Document Type
Issue Area Five
Abstract
As a consultant in an area education agency, I have "lived" Internet for the last six months to a year. In that time, I have experienced the gamut of emotions from delight to depression. We embarked on the Internet journey for real in September, 1993, when the Star Schools Grant supported the Internet activities in Iowa schools. Since that time, Internet access has been a paramount concern for Area Education Agency (AEA) 13 and most others across the state. We have wandered through the maze of software and equipment problems to enable our schools to go online successfully. Just as we were experiencing success and were at the doorstep of actually bringing Internet into the classrooms, the toll-free phone line was discontinued because the Star Schools funding ran out.
When we talk about Internet access for Iowa, we are talking about a huge equity issue for schools as well as for other groups. In Iowa, we have a myriad of small communities who only have access to an Internet connection through a long distance carrier. The Internet is not a resource where students or teachers get on, find what they need, and get off in a matter of minutes. An Internet search can chew up substantial amounts of time and when that time is being metered in dollars and cents into infinity, administrators understandably become very nervous. Uncontained costs are very difficult for school districts to accept, especially when so many different parties within a school have access.
Journal Title
Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series
Volume
5
Issue
3
First Page
129
Last Page
130
Publisher
Institute for Educational Leadership, University of Northern Iowa
City
Cedar Falls, IA
Copyright
©1995 Institute for Educational Leadership, College of Education, and the University of Northern Iowa
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Weber, Marilyn
(1995)
"Internet Access: The "Haves" and the "Have Nots","
Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series: Vol. 5:
No.
3, Article 42.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/iel_monographs/vol5/iss3/42
