Information infrastructure holds the promise of changing the processes of teaching, education, and learning. Where this happens, resources will be reallocated from print-based to online resources (depending, in part, on publishers’ support for electronic source material).
Important ingredients include development of suitable content and curricula. Networking in K-12 will never achieve critical status unless mainstream educational services are available over the network.
To achieve many of the benefits anticipated by educators will require access to the high-end networking that would make possible better video and multimedia exchanges. This implies higher bandwidth, reliable service, and so on. More sophisticated systems and higher bandwidth enable better graphical interfaces and functionalities, which can reduce training costs, possibly offsetting higher transmission costs.
Of the many educational applications and benefits foreseen, communication among people is the prime benefit of networking for education as colleagues, teachers, students, and parents gain access to a level of communication not possible before.
The need for professional development in network applications and resources includes both the classroom instructor as well as the building-level administrator who will adopt the new technology. Part of the problem is a lack of involvement on the part of teacher education programs and institutions. Colleges of education have tended to have limited network access.
Networking of any kind has been difficult to launch in education because of a lack of basic physical infrastructure … It should be possible to organize procurement to achieve economies. More efficient procurement can better leverage resources
Cost is a key reason that data networking connectivity among the educational community has basically only trickled down from the major research universities to other four-year schools and then to the two-year schools, with the K-12 and public library communities bringing up the rear … To bring the Internet to all these sites will be a major challenge.
The limited extension of the intracampus telecommunication infrastructure into classrooms and faculty offices, the shortage of desktop computers, the lack of resources for faculty development, and the scarcity of technical staff support have been major obstacles in programs mounted to date. Without extensive stimulation at state or federal levels, it may be more than several years before there will be ubiquitous access at institutions not already connected to the Internet.
The “electronic outreach” capability provided by the NII can enhance the recruitment and retention efforts of all educational institutions.
The NII will … help educational institutions to reach students where they are or prefer to be located. Students, especially graduate students, will want to pursue degree programs and professional development courses at teleconferencing sites that are convenient for them. For many students, especially older or adult students, convenient teleconferencing and remote access, in combination with the quality of their courses, may become more important than many of the campus experiences that accompany the traditional attending of classes at the institution itself.