Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh uses the technology of computer networks to support educational reform in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. The project [1] is a collaboration of the Pittsburgh Public Schools, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center and the University of Pittsburgh. Each member of the collaboration brings specific strengths to the project. The educational underpinnings of all project activities come from personnel in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, one of the outstanding major urban school districts in the country. Technical support is provided through the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, one of four NSF-funded supercomputing centers nationally. Project organization and assessment is provided through the Learning Research and Development Center of the University of Pittsburgh. The balance of these three essential components gives CK:P unusual strength and flexibility.
Initial funding for CK:P was provided by a two-year award [2] from the NSF's program for the Applications of Advanced Technology starting in January, 1993. The project has attracted the support of local foundations, vendors and the school district itself. The present proposal seeks to establish the Urban Research Laboratory and to develop and implement research projects for this Laboratory in the course of a three-year period.
In the first two years of CK:P , we will have built a successful model, both in educational and technical terms, of how to implement wide area networking in a major urban school district. While the level of penetration of this technology in the school district is still growing, we estimate that in another two years we will be able to point to a stable level of institutionalization.
The present proposal addresses the research questions associated with the scaling up of our previous work and with the new opportunities that exist in the networked environment that we have created. Specific areas of interest are as follows: