CHAPTER 2

Review of the Literature

Introduction

In order to conduct a complete and thorough investigation into the true impact of the Internet upon our teachers, schools, and education, as with any formal study, one must go through a systematic investigation of the literature that is available, from a variety of different viewpoints, different medias, and different angles. Following is a review of the literature in which the researcher has attempted to offer viewpoints from every angle, including that of the student, teacher, administrator, board member, community leader, business, leader, parent, average citizen, and politician. There is documentation to support both the positive and negative of using the Internet in the classroom. Through this research, the following topics, though not only these, will be dealt with: What exactly is the Internet and what does it offer the teacher? Are teachers using the Internet (with success) in the classroom? How are teachers using the Internet in the classroom? Are there benefits to the students? What are the negative and positive aspects of using the Internet in class? Is there ample Internet training for teachers? How much of a factor is money in getting schools connected? Will the role of the teacher change as more teachers use Internet in the classroom?
What is the Internet?

The Internet was started as a needed link between two departments of the military. It started as a link between two 'networked' computers, called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network)(See Figure 1). Within one year of establishing that direct, networked connection, there was an E-mail message sent. The two departments were able to access each other's data and modify data on either machine as if they were sitting at a terminal in front of the machine (available World Wide Web: http://www.internetvalley.com/ intval.html).

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Figure 1

ARPNET NODE #1

(available World Wide Web: http://www.internetvalley.com/intval.html)

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Following are archived records about that 'first contact' (from the UCLA archive library, 1969)

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Figure 2

First network conversation

According toVinton Cerf: ...the UCLA people proposed to DARPA to organize and run a Network Measurement Center for the ARPANET project...
Around Labor Day in 1969, BBN delivered an Interface Message Processor (IMP) to UCLA that was based on a Honeywell DDP 516, and when they turned it on, it just started running. It was hooked by 50 Kbps circuits to two other sites (SRI and UCSB) in the four-node network: UCLA, Stanford Research Institute (SRI), UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
The plan was unprecedented: Kleinrock, a pioneering computer science professor at UCLA, and his small group of graduate students hoped to log onto the Stanford computer and try to send it some data. They would start by typing, "login," and seeing if the letters appeared on the far-off monitor.
	"We set up a telephone connection between us and the guys at SRI...," Kleinrock ... said in an interview: "We typed the L and we asked on the phone, "Do you see the L?" "Yes, we see the L," came the response. "We typed the O, and we asked, "Do you see the O." "Yes, we see the O." "Then we typed the G, and the system crashed"... Yet a revolution had begun"...

(available World Wide Web: http://www.internetvalley.com/intval.html)

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Once the idea of networking caught on, one location would network itself internally (called an intra-net), and then connect one of their computers to the growing external national network. Within a few short years, there were many networks connected to each other via the Inter-network links that were being established. The Internet was born out of a network of networks (Sellers, 1994).

By mid-1970, ten nodes were connected, spanning the USA. BBN designed the IMP to accommodate no more than sixty-four(64) computers and only one network. Electronic mail (E-mail) was an ad-hoc add-on to the network in those early days and it immediately began to dominate network traffic; indeed, the network was already demonstrating its most attractive characteristic, namely, its ability to promote "people- to-people" interaction. The ARPANET evolved into the Internet in the 1980's and was discovered by the commercial world in the late `80's; today, the majority of the traffic on the Internet is from the commercial sector, whereas the scientific research community had earlier dominated it. Indeed, no one in those early days predicted how enormously successful data networking would become? (available World Wide Web: http://millennium.cs.ucla.edu/LK/Inet/birth.html).

As of February 1999, an estimated 154 Million people worldwide are on-line, North America has 87 million(available World Wide Web: http://www.nua.com) . When people talk about the being on-line on the Internet today, they are usually referring to E-mail, IRC (CHAT), news-groups, bulletin boards, and the World Wide Web. There are other aspects of the Internet (gopher, Archie, etc), but researchers, government agencies, and professional organizations generally use them more.

A network is connected to the Internet via an Internet Service Provider (ISP), perhaps Earthlink, America On-Line(AOL), Microsoft Network(MSN), or some other provider. The ISP is either connected directly to one of the Internet backbones, or goes through another ISP to (eventually) get to (one of) the actual Internet backbones. These backbone providers are mainly companies such as PSINet, UUNet, and MCI. It is through these ISPs that the world of the Internet is brought into an individual classroom.

One of the aspects of the Internet, which is mostly responsible for the Internet craze over the last few years, is called the World Wide Web. Imagine any page that can be visited on the World Wide Web (WWW), such as www.discovery.com or www.teacher.org. All across that page are hyperlinks that will lead to a variety of other sites or pages which have hyperlinks that lead to a variety of other sites, and so on. (A hyperlink is any word, picture, or object on a web page which, when the cursor is positioned over it, turns into a hand, thus allowing to connect to it's site with a click of the mouse). These links (crisscrossing the globe below) 'virtually' crisscross all over the world giving a creative image of a complex never-ending spider web.

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Figure 3

World Wide Web abstract diagram

(World Wide Web crisscrossing)

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This whole system seems like a lot of cooperation to be happening amongst computers, from various companies, countries, libraries, schools, and homes that have no actual connection to each other---but that is the beauty of the Internet; it works because the entities that have chosen to be connected have all agreed to a standard protocol (TCP/IP) that allows computers of all types to talk, pass on messages, and receive E-mail from anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds.

E-mail exists on the same principle as does the 'real life' post office. A message has content, a destination address and a return address. Just as with the WWW, a message is passed from network, to network, to network until it finds the actual network where the destination address exists. If the top is reached and still the destination address has not been located, it is then sent back via the same type of path to its original sender and stamped 'returned mail'.

Imagine sitting down at a library and having an endless stream of librarians come to offer help. One is asked to bring back all research related to the space program. The next is asked to bring an audio recording of some of the communications between NASA and the Apollo-13. Another is asked to find biographies of each of the T.V. movie actors who played the parts of the astronauts in the T.V. movie of the Space Shuttle tragedy. Even another is asked to research information on the moon surface and perhaps find some names and contact information of researchers to whom we could ask some questions. A last one is asked to find some of the reactions of foreign newspapers to the battle of the U.S.A. and Russia to get to the moon first. And so on. Imagine that each will come back within seconds with even more than requested. It is now the job of the person who asked for the information to sort through all the information to determine what is useful, legitimate, accurate, and related to what is being sought. This, in digital form, is what the Internet bring any on-line user.

