A. The National Information Infrastructure
With strong leadership from the Clinton/Gore administration, the nation is moving rapidly toward the development of computer networks able to serve all businesses, schools, government agencies and homes. This initiative is known as the National Information Infrastructure and is being pursued for a wide range of economic, educational and social reasons. Obviously, information technology is becoming increasingly important as a facet of both the business world and everyday life. This poses a national challenge to adjust the economy to deal with this technology and a national opportunity for economic expansion into a major new area of activity.
The nature of computer networks is such as to open up new avenues for social interaction. This can lead to new business opportunities in the international market, since businesses on the network are ipso facto international businesses. It can also lead to new opportunities for individual advancement and expression, since computer networks allow individuals to publish their ideas to a large audience, focusing directly upon those people with particular and relevant interests.
A major concern in the deployment of computer networks has to do with equity, and a social goal of the current administration is that this technology should be available to all. This policy focus will encourage the development of school and community networking around the country. Many efforts have already begun in this direction, and the project discussed in the present proposal, which is known as Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh, is a prominent and successful example.
B. School Networking
The need to incorporate the schools into the National Information Infrastructure has a basis in economics and in education. First of all, there is the simple economic argument that the workplace of the twenty-first century will be an environment dominated by information resources. For people to work effectively in this environment they must have a basic grasp of the skills needed to access information, evaluate the quality of this information, assimilate it into a body of acquired knowledge, and disseminate this knowledge to others. These skills are what might collectively be called research skills. They can be acquired directly and efficiently if students engage in research activities in the classroom. Computer networks in the classroom provide students with the tools to do research. Universal access to these resources guarantees the availability of a workforce capable of handling the information challenges of the future and of sustaining American business against the global challenges of the coming years.
We believe that the value of a capable workforce is high enough to justify the investment that will be necessary to provide networking resources for all schools and classrooms. But this economic argument is not the only reason that school networking is attractive. Networks also facilitate efforts at educational reform. Specifically, universal access to computer networks will provide for equity, in terms of the access to networked information. As the government follows a course of rapid network deployment more and more information will be disseminated through this mechanism, and network access will become increasingly essential for schools and businesses alike.
A second educational aspect of school networks has to do with the isolation of the traditional classroom. Our present schools are modeled largely upon the factories of the nineteenth century, a structure which tends to isolate teachers and students from needed external resources. Networked classrooms do not suffer from this isolation.
A third and closely related reason has to do with efforts at school restructuring. Such efforts emphasize local administrative control by teachers at a given school site and focus of the sort of research skills that we have discussed previously. Networks facilitate site-based management by providing good internal communication at the school level and by providing easy access to needed external resources.
C. Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Public Schools have become a national leader in efforts to develop school networks which can meet the economic and educational needs cited above. A project known as Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh (CK:P) has been in operation since January 1, 1993. CK:P is one of four projects designated by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as testbeds for school networking. It is the only such project with a focus upon a major urban school district. The project's explicit goals of curriculum integration and institutionalization of the use of networking technology also distinguish it from other efforts around the country.
The process of putting together the CK:P project has already had an important impact upon school networking efforts in other school districts in the region. Several other districts have recently connected some of their schools to the national network. In almost every case there has been prior involvement by teachers from these districts with the staff and organizers of CK:P. In the future CK:P is likely to have a continuing strong influence on school networking efforts - throughout the region, across the state and around the nation.