US:PA-1: Assignment for Week 1
Assignment for Week 1
Mary L. Bigelow (mlb10@psu.edu)
Wed, 17 Sep 1997 16:39:39 -0400
Response to #1-- Pressing needs:
We have many teachers who are interested in using the Internet as an
instructional resource, and a few who are actually using the single dialup
access we have in the schools (one of our third-grade teachers is in the
second year of piloting a really neat Internet-based project with the
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology). We've seen presentations on the value
of distance learning, especially for a small school district.
Our most pressing need (besides funding, of course--that's a given) is the
expertise to design the infrastructure and keep it up to date. If a
district doesn't have anyone on staff who understands LAN and WAN concepts
and who is current on the various types and specifications of the
electronic equipment, it is difficult to know where to begin.
Fortunately, our School Board committed funds to retain an independent
consultant who has been assisting us in designing our systems. I wonder
what we would have done without his expertise. Although community
volunteers may be well-intentioned, they have their own jobs and priorities
and cannot be as accessible as we would need. Their perspectives from the
needs of profit-oriented large banks, insurance companies, and utility
companies are different from the needs of a K-12 educational institution.
Perhaps there could be a clearinghouse with information on the types of
LANs and WANs that schools of various sizes have set up, the types of
equipment that seem to work well for them, costs, etc. to help schools and
libraries estimate the needs and costs of establishing, maintaining, or
upgrading their infrastructures.
Dr. Mary L. Bigelow
Teacher and Program Specialist
Middletown Area School District
55 W. Water Street
Middletown, PA 17057
mlb10@psu.edu
717-948-3387 (O)
717-948-3359 (FAX)
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." -- Albert Einstein