In Hunter's article (1998), 'The Internet is?'

Teachers

'...It's like a library that never closes'

'...it's like having many teachers in the room at once'

'...students are learning without actually realizing they are

'..can go on field trips without spending money...'

Library specialists

'...up-to-date articles, reports, news, weather'

'...more hands-on ways to explore increasing self esteem'

'...various types of searching skills are developed'

Students

'...fast way to get all the information you need, in any format you need it (photo,

text, audio, video?)

'...people are more interesting on the Internet than in a book'

What is available on the Internet for students and teachers?

The Internet offers instant access to: every major library, database, company, or entity and all digitalized documents in their possession. There are up-to-the-minute weather, current events, movies, TV shows, video reviews, sport schedules, politician voting records, college information, sightseeing suggestions for any city in the world, airline reservations, flower delivery, university class registration, curriculum ideas, lessons plans, complete up-to-date encyclopedia sets, major magazine articles, discussion groups of peers in same subject area who exchange messages on a daily basis, interactive 'chat' rooms where you type a question and the expert on the "other end of the line" sees it and responds immediately, etc. It is very likely that there is more information than you could ever have time to review (NPR, 1999).

The best-supported subject areas on the Internet are:

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Table 1

The best supported subject areas on the Internet

(National Survey of Internet Usage, 1997)

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Are teachers using the Internet in class?

One reason why there is so much uncertainty concerning the usage of Internet in our classrooms is that the Internet, in the context that we are using it, is really only a few years old. There have been very few thorough surveys done to attempt to determine the value and benefits of using the Internet in the curriculum. In many cases, the level of technology has changed so significantly that many surveys become obsolete before they can even be completed (NCES, 1997). Actually, there was no comprehensive national data on the status of advanced telecommunications in elementary and secondary schools until 1994, when a survey of public schools was finally obtained. However, it was not until late 1995 when a similar survey was taken to collect information concerning private education. Private schools represent about twenty-four percent (24%) of all elementary and secondary schools in America (and about eleven percent (11%) of the of the students).

A very interesting point obtained from that survey was that during the 1995-96 school year, seventy-five percent (75%) of private schools were without Internet access. Out of those schools, sixty percent (60%) had no plans for connecting in the future (NCES, 1997). Unfortunately, since that time, there have not been any similar reports done to find more recent numbers. In comparison, Internet access in public schools increased from thirty-five percent (35%) to seventy-eight percent (78%) from 1994 to 1997 (NCES, 1997).

Sandham (1997) finds that it is rather interesting and ironic that private schools, which are thought to be the elite of schools are actually, according to a variety of surveys and studies, 'behind the times' in connecting to the Internet. Many private schools already have to operate on slim budgets in an effort to keep tuition competitive. Oftentimes, there is simply not the money available to invest in the technology needed to connect their school to the Internet. In addition, most private schools do not have access to the large grants and bonds that public schools do. Especially with teachers demanding higher salaries, many private schools are having to raise funds just to meet basic operating costs; at these times technology has taken a back burner. Of course, private schools are not looking for sympathy here; the nature of their school is also what allows them to operate the way they prefer, without having to abide by the same rules and regulations as public schools. Sixty-one percent (61%) of the private schools surveyed said inadequate funds were the main reason for their lack of Internet access (NCES, 1997). Within the religious private schools surveyed, a full third (1/3) of Catholic schools were connected, compared to half that for non-Catholic private schools. Non-religious schools were also in the thirty-three percent (33%) range. The NCES survey ( NCES, 1997) found that the percentage of computers on the Internet in nonsectarian private schools was almost four times higher than the percent in schools with religious affiliations. There were no reasons given or even suggested for the variance.

The following table (Richards, 1996) shows usage percentages by subject areas:

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Table 2

Internet usage percentages by subject areas

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In the Southeast, an estimated thirty-two percent (32%) of schools are actively using the Internet in the curriculum. This is about half of the national average of seventy-eight percent (78%) (National Survey of Internet Usage, 1997) However, only three percent of all classrooms, labs, and libraries are connected to the Internet. One should note that not all classrooms need the Internet. There are some classrooms and labs that truly have no need for computers, much less the Internet. So, when considering these statistics, that point must be kept in mind. Most supporters of incorporating the Internet into the classroom do not believe that EVERY classroom should have access. School personnel must be wise in decisions of how and where to bring in the Internet ("On-line investment", 1995).

Hunter(1998) reports that there are a variety of ways that teachers are having their students use the Internet (See figure 4):

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Figure 4

Use of Internet

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A majority of the active Internet-using teachers said the most substantial benefit they witnessed was students applying themselves for much longer periods of time. They did not necessarily have a deeper understanding of the materials, but they were preparing students for life in a technological society. As early as 1994, when schools realized what the Internet might offer the educational process, most said they looked forward to students learning via larger, deeper collaborative projects across state and national borders. While these types of learning have taken place, the numbers are still lower than one might have hoped. In 1997, only about twenty-one percent (21%) of one survey group were actively involved in collaborative science projects or writing projects. This is still a thirty percent (30%) increase from a couple years back, but even higher numbers would be necessary to be able to really see if there are substantial improvements in learning because of those types of long term, thorough assignments. A very promising part of the survey (NCES, 1997) was dealing with the ideas of students and real-world projects and understanding. In this study, learner-centered classrooms actively using the Internet were providing for long-term projects dealing with real-world scenarios. Sixty percent (60%) of the teachers interviewed attributed these benefits directly to the Internet

A national survey (National Survey of Internet Usage, 1997) found that approximately eighty percent (80%) of students spend their time 'browsing' the Internet, seventy-five percent (75%) downloading information, and seventy percent (70%) searching. This brings up some related problems concerning effective use of the Internet while at school or in class: There is not really enough time in class, or in the school day, for students to cram in the extra time required to just 'surf', search, and browse. Class periods are already very short, and with limited computers in the classroom, class is over before the exercise has been achieved.

Though there are specific references to very productive uses of the Internet to complete projects or activities, in truth, surveys indicate that for Internet activities such as electronic forums, asking 'experts', conducting surveys, and on-line publishing are all listed in the low five to thirteen percent (5%-13%) usage range (NCES, 1997). Many users of the Internet in the classroom felt that students were not necessarily producing better results because of the Internet, but were getting some 'real world' context and injections of motivation for students.

