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For Americans to engage in a global information society, it is critical that they have access to high-speed, high-bandwidth Internet, meaning broadband. Network connectivity opens up a wealth of possibilities to K-12 educators. While it has the potential to result in fundamental changes in teaching methods, it can definitely be used to enhance already effective teaching methods. However, schools must have confidence in their network infrastructure before network connectivity will be integrated into the classroom. Networks must be reliable and quick; and, if they do not function, as expected and technical support is not readily available, then educators will not use them. Schools face challenges to the integration of broadband in teaching and learning in the areas of access, skills, policy, and motivation. Last mile support is essential and all stakeholders must work together to address the main issues facing the improvement of broadband in schools. A solution to these situations is on-site support to streamline and enable effective use of broadband-enabled technology. For most schools, the school librarian, in their roles as school leaders, can expertly direct this "last mile" implementation by providing the technology coordination, support, and leadership necessary to address access issues from desktop to district. (Contains 2 tables and 4 figures.) [This report was produced by the Florida State University PALM (Partnerships Advancing Library Media) Center. Support for this paper was provided by Gale Cengage Learning.]

The development of digital content raises new issues as rapid technological developments challenge existing business models and government policies. This OECD study identifies and discusses six groups of business and public policy issues and illustrates these with existing and potential OECD Digital Content Strategies and Policies: (1) Innovation and Technology (Encouraging R&D and innovation in content and content-related networks, software and hardware; Building an environment conducive to content production, networks, and technological spillovers; Expanding venture capital financing and improving valuation of digital content; and Addressing skills, training, education and human resource development issues); (2) Value Chain and Business Model Issues (Encouraging non-discriminatory business and policy frameworks; Increasing competition and, where appropriate, co-ordination along value chains to develop new distribution and revenue models; Working to improve technology neutrality and consistent policy treatment of digital content across different, and in some cases converging, content delivery platforms; and Working out the role of support for new business and business expansion); (3) Enhancing the Infrastructure (Widening broadband coverage and high-quality access to infrastructure and applications; Building partnerships to address technological issues related to digital content, standards and interoperability; and Improving payment and micro-payment systems, electronic signatures, authentication, and development of international interoperability and portability of these infrastructures); (4) Business and Regulatory Environment (Adapting established regulatory frameworks to digital content value chains and business models; Protecting intellectual property and related issues; Working to improve digital rights management and development of new transparent business models; and Clarifying specific taxation treatment); (5) Supply and Use of Public Sector Information and Content (Digitising and distributing public sector information and improving access to public sector content; Building the role of governments as model suppliers in putting content online; Enhancing access to local content, diversity of content supply and use; and Expanding public demand for digital content in education, health, etc.); and (6) Conceptualisation, Classification and Measurement Issues (Improving the way digital content is measured.) (Contains 76 notes, 2 boxes, 3 figures and 2 tables.)

This paper synthesizes current thought about the role of networking technologies in instruction and addresses the need for higher education to create affordable and flexible student-centered "distributed learning environments" employing networking technologies. First, relevant trends are identified in the areas of information volume, technology competency of the workforce, telecommuting, collaboration, reskilling, demographics, selectivity, government influence, and increasing demand for higher education. The current status quo is college instruction is characterized by the dominance of the lecture, little interaction, inefficiency, and the factory model. The need for change and the role of the distributed learning environment in new instructional models are emphasized. Guidelines for planning for change focus on values implicit in technology, the role of shared values, curriculum design, and computer mediated communication. The importance of institutional support is stressed in discussion of technology adoption patterns, support structure, funding, and organizational structures and relationships. Aspects of technology architecture considered include network infrastructure, content file servers, groupware infrastructure and content creation and access. The Internet's role in a distributed learning environment is also discussed. Finally, future requirements for distributed learning are suggested. Throughout the paper, sidebars provide examples of implementation at various institutions. A company profile of IBM completes the monograph. (Contains approximately 70 references.) (DB)

The purpose of this study was to develop a body of labor market information to support the development of regional information technology instructional programs by a consortium of California Community Colleges located in the San Francisco Bay Region. This collection of summaries of six occupations begins with a guide that explains the components of each summary. Included are a job description; job titles; career ladder; hours worked; compensation (wages, benefits); employer requirements (education and vocational training, experience); supply and demand; growth; openings filled; location of jobs; and estimates of employment in each industry presented in the job location section. These occupations are included in the guide: computer-aided design technicians; computer and software support technicians; computer network technicians; computer support specialists; graphic designers; and Internet web site designers and developers (webmasters). Appendixes include the questionnaire; alternate job titles; and industries represented. (YLB)

