NetTech, the Northeast Regional Technology in Education Consortium, is a partnership designed to provide the vision, experience, and expertise needed to assist schools (K-12) and other educational institutions to plan, implement, continuously evaluate and refine effective educational uses of technology. NetTech, funded by a five year federal grant and led by CUNY, is designed to address the critical gaps in educational technology policy and infrastructure, while pooling the considerable expertise of its partners. Project progress will be featured regularly in FYeI.

It's good when children are excited about their school work, but when their excitement incites parents, teachers, and even friends to volunteer hours of spare time to participate in an unusual school project, that's more than nice, that's news!

This is precisely what occurred recently when children in NYC's Community School District 20 participated in a NetTech project designed to get them online.

As part of the program, each of the participating 29 schools was connected to the Internet and required to develop a web-based curriculum project by the end of the 1996-1997 school year.

The multi-ethnic, culturally and economically diverse district covers the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, and Borough Park. Of the 22 primary and 7 intermediate schools that participated in the project, many included students whose primary language is not English. "It was a huge challenge because in many of these schools, teachers, parents, and students had little or no exposure to the technology," said Bonnie Brownstein, NetTech Co-Director and President of the Institute for Schools of the Future. "We were very pleased with the results," she said, "and unusual peer pedagogy emerged as parents, students, and teachers broke traditional roles to forge more effective learning alliances, since more often than not, the children were the recognized experts."

Child-centered Learning

A.E. Dreyfuss, an expert in the field of educational design and implementation who directed the project, has been observing the impact the Internet appears to be having on the way that children learn. "The real story here," says Dreyfuss, "is the fact that this particular technology forces us to re-think our current ideas about pedagogy. The kids now have greater control over what information they receive and how and when they receive it. Suddenly we're questioning the learning process itself as well as a multitude of socialization issues surrounding education. Child-centered tutelage which allows a pupil to learn at his or her own pace could replace classical instruction where content and pace are controlled entirely by the teacher. There are no models for it, so, we're in that exhilarating, but often confusing state of discovery." It's evident that new technology will drive the shifts that ultimately grant students much greater freedom with respect to their education.

On-site trainers included three CUNY faculty members: Dr. Michael FitzGerald, Professor of Philosophy at Medgar Evers College, Professor Bruce Naples, of the Department of Electronic and Computer Technology at Queensborough Community College, and Deirdre Armitage, an Adjunct in the Department of Education at the College of Staten Island. They provided technical training in the use of the Internet and the world wide web and showed teachers and students how to create web pages. Said FitzGerald: "The reach of technology tools for publishing on the world wide web now extends to third graders whose work can be read by thousands of people scattered around the globe. If this is a harbinger, the educational impact of the Net and the web will be greater than that of the printing press-a startling realization." Professor Naples agrees. "The ability to use hypertext and hypermedia is revolutionizing instruction and the consequences will be enormous."

The District 20 Web Projects

Carole Hinkelman, Technology Director for District 20, noted that from the Project's inception, the District's philosophy was to approach it as a curriculum project. "Hardware and software issues were not separated from curiculum issues. The web projects allowed us to research an interest that the school community could then present to the entire world: utilizing current technology while preparing for the incorporation of new technology in the service of curriculum planning." The 29 curriculum projects produced by the schools in District 20 differed considerably in content and format. Included were online book reviews, poems, recipes, contests, ethnic studies, biology projects, architectural renderings, door quilts, comic strips, murals, and even a mock government. The sites had text, illustrations (including those in this article) and links to other web pages; some had interactive components and a few included video portions. For a more in-depth look, point your browser to: http://www.nettech.org/ District20/default.htm

Each of the projects had a unique flavor, an outcome which pleased everyone. "We provided training to educators who participated in the program, but very little structure on which to base their projects," said Dreyfuss, "We knew that the Web afforded endless possibilities and we didn't want to obstruct imaginative uses of it." That tactic paid off; the projects bore little resemblance to one another and the cumulative knowledge gained as a result was considerable.

An unusual project by PS 186 was the development of a school government. It was based on facts about the United States government which the students researched online. Once their research had been completed, the students wrote a school version of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights and elected their own Senate and House of Representatives. An instructor who worked on the project was amazed by their enthusiasm. She attributed it to the excitement of playing with new technology, declaring, "They were so ecstatic, that they literally got half the neighborhood involved. Had this been a regular written project, they would never have responded in this way."

