begin, let's review the reasons why school-home-community
network connectivity should be a priority of every school's technology
planning:

BETTER TEACHER-PARENT COMMUNICATION/COOPERATION Ñ school-home networking
can facilitate efficient, effective parent-teacher communication
regarding... 

-  Curriculum and learning goals;

-  The relevance of specific homework to those goals;

-  Suggested computer-related home learning experiences;

-  Regular student progress reporting;

-  Teacher-parent-student cooperative evaluation and selection of
learning resources.

INFORMATION DELIVERY AND EXCHANGE Ñ (e-mail and online discussion)
school-home-community networking can provide schools and other community
organizations with an inexpensive, efficient and reliable means of
delivering information to parents and the community schools exist to
serve. Such as....

-  School announcements, schedules, etc.;

-  Online discussion of school-home-community issues such as health,
drugs, teen pregnancy, parenting, TV, environmental, civic,
neighborhood, etc.


INCREASED STUDENT LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES Ñ school-home-community
networking may be employed to achieve learning connectivity for:

-  Students who choose to spend more time than is available at school in
exploiting the learning potential of online and CD-ROM sources, based on
both the schools curriculum goals and a learner's particular interests,
abilities and insights;

-  Online at-home mentoring, monitoring and peer tutoring programs via
school and community volunteers;

-  Home-bound students and absentees, via online homework assignments
and distance-learning classroom participation; 
 
-  Across-school and at-home online professional development and
curriculum planning for teachers and teaching aides; 

-  School-sponsored adult education programs for parents and other
community members via online distance learning and, in some cases online
staff development for teachers and teaching aides;

 And, perhaps, for: 

-  Students who are being home-schooled, but whose parents are unable to
provide instruction in a particular curriculum area.(Presenting an
opportunity that some schools may wish to explore as a means of
enrolling home-schooled students as a special category of learner within
the school community.)

ONLINE CSC SERVICE Ñ Online Enlisting/Matching/Rewarding Community
Service Volunteers Via Community Service Credits Ñ Online management of
a community-wide credit system though which those who voluntarily
provide services to others receive one Community Service Credit (CSC)
hour for every hour of service.

*  Community service credits, or "Time Dollars" (Cahn, Edgar. "When
Money is Time," Op Ed Page, The New York Times. Jan.9, 1993) is a local
tax-exempt currency based on the voluntary exchange of human services in
which one hour of service performed by one person (e.g., providing
training in computer use) is equal to one hour of service performed by
another person (e.g. helping in a school or library, shopping for a
home-bound neighbor, being a hospital volunteer, providing childcare or
eldercare, etc.) without reference to the actual rate of pay for such
work (i.e., one hour of legal service = one hour of house cleaning
service).  

CSCs may be used by a school-home-community network to:

-  Provide a means for families who cannot afford to buy a computer and
or pay for training to earn them with CSCs; 

-  Enable the network to reward those who through their volunteer work
as computer trainers and mentors, managers of the CSC system, network
developers and trouble shooters, fundraisers, enable the school-home
community network to sustain itself with a minimum outlay of money;

-  Build intra-community relationships across all social and economic
levels of community members (i.e., "haves" and "have-nots" working to
support the growth of a learning-and-earning community on the basis of
cooperation and mutual support).

INCREASING COMMUNITY SUPPORT Ñ effectively used, all of the above
applications of school-home-community networking can help increase
community-wide support for a school's technology program and the
implementation of technology to increase learning opportunity for all
learners.
 
Basic Decisions in School-Home-Community Networking

Assuming that a decision has been made to create
school-home-community-wide networking, there is an initial decision to
be made.  Should a school begin with a school-home voice-messaging
system (with or without e-mail capability) or, should a school move
directly into developing a school-wide computer network that extends to
students homes and the community? 

In order to make this decision, information is needed about the current
and planned acquisition of home computers and connectivity by students
families.  Begin by gathering information about how many students'
families already own a home computer/modem/phone and how many students'
families are planning to acquire such technology in the near future,
etc. (see Appendix A for an example of a simple, one-page survey form
that is being used by schools for this purpose).  We suggest that
teachers and teaching aides also fill out the form.

The information gathered with this form will enable a school to create
an At-home Technology Profile for the entire school community.  This
profile will help in deciding how to design a practical approach to
achieving a universal school-home communications network.  If there are
few computers in homes of students and teachers, a school-home
voice-mail network would seem the correct initial network choice.  If
this is the decision, be sure to acquire a system that already is, or
that soon will be, e-mail capable. 

If, on the other hand, the At-home Technology Profile indicates a high
penetration of computers/ connectivity in student and teachers homes,
then the decision moves to consideration of the school-home-community
networking strategy described below.  When deciding on this route, the
number of students whose families are likely to be financially incapable
of purchasing a computer in the foreseeable future should be assessed. 
When this has been done, a community-wide strategy of the sort described
needs to be developed to assist these households to acquire the
technology they will need to participate in school-home-community
networking 

* Do not assume that all low-income households will have telephone
connectivity.  First, discover whether this is the case, then engage the
help of appropriate local social service agencies and the local phone
provider to help solve the problem; nationally over 15 percent of
low-income households lack telephone access.  However, the issue of
achieving universal phone and e-mail access for all Americans receiving
increasing attention (Anderson, 1995) and, as more schools and
communities become engaged in addressing it locally, their concern will
aid in appropriate state and national action. As mentioned in Section
II, we believe that an appropriate solution for such connectivity could
be a low-cost wireless modem. 

Assuming that a decision has been made to move ahead with
school-home-community computer networking, the first step is to adopt a
networking design that focuses on the creation a local information
infrastructure (a local community "hub" or "inner-net") that connects
with the National Information Infrastructure via the Internet.  This
means that the local hub or inner-net should have both BBS and Internet
functionality, as described below regarding recommendations about ways
the Internet can be extended for achieving school-home-community
networking with BBS-like functionality).  

If, however, a local BBS already exists in the community, if at all
possible, build upon its established capabilities, especially if it has
been organized as a local nonprofit resource.  It may be related to the
local library, or to a county library system, or to a social services
network.  It might also be an independent volunteer organization.  

In any case, every effort should be made to create a single integrated,
community-wide network, and to avoid duplication of effort, competition
and confusion among members of the community.  Schools should not set
themselves apart, electronically, from their community. For instance, if
a nonprofit BBS-type community network already exists, or a local
commercial Internet provider also manages a community BBS, a serious
effort should be made to build a nonprofit sector into such a service Ñ
provided the BBS proprietor agrees to free access for low-income
households with children, or even others in the community, who cannot
afford to pay monthly service fees.  

If a Web-based hub rather than a BBS-based hub is being considered, some
important trade-offs are part of that consideration.  The most important
of these trade-offs is that with the Web-based option it will be
difficult to replicate all the features of a BBS. If even one or two
highly valued BBS features such as "chat mode" can't be replicated, the
trade-off may be considered too great, and a BBS-plus Internet
connectivity may be the best decision.  

