{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg10000\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset77 Arial;}}
{\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.15.1503;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\tx560\tx1120\tx1680\tx2240\tx2800\tx3360\tx3920\tx4480\tx5040\tx5600\tx6160\tx6720\lang1033\f0\fs26\tab Out of monstrous beasts of lights and vacuum tubes, a wonderful new object emerged just a little more than two scant decades ago: the personal computer, as we know it today.  \fs24 In the short period of time that the personal computer has existed, it has sparked a revolution that few inventions in human history can match.  Most notably, the computer is transforming education,  a stunning achievement given that the institution has not changed considerably in more than a century.  This technological change is facilitating new modes of learning.   To every administration, to every student, and to every teacher, advancing computer technology offers an application: as a tool, as a subject, and as the fabric of an entirely new establishment that will make our schools over from the ground up.  In the near future, teachers and students of all grade levels will no longer be constrained by material, time, or place limitations of face-to-face education.\par
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The Computer as a Tool\par
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\tab\b0 As a tool, the computer offers educators a dazzling plethora of options and opportunities alike.  From the merest aid to teachers in keeping grades, to worlds built in desktop virtual reality for students to explore, integrating computer technology in the existing school system offers benefits that encourage children and their parents to become more involved in the student\f1\rquote\f0 s own education.  Technology will be the tool that links school and home together, paving the way to moving education outside of the school building.  \par
\tab Being able to use computer technology for communication and collaboration is one aspect of this link.  In Clarksville, Maryland, the River Hill High School began a pilot program called \f1\ldblquote\f0 Mindsurf\f1\rdblquote\f0  to develop a wireless network for the school based on Palm Pilots that connect students with their teacher\f1\rquote\f0 s computer.  The principal, Scott Pfeifer, wanted to encourage the ability to share notes and communicate with one another, in addition to being able to communicate directly to the teacher (2000).  While this is a limited application of wireless technology and file sharing, this establishes the ability to communicate with other students and a teacher by remote, meaning that the parties involved are not required to be within talking distance of one another.  A student, for example, could work in another room, alone or with his friends, and still have access to all the information from his teacher\f1\rquote\f0 s computer, so long as he was within bounds of the network.  Removing the impetus to be in physical proximity to one another eliminates the need to congregate; in taking a second step with a better, larger network, a student who could access his teacher\f1\rquote\f0 s computer from any part of the room, or even outside of the room, could just as easily access the teaching materials from a location entirely off campus.  \par
\tab Large companies like Apple Computers have been working to encourage this.  Ultimately, they not only desire to expand the usefulness of computers within school, but to bridge the gap to home.  iBook computers and Apple\f1\rquote\f0 s portable wireless technology, Airport, considerably improves the flexibility of  the classroom computer, allowing students to move  and access the internet  or network from any location within the Airport\f1\rquote\f0 s considerable range, and students are often encouraged to take the laptop home with them to work on experiments or  projects to bring back the next day.  (http://www.apple.com/education/mobilecomputing).  \par
\tab There is good news for parents, too.   PowerSchool, acquired by Apple just a few years ago, allows parents to access automated grades and progress reports for their child via the web.  This technology allows the parent to keep up with lesson plans, progress reports, and grades of students without having to schedule time to see the teacher personally.  In addition, teachers can post homework that students can access from home through the web.  By promoting technology that encourages students to do more at a distance, at their convenience, and using computer resources, schools have been able to open up an opportunity for them to expand into the home or into the outside world, reducing the limitations of environment to teachers and students alike  (Businessweek).\par
