Network Applications for Education: Costs, Benefits and Demand

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This activity aims at a systemic examination of the educational, technological and financial terrain that extends beyond the present very modest frontier of educational telecommunication activities by schools to over- the-horizon network applications. It aims at affecting NREN planning and experimentation, which should, in turn, produce data on costs, educational benefits and demand that can affect public and private sector investment decisions. It aims too at developing an initial consensus among educators on the role of wideband network applications that goes beyond the technologically and educationally modest experimentation presently visible. Project outcomes include three documents. The principal document of some 50 to 60 pages includes a suite of experimental designs and a summary assessment of their educational potential by educational policy and decision makers. Three designs, more and less educationally radical, technologically advanced and financially expensive are aimed at improving science and mathematics education; and structuring new options for school reform. A shorter secondary document describes educational needs for group software products, information services and educational databases. A final document describes some options for allocating costs and for financing educational use of local and wide-area network applications. Dissemination is planned in both print and conference formats.