But the technology is in rapid evolution. In this regard, the following
two comments from 1994 and 1995 by Frank Odasz, a pioneer in community
networking are worth attending to:

"For most schools and communities, the choice is not between distributed
bulletin board systems and full Internet access. Both serve different
but related needs and are needed to fully empower communities (Odasz,
1994)"

While a local BBS can be an economical first level for a community
network, WWW conferencing systems and continuing advancement of
programming environments, such as Java, will soon make it possible to
have the best of both Internet and Internet features.  (Odasz, 1995)
 
In personal conversation with Frank Odasz we have come to realize that
he and other pioneers have crafted the use of BBSs for a level of
community involvement not yet attainable via the Internet.  To aid in
the discussion the following figure: Comparing Computer Bulletin Board
Systems with Internet Systems for Networking was prepared to help the
Internet Community, the BBS-based Communities, the School Community, the
Library Community, the Municipal Community, the Home Community and
others to more quickly converge on what some have begun to call WebBBSs.

Indeed, as we have discussed in the Online Teleconferencing part of
Section II, the Internet tools have made their most important advances
for community-like activities in the areas of forums and
teleconferencing.  Another important area of advance is in the
construction of MOO (Multi-dimensional Object Orientations) and
enhancements such as Chaco's Pueblo (Greening, 1995) that provide a
virtual environment, including graphical interaction, to engage learners
and involve citizen participation.

In the comparison chart the reader will find many references to how BBSs
provide a better sense of unity and monitoring than the Internet.  While
we are not espousing "Big Brother" monitoring, we do recognize that many
BBSs have dedicated SYSOPs (System Operators) who monitor chats and
forums to ensure that they adhere to local standards for civility. 
Indeed, the issue about cyberporn (Bray, 1995) have received the highest
attention at both national and local levels.  While software can provide
some security, software will never be foolproof.  Chats, forums, and
other forms of interaction intended for children and young learners
require supervision.

We anticipate that within a couple of years, there will be an Internet
BBS facility that will have the following characteristics:

-  Facilitate a sense of close community Ñ both geographic and
"communities of interest"
-  Enable participants to inquire about the "profiles" of others, to
know whether they are currently "online," and be able to determine if
they are available for discussion
-  Provide Forums that enhance the geographic community, including
bridging among homes, schools, libraries, and municipalities
-  Provide chat facilities, such as chat rooms or "environments" in
which people can have discussions for learning and entertainment
-  Provide linkages to community bulletin board information about
events, opportunities, and facilities
-  Encourage Community Service Credit volunteerism using volunteer
brokers and a credit banking system
-  Provide ways in which local "innovators" can improve the environment.
 In a MOO, these are "object extensions" that people can build. (Better
tools are needed to permit non-programmers to build extensions.)

Building an Inclusive, Equitable Learning Community

If school-home-community networking is to strengthen the educational
values and skills needed to sustain not only the American economy, but
American democracy as well, there must be a commitment to creating
inclusive, not exclusive learning communities.  From a practical
standpoint, this means that every school-home-community network
committed to inclusiveness is also committed to achieving at-home equity
of access for students whose families cannot afford a home computer and
connectivity.



Earlier we stated that, given "the temper of the times" neither
government nor business will produce the estimated $23 billion needed to
provide all poverty-level school children and their families computers
and connectivity.  If we are correct in this assessment,then is is left
to schools and communities to address the growing disparity between
"information haves" and "have-nots."  While this growing disparity, may
seem to be as structural and permanent as the school-home computer
disparity mentioned earlier, hopefully, it can be eliminated. (Komoski,
Virtual Ghetto, 1995) 

Based on the computer industry's likely sales of home computers to
families during the next four years, it seems reasonable to assume that
by 2000, all but the poorest families will have purchased a computer to
"help their children do better at school." If schools and communities
are unable to figure out how to enable their poorest families to acquire
a computer and network connectivity, our nation's "virtual ghetto" may,
indeed, begin to become as structural as its physical ghettos have
become. 

Step One: Paying for Inclusive Community-based Technology Training for
Any Family 
 
Current efforts to address this disparity by providing access to
"information-have-not" students and their families at schools, libraries
and community centers should be applauded as important first steps on
the way to building an inclusive learning community.  In a community
that is building an inclusive school-home-community network, such
training should be available to all who sign up for it.  Those who can
afford to pay for such training with money should be allowed to do so;
those who haven't the ability to pay money for their training may pay in
Community Service Credits (i.e., one hour of training for one earned CSC
hour).
 
As mentioned above, community-based training for families is an
essential element of school-home-community networking, especially for
those who cannot afford to purchase the technology and training they
need to gain for at-home access.  Some suggest that libraries can
provide this access.  But outside-of-the-home, limited access to
technology Ñ essential as it is in helping families to become technology
literate Ñ can never match the benefits, convenience and time of at-home
access.  Schools and their communities need to take a practical next
step to move beyond outside-of-home access to achieving in-home access
to computers and connectivity for all "have-not" children and their
parents.

Step Two: Enabling all Families to Acquire Home Computers

A family that cannot afford to purchase a computer (i.e., a family who
children are eligible for free school lunch or who meet other
locally-established criteria) should be given the opportunity to earn a
home computer after 1) completing the training provided in Step One
above, 2) after paying for that training with earned Community Service
Credits.

The following is a suggested "to do list" for moving ahead to build an
inclusive, equitable school-home-community network within a school
community:


-  Establish a community-wide policy board and advisory board with a
relationship to the school district's technology planning committee;
 
-  Appoint a network coordinator and a systems operator(SYSOP) (while
these may be volunteers, ideally, they ought to be persons in the employ
of the school or the library). If, however, there is a local Internet
service provider/BBS operator who is interested in working with the
school-home-community network, there may be an opportunity for a
complementary relationship;

-  Unless the school district has already acquired Internet
connectivity, carefully review all options. If the public library is
providing free Internet access to library card holders (as increasing
numbers of local and/or regional libraries are doing), offer to join
with them in underwriting this essential service; 

-  Develop a clear mission statement as a complement to, or an extension
of the school district's long-rang technology plan;

-  Establish a local education foundation, or if one already exists,
enlist it to become the legal entity under which the local
school-home-community network will be organized and governed, and
through which local and other fundraising activities may be carried out;

-  Enlist a group of community volunteers who are interested in the
concept and operation of a nonprofit school-home-community network that
will become the operating arm of the network;

-  Make older, unused school-owned computers available to low-income
families (either as loaners (e.g., Indiana's Buddy Program), or to be
earned via a learn-and-earn-technology program (e.g., the LINCT model
mentioned in Section II of this report);

-  Establish a community-wide and/or regional program for soliciting
donated, used computers from businesses and households that are
replacing older machines;

-  Acquire used computers from federal, state, county and local
government agencies.  A Presidential Executive order of November 1992
(Bush, 1992) establishes a mechanism that enables schools to acquire
used government computers for use in elementary and secondary schools;

-  See if one or more local banks will provide low-interest loans to
low-income families specifically for home computer/connectivity
purchases;

-  Enlist computer literates from the community as volunteer (earning
CSCs) trainers from among computer literate parents, computer-savvy high
school students and teachers, local techies who may possibly be
recruited from a local or regional chapter of the recently formed
National Tech Corps mentioned in Section II or through CompuMentor,which
is based in San Francisco but has a nationwide cadre of local computer
volunteers willing to work with nonprofit organizations and schools in
need of technical support; 

-  Enlist additional volunteers to assist with acquiring an ongoing
supply of donated used computers. Organizations with established local
and regional credibility such as The United Way, Rotary etc, should be
approached to assist with outreach to businesses and government to
acquire, warehouse and distribute computers to community training sites
in schools, libraries, churches, etc. 

