From: technews <technews@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@listserv.ou.edu'" <it-fyi@lists.ou.edu>
Subject: it-fyi: Internet Access Spreads to More Classrooms (NY Times on t
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 11:59:06 -0600
December 1, 1999
By PAMELA MENDELS
Internet Access Spreads to More Classrooms, Survey Finds
Anyone seeking a gauge of how fast computer technology is spreading through
the American public school system need only look at a recent report
published by a major education market-research company.
Some highlights of the report:
-- In the 1998-1999 school year, there was an average of one
computer
for every six students in schools. Five years earlier, the figure
was one for
every 11 students.
-- Today, 90 percent of American schools report having Internet
access.
Three years ago, when researchers first began asking schools about
access, the figure was 32 percent.
-- About 71 percent of schools have Internet access in at least
one
classroom, indicating that access is spreading beyond school
libraries and
computer labs. More than half of schools have a home page on the
World Wide Web. Almost half -- 49 percent -- are opting for
high-speed Internet access through T-1 lines, a jump from 35
percent in
1998. And 54 percent of schools report that a majority of their
teachers
are now using the Internet in instruction.
The report, "Technology in Education 1999,"
(http://www.schooldata.com/publications3.html) is an annual look at
computers in the schools by Market Data Retrieval, a unit of Dun &
Bradstreet Corp. that specializes in the education market. It is based on a
survey answered by officials at almost half of the 86,700 public schools in
the United States during the 1998-1999 school year.
Kathleen Brantley, who oversaw the report as director of product development
for the company, said the big trend that emerged from the 148 pages of
statistics and graphs is the growing presence of the Internet in schools.
"The explosion of the Internet continues," she said. "We also see that the
Internet is migrating out of the library and computer labs and into the
classroom."
But the numbers also indicate that country has yet to reach a goal set by
the United States Department of Education: that there be one modern computer
for every five students in public schools. The survey found a ratio of one
for every 10 students.
The Internet invasion is not coming without a big price tag. The report
estimates that schools spent about $5.53 billion on technology in the last
school year, or about $119 per student. As a result, Brantley said, the
taxpayers footing the bill increasingly want to know whether the investment
is paying off. "The real question is how much and how effectively are the
machines being used," she said.
In addition, Brantley said, the numbers show a continuing "disturbing"
pattern that many have come to call the digital divide. Schools with high
poverty rates and a high percentage of minority students are less likely to
have up-to-date technology than others. For example, 94 percent of schools
in the wealthiest communities have Internet access, while 84 percent of the
schools in the poorest areas do.
For B. Keith Fulton, director of technology programs and policy at the
National Urban League (http://www.nul.org/) in New York, these numbers mean
that the public school system is falling down on the job when it comes to
assisting those with the greatest need to familiarize themselves with
computers. Poor and minority children often do not have a computer to
tinker with at home, so it is especially important that technology be
available to them at their schools, he said.
"Citizens should be able to expect a decent public education," Fulton said.
"To the extent that schools are not providing students with meaningful
connectivity, they are failing their mandate to provide a good public
education."
Fulton also said he believes more attention needs to be paid to how the
Internet is being employed in the classroom. "Access is part of the
picture," he said, "but access doesn't mean use, and use doesn't always mean
meaningful use."
It is a point echoed by William L. Rukeyser, coordinator of Learning in the
Real World (http://www.realworld.org/), a group based in Woodland, Calif.,
that advocates more skepticism about the benefits of technology in the
classroom. He said the survey findings point to an urgent need for policy
makers to turn their attention to basic pedagogy: where the Internet
improves education and where it does not. Calculating the number of
computers in schools, he said, is not the same as measuring the amount of
learning taking place at keyboards.
"We may find our dollars are better spent making sure there are a relatively
small number of very up-to-date pieces of equipment focused on those areas
where it has proved its effectiveness," Rukeyser said.
In addition, he said, educators should be asking some tough questions about
educational content, like whether dazzling graphics on CD-ROMs and Web sites
are a hindrance, rather than an aid, to education. "Is there a chance kids
will concentrate on the sizzle and not pay attention to the steak?"