\tab Teachers are set up to benefit from technology, as well.  Not only can they have greater flexibility in working with their students, they have access to greater resources.  On the web, for example, a forum called ENTI has been making news.  The volunteer-organization \f1\ldblquote\f0 English Teacher\f1\rquote\f0 s Network in Israel\f1\rdblquote\f0  has more than a thousand registered members and many more guests from 50 countries, providing visitors and members with access to more than two thousand web sites and a forum listing.   There is information to be found on nearly every subject for teachers, from lesson plans to job announcements, to special issues such as their section, \f1\ldblquote\f0 Dealing with Tragedy,\f1\rdblquote\f0   (Liptzen-Dorot, 2002).  Communication between teachers has always been considered beneficial.  The sharing of ideas among one another keeps information relatively current, and adds freshness to curriculums which are growing stale.  Normally, however, there are limitations in the number of people a teacher could communicate with.  A district would only have a handful of teachers who are in the same field and grade level.  Web-based organizations like ENTI provide the expert advice of hundreds of teachers, compared to only a few, greatly increasing the teacher\f1\rquote\f0 s personal network of support and advice-givers.   \par
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\b The Computer as a Subject\par
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\tab\b0 The demand for a workforce with computer literacy or specialized training in lucrative technology-oriented fields is pushing schools to not only integrate computers into the curriculum, but to bring in the most advanced technology and software they can afford.  Attempting to not only meet but \i anticipate\i0  the vocational possibilities for students in the future economy is part of the drive that will eventually push schools to an online environment for two reasons: cost, and demand.  \par
\tab In 1992, when local businesses began to demand that students should also graduate from high school computer literate, the school board systems in Colorado gave them what they wanted; they began to bring computerized instruction into the classes.  Then, examining the fields that were in need of workers, the board quickly expanded into high school classes in computer drafting ( Colorado).  Other high schools have introduced individual classes in typing, computer programming, desktop publishing, or as in Sebastian River High School, whole academy programs based on IT which give not only a standard high school diploma but certifications in A+, which is in computer repair, N+, for network administration, web design, graphic arts, and database design and administration in Oracle (http://www.srhs.indian-river.k12.fl.us/IT.html). \par
\tab Then, there are schools which endeavor to offer students some aspect of computer training, not only in high school, but throughout their entire education, from kindergarten to graduation.  The GHCA, or Greater Houlton Christian Academy, is just such a K-12 school.  Kindergartners learn the basics of operating a mouse, while elementary and secondary students are taught to use the computers and  the internet for research or multimedia projects.  Typing classes and the basics of computer programming are introduced in grades 7 and 8, and when they get into grade 9, they begin workshops on computer fundamentals, learning how they work and how to use several different software applications.  Tenth through twelfth graders begin specializing themselves with a selection of elective options in web design, repair, advanced computer programming, and robotics (http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6349).\par
\tab These classes and curriculums were developed expressly to satisfy a need for workers in a specific vocation, however, these classes are obviously drawing enough student and parent interest to stay.  Eventually, though, the cost of providing these classes, utilizing the best and most recent, and thus, most expensive technology, will become too great for any normal-sized school district to bear.  In order to balance the cost of running these classes, schools will need to attract more students to the program.  The demand \i is\i0  there.  How, however, is the school to offer the class to more students than they can put in the building?\par
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\b The Computer as Fabric\par
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\tab\b0 The answer is simple: the school building becomes unnecessary.  Charles Crook, who coined the phrase, \f1\ldblquote\f0 computer as fabric,\f1\rdblquote\f0  envisioned a system transformed by computer technology in 19xx.  \f1\ldblquote\f0 Imagine,\f1\rdblquote\f0  he writes, \f1\ldblquote\f0 a resource that offers to a child the following: a place close at hand where they may go at will, finding there the full breadth of human knowledge concentrated and made available in text, pictures, and other accessible formats.\f1\rdblquote\f0   While the world is familiar with such a resource today, its flaws included, known as the internet, Crook imagined this network of computers extending into the school, and perhaps, eventually, bringing the school to the home, through the very same network (Electronic children).  Today, educating people from a distance seems a natural step from expensive, technology-oriented schools.    The decentraliziation of the school system will allow the cost of building unnecessary structures to be funneled into the education.  More students can be taught with fewer, better teachers.  Administration and support staff costs could be cut significantly.  Most importantly, grade-school students can have greater flexibility in what they learn, how much they learn, when they learn, and where they learn.  \par
