This document is an outline of a presentation on measuring the impact of technology in schools. Highlights include: technology as a system lever; training and conducting audits in over 2,500 schools; Illinois NextSteps--organizing technology for student results; asking big questions of our technology investments; making instructional technology…

This paper examines how technological innovations are likely to play a role in effective literacy education. The first section introduces three key factors, i.e., definition of literacy, predominate learning theory, and classroom communicative technologies. The second section lays the groundwork with brief glimpses of how the three key factors…

Beginning in 1994, the Ohio SchoolNet Program has worked to place computers in the Ohio Public Schools, and the SchoolNet Plus Initiative has provided at least one interactive computer workstation for every five children enrolled in grades K-4. This study examined (1) whether there were any relationships among teacher computer access, student…

This report contains findings from a technology needs assessment conducted at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The study assessed the computing resources, networking, and connectivity of HBCUs and other institutions that provide educational services to predominantly African American students. Out of 118 HBCUs, 80 responded to…

This paper discusses computer classes for older people in Adult Education (AE) programs. To understand both the attraction and shortcomings of the AE computer classes that the author observed, she identifies what she perceives as the program's minimum benefits. She also discusses how the program's conceptualization as "retirement learning" may…

This paper reports the results of a five-year case study of the use of online tools: Internet, e-mail, and the World Wide Web, within a Graduate School of Education. The conceptual framework was independently developed, but because of the striking parallel with activity theory, activity theory became the overall framework for interpreting…

In 1998, the EdNA/CESCEO Schools Advisory Group (SAG) formed the Networked Learning Resources Working Group to investigate issues surrounding the provision, optimum integration and management of Australian digital learning resources. The Working Group contracted DSTC Pty Ltd, in conjunction with the services of an independent specialist in schools…

This guide to playing with switches for parents and early intervention personnel was developed by the "Let's Play! Project," a 3-year federally supported project that worked to promote play in infants and toddlers with disabilities through the use of assistive technology. Switches are used with electronic toys to help young children…

One benefit often expected to flow from Internet use in schools is an increase in equality of educational opportunity as all kinds of schools gain access to the same extraordinary set of resources and opportunities for interaction with the outside world. Yet, prior research suggests that patterns of technology access often mirror existing…

This paper focuses on how, by reinforcing and exploiting the emphasis on electronic technologies in school reform, marketers are integrating school children into the advertising and marketing system. The ZapMe! program is a for-profit venture that proposes to derive its profits from activities that link the academic activities of schools and the…

This book serves as a guide for faculty in using computers, the Internet and the World Wide Web as instructional tools in higher education. Chapter 1, "Introduction to the Internet and the Web for Higher Education", provides a brief history of the Internet and builds conceptual understanding of the Internet and its usefulness in…

This paper presents the design of an Internet-enabled search service that supports educational resource discovery within an educational brokerage service. More specifically, it presents the design and implementation of a metadata-driven approach to implementing the distributed search and retrieval of Internet-based educational resources and…

This position paper describes a theoretical framework for learning that encompasses new conceptions of learning, namely learning as social practice, new views of the learner as self-directed, and paradigm shifts in learning as it is mandated in new social contexts. Social learning theory, especially that of situated learning, provides a new…

This paper examines the implementation of computer technologies in schools across Canada, focusing on the problem of managing change. The first section discusses what policy is and how policy is made in a global age. The second section addresses policy convergence, i.e., new, harmonized policy alignments brought on by the communications…

Explores the conceptual change of two classes of grade 10 students (n=48) in their genetics learning in an Australian girls' school that uses laptop computers. The study used an interpretive, case-based design with multiple data collection methods and a multidimensional conceptual change framework. Over seven weeks, the students learned genetics…