* For a LINCT Coalition planned pilot project in five neighborhoods in
New York City's Harlem, sponsored by the New York Urban League, The
United Way of New York will provide outreach to businesses to acquire
used computers, equipment warehousing and equipment pick-up and
distribution services. 

-  Establish a program for ongoing equipment maintenance and repair
services.  Although communities in which such programs exist are
managing to sustain this work with volunteers, we strongly recommend
that this part of the work of school-community networking be
incorporated into local high school and/or community college programs. 
This may be done either as formal tech-prep courses or as projects of
school computer club activities (i.e., the "computer shops" referred to
previous sections in this report).

None of the above is simple to accomplish.  But all of the above
activities are being accomplished in various communities committed to
achieving equitable, universally-accessible school-home-community
networks.  However, as important as such grassroots, community-based
action is for achieving universal access to school-community networking,
the work of such efforts could become much easier to accomplish through
a reliable flow of donated business and government computing equipment. 


Needed: Nationwide Coordination for Providing Community Networking
Efforts with Earnable Computer Equipment for Underfunded schools and
Low-Income Families

Throughout this report we have stressed the need to develop practical
approaches to achieving equitable school-home-community networking.  An
essential element in achieving that goal is ensuring that those schools
and homes which lack equitable access to computers and connectivity are
able to acquire them.  As described above, a practical way of achieving
this is for each network to work to establish a reliable flow of used
computers that may be installed in school and community learning centers
and learned-and-earned by low-income families.  While this is proving
practical in many communities with many computer-using businesses that
regularly upgrade equipment, there are many other communities in which
this is not the case.  Is there a practical solution for such
communities?

The solution proposed by the LINCT Coalition is a national
redistribution program of the 10-14 million used, but usable computers,
printers, etc., that are being replaced each year by America's more than
10 million computer-using businesses (Aeppel, Gartner Market Research,
1994) plus an estimated additional 1-2 million used computers a year
being generated by the country's almost 40 million computer-using
households.  The nation-wide redistribution program envisioned by The
LINCT Coalition, while formidable, is considered to be practical, based
on the experience of Non-Profit Computing Inc. a LINCT Coalition member
organization.  Non-Profit Computing Inc. has been redistributing used
computer from businesses and households for over a decade.  An based on
this experience, the major problem is not one of redistribution, itself,
it is a problem of awareness and commitment by the nation's businesses
to donate a significant portion used equipment to redistribution
programs such as Non-Profit Computing Inc. 

The LINCT Coalition points out that "a significant portion" need only be
10-20 percent of the 15-20 million used computers being generated by
businesses each year.  With such a commitment and an appropriate
redistribution program in place, within two years the program would be
able to provide the nation's 10-15 million lowest-income families with
an opportunity to earn themselves a home computer through the type of
community-based Learn-and-Earn programs described above.  Within the
same two years, such a nation-wide equipment-redistribution program
would also have generated enough used computers to supply all of the
nation's estimated 20,000 underserved schools, libraries and related
community-based volunteer agencies with more than enough computers to
meet basic equipment needs. The "know-how" exists to make this happen.
The question is one of awareness and commitment, and, of course, the
resources required to organize and to manage the redistribution system. 

* The LINCT Coalition has suggested to the current administration that
it extend the present Federal used-computer distribution to schools
beyond its math and science focus to enable schools to provide such
equipment to community training centers and to low-income students whose
families are willing to learn-and-earn a computer via
school-home-community technology training programs, as called for in the
LINCT Coalition model for achieving "electronic equity" at the
grassroots level.  This could add an additional flow of used equipment
to the potential flow from businesses described above.

Also, many used PCs are being shipped overseas. (Aeppel, 1994)  Given
the value of these machines to our own country and the increased
usefulness of these machines as Internet browsers, we may wish to adopt
national policies to keep these machines in circulation, here.

Once the feasibility of a community-managed program for acquiring used
computers is established, and/or computers are being acquired, a
complementary program of training sites can be established at
after-school centers located in schools, libraries and other publicly
accessible sites such as community centers and church facilities, etc.

The school-home computer structural disparity discussed in Section II
and the at-home social disparity among the nation's "haves" and
"have-nots" present schools and communities with an enormous challenge. 
Public schools, along with public libraries are their community's
tangible evidence of longstanding American belief: equitable access to
learning and information is fundamental to life in a democracy.  How
well public schools, libraries and their communities respond to this
information-age redefinition of their historic missions is critical to
the future of the democracy they have helped to build. 

If public schools and libraries fail to sustain free access to
appropriate technology and learning and information resources for those
who cannot afford to to pay for them with money, America may find that
it has lost the means of providing its citizenry with the very
educational opportunities that ensure its strength.

Practical and Specific Projects

In the spirit of providing practical and specific guidance for school
and home-school networking fifteen project areas are suggested.  In
discussing the projects it is imagined that the technology planning
board might draw on the "causal diagramming" aids presented in Section
IV.  

1.  Schools Aid Parents in Selecting Home Software and Internet
Materials

As described extensively throughout the report, parents are moving
quickly to purchase computers and software for their children.  Schools
can view this as an independent activity or, more cooperatively, can
interpret their role vis a vis the student and parent as a facilitator
of at-home learning that helps schools meet their curriculum goals.

Elements of the causal model include student achievement, parental
assistance in terms of "useful" software, student activity in using the
software, teacherÑparent communication about curriculum objectives and
communication about corresponding software selection.

Many states belong to the States Consortium for Improving Software
Selection (SCISS) which provides all schools within the state with
access to a database of over 18,000 K-12 educational software products. 
The EPIE Institute which maintains this database provides training and
assistance in how to use the database to "align" the curriculum with
educational software.  Available on CD-ROM, the database can be
annotated by teachers as they discover software programs that they find
useful in teaching.

If the database is made part of a web page (e.g. Massachusetts, MCET),
the annotations can be shared with parents via the Internet.