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to include support for advanced telecommunications--such as the Internet and computer networking--for elementary and secondary schools, public libraries, and nonprofit rural health care providers among the Universal Service Fund (USF) mandates. In its plan, the FCC created a system of sliding-scale subsidies for schools and libraries that would average 60% of eligible expenses. This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Paper presents the CBO's baseline estimates for federal outlays and revenues under the FCC's May 1997 plan to provide those federal subsidies. CBO estimates that outlays would rise from about $0.6 billion in fiscal year 1998 to $1.2 billion in 1999. After that, outlays are expected to increase by a little more than $0.1 billion per year, reaching $2.4 billion in 2008. CBO assumes that revenues necessary to fund those expenditures will be collected as required and that the USF will be deficit neutral on a fiscal year basis. The paper includes the basis for CBO's estimates of outlays and revenues. In keeping with the CBO's mission to provide impartial information, the paper contains no recommendations. (SWC)

This paper discusses an innovative paradigm for looking at computer mediated/networked teaching, learning, and research known as BESTNET (Binational English and Spanish Telecommunications Network). BESTNET is functionally defined as an international community of universities and institutions linked by common educational goals and processes, computers, and telecommunications. BESTNET is conceptually designed as a virtual integrated educational system for learning and teaching across geographic spaces, i.e., from one campus to another, nationally/globally. Currently, the project involves over 7,000 culturally and linguistically diverse groups of students from over a dozen institutions in the United States, Mexico, and other globally specific regions. Following an overview and description of the BESTNET design, the paper discusses the growing need for multimedia computer global network communications, related developments with translation technologies, and the adaptive infrastructure of BESTNET. (AEF)

This report identifies potential issues that the Cornell University Library (CUL) might face in supporting distance learning, and recommends solutions. While the precise budgetary implications are uncertain, additional resources, services, and personnel will need to be accounted for in the cost of serving distance learners. The report addresses: network access and authentication; acquisition and collection development; document services; reference and instruction services; faculty support; and the Library's relationship to other departments. Recommendations include: (1) CUL should play an active role in the development of distance learning policies; (2) CUL should develop a cost-recovery model to account for the additional resources, services, and personnel to support distance learners; (3) CUL should appoint a distance learning team composed of members from various key departments; (4) develop library-wide policies for support for distance learners; (5) develop a stronger relationship with CIT so that library computing needs are adequately supported; (6) actively promote indexing services; (7) explore proxy servers, permit servers, and related authentication technologies; (8) investigate 1-800 numbers for library services; and (9) increase development of Web-based training materials. (SWC)

This paper considers questions related to the integrity and accessibility of new electronic information resources. It begins with a review of recent developments in networked information resources and the tools to identify, navigate, and use such resources. An overview is then given of the issues involved in access and integrity questions. Links between access and integrity are stressed. For example, ensuring the integrity of a body of information is meaningless if there is no access to the body of information. The changing legal framework that governs the use of electronic information as contract law rather than simple sale within the context of copyright law becomes the dominant model for acquiring access to electronic information. Effects of this shift on libraries and the interlibrary loan system are examined. Other issues considered are those of the relationships between privacy and access in the electronic environment. Final sections consider identifying and citing electronic information works and networked information resources. It is emphasized that, until standards are developed and services in support of integrity and authentication are deployed, problems of access and integrity cannot be entirely resolved. (Contains 93 references.) (SLD)

For many schools in Hawaii and the Pacific, the increase of technology is a priority. A plan to improve instruction through the use of technology must be based on objectives pointing to improvement in student performance, rather than solely the acquisition of technology. The content of the curriculum needs to be developed first, with the best strategies and methods to improve teaching and learning considered later. Educators must examine why they are utilizing technology. Technology can be used for: accessing information, creating products and learning environments where teachers facilitate students' tackling of real problems, storing archives, and communicating through local and wide area networks. New technologies can help transform schools, but only if the technologies are used to support new models of teaching and learning. Distinct changes must occur in the classroom for technology to be integrated into instruction. These changes include: the switch from teacher-centered to student-centered activities; from whole class to small-group instruction; from structured to exploratory, open-ended learning; from competitive to cooperative work including group problem solving; and from classroom to whole-world interaction, using issues and case studies that require an interdisciplinary awareness and multiple resources. Issues and questions that decision-makers must consider include: how technology can be used to support existing goals, priorities, and direction; improve information management systems; change curriculum and instruction; change teacher and student roles; implications for equal access to technology and professional development; and the need to help teachers integrate technology into their instruction. (SWC)