There are many magazines and journals available that discuss the Internet and ideas for bringing it into the classroom. A popular one is called Classroom Connect (See figure 5). It is focused entirely on using the Internet in classes. It gives plenty of success stories (and failures), suggested web sites for students & teachers, curriculum ideas for projects, lessons plans, requests for joint projects from other schools (sometimes even in other countries).

Bill Burral (Classroom Connect, November1996), a middle school teacher in West Virginia, used the Internet to open up doors of communication between students and prison inmates. Students were able to ask questions to try to understand crime and why it happens, and how the punishment system of our country works. The project became so popular that fifty thousand(50,000) students from schools in twenty-two(22) countries participated. A combination of bulletin and E-mail was used to allow 'risk-free' access to a 'high risk' environment .

Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is a network available on-line where students enter data about the weather in their city (The Globe Program, 1997). Researchers then take that data and provide feedback about their data in graphical and text form on their website, along with that of over three thousand (3000) other schools in forty-four (44) countries who use this site regularly. This site allows communication between far away schools and allows them to interact with activities and games while also learning about the world's atmosphere and weather

Sara DiRusco (Classroom connect, October 1996), of Sunnydale, California, tells of a fantastic experience with the Computer lab. As in many schools, there are problems trying to mainstream special education students or handicapped students. Students at Cupertino Middle School loved the Internet lab so much, the students were all racing to get the 'best computers' at break and lunch and many of the special education kids were regularly interacting with 'normal' kids and feeling good about themselves.

Dwyer and Steele (1996) report on a student, Brad Pilon, a senior at Nelson High School in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, who received on-line help for his research paper on a rare form of diabetes. Via E-mail, discussion groups, and chat rooms, he communicated with the researchers at Hamilton's McMaster University. Within a few days, Brad was able to find the answers to all his posted questions from the scientists who were the experts in the field. "The subject is very new and hard to find in any books, " says Brad, " Besides, you can?t ask questions to a book !"

Dyrli(1995) speaks of a web site on a California school web site that links to a "Live from Antarctica" multimedia resource for teachers and students. On the site can be found up-to-the-minute reports and statistics on ozone depletion, a hypermedia exhibit with journal entries of several of the team members stationed there, audio recordings made during "Grand Antarctic Circumnavigation", and copies of The New South Polar Times (an on-line newsletter written at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station). Many classes have used this site as a basis for their studies on Antarctica and also the atmosphere.

Many teachers (Classroom Connect, January 1998) see E-mail and web publishing as writing practices. There are many options available: pen-pals ("keypals"), publishing essays and reports, and collaborative stories. Students sometimes feel more comfortable talking to a peer rather than an adult. And sometimes writing to someone you don't know adds a level of excitement to writing. Students can take ownership of their writing assignment by picking a key-pal from organized lists (available at many educational sites. i.e. www.keypals.com ), and learn responsibility of keeping regular contact, while writing, when otherwise (s)he would not be writing. Publishing any text or art on-line is a very powerful tool to improve writing or artwork. Knowing that many others will scrutinize the work encourages students to spend extra effort making their work 'more professional'. There are a variety of web sites available that publish (free) work of students from K-12 ( i.e. www.kidnews.com). Many classes have had a wonderful experience doing collaborative projects with classes in other cities, states, or even countries. Students or groups rotate writing sentences, paragraphs, or chapters of a story and it is continued over the course of a few weeks. Foreign language teachers find E-mail a wonderful practice tool when doing exchanges with foreign students. Students must write in each other's language and must write once a week. Then, in class, they can discuss what they wrote about.

The following page (see Figure 5) available to teachers (Classroom Connect, April 1996):

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Figure 5

Magazine lesson plan example

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In the National Survey of Internet Usage (1997), educators indicated that web sites with instructional activities already planned, tested, and posted on their web pages, with reference links to the common textbooks and other related resources are most likely what it would take to get them to use the WWW on a more regular basis

The top five rated educational web sites(The National Survey on Internet Usage,

1997) were:

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Table 3

Top five rated educational web sites

_______________________________________________Almost fifty percent (50%) of teachers surveyed said if a site provided materials to fit their needs in a variety of ways that they return to that site several times a week; almost thirty percent (30%) said they would return daily.

The Internet allows for a new type of 'book' (Censorship News, 1997). These new 'books' are incredibly rich with content and a variety of media in addition to words which allows students to access not only text, but on-line audio and video interviews with appropriate individuals, interactive spreadsheets which allow students to visually see the implications of changing (with their own numbers) data from the book or article, and related topic references with the click of the mouse "The Internet has the distinctive power to compliment, reinforce, and enhance some of our most effective traditional approaches to teaching and learning" (Censorship News, 1997).

Johnson (1998) participated in a creative and touching Internet-based activity with her the 4^th grade students at Custer Park Elementary School in Illinois. After the explosion of the Space shuttle, in which teacher, Christa McMauliffe lost her life, there was an outpouring of emotion and questions. Students at Ms. McMauliffe's school, Bloomfield School, published, on-line, a series of fifty (50) technical questions about the space shuttle, the space program, and the terrible accident ( http://bloomfield.k12.mo.us/ ). Johnson's 4^th grade class was among many who helped to remember that terrible day. They used the Internet to search for the answers to all those questions. They learned that SRB stood for 'solid rocket booster' and that the Kennedy Space Center runway is about three miles long. They learned that President Reagan's speech soon after the tragedy included a short excerpt from the Poem, " High Flight" by John Magee, Jr. They also learned that Astronaut Greg Jarvis put thank-you cards under the windshield wipers of cars with Florida license plates to commemorate the ten-year anniversary. They learned about the many foundations that were started by family members and friends. They collected all the poems, pictures, remembrances, and stories they ran across and presented them to Ms. McAuliffe's mother when she visited the Bloomfield School.

One school had a yearlong activity with a collaborative partner in New Zealand (New Zealand Collaboration, 1998). First, both schools decided to take advantage of the various medias available on the Internet. They both installed VoxPhone, which offers voice, video, and text transfer in real-time. This would allow both schools to communicate in many ways. Two Physical Education teachers were eager to establish an international relationship, so they used their classes (aged eleven-thirteen(11-13)) to compare fitness scores. This was done with-mail and even speaking. Once the students knew each other, pen pals naturally developed, and they began exchanging hobbies and interests. Once both teachers realized they had a 'good thing going here', they began to expand the collaboration by incorporating the social studies classes to use MapQuest program to pinpoint each other's locations and hometowns. Science classes incorporated discussions of weather, landforms, temperature, bodies of water, and mountain ranges. Art classes created pictures, and drawings of American life and New Zealand life, which they sent back and forth. The music classes rehearsed classical native music and actually sang on-line to each other! They learned about each other's metric systems when they compared fitness results. The project became such a success that local TV stations and newspapers ran specials about the schools. This experience allowed Rex Wood, the instructor, to truly incorporate cross-curriculum study, which the students will remember for many years. It allowed them to learn, apply, and share new information, not only with each other, but with peers across the world.