While the process of "aligning" software resources with a teacher's
curriculum objectives is a daunting exercise, the teacher could start by
searching the EPIE database, reading software descriptions and the EPIE
surveyed ratings of reviews the software has received, and then
reviewing the software asking parents and students to help evaluate the
software.  The software, if it were found to be useful, could then be
purchased with a home-school site license. (EPIE provides a software
evaluation program on request; EPIE also encourages teachers to share
their evaluations with EPIE to help build a nation-wide evaluation
resource for other teachers (and parents) to consult. 

Linking Home-bound Students Into Homework Assignments

Schools expend considerable funds to meet the needs of home-bound
students.  There are many ways that a school might involve a home-bound
student in on-going classes via networking.  One way is to assign a
"buddy" to the home-bound student.  The buddy might summarize the
classroom activities by taking notes and relaying these via e-mail or
voice-mail.  One use of networked classroom machines could be to place
the buddy in contact with the home-bound student in "real-time" (via
keyboard from the classroom to the home student's computer).  Such an
activity might improve both student's learning as the activity
encourages the buddy and the home student to pay more attention to
material. (As an on-going example, LINCT is currently (1996) assisting
with a peer tutoring project, using reading software and home-to-home
e-mail mentoring, in five elementary schools in south Chicago)

Parlant, Homework Hotline, and other companies provide teachers with
voice-mail systems that can be used to communicate with the home-bound
student.  If there is an installed base of computers in students' homes
the school may make use of the web enhanced ways of conferencing (see
Online Computer Teleconferencing in the Tips part of Section II
including Homeworksª).

A positive side-effect of working with home-bound students is each
situation represents a tiny "distance-learning" experience.  Schools can
begin to experiment with distance-learning tools and these experimental
uses can give rise to more diverse ways schools might provide training
to others outside of the classroom.

School-to-Work Projects

Businesses are increasingly networked, providing opportunities for
networks between schools and businesses to develop.  Job bank databases
for intern and graduation job-placement can be built.  The movement
toward "electronic student portfolios" provide prospective employers
with information about students; just as business web pages can provide
students with information about businesses.

The Computer Shop and Tech-prep activities described in this report can
provide students with experiences not only relevant to continued
education but as a path into many technical jobs.

In drawing the causal diagram for schools and homes, the inclusion of
local businesses will be another important "compartment" of the model. 
Links to improved self-esteem, on-the-job learned skills, and improved
social skills in the workplace are all vital components of the model.

Home-Schooling Resource Links

Traditionally home-schooling is seen as parents "opting-out" of the
local school system.  In some parts of the country, however, there is an
economic incentive for schools to work with home-schoolers and actually
paying for learning materials.  If home-schooling parents enroll their
children as home-schoolers within the school districts, under such an
arrangement the district receives state ADA (Average Daily Attendance)
funding Ñ a portion of which is provided to parents for materials (e.g.
California).

With improved home-school networking, the possibilities for greater aid
and cooperation between schools and parents increases.  There are many
specific networking solutions that can be tried.  School web pages that
contain detailed curriculum information can help guide home-schoolers
(and regular schoolers alike), especially if the pages include names of
materials and links to other useful sites.

Parents often need to ask questions to home-school, thus leading to the
need for ways parents might leave e-mail questions by subject area and
know that teachers assigned to cover e-mailed questions will answer
their questions.

Further, while aiding the home-schooling parent may be the impetus for
such communications, other parents who want to help improve their
child's performance in a particular subject can also make use of the
service.  One networking possibility is to create subject forums on a
community BBS or using a local set of "newsgroup" items that can be
accessed via a threaded newsreader.

Another source of assistance could be semi-retired and volunteers in the
community who wish to become more involved in schooling.  Perhaps with
some pre-screening, these people can serve as on-line mentors.  (See the
CSC discussion above, and below.)

Learning Disabled Conferences

The Internet has been identified by the learning disabled as a place for
information and support.  For example, the blind use special terminals
that read from the screen, enabling them to conduct much fuller lives.

Support groups are often more effective when people personally get to
know others face-to-face.  While it is possible to get to know people on
the Internet, the limited communication and distance, make social
gathering difficult or impossible.

The need for local community, around issues related to disabilities, or
any other area of common interest is a matter of debate and uncertainty.
 Some people are content to make "virtual" friends via e-mail and/or
chat, while others prefer face-to-face situations.  Many of the
attributes of community such as helping, visiting, shared experiences,
volunteerism, etc. encourage the formation of local networks to
encourage local community.

Special Education Home-School Assistance

While the reasons and needs associated with special education are
varied, there are basic behavioral reasons to believe that improved
home-school communication will improve performance and attitude.

The causal diagrams provided in Section IV showed a rudimentary model of
learning in relation to factors affecting self-esteem.  Even learning
problems with a physiological etiology can be improved by "corrective
feedback."

Schools and social workers should expand the vision of the home-school
model to encompass the timely advice and guidance of trained MSW
(Masters in Social Work) professionals.  Overall costs to schools,
families and society can be reduced when a "system" is made to work. 
Closely networked people leads to an improved system.

Parent Talent/Vocation/Technical Assistance Sharing/Mentoring with
School Learning

Parents possess many talents, and occasionally students benefit from
these talents when a parent volunteers to work with the drama club or
another parent comes to speak before an audience about an
anthropological expedition.

These will become "old-fashion" ways of sharing as networks provide
alternatives.

Already volunteers are mentoring students "online."  Using an
environment such as a 3-D enhanced MOO (Multiple Object Orientation) a
parent can invite students and others to a presentation where slides
appear on the computer screen in each person's home rather than on a
projection screen in an auditorium.

While full motion picture video to the home will remain restricted to
cable, including community access, modem/computer access can provide
access to "Nintendo" like graphical worlds.  Attendees can be "seen" in
the "virtual environment" and messages can be typed that are either
directed to the entire audience or as "whispers" to others.

How some of these communication tools will be actually used to involve
parents are yet to be fully explored.  Other modes, such as a BBS chat
session, have been used by parents, teachers, and students across the
country for many discussions.  (When a participant types a message, it
appears to all the others connected to the same "session" with a
identifier such as: "Sharon says ...")

Teachers as Parents for Better Schooling

Many teachers are also parents.  As both teachers and parents they
understand the learning needs of their children and the possibilities
(and limitations) of schools and networks.

Teachers who put on their "parent hat" think differently about
schooling.  This is a useful way to encourage teachers to think about
the uses of networking technology.

Teachers, as parents, can form online discussion groups to discuss the
technology plan currently guiding school efforts.  Or they may want to
form a home networking committee of their school's PTA.  PTAs can use
networking to promote greater focus on the improvement of children's
learning, both at home and at school. 

Parents Involved in Textbook/Teaching Resource Selection

The process by which states and localities "adopt textbooks" is a
complex affair that includes state-level adoption committees, in 26
states that usually have "parent appointees."

As parents begin to make use of the Internet and the many educational
software resources, they will become more informed about these
resources.  With this experience, parents will want to assist in
identifying teaching resources for schools and can bring a diversity of
opinion.

