Part One The Promise: An Educator's History of the Internet
1986 1993 1994 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Summary
As I reviewed the literature and researched the history of the Internet, it became apparent that we have been reforming-restructuring-reinventing education for a long time, and with only limited success (Cohen and Ball). Perhaps this part of my research should have been titled the "Living History of Reinventing Schools." One might think that it is a pattern to be repeated every decade or generation. Having found numerous research papers, organizations, government initiatives, websites, schools, educators, and politicians addressing educational reform, with endless discussions going back decades and few mentions of success (except for the politicians,) a layman such as myself stands almost dumbstruck, not knowing whether to be appalled or grateful for the confessions of inadequacy.
A basic tenant of management theory is to set long-range objectives and quantifiable intermediate milestones, then track progress in relation to those goals. The Internet has come upon us so fast with a character still unfolding, that it appears we have been unable to set neither our ultimate objectives nor stepping stones. Also, as a nation we have recently experienced a period of ideological fascination with "privatization" and "decentralization" with increasing reluctance by many to enlarge an already huge Federal bureaucracy by implementing national control over our educational system. Have our failures and excesses of the past made us timid and afraid to take charge? Perhaps that is the primary question here regarding the merging of technology into the classroom, "Who's in charge?"
However, I believe one can chose to be positive or negative in outlook, Is the cup half empty or half full? From my experience in the computer industry applying these technologies for the small business, I understand the long period of development and the even longer learning curve it requires for even small "institutions" to make the transition. The object we have been attempting to move is so large that it we struggled with simple inertia. It has required tremendous energy just to get it moving, and then to keep it moving while we ever so slowly pick up speed. This is easy enough to understand. After all, its just basic rocket science. Also, note that the object we are pushing and pulling on is not solid. Its more like Br'er Rabbits Tar Baby.
So, on the positive side, it does appear that we have finally committed to educational technologies. We are:
Simply put, the Internet is destined to be an integral part of the classroom. We have made tremendous progress, but it will take years for the needed changes to spread throughout a majority of schools and change the way a majority of teachers teach.
The weakest link in our strategy for implementing educational technology appears to be content. We may be reaching for the stars standing on a two-legged stool. We are successfully building the necessary technical infrastructure, and have begun to focus on professional development, yet scant leadership has come forth in developing educational content websites. This is evident in the emerging priorities statement from the U.S. Department of Education's December 1999 Forum on Technology in Education: Envisioning the Future (ED4) which began a year of reviewing the nation's national plan for education technologies. Little mention is made content.
Obstacles obviously remain. Integrating educational technologies into the classroom has taken longer than expected and been more difficult than imagined. Yet, in the year 2000 the Promise is still alive. Liza Loop's vision of schools transformed into Open Portal community learning centers is echoed in Becoming a Learning Community by Buchler and Johnson:
"Life long learning has taken on greater meaning as public schools are involving more community members in their activities and adventures. Schools are opening their doors for longer hours and welcoming segments of the population who typically did not venture into our school buildings."