Submitted February 5, 1996
The allure of geographically expansive information networks is two-fold. Radio and computer engineers are drawn by the challenge of rapidly advancing communication technology. However, the technological details of the communication revolution will pass unnoticed by the majority of the users of future networks. The typical user will primarily be interested in the innovative services which were never before conceivable, let alone feasible.
Education is by definition the transmission of knowledge and information; it is a fundamental service which ideally impacts every individual regardless of nationality. Education will benefit from engineering efforts to make complex, expansive networks commonplace. The initial stages of the transformation of education delivery focus primarily on targeting participants, investing in equipment, establishing connections, and training educators to use the new resources. A catalog of selected case studies, compiled by Fujitsu Business Communications, is on-line at Technology in Education: Research & Case Studies.
Technology, however, is not a panacea for the multitude of problems associated with the delivery of public education. While technology can facilitate efficient delivery of uniform educational curricula, uniformity may not be a desireable characteristic of a service which is supposed to address the needs of diverse communities and individuals. This concern can be assuaged (as can the apprehensions of classroom instructors) by the suggestion that telecast or on-line instruction will prove most constructive when used in conjunction with on-site classroom discussion; information unaccompanied by tailored instruction and guidance does not guarantee knowledge and wisdom. A second concern is that disparity in resources will likely result in a technology gap between communities that can and cannot afford innovative equipment. This would only aggravate existing problems of equitable delivery of education services.
The delivery of education programs will be altered in unfathomable ways by
advances in telecommunication networks. The social implications of this
new technology, however, are as unpredictable as were the effects of the
telephone, automobile, and airplane. Research and developmental efforts
(such as Web 66 in Minnesota, EDUCOM, ESU3 in Nebraska, and EdWeb) foreshadow the extent to
which classrooms will be transformed as school systems embrace and
implement network technology. They provide little information, however,
on the limits of this transformation.
Submitted February 5, 1996