Internet Technology and Schools
Introduction
Schools increasingly use computers and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) both as a management and administrative tool and in teaching and learning. "In just two decades ICT purchase has expanded from single computers in a few schools to become the largest area of expenditure – after staff and buildings." (Banbury,1999)
The equipment and technologies used are increasingly the same as those used by commerce and industry. A cursory inspection might suggest that business solutions and practices should be adopted by schools as they increase their use of ICT. However, it is not so straightforward as a school is a not the same as an adult workplace.
School buildings were generally not built with ICT in mind. Even more recently built schools may not have the suspended ceilings and removable panelling which makes it relatively easy to install cabling in offices of a similar age. It is not uncommon for classrooms to be in more than one building, and buildings may be separated by playing fields or roads.
Schools have many pupils and teachers; a small primary school may have less than one hundred pupils, but it is more usual to find more than two hundred children in primary schools and over a thousand in secondary schools. In general, there will be one teacher to about twenty-five children. Schools also employ management and administrative staff and non-teaching assistants. These people are all potential users of the school network, and few of them, especially in primary schools, are experienced or qualified in the use of ICT.
Children are naturally inquisitive and do things to computers adult users are unlikely to think of, thus increasing the maintenance and supervision requirements. It is unlikely an adult would put a rubber band into a floppy disk drive ‘to see what happens’ as occurred recently at my son’s school. The risk of school students accessing inappropriate material is a matter of public concern. In order to lessen the risks, schools need to provide not only adequate supervision when pupils access the Internet, but to consider various strategies for making that access safer.
In a whole class lesson, it is likely all the children will be logging on and accessing the same files simultaneously. The normal lesson lasts forty minutes with time often lost at the start as pupils settle down having moved between classrooms. To make effective and efficient use of the time available, teachers have to be confident applications will be easily accessible and will run as they are expected to. Young children in particular are not very patient or easy to keep under control when things do not work or do not work as quickly as expected.
Security is a major issue in schools. It has been said school ICT equipment does not get stolen because it is too out-of-date to be attractive, but schools are wary of installing new equipment in remote buildings. They are also somewhat reticent to declare obsolescent equipment redundant and ways are being developed of incorporating some older equipment into school networks.
Once a school has acquired its ICT equipment it needs to be maintained and managed. Too often the ICT co-ordinator is expected to be full-time subject teacher, a support and resource person for the development of ICT use in other curriculum areas, and to manage the school network. As part of the National Grid for Learning (NGfL), schools are being encouraged to consider managed service agreements with approved vendors. This is an area where schools can learn much from the experience of business organisations and public bodies.
The NGfL is about the potential network that can be developed between schools and the wider learning community. (Figure 1). It is the Government’s intention that all UK schools will have an Internet connection, and thus be connected to the learning grid, by 2002. It has made a considerable investment, £1billion, in supporting the acquisition of equipment and the training of teachers.
Figure 1 The Networked School Source: Connecting Schools, Networking People (BECTa,1998)
This dissertation focuses on the use of internet technology in schools. It is not about education but it does consider the impact of current developments in ICT on education. The first three chapters are concerned with connectivity. How schools connect to the Internet and the implications of Internet access for schools; the use of school networks and the problem of incorporating existing equipment into new developments. Chapter four considers a key concept of the NGfL, the development of a ‘mosaic of networks’ and looks at how this is currently developing. Chapter five comments on the impact of the NGfL on education. Finally, the planning, management and maintenance aspects of ICT development are considered. Generally, I have concentrated on the UK, but the international perspective has not been ignored with some examples from the K12 programmes in America and Australia.
Appendix A provides a description of the historic development of ICT in UK schools, and Appendix B offers an international perspective. Other appendices include an example of an Internet policy agreement, further detail of some of the technologies discussed in the body of the dissertation and a listing of useful web sites.