A distributed union catalog is a network of bibliographic systems that cooperate to enable their users to discover sites that hold copies of known items. Some participating systems will be traditional union catalogs, others will be single sites with comprehensive collections, and others will be local or regional resource sharing systems. A principal goal of the distributed union catalog is to allow the user to obtain a useful number of locations for an item with a minimal number of searches. Z39.50 (an information protocol standard) is a vital tool in enabling libraries and their patrons handle resource sharing in libraries and the computing environment. For Z39.50 to be used effectively for resource sharing, implementors, particularly library system vendors, must begin to support agreed-upon mechanisms transferring locations, holdings, and circulation information in a standardized way. Various approaches and issues surrounding the electronic transfer of library holdings information through union catalogs are discussed. Appendices include a definition of an OPAC record; and USMARC for "holdings" field list. (SWC)

This is the second of four working papers on dissemination policies, commissioned in 1993 by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement. It is intended to stimulate discussion and the exchange of insights on the government's role in empowering educators to contribute to the evaluation of innovations they use to improve education. Traditionally, information has been shared in education through feedback to the teacher, and the useful information teachers can provide about the implementation and impact of innovations has often been ignored. This report describes and analyzes key types of strategies as well as technical and psychological issues in establishing strategies to develop a systematic national education dissemination system. In addition, several consumer evaluation options are presented. The growth of electronic networks has the potential to make a model of two-way communication and information-sharing possible. While the technical challenges of setting up such a system are not great, the societal and psychological challenges of regarding the teacher, student, and policy maker as a customer are large. A possible model of an information feedback system and the types of information it could collect are presented. An appendix contains some key contacts. (Contains 36 references.) (SLD)

This background paper analyzes technologies for tomorrow's information superhighways. Advanced networks will first be used to support scientists in their work, but will soon be deployed more widely in business, entertainment, health care, and education. Significant progress has been made toward the development of gigabit network technology since the basic characteristics of the design of broadband networks began to emerge in the mid-1980s. No insurmountable technological barriers to the gigabit National Research and Education Network (NREN) appear to exist, as work in the testbeds (i.e., initial testing programs) is demonstrating. Testbed networks model the configuration in which the technology is expected to be deployed, in that test sites are separated by realistic distances and realistic technological applications will be used. Testbed applications research helps researchers understand how the NREN can be used to achieve science goals and as a testbed in itself, demonstrating technology that can be deployed more widely. The following topics are reviewed: (1) the Internet; (2) broadband network technology; (3) gigabit research; and (4) application of testbed research. One table and 17 figures illustrate the discussion. Highlighted points are summarized in 10 boxes. (SLD)

This white paper proposes bringing the federal government, state governments, and the private sector together as part of a new approach to making high-speed Internet services available across the country. It proposes the creation of a new federal Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) that, together with matching funds from the states and the private and/or public sector, should be used to build open, big broadband networks of at least 100 Mbps (scalable upwards to 1 Gbps) to every home and business by 2012. U.S. state governors and foreign heads of state have found the resources to subsidize broadband deployment; the U.S. federal government should as well. The report also contains a detailed analysis of broadband deployment in the United States and in key countries around the world. Policymakers are urged to adopt this plan as soon as possible to restore our nation's leadership position in high-technology and to prepare for the 21st century. (Contains 161 footnotes.)

This paper describes the current policies and initiatives regarding the application of technology in Canada, Mexico and the United States. It also analyzes the need for policy development regarding technological networks, equipment, and educational content. The report also includes recommendations regarding specific initiatives for tri-national collaboration in the use of technology to improve higher education. The contents include descriptions of the policies and initiatives at the federal, regional, and state (provincial) levels in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Institutional policies and initiatives are also examined as are collaborations between business and higher education. The paper concludes with a summary of current policy climate in the three countries and suggests opportunities for cross-border collaboration. These include development of tri-national policies regarding accreditation of distance education courses and portability of students' knowledge and skills acquired among institutions and across borders; trinational staff and faculty training in the use of technology; trinational discipline--specific forums for faculty with similar interest; implementation of pilot projects; creation of a mechanism for international and inter-institutional sharing of information and experience; and creation of consortia and partnership models. (JLS)

This report consists of several papers written, but not published, during the course of the WARNET study of requirements for a network of relatively low-cost, interconnected combat simulators for use in training pilots for combat readiness. It is projected that such a network would allow a number of aircraft to fight each other in simulated but realistic battles and incorporate many combat factors critical to the survival of the pilots. It would also allow aircraft to interact with ground vehicles and surface-to-air missiles. It is argued that this training would enable pilots to transfer skills from training to actual combat environments without the high risk of failure due to lack of experience. This conceptual research effort used information obtained from fighter pilots and computer and training experts to examine a range of questions and options that might be considered with a network of tactical aircraft combat simulators. Although the main emphasis of the research was on training, some consideration was given to the use of such a network in aircraft development and in pilot selection. While such a network of aircraft simulators remains to be built, the results of this study suggest that such a network should be given serious consideration. (DB)