Sellers (1994) found one school has begun a nationwide, inter-school project tracking the paths of migratory birds and butterflies. Schools along the known migratory routes communicate with a central site, thus allowing all involved schools to be involved with the sighting and population counts of various bird (or butterfly) species. Professional lepidopterists have also been incorporated into the projects to answer questions and help understand observations.

Are the students benefiting because of the Internet?

Holt (1998) writes that the utopian vision of education is where all students

become eager learners and even become teachers to others while learning. Students master extremely challenging curricula which are tailored based to their individual needs, while at the same time, having the world's libraries, art galleries, and concert halls at their virtual fingertips. Some of this is no longer just fantasy inside Utopia; it is available now.

Stephen Gerkey, educational consultant at IBM (Holt, 1998), says access to the Internet and all the information it connects to, in many ways changes the way the educational system (should) work. With worlds of information available to the click of the mouse, rote memorization and knowledge of pure facts is not such a priority. Finally, we can attempt to focus on what teachers have been trying to focus on for generations: inquiry and problem solving.

For example: Students doing on-line research on turtles may get tens of thousands of responses in a search engine. They must be able to know how to find the right information that applies to them that supports their needs.

Holt (1998) shows that there is not really any evidence to show that people are doing any more research just because they are on the Internet than if they went to the library or similar place. The Internet, as a tool, simply gives us the ability to flip through many sources very quickly while searching. Real learning and true research takes patience and time, regardless of the media in which it is done. Just because "...the information is out there, as it always has been, does not mean that you know it"(Harrison, Betty , superintendent of Chaffey Joing Union High School District, Ontario, Canada).

Dyrli and Kinnaman (1996) believe that learning takes place when students interact with concrete materials; they learn by doing. In that regard, the Internet as part of the curriculum has the potential for tremendous power, since the media itself requires learners to interact with the on-screen resources and navigate through a myriad of links. On the Internet, it is possible to find science writings posted by middle school students as easily as it is to find writings by scientists. This forces students to learn to evaluate the content and quality of their findings. Dwyer and Steele(1996) support these concepts through a study that found that students who work on the Internet actually retain more information because of the all the medias available at the click of the mouse (See Table 4):

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Table 4

Information retained via media

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The National Survey on Internet Usage (1997), throughout all the research, found that one of the best loved aspects of the Internet, was the fact that the Internet can offer up-to-date information on current events and even topics covered in textbooks. Sometimes textbook are many years behind.

Neil Rudenstine ("The Internet and Education", 1997), president of Harvard University, comments on the important good the Internet offers. For hundreds of years, teachers have felt that education should be student driven; students should take an active part in the own educational development. Finally we are at a point in time where the world around us supports that type of environment. The Internet reinforces the concept of students as 'active agents' in the classroom. Most teachers would love to have the student who asks questions, searches eagerly for relevant information, discusses ideas with others, and becomes an investigator and discoverer. The Internet not only encourages these characteristics, but actually requires them to get around successfully on the Internet. Not only can students discuss issues with classmates, but they can talk with students at other schools, in other states or countries, without concern for distances, phone charges, and how to find people ('experts', business men and women, local community members) with whom to talk via E-mail, Chat (IRC), or Internet-phone. And because these students are communicating, that means they are writing, they are forming questions, synthesizing information, and making contacts that would otherwise not be possible.

However, Rudenstine also makes note that the need for books and other tangible documents as research tools cannot be forgotten. Nor should face-to-face contact be forgotten. But, in the same sense, the Internet must not be mistaken as a fad or recreational tool just for play. Society must accept and harness the power of the Internet and take advantage of a transformational technology that might change the way we live, learn, and work. In some ways, it already has.

Gore (1998) notes that the Education Department of the United States has been doing a decade long study of computers and students. They have found that students with computers in their classrooms outperform (by thirty percent (30%)) their peers on standardized tests of basic skills. This seems to indicate that through understanding of hardware and software, students are carrying over their knowledge into other areas. A 1996 study showed that students with access to the Internet not only turned in more creative work, but also work that was more complete and synthesized. Gore (1998) points out that many of the studies he saw indicated that technology as whole brought energy and motivation to the classroom. Schools with Internet access are seeing better attendance rates, better writing skills of their students, and better thinking skills (See Chapter 4).

Gore understands some institutions may be hesitant to lunge forward into technology. He is quick to point out that throughout history, new technology has always brought on anxiety. In old Greek days, when paper was being imported into Athens, Socrates condemned it, saying it would "...replace public discourse with less desirable and potentially dangerous private communications and disrupt human ties..." In the 1700s, Diderot was said to have look upon the rapid popularity of printed books and foresaw a day when it would be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole of the universe. "The world of learning will drown in books". Now, books are the foundation of our learning process. Looking back to the 60's and 70's (Holt, 1998), there were many feeble attempts at bringing technology into the classroom (flash cards programs, matrixes of multiplication, noisy dot matrix printers, etc.). At that time, before the world outside was in the true information age, the money or time needed to bring technology into the classroom could not be justified. The idea of E-mail and web sites were mere fantasy and were nowhere close to being available to the public.

Jane David ("Computers in Schools", 1996), Director of Bay Area Research group, says, the simple fact that students are learning to be experts on the Internet is reason enough to incorporate it into the classroom. Computers are found at all job levels, from entry level clerical to higher management positions.

Currently, many companies who use a WAN(wide area network) to connect their computers use a combination of CAT-5 cable, Telco telephone lines, ISDN lines, even Frame relay lines to interconnect their network. Christenbury, Project Manager at BellSouth Enterprises, (C.A Christenbury, personal communication, August 20, 1999), says:

There is a new technology called VPN (Virtual Private network) that will actually use the Internet to connect a company's computers in a fast, secure, inexpensive media. Students who are already familiar with the technology of the Internet will be able to move immediately into jobs using these types of networks.

