Bringing the Internet to School: Lessons from an Urban District
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Bringing the Internet to School: Lessons from an Urban District
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780787956868 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Wiley |
| Publication date: | 03/05/2002 |
| Series: | Jossey-Bass Education Series |
| Edition description: | 1ST |
| Pages: | 416 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.46(w) x 9.31(h) x 1.37(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Chapter One
Introduction
Schools in the United States are often characterized as highly resistant to change. They are held up as bastions of stasis and traditionalism in the midst of a society that has experienced profound and ceaseless change during the past century. Yet schools have changed dramatically in recent years in at least one area: the pervasiveness of computer technology within their walls. As little as twenty years ago, computers for student instruction were rather uncommon in most U.S. schools. But in the early 1980s, a sea change occurred and schools rushed to acquire computer technology for their classrooms. For example, between 1981 and 1987, the proportion of U.S. schools with one or more computers intended for instruction more than quintupled, from 18 percent to 95 percent (U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1988). In addition, the average number of computers available in schools that had them rose swiftly, increasing nearly tenfold between 1981 and 1985 ("Teachers Feel Computer Gap," 1989). Thus, computers went from being a relatively rare sight in schools during the late 1970s to appearing routinely on lists of suggested materials for schools, right alongside rulers, bulletin boards, and pencils, by the mid-1980s (Frederick, 1986; Pate, 1986). This trend continued in the 1990s; by the year 2000, the average school in the United States had one computer for every five students (Cattagni & Farris Westat, 2001). In fact, serious proposals have been made in Texas and elsewhere to replace textbooks with laptop computers, which suggests that some now see computers as absolutely central tothe educational process. Just how central is made clear by the fact that more money is now spent on computer technology for U.S. schools than on books and other printed materials (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 1999).
Just as the 1980s saw computers begin to enter the schools in large numbers, the 1990s, especially the later half of that decade, saw a remarkably rapid trend toward linking these computers together, sometimes in networks within schools, sometimes in local or statewide networks, but most strikingly as part of the huge network of computer networks known as the Internet. By way of this network, schools, educators, and students have the potential to access just about any kind of material that can be stored in an electronic file. They can, for example, communicate with and work cooperatively with other individuals with Internet access by e-mail, chat, or other messaging and file transfer systems; participate in virtual reality environments; investigate scientific, literary, geographical, artistic, and historical reference materials in both text and multimedia; engage in activities from games to simulations, experiments to work sheets; and create and make widely available to others materials reflecting their interests and accomplishments through activities such as the creation of Web pages. When we speak of Internet use, we mean all these things and any others that students and teachers are able to dream up.
The rapidity of the Internet's arrival in schools is apparent when we consider the fact that whereas in 1994 roughly 3 percent of the country's instructional rooms had access to the Internet and its opportunities that number shot up to 77 percent by 2000 (Cattagni & Farris Westat, 2001). The rapidity of the Internet's migration into the schools is especially surprising in light of the glacial pace at which other much more basic and less expensive communication technologies, such as the telephone, have spread into classrooms.
Of course, the Internet did not arrive in schools through happenstance. Its quick spread into classrooms has been the result of many factors, including government policy, business interests, and community enthusiasm. In his State of the Union address in 1996, President Clinton set out a policy of connecting every classroom in the country to the Internet. This policy was consistent with a slew of federal initiatives undertaken during his administration to foster such an outcome. Prominent among these was the E-rate policy, under which the Universal Service Fund subsidizes Internet connections for schools and libraries (http://www.ed.gov/Technology/eratemenu.html). The E-rate cost roughly $6 billion in its first three annual funding cycles. In addition, states and school districts across the country have begun additional major initiatives designed to link schools to the Internet.