Other Reactions

Most of the children admitted their intrigue was largely due to the technology and as they quickly began to master it, many agreed that the project had taught them a great deal. Said one, "I learned a whole lot about computers and now I know more than my Dad."Another was elated to have found so much information in one place so easily, and quipped, "the best part about it was that I got all this stuff by just pushing buttons." A third-grade girl was impressed with the fact that she now had access to people all over the world. "I could go anywhere I wanted," she said, "I even talked to someone from China." Acquiring new skills received favorable mention from a fifth-grade boy: "I learned how to make a web page, and how to link our page to someone else's. It was really cool." One fourth grader thought it was "neat to get all this stuff without going to the library. What I liked best was saving time." And one child, who had tremendous difficulty concentrating during a normal class had absolutely no problem focusing while he was online. So much so that he told his teacher, "this computer helps me think better, it makes my brain work better," leading her to speculate about the positive impact of computer technology on the learning disabled.

Community Involvement

Volunteer groups of teachers, students, parents, and friends came together day and night to work on the mock government developed by P.S. 186. Christina Tettonis, the educator in charge of that project was busily arranging training: "So many people volunteered that we had to hold classes after school and on weekends." She insisted that the rush to participate was inspired by her students' excitement which was absolutely contagious. Another instructor gave district parents kudos for their involvement, commenting that "they truly understood the importance of computer literacy for their children and they didn't just pay it lip service, they actually followed through with real support."

One teacher was proud of the children's persistence. "They would keep at it until they figured out how to make it work; their fascination with the technology kept them going; we adults seem to knuckle under to frustration more easily." She discovered something else, "the kids were actually excited by the fact that they had to teach us what to do. They enjoyed the power and control. It was amusing, but also quite informative."

Vincent Grippo, Superintendent of District 20, expressed his pride in the working partnership among the District, NetTech, CUNY, and Institute for Schools of the Future. He acknowledged that the collaborative effort "would place District 20 in the forefront of technology."

Parents' Responses

Parents had interesting reactions to the projects and to the technology. Many, who really didn't know what to expect, were pleasantly surprised. One parent was visibly moved when she heard the children in her group boasting about their accomplishments. For their project (a study of Patricia Palacco, a well-known author of children's books), these third graders at P.S. 229 wrote book reviews and drew illustrations. The parent, a professional art director, watched them become enraptured when their own words appeared online next to a writer of Palacco's stature. "As they saw their work materialize on screen knowing it would soon be live before a global audience," she said "feelings of pride and empowerment began to well up in them and I suddenly started to appreciate the project on a whole new level and became keenly aware of the extraordinary power of technology to affect social change."

Support for these programs is not universal, however. There may be parents who are afraid of the Internet because they cannot control the access that some untrustworthy adults may have to their youngsters. Helene Fink, a director of one of three academies at I.S. 187, believes that these problems should not prevent children from using computers. "It's our responsibility to teach our children about dangers on the Internet just as we teach them how to play safely or avoid strangers in the street."

Other parents,who are becoming more savvy about the Internet, have developed ways to monitor their children's online excursions to ensure avoidance of questionable websites. One mother changes her password daily in order to control her son's usage when she isn't available to act as a chaperone.

While the percentage of fearful parents is decreasing, many adults are simply intimidated by the technology, perceiving it as too complicated or difficult to understand. As an antidote, computer advocates suggest that these adults become more involved with computers and claim that exposure to technology helps. As one educator who participated in a NetTech project can attest: "I was completely phobic before this project and, quite frankly, wanted nothing to do with computers. But now that I see what they can do and how easy they are to operate, I'm having a really good time. So much so, that I'm picking up my new computer today. If it hadn't been for the web project, I'd probably still be afraid of them."

Conclusions

As the world becomes increasingly technology dependent, educational institutions must respond. Said Mike Ribaudo, NetTech Co-Director and head of CUNY/CIS, "The importance of computer literacy to the success of our nation is strongly evidenced by the Presidental mandate to complete the Internet2 initiative by the year 2000 and we must make every effort to prepare our children for it."

NetTech's goal is to help elementary and secondary schools in its region achieve computer literacy by providing them with access to and training on computers as well as instruction about the Internet and its use. "NetTech's District 20 Demonstration Project," says Superintendent Grippo, "is a tremendous opportunity to prepare our students for their role in a highly technological society."

The children of District 20 have demonstrated their desire, capability, and willingness to change by exploring technology and its uses in the classroom. If this project is any indicator, they're off to an excellent start.

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