Dwyer and Steele (1996) note that two of the major complaints from teachers about their classes are discipline and motivation. Ken France (cited in Dwyer and Steele, 1996) says that when he introduced computers and the Internet to his lessons, many of those same discipline and motivation problems went away. Students just responded better.

One experiment that seems to show a positive impact on technology and Internet was with the I.J. Simpson Jr. High School in Newfoundland, Canada. The administration made a serious attempt at making their school a leading edge technology center in their area. They worked with local businesses and within a few years, had one of most high-tech schools (with connections to the Internet all across the school) in the province. Since that time, the school has seen a forty percent (40 %) drop in absenteeism, while the percentage of students moving into the advanced classes has risen twenty percent (20%). Fred Durant (cited in Dwyer and Steele, 1996) says, maybe it cannot explain why working on the Internet instead of in a book helps students learn better, but he sees his students fascinated with the technology of the 1990's.

"That makes it a wonderful tool. So what if this makes school fun" (p. 46)

He has no patience for people who say learning should be a difficult affair.

Howe (1998) says, the main goal of any school is to transfer knowledge, through the curriculum, with the intention of preparing students for higher education and life thereafter. Tools, such as the Internet, help deliver the academic curriculum in a number of ways. It allows students to quickly access, search, and print from existing library materials as well as materials existing on external sites. Students who actively use the search engines, periodical database indexes, and on-line catalog databases are learning valuable skills in how to organize, search, and categorize data. As the Internet becomes more and more popular, it will also become more standardized. This means that once you are familiar with the basic navigation tools of the Internet, they are the same no matter where you go or what you access. The vast amount of information available also allows teachers to encourage students to be selective and to learn how to identify appropriate, reliable information and sources of information. Howe (1998) uses Bloom's Taxonomy to express some of his views about the Internet being a great tool in teaching cognitive skills:

Knowledge/Comprehension- Awareness of and Selecting from the

various sources available on the Internet.

Analysis- Define a topic and generate related, broader, and

Narrowed search terms

Logical- Selecting search strategies that develop actual search

statements(with Boolean operators: AND,OR,NOT)

Information skills- Resource based learning across the curriculum.

They learn to identify and assess results of their searches.

Evaluating- Deciding what information is reliable, dependable, and

true.

Synthesizing- In preparing report, oral and written, students learn

to put it all together in presentable format and in a

meaningful way.

Dwyer and Steel (1996) have some contrasting remarks about the Internet:

The unspoken assumption about the Internet is that it must be good, it must out weigh all negative effects. But in fact, some feel that we are allowing it to chip away at our education system. We are now in a world where dinosaurs teach us math and rabbits teach us how to read. We have turned out schools into glorified theme amusement parks. We must recognize that the Internet is not the solution to our problems, rather a tool for the choices we need to make (p. 42).

David Galernter (1998), professor of computer Science at Yale, in contrast to Gore(1998), believes the Internet has no business being in our schools. He equates the Internet with fishing. It is a fun hobby that you do after you finish your lessons.

"First learn reading and writing, history and arithmetic. Then play Frisbee, go fishing, and surf the Internet" (p. 55).

While he does concede that writing is on the increase because of E-mail and FAX, it is no more than a simple tool. As a university professor, he sees the outcome of unprepared students: they lack all the basic skills. He is a believer than education should not be fun ---- "...sit down and shut up and learn.." He agrees that the wealth of information available on the Internet is fantastic, the problem with our educational system is not, nor has it ever been, insufficient data. Sure, students can gather lots of 'the latest' information on the Internet, but too many have not read Mark Twain, Shakespeare, or Wordsworth, or a serious book on the history of the U.S. They are bad at math, bad at science, hopeless at writing. His question is how will connecting those students to other countries help? An interesting correlation:

It is as if the administration has just announced that every child must have the fanciest scuba gear on the market,yet many kids do not know how to swim.

Galernter also attacks another aspect of what the Internet promotes: attention spans. In a world full of eighty (80) station cable TV, thousands of magazines, video games, and fifty-five (55) breakfast cereals, the attention span of students today is already too short. The WWW promotes short attention spans: The instant you become the slightest bit bored, you can click the mouse and off you go. With such easily accessible information available at only a click of the mouse, the Internet is full of garbage, lies, filth, and inappropriate sites.

Dyrli and Kinnaman (1996)speak of a lesser known 'evil' inherent in the Internet that we must consider. Imagine students are involved in a project where they will be working with local community and business members as part of their research. With the ease and speed of the Internet, students may be too quick to go on-line when face-to-face interviews might be more effective. Or they may spend a great deal of time browsing the Internet for information when the local school librarian might have resources in the school library that would be just as useful.

Becker and Jason (1997) made a very interesting point about incorporating Internet into all classrooms: Internet-based curriculum is high risk and high-cost relative to traditional conventions. High risk comes into play when we have to continue to compare schools based on standardized tests. Though a student may be involved in a deep, long term collaborative project with a partner group in France, if we cannot see directly-related higher test scores, administrators will be pressed to reevaluate the role of the Internet in their schools. Internet based curriculum requires substantial student motivation, independence, and initiative. That requires flexibility and trust between the teacher, administration, and student. Administrators must be willing to let teachers experiment to find lessons that work. Students must be motivated enough to see that the Internet is not just a toy, but a tool that helps them learn.

Marsh (1998) has very strong opinions about the 'bad' of the Internet. She is quick to note that there are those who say that, because there is so much filth on the Internet, it should not be allowed in the classroom, just as we might ban pornographic magazines. One educator tells a story of a student who mistyped a popular Internet site name and was taken to a pornography site that looped over and over when the student tried to back out. Example: If you type www.whitehouse.com, instead of www.whitehouse.gov, you will go to a site full of pornographic materials. Any E-mail address can be obtained easily as any user surfs the net and within minutes, that E-mail address is on a mass-mailing list. So, students might receive inappropriate materials during a class lesson involving E-mail. Naive students, who are in the mode of 'I know all' and 'I am invincible', might also find themselves in potentially dangerous situations. Marsh (1998) speaks of one educator, from her studies, who speaks of a high school student that told his administrator he had met a fantastic girl on-line in a chat room who excelled in academics, sports, etc, so he claimed to be a junior in college so she might like him and they discussed meeting. The administrator asked if he was sure the girl was who she said she was. "Yes", the boy responded, "she wouldn't lie to me." We have all heard the horror stories about kids that face similar situations and follow through only to find their 'partner' far from who they thought. In a world of rape, violence, and murder, naïve students might be in real danger.