Business interests played an important role in bringing the Internet to schools (Shade, 1999) in at least two ways. First, for many years, business leaders have been important participants in the production of widely publicized reports, such as A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Educational Excellence, 1983) and the SCANS Report (U.S. Department of Labor, 1991), that argued that technology could play a major role in solving education's problems and preparing the nation's workforce to be competitive in the increasingly global economy (Education Commission of the States, 1983). Such reports encouraged educators, policymakers, and parents to see technology as essential to effective schooling and as an engine that could power needed education reform. Second, numerous technology-based companies, including AT&T, IBM, Apple, and Pacific Bell, made schools offers designed to encourage connection to and use of the Internet that seemed too good to refuse (Lagemann & Shulman, 1999). The companies' hope was that once schools were connected to the Internet their Internet usage would yield the companies a profit.
Community enthusiasm to promote Internet use in the schools reinforced government and business efforts for the same goal. All three factors were apparent in the series of NetDays held across the United States in the mid-1990s. On NetDay in California, for example, the country's president and vice president joined more than twenty thousand volunteers, including parents and individuals representing many technology producers, in an effort to lay the more than six million feet of cable necessary to connect many of that state's schools to the Internet. More broadly, in 1996, over a quarter of a million volunteers from all around the country joined in the first NetDay to wire fifty thousand classrooms (Lagemann & Shulman, 1999). Similar efforts around the globe have helped to bring schools on-line in many other countries ranging from Finland to Singapore to Australia.
GOALS AND CONCEPTUAL UNDERPINNINGS OF THIS BOOK
Although there is no doubt that Internet access is now commonplace in U.S. schools and that the trend toward connecting more and more individual classrooms in these schools is continuing apace, the consequences of this change are far from clear. There is considerable lack of clarity about two fundamentally important issues. First, we still do not know the actual significance for education of this change. The questions of how Internet use is likely to influence classroom structure and functioning and how it will ultimately affect students and teachers are still largely to be answered. Because of the substantial cost of providing Internet access in classrooms, understanding its impact on classrooms, educators, and students seems essential.
Second, although prior research suggests that both the nature and extent of computer use in an institution are strongly shaped by the culture and structure of that institution, we know relatively little about how the social organization of schools and the long-standing patterns of behavior within them shape use of the Internet. Yet understanding this issue is also vitally important. The ultimate value of Internet access in schools will clearly depend on the extent to which students and teachers use the Internet and on the purposes for which they use it. Thus, insight into the factors that shape schools' Internet use should suggest ways for educators to maximize the benefits and minimize the problems.
The overall goal of this book is to increase understanding of these issues by reporting the results of an intensive study of a major five-year effort, running from 1993 to 1998, to bring the Internet to the Waterford Public Schools (WPS), a large urban school district. We call this five-year effort the Networking for Education Testbed (NET). In discussing this study and the NET project, we have used pseudonyms throughout for all individuals; institutions, except for some U.S. government agencies; places; and programs in order to protect the confidentiality of those participating in this research. Similarly, we have changed individuals' titles and the names of particular departments in the district when necessary to protect confidentiality, although they still accurately reflect the general nature of each individual's or department's responsibilities.
NET was one of four large-scale Internet projects, or testbeds, that the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded in the United States. These projects are part of a much larger number of relatively recent, large-scale efforts to use technology to improve and reform education, efforts such as the urban systemic initiatives and the Interagency Educational Research Improvement grants competition. All in all, NET procured a total of over $6 million in funding from government, foundation, and business sources. The majority of these funds came from an initial two-year grant and a subsequent three-year grant from the NSF.
NET's primary goals were to stimulate teachers in the Waterford school district to use the Internet in their work and to institutionalize Internet use in the district so that it could continue once external funds were no longer available. Specifically, the creators of NET hoped to encourage teachers at all grade levels and in all subjects to develop varied uses of the Internet in their curricula. Although project members also valued educators' use of the Internet for professional development, the emphasis was on encouraging educators to find ways to incorporate Internet use into students' everyday activities, in order to explore and demonstrate the potential of such use to improve education. The hope was that NET would function as a model for Internet activities within the nation's schools by developing approaches that other schools could successfully replicate.