The Office of Technology Assessment is conducting an assessment of the effects of new information technologies--including high performance computing, data networking, and mass data archiving--on research and development. This paper offers a view of the issues and their implications for current discussions about Federal supercomputer initiatives and legislative initiatives concerning a national data communication network. The observations to date emphasize the critical importance of advanced information technology to research and development in the United States, the interconnection of these telecommunications technologies into a national system program, and the need for immediate and coordinated federal action to bring into being an advanced information technology infrastructure to support U.S. research, engineering, and education. High performance computers are discussed in detail using the Cornell Theory Center, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, the San Diego Supercomputer Center, and the John von Neumann National Supercomputer Center as examples. Several high performance computer facilities at the state level are also reviewed, as well as changes in the scientific computing environment, the review and renewal of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Centers, and international programs in Japan and Europe. A detailed discussion of the status of and policy issues surrounding data networking for science focused on the proposed National Research and Education Network (NREN) concludes the document. A list of reviewers and the names and affiliations of the High Performance Computing and Networking for Science Advisory Panel are included. (DB)

This paper reports information received from responses to a survey questionnaire from the presidents of 46 universities and their affiliated colleges across Canada. The questionnaire (circulated to all member institutions of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada) included queries about the experiences of the universities with communications and information technologies, and about the use of computer technology as a research tool in libraries and for distance education. The first section reports on use of the established technologies of film, television, videotape, radio, and audiotape. The second section explores the uses of computer technologies for instruction, research, networking, and conferencing. Comments on potential changes in higher education resulting from new technologies are discussed in the final section. The research questionnaire and list of responding colleges are provided. (DB)

The JANUS (Joint Academic Network Using Satellite) satellite network is being planned to link European institutions wishing to jointly produce distance teaching materials. Earth stations with capabilities for transmit/receive functions, voice/data functions, two 64 kbs channels, and connection to local telephone exchange and computer networks will be located at each institution. Initially the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) will form the core of the system, but the network is expected to grow to include enterprises concerned with distance training. JANUS will have several functions: (1) two-way communication between sites; (2) audio-conferencing; (3) electronic mail; (4) computer conferencing; and (5) experimental video-conferencing. JANUS is being designed to reduce travel costs and time, reduce communication costs, speed up joint course production, secure external funding, and improve user-friendliness of electronic messaging and data transfer. Although most functions could be provided by existing services (face-to-face meetings, public telephone systems, public switched packet networks, private data networks, and VSAT satellite networks), there are problems with the cost and quality of service. Issues to be resolved before JANUS becomes operational include earth station design, location of a suitable satellite, development of user-friendly procedures, funding, and regulation of telecommunications services. (MES)

Videotex is a generic term used to describe computerized two-way information delivery systems designed for simple, mass-market use which provide access to computer-based information via a telecommunications link and an information display, usually a modified home television set. In Canada videotex has become almost synonymous with the name Telidon, which has been described as a high level, efficient communication code for the creation, storage, and transmission of graphics and text. Telidon has been used by both academics and corporations in experiments, field trials, and applications for formal and nonformal education purposes. Flexible enough for use by people of all ages, Telidon has been applied in computer assisted instruction courses, business and information libraries, information databases, supplements to science and museum educational exhibits, distance education and teleconferencing programs, special education programs, TVOntario educational sequences, and many others. Some of the issues surrounding the use of Telidon/videotex are: (1) the need for more research, development, and evaluation in distance education, special education, and in the broader field of computers in education; (2) the need for support materials and resources; (3) the need for local access to page creation facilities (and inexpensive equipment) and the potentially prohibitive cost of the Telidon/videotex system; and (4) the effects of Telidon/videotex on privacy, employment, industrial development, technological change, and other 'social impact' questions. (30 references) (DB)

Hartwick College (New York) developed a strategic vision for its future and invested significantly in information technology to transform that vision into reality. Guided by its president and trustees, Hartwick, a small, independent liberal arts college, formed a strategic plan in phases. At a formal board retreat in 1993, with faculty, students, and staff, the college affirmed its values, developed a statement of purpose, and brainstormed ways to better educate for the future. Over the next 18 months, dozens of task forces helped create an institutional five-year program with technology as a central feature. The college equipped students, faculty, and staff with personal computers; worked to resolve platform and software issues; garnered widespread enthusiasms and support; created a campus computer communications network; and changed its administrative computing system. Ten lessons for trustee boards were identified: (1) information technology implementation must be mission-driven; (2) information technology must fit the institution's values and future; (3) information technology is a resource; (4) try to meet 90 percent of needs 90 percent of the time; (5) think workable technology; (6) standardization is key; (7) focus on people not technology; (8) think about major trends in information technology; (9) information technology is costly; and (10) information technology investments are a leap of faith. (JLS)