Sellers (1994) says we must accept that, by the nature of a self-regulating Internet, there will be time where students can run across inappropriate materials. While there are many programs out there that filter out known adult sites (ex. www.safesurf.com , www.childbrowse.com , www.pearlsoftware.com/csnoop3/snoop.html , www.Dnai.com/~children/, ), in reality, these sites are created by the hundreds daily and there is no real way to truly filter out all the garbage. If students really want to find it, or someone really wants to get something to you, there will be a way. The only means we have that are effective are close supervision, AUP (Acceptable Use Policy), trust of our students, and teaching the ethics involved in appropriate behavior on the Internet.

Bennets (1999) discusses a much under-noticed negative associated with the rapid growth of the Internet. While she concedes that there is much that is great about the Internet and what is offers those on-line, there is a concern she has for those who are not on-line. Seymour Papert, author of "The Connected Family: Bridging the Digital Gap" (cited in Bennets, 1999), says, "A minority of the kids who have access to computers are streaking ahead in their rate of learning and preparation for the modern world. This increases the gap between the have and the have-nots, in terms of knowledge, skills, and ways of thinking for the 21^st century. It's going to get worse before it gets better." Just as now we have many schools in lower income areas that are disadvantaged in text-books, facilities, and quality of teachers, so are they lacking in what they are able to offer the students at their schools access to computers, much less the Internet. As these students graduate and move on, they will be competing against those students who had the luxury of technology and far-reaching fingers of the Internet. So, the jobs that offer financial stability, challenge, and opportunities will continue to be only for those with the sets of skills that the 21^st century will require of its citizens.

As stated the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report (1997), the Internet offers underprivileged students and schools access to places, people, and information never before available to them. Finally we have the potential to empower historically disadvantaged groups of Americans with greater access to the sorts of knowledge-building and communication tools that might help them to overcome at least some of the respective disadvantages. However, we are still bound by the same barriers that have held back lower-income schools for generations. As long as property tax is the main basis to funding for public education, these same schools will continue to be left behind. While concerns such as asbestos in walls present problems for cabling and setting up classrooms to go on-line, we are finding it incredibly expensive to wire classrooms, so our students continue to be denied access to the Internet.

Esther Dyson (cited in Bennets, 1999), editor of Release1.0 and Release2.0, takes an interesting stance on the growing gap of have and have-nots: "If we want to solve the problem, we need to educate people so they will be able to afford computers and have a good education, the computer problem pretty much takes care of itself. I don't see computers as creating the digital divide; I see them as an artifact of it. Don't focus on trying to give poor people computers; focus on teaching people how to read and write and think and calculate. And don't expect computers to solve the problems of public education." His words echo the Confucius proverb: "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime."

Gore (1998) sees the 'digital divide' as a serious problem and has reacted accordingly. His opinion is that the tools of the information age are no longer a luxury for the average American;they are a necessity. School personnel have a responsibility to provide the skill sets that make students ready to contribute in our business world. Information technology itself has provided more than a quarter of our total economic growth; the surge of technology is not just a trend or a fad;it is a fact of life.

In contrast to the 'great divide' discussed above, Andrew Moulton (1997) found that the most significant gap was mainly in at-home computers. In poverty-level homes, fewer than eleven percent (11%) had access to the Internet, while homes with incomes of over fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) , there were almost sixty percent (60%) with access. At school, however, he found, based on race, that Internet access was almost even. Hispanics, Caucasian, and black students were all within ten percent (10%) of each other (averaging around fifty-five percent (55%)). What this suggests is that poor students will only get Internet skills at school. Cheryl Lemke (cited in Moulton, 1997), executive director of the Milken Family Foundation says this is why there must be Internet access in our schools nation-wide.

Barth (1998) writes about Ross Todd, Head of Information Studies at the University of Technology in Sydney, New South Wales. Todd lists what he believes are four things we are going to have to do to the Internet if it is to be a useful learning tool for students (See figure 6):

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Figure 6

How to harness the power of the Internet

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Michael Scott (cited in Gray, 1999), says we need to accept that the role of education is to teach students how to solve problems using tools (for example: The Internet), instead of showing them how to just use tools. In a similar context, Johnson (1998), fourth grade teacher in Illinois, says she feels a responsibility to show her students how to access information, how to solve problems, and how to learn to learn. For her, the Internet offers her many resources that do just this. She has been incorporating the Internet in her classroom for two years now and she says she is still learning. In some cases, her students are the 'natives' in the information Age, and she is the immigrant.

Dingle, Gooch, Napp, and Kelly (1996) found that the Internet allows the student to self-select, at least partially, areas of interest for further investigation. Upon finding useful information through discovery, it becomes the student's responsibility to be able to evaluate and internalize the instruction being presented so that true learning can occur. This requires a mature student and a trusting relationship between the teacher and the student(s).

Sellers (1994) believes the Internet offers a hands-on tool. Studies have shown students are more motivated when they are involved in hands-on projects.

In a six thousand (6000) school survey (National Survey on Internet Usage,1997), one conclusion showed that students really appreciated having on-line access to professionals and scientists from all over the world, The report also said that educators are looking for 'real-life' curriculum ideas, by subject and age, to use with their students while on the Internet

Dertouzos (1998), in his research, found a very interesting happening: former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in asking for help funding his plan to provide 250,000 of their students with interconnected computers, was asked why he wanted to do so. He looked stunned at the question, but answered, "...computers are good for learning..". But are they really? Is there proof? Certainly the promises of technology and the Internet hold a dramatically different future for us all, but is the Internet, in the classroom, truly helping students have a better learning environment? U.S. students have FAR greater access to computers than our Asian counter parts, however, in physics and math, the U.S. consistently ranks from 12^th to 18^th(in the world), while Asian students lead the world. So, what can be done? Give up? Throw away the computers? Dertouzos (1998) definitely believes that we should invest creatively, but carefully, until we find out what really works and why. When the time comes that we know how to harness the essence of the Internet and make it work for our students, then invest massively throughout all schools!

O'Hara (1998) writes about a study done with some middle school students in a rural elementary school. From the survey, the most powerful observation was that the students became increasingly stimulated as they progressed through the explored web sites to complete a worksheet. At the end of the school year, surveys by the students indicated, regardless of experience with computers, none of the students showed any intimidation towards technology. This might imply that these same students might feel comfortable enough on the Internet to use it as a tool in their assignment and project work.