NET's creators also wished to promote specific kinds of change through Internet use. The original grant proposal spoke of the need to find ways to connect teachers and students to the world outside the school and to make the tasks that students do in school less artificial and removed from their everyday lives. In addition, it spoke positively of using the Internet to facilitate active, independent student work and to enhance equity for students from diverse backgrounds. Thus, as we discuss in more detail in Chapter Six, those initiating NET expressed goals roughly in line with the view of education known as the constructivist approach, which has gained many adherents in education research circles as well as in schools (Ravitz, Becker, & Wong, 2000) in the past two decades.
In presenting findings stemming from the study of NET, this book provides the reader with a vivid research-based look at the process of introducing the Internet to schools and at the issues that can arise during this process. It also explores the consequences of such a change for classrooms, teachers, and students. However, this book is neither a how-to manual for educators desiring to use the Internet in their work nor a detailed description of the kinds of Internet projects that students can undertake in schools. Books serving each of these goals are plentiful (Cummings & Sayers, 1995; Ellsworth, 1994; Garner & Gillingham, 1996; Grey, 1999; Roberts, Blakeslee, Brown, & Lenk, 1990). Nor is this book intended as a source of ready-made recipes for successfully introducing the Internet into other school districts. The district we studied did not find a solution to all the problems that arose during NET. Moreover, there is no guarantee that the solutions that did work in the Waterford district would work elsewhere, although the fact that our findings are drawn from the study of a wide variety of schools and classrooms, a wide range of age groups, and a very diverse array of students and Internet activities should increase their value to others. Finally, consideration of the very real technical challenges inherent in the process of Internet implementation is beyond the scope of this book.
What readers will find is a close examination of the human and organizational issues and processes that shape Internet use and its consequences in the classroom. Our approach has been influenced by our prior training (one author is a social psychologist, the other an educational anthropologist) and by a theoretical perspective called the Web model that views computer-based systems as "social objects whose architecture and use are shaped by the social relations between influential participants, the infrastructure that supports them, and the history of commitments in the institution utilizing these systems" (Kling, 1992, p. 9). This conceptual orientation holds that "political interests, structural constraints, and participants' definitions of their situations" have major implications for how people use technology and what the consequences of such use are (Kling, 1992, p. 372).
This approach highlights the possibility that Internet use will be shaped not only by the nature of the technology itself but also by longstanding patterns of behavior and social organization within schools, the nature of the support provided to teachers and students who attempt to use the technology, and the history of computing in a particular school district. Further, this orientation suggests that anyone attempting to understand the use and impact of technology should pay close attention to the ways that access to technology influences individuals' interests and the ways they interpret its introduction in the first place. It also suggests that understanding how Internet use shapes the school environment and those in it requires attending to how such use changes aspects of the social system, such as power relations between individuals or chains of interdependence. In short, adherents of this approach do not conceptualize computers as discrete entities but as part of a social web (Kling, 1991, 1992); a tug on or alteration of one strand of the web will alter other strands and their relationships, making consideration of social as well as technical factors essential for understanding the impact of a given kind of technology on organizational processes and outcomes.
Therefore, in addition to studying such obvious issues as how Internet use affects various student outcomes, we pay considerable attention to exploring questions such as why teachers in the Waterford district chose to use or not use the Internet, why educators in some schools made much greater use of the Internet than educators in other schools, and why the school district eventually decided to institutionalize Internet use in spite of severe financial pressures and lack of compelling scientific evidence that Internet access improves the kinds of student outcomes of most salience to policymakers. We also attend closely to such issues as how Internet use can change relations between teachers and their peers as well as between teachers and students.
Existing research supports the view that simply making a given technology available to schools is not enough for schools to achieve the kinds of changes in education that many hope will follow in the wake of making such technology available (Cuban, 1986; Schofield, 1994). In the remainder of this chapter, we summarize some important findings of earlier studies of computer use in the classroom to provide a context within which readers can situate the findings that this book presents. We also introduce two major contexts that shaped Internet use in NET: that of the school district and that created by NET itself, including the individual NET schools and the project's technical design. And we briefly highlight important features of our research methodology.
COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATIONAL CHANGE
What Can Schools Expect from the Internet?
The Predictions
In the tradition of the enthusiasts who have hailed the potential of other kinds of computer technology for education (Papert, 1993; Perlman, 1992; Walker, 1984), many see the Internet as having extraordinary potential for improving schools and the way they operate. For example, Carlitz (1991, p. 26) believes that the Internet "has the potential to become the foundation on which all educational programs and material are developed and distributed." Further, consistent with the widespread view that technology can bring about education reform, many see the Internet as likely to help educators achieve a variety of goals that current critics of education in the United States call for. For example, Berenfeld (1996, p. 82) argues that Internet use can bring the "real world" into the classroom. It can make schoolwork less artificial and removed from students' lives outside of school by connecting them to individuals as disparate but as potentially valuable to their education as working scientists, native speakers of languages the students are studying, and eyewitnesses to events in the students' curriculum. It also has the potential to break down barriers raised by the practice of studying each discipline in isolation. For example, it can promote interdisciplinary work by putting students in contact with individuals working on complex real-world problems that require multifaceted solutions. In addition, some have suggested that Internet access, in an instructional setting supportive of such changes, can lead teachers toward encouraging active student exploration and adopting a more interactive mode of instruction (Feldman, Konold, & Couker, 2000). Such changes are consistent with the kinds of educational reform that many have called for over the past decade or more (Means et al., 1993).
Others predict increased collaboration between teachers as well as between schools and outside institutions. In addition, Berenfeld (1996) points out that students can use the Internet to share the products of their work with a large, geographically diverse audience outside the school, a practice many believe will increase the effort students expend on their work. Students can also use the Internet to view an extraordinary array of current information resources. Such access to the information superhighway, as the Internet was commonly called in the early 1990s, is likely to be of value to students because school library resources are both limited and dated, and textbooks are commonly dated as well.
Finally, many believe the Internet can promote equity in the country's schools through providing rich and poor schools alike with access to the same extraordinary variety of information resources and opportunities for communication (Clinton, 1996; Berenfeld, 1996). A common belief is that the Internet may foster more equitable social interactions between individuals from different backgrounds because it masks the physical markers, such as race, gender, and age, that often trigger unwarranted assumptions about the interests and capabilities of members of various social categories (Sproull & Kiesler, 1991; Riel, 1992; Zuboff, 1988).
The Realities
Yet such predictions may not be realistic. A plethora of failed reforms indicates that efforts to change schools often proceed slowly, are difficult, and frequently fail to meet their goals (Cuban, 1986; Hodas, 1996; Sarason, 1990). Despite many calls for curricular and pedagogical reform, for example, the twentieth century has seen only modest changes in classroom organization, teacher-student relationships, and instructional methods (Cuban, 1986). Reflecting on this pattern, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Jerold Zacharias concluded, "It is easier to put a man on the moon than to reform public schools" (Cuban, 1986, p. 1).
Even more pertinent, studies of schools' adoption of technology have been close to unanimous in emphasizing the slowness of the process and the uncertainty of the outcome. Cuban (1986) provides a fascinating and rather sobering overview of the relationship between novel technologies and U.S. schools in the twentieth century. He demonstrates that time after time, beginning with film and continuing with radio and television, communication technologies that many hailed as having the potential to revolutionize the classroom have failed to do so. In the 1920s, for example, Thomas Edison predicted that the motion picture would soon make books obsolete (Cuban, 1986). There was similar enthusiasm for radio and television, each viewed as an improved means to bring the voices of the world's greatest leaders and best teachers into every classroom. Yet schools' use of these technologies has been far less than those outside the schools anticipated. Even more important, generally speaking, the usage that has occurred has not brought about the predicted revolutionary changes and striking improvements. Indeed, it is ironic that the radio in schools today is a contraband item that students smuggle in and use to distract themselves from classroom realities.
