The initial focus of CK:P has been upon teachers and associated issues of process . It is essential that teachers be comfortable with the technology and knowledge about resources accessible via the technology if they are to direct successful programs in their classrooms. The activities of CK:P in its first two years of operation have made major strides toward this goal, and it is now appropriate to expand our efforts in the direction of a greater focus on student and associated issues of content .
The philosophy underlying student use of the network in CK:P is one of students as researchers . This implies a curricular focus for student use of the network with emphasis upon problem solving and reasoning. Students activities may take place either in a structured classroom environment or in individual activities under the supervision of a teacher or mentor.
As CK:P builds the Urban Research Laboratory, it will support both types of student activities and will pay attention to the needs and problems associated with this work. In focusing upon teachers CK:P has emphasized ease of use, access to resources and overall reliability. These process issues are also important considerations for student use, but content issues such as presentation, validation of retrieved information and integration of network resources with other curricular materials also require attention.
Related to increased student use of the network is a major question of how to expand the network to allow for use outside of the school. Just as the network allows students and teachers to explore resources outside the classroom during the hours they are at school, it allows for these explorations to continue after school -- provided there is some mechanism for access to the network after normal school hours.
The architecture that we have established for CK:P makes this sort of extension practical, but it is important to develop mechanisms which make extended access an equitable proposition. Although this will not be an easy problem to solve, we will establish models which the community may follow to achieve it. This will include after-school access using equipment at school sites which will be maintained for community use, access via facilities in libraries and other public sites and home access via public modem pools.
CK:P will establish links with other networking efforts around the community. These include programs in the public libraries which have been sponsored by Allegheny County and a Three Rivers Freenet which is being developed with sponsorship from the state and the local public television station. As CK:P's links to these projects evolve, we will use the Affiliates Program to formalize this structure and integrate it with our other activities.
As is the case inside the school, the largest cost associated with home access is the cost of the computer used as an access device. We are exploring mechanisms for providing inexpensive or subsidized solutions to this problem, working with CK:P Affiliates for trials of specific models in this area.
"Teacher Researchers for Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh," a proposal submitted to the NSF TE program, provides a teacher enhancement model to be used at CK:P sites. This teacher enhancement model has three tiers of activity. The first tier involves a set of Teacher Researchers who will be trained as experts and facilitators of technology usage in their schools. The second tier involves Trainees who work with the Teacher Researchers on CK:P projects at their school. The personnel in these first two tiers are adequate to provide necessary teacher enhancement to all other teachers in their school, who form the third tier of the project, using the expertise which will be gained from their work with CK:P. This teacher enhancement activity is structured to fit into the Strategic Planning and Technology Planning efforts of the Pittsburgh Public Schools.