Charp (1997) found a class of 7^th grade students in New Jersey, which were part of an experiment where students and their teachers were equipped with networked computers at home and school. Students worked in cooperative groups and used the Internet in most of their assignments. Within one year of beginning this experiment, those same students showed very drastic improvements on standardized tests.

In Oxnard, California, 'smart classrooms' are equipped with computers in the desks and use a collaborative curriculum which encourages interaction with Internet, other students and teachers. School faculty have seen significant increases in motivation, comprehension, and achievement.

Gray (1999) writes about The Scholastic Network and Council of the Great City Schools, which sponsored a study conducted by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), which compared work of five hundred (500) students, all of which had computers, but only half of which had access to the Internet. The initial results show significantly higher scores on measurements of information management, communication, and presentation of ideas for the group with on-line access. Obviously there are other variables to consider, as with any survey, but at least it points in a direction.

In response to a questionnaire sent out by the Mercury News editors ("Computers in Schools", 1996), Reilly (cited in "Computers in Schools", 1996) makes a good point about measuring the impact of the Internet: Today's means of measurement are not really able to measure what (skills) students are learning as they use the Internet for their school projects. Much of what the Internet offers students, in addition to the vast amounts of instant information, is subjective. Peter Lindquist (cited in "Computers in Schools", 1996) says incorporating the Internet into the classroom is a very valuable lesson if it is done in conjunction with solid, challenging, rigorous course lesson work. Using computers just to appease bored students who do not a have the commitment to learning is a waste of time. Wasley, Hamped, and Clark (1996) make their point very clear about rigor and curriculum: The most important aspect of lessons plans and curriculum is that we have rigor involved throughout. To keep the children's attention by keeping them challenged and controlling their own learning. In similar context, Brian Knittle (cited in "Computers in Schools", 1996) comments that the Internet should only be used where it offers a new experience or clear advantage. The Internet offers this as a fringe benefit to the enormous amounts of information available. Arpita Mishra (cited in "Computers in Schools", 1996) says the Internet offers resources in a non-threatening environment for students who may be shy or uncomfortable asking questions in class. Lois Smallwood (cited in "Computers in Schools", 1996) says her students are more excited to write and problem solve and are generally more eager to learn new topics whenever it includes computers and the Internet.

Oh (1998) speaks of the lack of evaluation as one of the biggest pitfalls with the Internet. It is subjective in many ways and thus causes problems in determining if it is worth it or not. In any research situation, there must be a control group where students would do the same work without the Internet, as the other group does WITH the Internet. Is it realistic that we can expect to find such an environment?

Richards (1996) has some interesting conclusions from her thesis survey. She studied fourteen (14) various results, and found, in all areas, except one, teachers, students, and library specialists (seventy-eight percent (78%) of them) found the Internet to be a very positive impact on the learning process. Students felt that reluctant learners, their peers, are more apt to become involved if the Internet is used in class. Students work better with class members when using the Internet. Teachers say students showed increased enthusiasm for learning, work better with others,

Howe (1998) did a survey where she studied the impact of technology and the Internet on students. What she found was that students were not mastering the electronic media on their own. Nor were they mastering the electronic search skills. They were using Boolean operators, but not correctly or at the correct time. Many students did not understand the difference between keyword and subject searches. These are tools now that are the driving force behind search engines on the Internet (Yahoo, Lycos, Alta Vista, Goto.com, WebCrawler, etc).

Howe made some informal conclusions of her study which are of interest to the focus of this paper. She found that, contrary to popular belief, not all students liked or understood computers. Many students still preferred traditional methods of research (i.e. card catalog). Often times, once students were competent on network and Internet use, they became more curious about hacking than focused search. And one very important observation, though many students who claim to be competent computer users, are in fact only competent computer game users and are not in fact very good at electronic searching.

Is money an issue with getting connected?

There is some light we can shed on helping to relieve the financial burden of wiring school for the Internet. First, the cost of computers and peripherals has dropped dramatically over the last few years while the power of computing has skyrocketed. Schools are able to get inexpensive computers and connectivity very cheap. Many On-line search engines (Available World Wide Web: http://www.alovista.com ) and advertising sites are now offering free on-line Internet connections through their network. With advertisers bearing the costs of connectivity, schools are able to pass on the costs associated with getting their classrooms connected. Many brand name computer manufacturers are offering discounted, or free, computers for signing up for Internet service. There are also options available for free Internet access for those with computers already. Of course, there are some things to be considered before jumping into such agreements, however, one of the main obstacles of Internet connectivity, COST, is being broken down. Through trade offs such as forced viewing of advertising, we can offer the world to students who would not otherwise have that chance.

There are also many organizations (Bennets,1999) that are helping schools, both in time and money to get connected to the Internet(See Figure 7):

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Figure 7

Charitable Organizations

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There has also been an increase in the number of and amount of grant money available for schools to use to improve their telecommunications and connectivity (Classroom Connect, trial issue). The following organizations (See Figure 8) offer grant money to public and private schools:

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Figure 8

Grant money for Internet

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There are many school districts that are very supportive of technology and the Internet ('On-line investment', 1995). In Denver, Colorado, one of the school districts voters passed a multi-million dollar bond to finance a project to link EVERY classroom and office in the district for voice, video, and data

Holt (1998) notes one concern: Is the money being spent on technology and Internet in our classrooms worth it? Are we getting return on our investment? Gerkey (cited in Holt, 1998) comments that it is very difficult to assess the return of the various types of technology in our classrooms because the field, especially the Internet, is always changing. The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) is attempting now to do a multiyear study to track technology use in the twenty (20) to thirty (30) top schools districts. The group hopes to compile some figures to determine if it is truly worth the money. Some people feel that in such a field that changes every eighteen (18) months (Moore's Law (Classroom Connect, October 1996)), it is useless to spend the time on such research because by the time it is compiled and made public, the industry has already changed. This frustrates a lot of researchers.

Oh (1998), writes that , in contrast, Brad Thode, a teacher, sees Moore's Law in a different context. He says if the amount of technology really doubles every 18 months, then we must work even harder; we have to prepare students for a world that is even different from today.

Around the country, and world, more and more school districts are realizing the benefits for their students of having their school 'wired' for the Internet. What some schools have found (Barks, 1998) is that while they can find the money to get computers, networks, and Internet in their classroom, the new technology is never used to it's full potential, if even at all. Faculty who are even very capable do not have the time or desire to change their routines. School personnel are seeing that in addition to getting funding for the equipment, just as importantly, they need funding for training. There are many teachers out there who went through college before computers were as popular as now. Some of these faculty members may not have the skills needed to suddenly just incorporate technology into their curriculum. Nor can they compete with new graduates who are extremely proficient in the use of computers and how to bring them into the classroom.

