I. Overview

I-A. National Information Infrastructure

The National Information Infrastructure (NII) brings the promise of wide area networks which reach all sectors of society. This prospect is of special importance to education, since wide area computer networks can help address several major educational issues. Among these are the isolation of the traditional classroom, the need for equity of access to information resources and the demands of restructured schools for adequate internal and external communications.

The present proposal builds upon a successful school networking project, Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh (CK:P), to create a new Urban Research Laboratory. Insofar as the NII seeks to provide Internet connectivity to classrooms across the country, it is essential to have a realistic environment in which models and methods for school networking can be tried and tested. The Urban Research Laboratory (URL) will develop exemplary projects in the context of a major urban school district. It will leverage the commitment that is being made by the Pittsburgh Public Schools, the extensive technical and educational knowledge that has been garnered by CK:P, and the resources of a number of affiliated vendors, school districts and foundations. The Laboratory will be distributed across sites in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. It will involve an ongoing series of educational experiments and will provide a focus for school networking efforts nationally. The Laboratory will deal with three major areas of concern:

• Research. The research activities of the URL will involve technical and educational issues. The educational issues studied by the Laboratory have to do with both process and content . Process issues relate to both the structure of the school and the classroom and the methods by which new structures and new content are introduced in the school district. Content issues relate to what is taught and how it is presented to students.
• Practice. While research can plant a seed for new activities, this seed can grow only if there is a receptive environment. The URL will provide an environment in which one can monitor how research influences educational practice and how the fruits of research can be institutionalized as part of the school district's curriculum.
• Resources. Research collaborations such as CK:P are a means of helping to develop new resources for the schools. Through its affiliations with groups outside the school district, the URL will make these resources available to the schools and will help bring new affiliates into the educational environment.

• Continue to Section I-B.
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