Likewise, many of the pre-Internet predictions that positive educational consequences would follow upon the use of computer applications in the schools have not been fully realized. Numerous scholars studying the impact of computers on what schools do and how well they do it have concluded that computers, like previous technologies, have had less impact than many had hoped (Cohen, 1987; Cuban, 1986; Hodas, 1996). For example, Cohen's analysis (1988) of computers in schools suggests that use tends to be concentrated not at the core of the educational system but at its periphery, which undercuts this technology's potential for bringing about fundamental change. Moreover, as we discuss in Chapter Five, the level of computer use that those enthusiastic about computers' potential to improve education hoped for is often much higher than the level eventually obtained (Cuban, 1986; Schofield, 1995). Although some research suggests substantial change as a result of computer use and also emphasizes that such change is likely to be evolutionary (Sandholtz & Ringstaff, 1996), the documented impact of computers in schools is still far from revolutionary.
Further, studies that have linked computer use with positive consequences have also suggested that these consequences do not necessarily stem directly from use of these machines. Rather, they often appear to stem from related factors. For example, evidence shows that the kind of structured, computer-assisted instruction (CAI) that was very popular in the 1980s, and which is still used in many districts, can have a positive effect on student achievement as commonly measured (Bangert-Drowns, Kulik, & Kulik, 1985; Hativa, 1994; Kulik, Bangert-Drowns, & Williams, 1983; Kulik & Kulik, 1991; Niemiec & Walberg, 1985; Samson, Niemiec, Weinstein, & Walberg, 1986). Applications such as intelligent tutors (Wertheimer, 1990; Mostow et al., 2000) and multimedia videodiscs can and sometimes do promote student achievement (Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt, 1997; Means et al., 1993). However, changes in teachers' behaviors when using these computer applications may account for some of their apparent impact (Hativa, 1994; Schofield, 1995; Schofield, Eurich-Fulcer, & Britt, 1994).
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Bringing the Internet to School by Janet Ward Schofield Ann Locke Davidson. Copyright © 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Table of Contents
Preface. The Authors. 1. Introduction. 2. Building Demand and Support for Internet Use Among Educators. 3. School Versus Internet Culture: Implications for Communication with the Outside World. 4. How School Culture and Structure Shape Internet Use. 5. Achieving Internet Use: Lessons from NET Schools. 6. Classroom Change Accompanying Internet Use. 7. Teacher and Student Outcomes Related to Internet Use. 8. Achieving Institutionalization. 9. Conclusion. Appendix. References. Name Index. Subject Index.What People are Saying About This
"Practical, detailed advice about how to incorporate the Internet into instruction and why these new tools require new frames and supports for practice. High school educators will be especially interested to read how Internet projects can engage and empower high school students in new ways." —Milbrey W. McLaughlin, David Jacks Professor of Education and Public Policy, Stanford University
"A superb book.... Required reading for those who seek to understand the social and organizational forces that shape different patterns of Internet use. This is the best book I know of to help teachers and schools make their hopes about learning from (and with) the Internet into reality." —David C. Berliner, Regents' Professor of Education, Arizona State University
"Schofield and Davidson's pioneering study of how the local cultures of schooling shape the ways that teachers and students actually use Internet services in practice should be read by any educator who wants to realistically understand the opportunities and limitations of Internet use in North American schools." —Rob Kling, editor, The Information Society, the journal of the Center for Social Informatics
"The best study of computers in schools I've read.... I finished the book with a much better sense of why the Internet offers such promise-and such threat-to education as our children, parents, teachers, and technical specialists experience it today." —Sara Kiesler, professor, Human-Computer Interaction, Carnegie Mellon University
"Makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the potential and challenges associated with integrating technologies into schools...illustrates the many ways in which effective technology use is both facilitated and hindered by the cultural practices of schooling. This book is of great service to anyone wrestling with how to make technologies work as effective teaching and learning tools in schools." —Margaret Honey, vice president and director, Education Development Center, Center for Children and Technology