\tab Utilizing the desktop virtual reality, as mentioned previously, one assistant professor at the University of North Carolina hosted a distance-education course on young-adult literature for graduate students.  In addition to his \f1\ldblquote\f0 in world\f1\rdblquote\f0  classes, there was an optional class at a local coffeehouse.  By the end of the course, he noted that only three students from the class\f1\rquote\f0  compliment of twenty seven showed up in person for the optional class (desktop VR).  Distance education is already a popular option for college and university students.  Many universities and diploma schools already offer whole degrees that can be completed through online classes.  Bearing that in mind, it is logical to imagine that this could have similar applications in K-12 education and the possibilities involved in bringing traditional grade school education to the online world have applications which solve many problems that they currently are experiencing.  \par
\tab Distance education in grade school can overcome the limitations imposed by funding in local schools, lackluster curriculums in generally poor or thinly populated districts, or the necessity of building new schools in response to rapid growth in suburban areas.   William Bennett\f1\rquote\f0 s \f1\ldblquote\f0 K12\f1\rdblquote\f0  is one of several schools who already offer an entire basic high school education online.  This allows them to offer advanced placement, language, and special studies courses which run the risk of not attracting enough students in the region of a normal school district.  Such classes, the author writes, \f1\ldblquote\f0 are a boon to small rural districts and serve as a key underpinning for home schooling.\f1\rdblquote\f0    Where the population is booming, the size of a school, even one recently built, can quickly become inadequate, costing taxpayers a fortune for the construction, the latest building materials, and one-upmanship in building a bigger, more splendid school than their neighbors have (the Futurist).\par
\tab Perhaps the single largest reason that distance education is so popular with college and university students, particularly ones who must work, is that the asynchronous method of teaching, while it requires discipline and independent work,  allows immense schedule flexibility.  While younger students rarely have to fit school around a work schedule, the very same asynchronous communication used for distance education allows students to work at their convenience.  \f1\ldblquote\f0 In fact,\f1\rdblquote\f0  writes xxxx, \f1\ldblquote\f0 time barriers become irrelevant, and students could choose to work on material on the weekends, or even over the summer (virtual schooling via network).  The unexpected bonus of this is that, finally, students will have the opportunity to not only work at their convenience, but to work at their own pace, taking more or fewer classes as they deem fit.  If a more gifted student can accomplish the given week\f1\rquote\f0 s tasks for  in a few days, he or she could be able to take an additional course, above and beyond the normal curriculum.  In reverse, a student who may be a little slower should be able to decrease his courseload.  This puts the student in control of their education, rather than having to accept the one-size-fits-all curriculum developed to \f1\ldblquote\f0 teach to the middle,\f1\rdblquote\f0  (Education Wars).\par
\tab Not only will students have options that they never had before, but the quality of education should improve.  Information Age education, says *****, will require fewer teachers to \f1\ldblquote\f0 achieve the same or better results.  A few thousand of the best teachers in the United States could replace many of the other three million,\f1\rdblquote\f0  (Educational wars).  While the numbers may be happily optimistic, it is generally accepted that a teacher can reach far more students in an online medium than in a physical one, if for no other reason than they do not have to worry about cramming them into one building.  The FHS, or Florida High School, which also offers a fully-online curriculum for graduation, had thirty-one teachers as of the 2000-2001 school year, for roughly 2500 students in forty-eight classes, and those are the number of active students alone.  The majority of the classes had between two and three hundred students per class, with a few exceptions: the smallest class had only thirty three students while the largest had four hundred and six. (FHS).  Given that many high school teachers only have to endure three or four classes of about thirty students each, the improvements in efficiency are staggering, especially given that the number of support personnel is a whopping total of seven people, including the technical administrators and guidance counselors.\par
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\b Summary\par
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\b0\tab The education system is standing on the threshold of a new era.   As a subject, people will demand computer education to prepare themselves and their children for the new economy.  As a tool, computer technology  will be demanded by teachers, and students, to use within the classroom.  Technology can, and will, offer the world a newer, better type of school, no longer dependent on classrooms and strict, basic curriculums.   Both the advantages and the necessity brought about by the use of computers will encourage us to accept it.  \par
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