Some computer teleconferencing software includes voting.  States and
schools will want to consider new ways debates over materials can be
conducted and ways voting may be useful.

Parents Involved in Library/Learning Resource Selection

As parents become more aware of learning resources they will become
increasingly interested in helping libraries make acquisition decisions.
 Many CD-ROM based softwares can be either made available via the
community network or by library loan.  (Since CD-ROM copying is not
readily available and is also very expensive, libraries can be much less
concerned about matters of copyright.)

Parents Involved in Curriculum Enhancement

Many parents today accept public schooling or opt for private schools. 
More affluent parents move to communities with the "better schools."

This study suggests that, through improved networking and communication,
more parents will want to be involved in their child's learning. 
Indeed, a rewarding part of raising a child is in seeing the child grow,
educationally, and feeling some pride in that process.

With networking technologies schools can offer greater diversity of
learning.  Whether they do, in part, depends on whether parents want
them to.

"Authentic learning" holds the promise of improved learning and schools,
mirroring their local culture, will venture toward authentic learning
when parents are more encouraging.  (The barriers discussion in Section
IV described how "conservative" parental values can stand in the way of
technology-based school reform.


Parents Involved in School Board Decisions

Similarly, parents can become more active in school board decisions. 
Clearly a very active parent can often become part of the school board,
but the learning community that is envisioned would involve many more
parents than those on the board.
*

* Many of the activities described are done as part of a "PTA."  Indeed,
the PTA may be the place to expect many of these activities to devolve
from.  Networking communication has a way of changing relationships and
patterns.  Rather than a PTA as an entity, we prefer to focus on the
aims of PTAs as guidance for the construction of improved home-school
networks.

CSC (Community Service Credit) Exchanges for School/Home Inequities

In Section II the activities of LINCT (Learning and Information Networks
for Community Telecomputing) were described including the use of CSCs. 
Based on the successful concept of Time Dollars implemented in hundred's
of communities across the country, people exchange volunteer-like
services and receive credits: one credit for one hour.

A primary mission of LINCT is to solve the equity problems described in
Section III.  Low-income families can earn a computer by "learning to
use the computer" and volunteers from the community are encouraged to
help by earning CSCs.

While many of the computers are donated machines and cannot run modern
educational software, they are 1.)  capable of providing a basic set of
computer tools including wordprocessing, spreadsheets, and basic-skills
program such as to learn typing, and  2.)  they are ideal communications
machines capable of accessing the Internet (see the discussion of
low-end computers as exploration machines in Section II.)

Schools and libraries may wish to address the equity problems described
in Section III, and include a LINCT component to their
home-school-community design.

Appendix A
LINCT Coalition

Home-School-Community

Computer Connectivity Survey
			

Do you have a home computer?		Yes ______	No ______
When did you purchase (acquire) it?
___________________________________________
What kind?
		Apple
	Macintosh	______
	Apple II		______
	IBM/compatible	______
	486/Pentium	______
	386	______
	286	______
	XT	______
Do you have a telephone?	______
    (if so)   Do you have a modem?  What speed is it?
	28.8	______
	14.4	______
	9600	______
	2400	______
    Do you now subscribe to an online service?  What service?
	Prodigy	______
	America Online	______
	CompuServe	______
	Other	______	
Are you planning to purchase a computer?
  When?	Within 3 months	______
	Within 6 months	______
	Within 12 months	______

Copyright The LINCT Coalition, 1995



Appendix B - Bibliography   

Addessio, Barbara K., Boorman, Thomas M., Corn, Carolyn J., Eker,
Patricia T., Fletcher, Sandra K., Judd, Robert L., Olsen, Jill R.,
Trainor, Mary S., and Trottier, Andre J., Using the Internet in Middle
Schools: A Model for Success: A Collaborative Effort Between Los Alamos
National Laboratory and Los Alamos Middle School (ERIC Report ED 375
828).  Los Alamos, NM: U. S. National Laboratories, Los Alamos National
Lab., February 1994.

Adobe Systems, Acrobat Viewer for PDF Files (via
ftp://www.adobe.com/pub/adobe/Applications/Fetch/).  Mountain View, CA:
Adobe Systems, 1995.

Aeppel, Timothy, "For Recyclers, Old Computers Offer New Niche ...
Christopher Goodhue, Research Director at Gartner Group Inc., a
Consulting Firm Based in Stamford, Conn., predicts that 50 million to 70
million PCs alone will have been Retired and Disposed of Between 1992
and 1996," The Wall Street Journal, August 24, 1994, pp. B1-B2.

Akst, Daniel, "Taking a Peek at Future: CU-SeeMe," The Boston Globe,
July 10, 1995, p. 7+.

Aladdin, Ghostscript Viewer for Postscript Files (via
ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/pub/ghost/aladdin/).  Aladdin, 1995.

Anania, Loretta, Solomon, Richard Jay, MacKie-Mason, Jeffrey K., Varian,
Hal R., Shenker, Scott, Bohn, Roger, Braun, Hands-Werner, Wolff,
Stephen, Brownlee, Nevil, Crawford, David W., Edell, R. J., McKeown, N.,
Varaiya, P. P., Sarkar, Mitra Barun, Sprinagesh, Padmanabhan, Sirbu,
Marvin, Tygar, J. D., Bailey, Joseph, Cocchi, Ron, Estrin, Deborah,
Zhang, Lixia, Danielsen, Ketil, Weiss, Martin, Hallgren, Martyne M.,
Murphy, Liam, and Murphy, John, Internet Economics Workshop Papers. 
Cambridge, MA: MIT Research Program on Communication Policy, March 9,
1995.

Anderson, Larry S., Best Laid Plans (via
http://www2.msstate.edu:80/~lsa1/sip/paper2.html).  Starkville, MS:
Mississippi State University, National Center for Technology Planning,
1995.

Anderson, Larry S., Guidebook for Developing an Effective Instructional
Technology Plan (via
http://www2.msstate.edu:80/~lsa1/nctp/techplan.html).  Starkville, MS:
Mississippi State University, National Center for Technology Planning,
1995.

Anderson, Larry S., National Center for Technology Planning (Home page,
via http://www2.msstate.edu:80/~lsa1/nctp/index.html).  Starkville, MS:
Mississippi State University, National Center for Technology Planning,
1995.

Anderson, Larry S., The Role of the School Business Manager in
Technology Planning (via
http://www2.msstate.edu:80/~lsa1/nctp/Sch.Bus.Mgr.html).  Starkville,
MS: Mississippi State University, National Center for Technology
Planning, 1995.

Anderson, Larry S., Technology Planning: Recipe for Success (via
http://www2.msstate.edu:80/~lsa1/nctp/tp.recipe.html).  Starkville, MS:
Mississippi State University, National Center for Technology Planning,
1995.

Anderson, Robert H., Bikson, Tora K., Law, Sally Ann, and Mitchell,
Bridger M., Universal Access to E-Mail: Feasibility and Societal
Implications (via http://www.rand.org:80/publications/MR/MR650/.  Santa
Monica: Rand Corporation, 1995.

