Case Study: A Future for Electronic Communications in Education?

Abstract

Future computer networks for education in the twenty‐first century appear to assume extensive worldwide networks which use the processing power of the computer terminal to enhance the value of the multimedia information transmitted. Current systems in the UK have pioneered valuable work, but because of inherent design problems of the present central systems and the move towards local management of schools, current global interconnections may be restricted to a few pupils in a few schools. This paper describes a new distributed structure for electronic communications in education, in which microcomputer nodes based in initial teacher training institutions are linked together using the national and international networks developed for higher education and research. Such systems are already in place in some states in the USA. The paper also describes a second system through which audio, software and text information are communicated using an ICL desktop conferencing system and ISDN2 telephone lines. The most important aspect of these developments is not the technology, but a way of making technology work to enhance education and training so that it empowers both the learners and their guides, the teachers.