Chapter 6: The Internet Comes to School

Welcome to Cyberschools' preview page. Here you can glimpse part of Chapter 6's contents.

Higher Ed Takes Advantage

Universities are taking advantage of the Internet. In the United States, Pennsylvania State University offers three courses on-line. In the United Kingdom, Open University is offering two computer science courses via the Web. In Mexico, the Monterrey Institute of Technology complements its TV courses with the Internet.

On-Line Pioneers

ConnectEd, a spinoff of New York City's New School, for several years has offered an on-line master's degree program in communications. The University of Phoenix offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in cyberspace via the University of Phoenix On-Line.

K-12 Education Gets Wired

In primary and secondary education the Global Schoolhouse links students in 12 U.S. states and six countries.
KIDLINK is a global kids kaffeklatch, where kids from classrooms all over the world can interact.
In Canada, British Columbia's New Directions in Distance Learning and other provincial distance learning agencies have Internet-delivered and complemented courses.
Cable in the Classroom, a U.S. cable industry initiative offered to wire every school in that country for cable and Internet access via cable modems for free. The job will be done as cable systems in the United States rebuild their infrastructures.

Access

The good news is that Internet usage continues to grow. Personal computer penetration in all parts of the world is increasing, too
The bad news is that even with the growth in computer penetration and Internet usage, there is a long way to go. In the United States only 3% of the classrooms are connected.

What's Next?

Virtual reality -- the "complete environment." Work is under way at media laboratories in universities around the world to create curricula based in virtual reality technology.

Also in this chapter

Potential for on-line education in Latin America;

Internet initiatives in several U.S. states and localities;

Statistics on Internet usage and computer ownership worldwide;

Smart card technology;

Remote exploratoriums;

Breaking the technology cost barrier.