Andres, Yvonne Marie, "Schools Using Cu-SeeMe (may subscribe to
cu-seeme-schools sending to lists@gsn.org, email message, see also
http://gsn.org/gsn/cuseeme.schools.info.html)," CoSN Discussion List,
October 2, 1995.
Apple Computer, Apple and the Internet (via http://www.ednet.apple.com).
 Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, AppleShare and PowerShare White Paper in PDF Format (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com, requires Acrobat Reader).  Cupertino: Apple
Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, AppleShare Client for Windows (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) is a research and
development... (via http://WWW.ATG.APPLE.COM:80/ACOT/INDEX.HTML). 
Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, AppleSearch in Action (via http://www.ednet.apple.com). 
Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Apple Internet Server Solution (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, The Apple Open Collaboration Environment Technology (via
http://www.atg.apple.com/acot/index.html).  Cupertino: Apple Computer,
1995.

Apple Computer, AppleSearch PDF Document (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com, requires Acrobat Reader).  Cupertino: Apple
Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Apple Remote Access Client (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Apple Remote Access Personal Server for Macintosh (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Apple RAID Software (via http://www.ednet.apple.com). 
Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Apple Staff Development (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Apple TCP Guide in PDF format (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com, requires Acrobat Reader).  Cupertino: Apple
Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Approaches to Virtual Integration (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, AppleSearch (via http://www.ednet.apple.com). 
Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Communications Bundle (via http://www.ednet.apple.com). 
Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Collaborative Learning (via http://www.ednet.apple.com).
 Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Cross-platform QuickFact (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Cedar Ridge Elementary (via http://www.ednet.apple.com).
 Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Client/Server Development Methodologies (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Client/Server Technology (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, The Design & Planning of PowerShare Collaboration Server
Systems (via http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer,
1995.

Apple Computer, Education Booklist (via
http://WWW.ATG.APPLE.COM:80/ACOT/Edbooks.html).  Cupertino: Apple
Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Education Division Backgrounder (via
http://www.info.apple.com :80/education/edback.html, note embedded space
before :80).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Frame Relay Introduction (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com, in PDF format requiring an Acrobat Reader). 
Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Gwinnett County Public School District (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, How to Connect (via http://www.ednet.apple.com). 
Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Internet Services (via http://www.ednet.apple.com). 
Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Library Research Server Bundle (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Lake Washington School District (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Moon Area School District (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, The Mac OS (via http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino:
Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Network Assistance Planning Kit (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, North Platte Public Schools (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Overview of Telecommunications Systems (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, PowerTalk and PowerShare Tech Brief (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, PowerTalk and PowerShare White Paper (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Personal Internet Solution Bundle (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Product Information (via http://www.ednet.apple.com). 
Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.
Apple Computer, Publishing on the World Wide Web (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, PCS/PCN: Background and Service (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Princeton School District (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Renton School District (via http://www.ednet.apple.com).
 Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Smoky Hill High School (via http://www.ednet.apple.com).
 Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Shoreline School District (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Success Stories in PDF Format (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com, requires Acrobat Reader).  Cupertino: Apple
Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Success Stories (via http://www.ednet.apple.com). 
Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Teaching, Learning & Technology -- A Planning Guide in
PDF format (TLTQUICKFACT PDF, Apple Quickfact guide, via
http://www.ednet.apple.com, requires Acrobat reader).  Cupertino, CA:
Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Teaching, Learning & Technology (via
http://www.info.apple.com :80/education/tlt.html, note embedded space
before :80).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Wheatland-Chili Central School (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Wooster High School (via http://www.ednet.apple.com). 
Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Wireless LANs (via http://www.ednet.apple.com). 
Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Wachusetts Regional High School (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Workgroup Servers from Apple (via
http://www.ednet.apple.com).  Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Apple Computer, Wireless WANs (via http://www.ednet.apple.com). 
Cupertino: Apple Computer, 1995.

Applebome, Peter, "Record Cost Cited to Fix or Rebuild Nation's Schools:
$112 Billion Says GAO, with Buildings Crumbling and Technologically
Outdated, Unmet Needs Increase," New York Times, December 26, 1995, p.
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Asthana, Praveen, "A Long Road to Overnight Success: Optical Data
Storage Once Seemed to Be Failing, and the Lessons to Be Learned from
its Turnaround Apply to Other High-tech Products (Business and Product
Strategy at IBM, Tucson, AZ)," IEEE Spectrum, October 1994, pp. 60-66.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "White House Plans for HDTV," Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, December 12, 1995, p. F3.

AT&T, "Seeking School Business, AT&T Plans $150 Million Giveaway (Press
Release via Associated Press)," AT&T [New York], October 31, 1995.
Avenoso, Karen, "Charter School's Hopes Collide With Reality," Boston
Globe [December 28], December 28, 1995, p. 1+.

Baker, Christopher, Buller, Thomas, Harnisch, Lou, and Pieper, Gail,
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Laboratory, March 1994.

Baker, Randy and Lindberg, Jeff, AEA-9 Internet and Wide Area Networking
Services (via http://www.aea9.k12.ia.us:80/internet.html).  Iowa: Iowa
AEA, 1995.

Baratz, Adam, "Software Review: A World of Knowledge on a Single CD,"
Boston Globe, 1995, p. 34.

Barnett, Andy, "Here to Stay: Ten Reasons Why the Internet Will Not
Replace the Public Library," School Library Journal, July 1995.

Barr, Chris, "ISDN nightmare, the final chapter (via
http://www.cnet.com/Central/Columns/Old/Barr/3/index.html)," CNET Web
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Barrett, Edward, "Collaboration in the Electronic Classroom," Technology
Review, Feb./Mar. 1993, pp. 51-55.

Bauch, Jerold, The Transparent School Model: Uses Electronic
Telecommunications Technology to Expand and Improve Parent Involvement,
Model Provides Voice-Based Information Exchange Between Teachers and
Parents.  Nashville: Vanderbilt University, Peabody College, February
20, 1995.

Bazyar, Jawaid, "GNO supports Internet-style TCP/IP networking for Apple
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BBN, National School Network Testbed - list of current members with
descriptions (via http://copernicus.bbn.com/testbed2/bts/bts.html). 
Cambridge: BBN, 1995.

BBN Systems and Technologies, BBN Internet Server Chosen by State of
Florida for Schoolyear 2000 Project (Press Release, Contact:
617-873-4277).  Cambridge, MA: BBN Systems and Technologies, November
11, 1994.

BBN Systems and Technologies, BBN Education Digest (List of current and
past Education Projects).  Cambridge, MA: BBN Systems and Technologies,
March 1995.

BBN Systems and Technologies, BBN's Internet Server to Link Boston
Schools with Boston Public Library on the Internet (Press Release,
Contact: 617-873-3690).  Cambridge, MA: BBN Systems and Technologies,
Jan. 23, 1995.

