Network Technology -- a Necessity
California is home to one of the largest public school systems in the nation and to some of the most successful high technology industries in the world. These industries require a well educated workforce for the full range of jobs that they offer, and look to the California public schools to educate their future employees in matters both academic and social. Both the public schools and California industries are committed to finding ways to ensure that California is a leader in the global economy of the 21st century, and together are exploring new ways to use technology to enrich classrooms as well as the administration of the public school system.
One of the most exciting new information technologies that educators and businesses agree can powerfully improve education in the state is modern, interactive, high capacity communications systems. Such systems have the potential to bring up-to-date information directly to the learning environment in a variety of electronic formats and educational contexts. When this resource is fully developed, schools will no longer suffer shortages of curricula and reference materials, nor will traditional budget constraints dictate the quality or amount of material students and teachers can access. Teachers and school administrators will find themselves able to work in new ways with colleagues across the state and nation on a daily basis, rather than on the rare occasions they actually meet for conferences. Even the classroom itself will expand as the physical constraint of place gives way to the interactive communications highways.
In The Master Plan for Educational Technology, the California Planning Commission for Educational Technology stated that "technology will enhance student's learning; increase the intellectual productivity of faculty; and contribute to the management efficiency of administrators and staff through the use of instructional and information technologies." In 1992, the California Legislature passed the Educational Technology Act (SB 1510) authorizing the Education Council for Technology in Learning and the California Department of Education to plan for much greater use of computing and communications technology in California schools. Realizing this tremendous potential will take time, funding, and hard work; however, some schools already use telecommunications, and the benefits are proving to be very compelling (See Section II - Making the Case and Appendix A - Networking Progress Reports).
The K-12 Network Technology Planning Guide (Guide) is consistent with The Task Force on Education Network Technology and its report to the National Education Goals Panel, "Achieving Educational Excellence by Increasing Access to Knowledge." In that report the task force states "Network technology is a set of tools and services that enables educators, students, and the public to use computer and telecommunication links to share and access information and other resources to achieve systemic reform in education." Systemic reform will occur because:
- "Internetworked communications restructures relationships among educators, learners, and knowledge and information, and promises a systemic acceleration of the pace of educational change.
- For teachers, it means:
- the chance to develop a professional community with other educators;
- technical assistance in achieving a standards-based curriculum; and
- an expansion of their pedagogical repertoires to serve students' diverse learning styles.
- For students, it means:
- more learning resources, more readily available;
- information on-demand and immediate feedback; and
- a context for learning that both engages and empowers them.
- For the larger society, it means;
- home and workplace connections with schools;
- learning-for-life;
- technological literacy for economic progress; and
- the communication and exchange essential to democratic living."
The intention of this guide is to facilitate the development of this plan so that the potential benefits of network technology to the schools, students, educators and the community become real benefits. We hope that the guide will be the beginning of a movement across California, initiating appropriate network technology planning, information and idea sharing, and mutual support among schools, districts, county offices of education and the California Department of Education.
Finally, we intend that the guide foster collaboration with higher education, industry, local communities and other governmental agencies to prepare for a future where all are participants in the National Information Infrastructure.