Sun Microsystems saw this when they donated almost three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) worth of technology to school districts. But instead of only offering the computers and software, they also included training for teachers who require it. Mitchell (1996) saw that with training classes today costing more than two hundred dollars ($200) per day per person, many schools couldn't afford to train all their teachers. 3Com networking company also realized this and came in after a school district purchased a large amount of equipment and spent thousands of hours helping and training the district to best design their networks to maximize their school environment. Some school districts have even declared a Net-Day to bring computers, networking, and Internet access to their schools. In California, over one hundred(100) schools worked with more than sixty(60) companies to not only get computers in their classroom, but to learn how to use them to improve their lessons.

Is there training and support available for teachers?

MCI released a study (Barth, 1998) saying that there was a five hundred percent (500%) increase of people using Internet connections at libraries. This shows that, 'if you build it they will come'. However, in contrast, an Educational Testing Service study (Nellen, 1998) showed that only fifteen percent (15%) of teachers have more than nine hours of formal training.

As of February 1999, only two states required teachers to prove computer proficiency to work in their schools (Mathews, 1999). (Twenty-five (25) required at least one computer class) 'Investing in computer technology and connections to the Internet in schools without investing in teacher preparation is like building the space shuttle and sending the crew to space with no training,' says Crane (cited in Mathews, 1999). Crane identifies that Internet and computers in the classroom have very little effect on student achievement EXCEPT when used by well-trained teachers who can go beyond simple classroom drills. This company believes it is the responsibility of local companies, community members, and parents to form partnerships with schools to help give training for teachers.

While schools will spend eighty-eight dollars ($88) per student on computers and Internet connections they will spend just six dollars ($6) per student for teacher training. A study by the Education Department ('Mandatory Technology Training', 1999), revealed that only twenty percent (20%) of teachers felt they could use technology and the Internet in a productive way in their lessons. One point to consider is that just thirty percent (30%) of teacher colleges were prepared to instruct teachers on how to use computers (including the Internet) in their classroom.

One coincident with the Internet is that through the Internet Distance Education is finally possible across great distances for minimal cost (Hunter, 1998). Teachers can learn how to use the Internet and how to incorporate it into their lessons ON-LINE. There are thousands of web sites on the WWW that offer advice, curriculum, chat rooms, forums, discussion groups, and demos. One, www.teachnet.com, is a good example of what is available twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven days a week, FREE OF CHARGE (See Figure 9).

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Figure 9

Example teacher help web site

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If teachers can just get connected to those sites with the help of peers or students, they can be led through the training by the course itself. While this sounds like it is a great aspect of the Internet, it has apparently not caught on as much as we might like. Though the numbers have likely increased some, they are still not as high as one would like: Hunter indicated that out of the strongest 'Internet-using' teachers, still fewer than fifteen percent (15%) of those surveyed reported using newsgroups, chat rooms, or electronic mailing list in their job. Some might argue that the Internet is forcing professional development just to learn how to use the Internet itself. The argument is that rather than being a solution to the professional development situation, the Internet has added additional learning requirements for teachers. The silver lining of this is that knowledge of computers and the Internet is also useful in their own everyday life, especially in the Information Age of today.

Are teachers using the Internet to learn more about their subject area?

Sellers (1994) writes about the same-subject-colleague-isolation teachers go through. The Internet allows them to form on-line professional contacts and colleagues, where they might not be available at their school. For example, especially in small rural schools, there might only be one or two faculty in a given subject. This severely limits the inter-teacher collaboration that might be available in larger schools. The Internet, through E-mail lists, discussion groups, bulletin boards, and newsgroups, teachers are able to interact with others in their profession.

One of the most important themes in many of the researched surveys (National Survey on Internet Usage, 1997) was the teacher's request for training. Most felt that once the Internet becomes more organized with content evaluation by subject and grade levels, they will start to see students achieving better results as a direct result of Internet usage.

What is the role of the teacher using Internet in the classroom?

Teachers will see their role move away from information 'disseminator' and lecturer and move towards an interactive, collaborative environment where they assume the role as coach and facilitator (Dyrli and Kinnaman, 1995). Great teachers are crucial to the learning process and are also critical to the success of incorporating the Internet into the classroom. Tools, such as the Internet, will allow teachers to have an even more dynamic role!

One important point to remember: just as with the discovery of any new media (paper, books, film projectors, video, computers, Internet, etc.), the role of the teacher using that media will change. In the case of the Internet, when so many of the skills the students are learning are subjective (i.e. knowing potential bias & usefulness of information, evaluating web sites and on-line research, knowing the most effective search tools, filtering through the vast amounts of available data, synthesizing the information into their own words), now, more than ever, we need the guidance and leadership of our teachers. Teachers, now, must be able to keep students from being overwhelmed and also from getting led down false paths in the browsing. Teachers who are incorporating the Internet into their lessons, must take the time each day to discuss successful ways of searching for information, obtaining the information in the best manner (download, print, e-mail, newsgroup, etc.), and showing effective use of the students time spent on the Internet. It would be very easy for students to become distracted on the YAHOO website as they were typing in their search words. It is the role of the teacher to help them focus their efforts on the task at hand (just as they would with any research tool). In their on-line research, students will undoubtedly run across many surveys, articles, pictures, animations, videos, etc. While it would be easy for the teacher to help students analyze that data, teachers must opt for the 'What do you notice about these survey results' style of questions rather than the 'Notice the pattern in these survey results' style of advice.

In summary, there is a great deal of interest in using the Internet in the classroom, but by the nature of technology itself, it is a difficult topic to study. Many of the positive results seen are only non-measurable observable data and cannot be directly linked to higher test grades, as the government demands in its' analysis. Unless the government changes the way it evaluates new media, it may remain hard to justify through standardized test scores. There is a great deal of excitement just in the possibility of what the Internet offers. However, many see harnessing the energy of the Internet into productive classroom lessons as a top priority. How we do that is what researchers today are trying to determine. School administrators are generally supportive of efforts by teachers to experiment in class with the Internet and more and more schools are getting connected. While it may be years before proven curriculum plans are available to the general public, there is a wide variety of information available for teachers.