BBN Systems and Technologies, National School Network Testbed:
Supporting Universal Participation in the National Information
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Cambridge, MA: BBN Systems and Technologies, 1995.

Beamish, Anne, Communities On-line: A Study of Community-based Computer
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Beckett, George, "Everywhere Access: Remove Control Software for the
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Becker, Henry J., Main Report: Testbed 2 Baseline Report in PDF Format
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Cambridge: BBN, 1995.

Becker, Henry J., Questions for Principals: Testbed 2 Baseline Report in
PDF format (via
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Acrobat Reader).  Cambridge: BBN, 1995.

Becker, Henry J., "Rough Preliminary Tabulations of Some
Connectivity-Related Questions from the BBN National School Network
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1995.

Becker, Henry J., Survey of Technology: Testbed 2 Baseline Report in PDF
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Becker, Henry J., Testbed 2 Baseline Report: Table of Contents (via
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Cambridge: BBN, 1995.

Becker, Henry J., Testbed 2 Baseline Report in PDF Format (via
http://copernicus.bbn.com/testbed2/TBdocs/surveys/surveys.html). 
Cambridge: BBN, 1995.

Benton Foundation, The Learning Connection: Will the Information Highway
Transform Schools and Prepare Students for the Twenty-First Century?
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1995.

Benson, Gregory M., SUNY/K-12 Learning Technology Partnerships for
Enhancing Educational Opportunities in Schools and Homes (ERIC Report ED
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Educational Technology, November 1994.

Benson, Gregory M., Creating the Learning Community: Some Considerations
for the Superintendent as Community Learning Manager (A Briefing Paper
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Albany: SUNY's Central Office of Educational Technology, April 1995.

Bergesen, Barbara, "Anyone Home? : Altogether, 5.8 million American
Adults are Connected Directly to the Net, says O'Reilly & Associates in
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Berla, Nancy, "Parent Involvement at the Middle School Level," The ERIC
Review, vol. 1, no. 3, September 1991, pp. 16-20.

Bielefeldt, Talbot, The Untapped Resource -- Parents Using Technology
(via gopher://iste-gopher.uoregon.edu:70/11ftp:ISTE Gopher: GopherTop:6.
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Bigelow, Randall J., Internetworking: Planning and Implementing a
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Bikson, Tora K., Gutek, B. A., and Mankin, D. A., "Resistance to Change
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Bikson, Tora K., "Organizational Trends and Electronic Media: Work in
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Black Box, Black Box Catalog (on Networking Products, available via
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Bodsteiner, Carrie E., Sites for Educators: From Carrie's Crazy Quilt
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Bolles, Gary A., "Wireless Electronic Mail," Inter@ctive Week, February
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Bosco, James, Schooling and Learning in an Information Society. 
Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University, Office of Educational
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Boston Globe, "Back to School: a Parents' Guide: Don't Undervalue School
Climate," Boston Globe, September 17, 1995, pp. 71-73.

Boston Globe, "Cheaper PC Possible: Sun Microsystems Inc. and other
companies are trying to create machines that would sell for just a few
hundred dollars and access the Internet and other networks, Sun's top
executive said," Boston Globe, September 26, 1995.

Boston Globe, "Children's Confidence and Success in School Often Depend
Heavily on the Help and Interest from their Families: For more
information... (Boston and National Resources)," Boston Globe, September
17, 1995, p. 72.

Boston Globe, "For many Parents, the Questions and Worries About Their
Children's Schools and Education Seem Weighty and Perennial," Boston
Globe, September 17, 1995, p. 71.

Boston Globe, "Gap Between Rich, Poor Seen Worse," Boston Globe, July
1995.

Boston Globe, "Here are Comments from Parents and Educators
Participating in Focus Groups Last Spring at the Center on Families,
Communities, Schools & Children's Learning in Boston," Boston Globe,
September 17, 1995, p. 72.

Boston Globe, "Homework Should Be Taken Seriously," Boston Globe,
September 17, 1995, p. 71.

Boston Globe, "TV is Not All Bad, If Properly Used: What Children Say
About TV and Homework," Boston Globe, September 17, 1995, p. 71+.

Boston Globe/IDT, "Total Internet Access -- $15 per Month -- Unlimited
(Table comparing IDT Internet Provider Charge with AOL, Prodigy, and
Compuserv for 1.5 hrs., 3 hrs., and 24 hrs. per day)," Boston Globe/IDT,
December 28, 1995.

Boulder Community Network, About the Boulder Community Network (BCN)
(via http://bcn.boulder.co.us).  Boulder: Boulder Community Network,
1995.

Boulder Community Network, The following Positions are Currently Open at
Boulder Community Network -- BCN Volunteer Opportunities (via
http://bcn.boulder.co.us).  Boulder: Boulder Community Network, 1995.

Boutell, Thomas, "Frequently Asked Questions: Misc Web Browers (via
http://sunsite.unc.edu/boutell/index.html),"
comp.infosystems.www.browsers.misc FAQ, 1995.

Bracey, Bonnie L., "Classrooms Online: How One Teacher Got Started," The
ERIC Review, vol. 4, no. 1, Fall 1995, pp. 5-8.

Brack, Verity, Network Services Available Over JANET (including
interactive services, email, library, archive, lists, and directory
services, via Open University open.ac.uk).  Sheffield, England:
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Bradsher, Monica and Hagan, Lucy, "The Kids Network: Student-Scientists
Pool Resources (By combining hands-on research and telecommunications,
the National Geographic Society has linked more than a million
youngsters in cooperative and authentic scientific exploration),"
Educational Leadership, October 1995, pp. 38-43.

Bray, Hiawatha, "Markey Says Parents Key to Cyberporn Fight," The Boston
Globe, December 9, 1995, p. 68.

Broadband Networking News, During the First Half of the Year, Local
Carriers Began Reevaluating their Plans for Deploying Residential
Broadband Services (via Individual Inc. NewsPage).  Broadband Networking
News, August 26, 1995.

Brown, Diana, "Birth of A Charter School:  19 States have New Breed of
School," Boston Globe, August 27, 1995.

Brown, Diana, "Learning to Unplug Technology: As Computer Education is
Debated, Beverly School Stresses Teachers, Nature," Boston Globe,
October 15, 1995, p. 1+.

Brown, Diana, "Meanwhile, Computer Education is Lauded," Boston Globe,
October 15, 1995, p. 24.

Buckley, Robert B., "What Happens When Funding is Not an Issue?,"
Educational Leadership, October 1995, pp. 64-66.

Bull, Glen L., Sigmon, Tim, Cothern, Harold L., and Stout, Connie,
"Establishing Statewide K-12 Telecomputing Networks," Machine-Mediated
Learning, vol. 4, no. 2, 1994, pp. 229-50.

Burdick, Leslie, Time Dollar: A Reward for Decency -- Report from the
Field.  Washington, DC: Time Dollar Network, November 1994.

Burron, Arnold, "Heed Community Values if You Value Reform," Educational
Leadership, October 1995, pp. 92-93.

Bush, George, Executive Order 12821: Transfer of Education-Related
Federal Equipment to Elementary and Secondary Schools.  Washington, DC:
U.S. White House, November 16, 1992.

Business Week, "Video Warefare: How Toshiba Took the High Ground,"
Business Week, February 20, 1995.

Byrne, John, "Construction Tips Your Contractor Never Told You," The
Executive Educator, vol. 12, no. 2, February 1990, pp. 16-17.

Cable in the Classroom, Survey Reveals Higher than Expected Use of
Technology in the Classroom -- Also Reveals Other Barriers, Beyond
Funding, That Limit Greater Technology Use (Press Release, based on QED
Survey).  Alexandria, VA: Cable in the Classroom, August 15, 1995.

Cable in the Classroom, "1995 Education Technology Survey Summary
(Prepared for: NEA, NASSP, NAESP, AASA, and Cable in the Classroom. 
Prepared by: Quality Education Data (QED) and Malarkey-Taylor
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Cablevision Systems Corp., Cable TV Modems: Cablevision Systems Corp. is
moving beyond a Trial of Cable-Delivered AOL, Prodigy and Internet
Access in 85 homes in Yonkers and Long Island, N.Y... (via
http://www.cablevision.com:80/CVC/cable-modem.html).  Cablevision
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Cahn, Edgar, "When Money is Time (Op Ed Page)," The New York Times,
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Cahn, Edgar S., "Reinventing Poverty Law," The Yale Law Journal, vol.
103, no. 8, June 1994, pp. 2133-2155.

California State Department of Education, Building the Future: K-12
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Carlitz, Robert D. and Zinga, Mario, Creating Common Knowledge: School
Networking in an Urban Setting.  Pittsburgh: Common Knowledge Project,
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Carlitz, Robert D. and Zinga, Mario, Creating Common Knowledge: School
Networking in an Urban Setting (via
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Carlitz, Robert D. and Hastings, Eugene, Stages of Internet Connectivity
for School Networking (http://www.ckp.edu).  Pittsburgh: Common
Knowledge Project, University of Pittsburgh, January 31, 1994.

Carlitz, Robert, Comments on July 7th Workshop Vision Paper (CITS ref.
carlitz.doc).  Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, Common Knowledge
Project, July 1995.

Carlitz, Robert D., Lentz, Myron, and MacIlroy, Al, "Standards for
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Carroll, James, Asen, Sheryl, Brown, Dale, Johnson, Michael, Kubalak,
Richrd, and Teake, Patricia, Arlington Public Schools: Instructional
Technology Strategic Plan (ERIC Report ED 375 793).  Arlington, VA:
Arlington County Public Schools, April 1994.

Caruso, Denise, "The Rand Corporation Salutes E-mail as the New
Foundation of Democracy," New York Times, December 5, 1995, p. D5.

Carvin, Andy, "The EdWeb Home Room (via
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1995.

Carver, David C., Gerovac, Bronko, Kahil, Tom, Fellows, David, Burger,
Robert, Gillette, Sharon, and Clark, David, "MIT Research Program on
Communication Policy, April 25 Internet Access Forum (notes of sessions
by W. Curtiss Priest)," Center for Information, Technology & Society
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Casey Communications, National Survey Reveals New Consumer Information
and Attitudes About Computers and On-Line Services (Press Release,
Contact: 810-746-6070).  Southfield, MI: Casey Communications, July 17,
1995.

Center for Information, Technology & Society, MacArthur Foundation Funds
EPIE Institute to Perform a K-12 School and School/Home Networking Study
(Press Release).  Melrose, MA: Center for Information, Technology &
Society, May 1, 1995.

Chamberlain, Shelley, Five Year Technology Plan: Educating our Children
and our Citizens for the Future.  Lexington, MA: Lexington Public
Schools, 1995.

Chandler, David L., "From afar, Kids Do Science on the 'Net," Boston
Globe, September 18, 1995, p. 25.

Chapman, Gary, "Austin, Texas Telecom Plan (The City of Austin released
a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking ...)," Communet: Community and
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Chapman, Gary, "Competition in Services: Austin... is Pursuing an
Innovative and Controversial Plan that many Communities Around the
Nation are Watching with Intense Interest," Boston Globe, 1995.

Chapman, Gary, "Is the Personal Computer Becoming Passe?," Boston Globe,
1995.

Chapman, Gary, "Readn', writin' and Web Sites: Perils of Class in
Cyberspace," Boston Globe, 1995.

Chiu, Christine, "Re: ED-TECH List (may be subscribed to as EDTECH at
listserv@msu.edu)," Communet Community Discussion List, October 10,
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Cisco Corp., Internetworking Technology Overview (via
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Cisco Corp., Networking & Other Connectivity Information: The Virtual
Schoolhouse (via http://sunsite.unc.edu:80/cisco/noc.html).  Menlo Park:
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Cisco Corp., The Virtual Schoolhouse's Techie Room (via
http://sunsite.unc.edu:80/cisco/tech.html).  Menlo Park: Cisco Corp.,
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Civille, Richard, The Internet and the Poor ("Public Access to the
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Civic Networking, August 3, 1993.

Civille, Richard, "A National Strategy for Civic Networking: A Vision of
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Clasby, Miriam, Burgess, Alan, and Lema, JoAnne, Together: Schools and
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Clauset, Karl H. and Gaynor, Alan K., "A Systems Perspective on
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Clauset, Karl H. and Gaynor, Alan K., "Educational Policy Analysis: An
Analysis of Effective and Ineffective Schools Using the System Dynamics
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Clearinghouse for Networked Information and Retrieval (CNIDR) K12 Home
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Clearinghouse for Networked Information and Retrieval (CNIDR) K12 Home
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Coburn, Dawn, Dobbs, Vince, and Grainger, Sheila, "Future-Proofing the
Curriculum," Educational Leadership, October 1995, pp. 85-87.

Cohen, Muriel, "Combining a Charter with an Essential School," Boston
Globe, October 8, 1995, p. 89.

Coker, Russell, "Serial Software for OS/2 to Provide Telnet
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Collins, Stephen E., MacHTTP: A WWW Server (via
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Collins, Steven E., Network Construction Set Introduction (via
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Collins, Steven E., WEB66: A K-12 World Wide Web Project (via
http://web66.coled.umn.edu/).  University of Minnesota, 1995.
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Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Education, Mass Ed Online
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Consortium for School Networking (COSN), About CoSN: Educators need
up-to-date information on how to get quick, easy, and cost effective
access to the Internet and on-line resources (via
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Networking (COSN), 1995.

Congressional Quarterly, distributed by Scripps Howard News Service,
"Linking Schools to Computer Networks: Slow Going," Congressional
Quarterly, distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, October 31, 1995.

Cook, Gordon, National Information Infrastructure: The Dark Side in
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15, 1995.

Copen, Peter, "Connecting Classrooms Through Telecommunications,"
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for Public Broadcasting, 1995.

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