COMMUNITY NETWORKING AND SCHOOLS Text of presentation to: COMMUNITY NETWORKING: THE INTERNATIONAL FREE-NET CONFERENCE held at Carleton University Ottawa, Canada August 17-19, 1993 By Marita Moll Program Assistant, Research and Information Services Canadian Teachers' Federation and Coordinator, Academy One, National Capital Freenet THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE I want to begin by thanking Tom Grundner, President of the National Public Telecommunications Network (NPTN), for his excellent motivational speech at dinner last night. Those of us who are working in the trenches, either getting a system off the ground or working to expand existing systems, need to hear about the bigger picture sometimes. However, I did have a few pangs of regret when Tom mentioned the late and great national railway system. We seem to have let that one slip through our fingers. Maybe we have a chance here to build something equally as legendary. Let's hang on to it. I am involved in this, not because of what I do for a living, although I am the information specialist at the Canadian Teachers' Federation as well as a member of the national SchoolNet Advisory Committee and a member of the Canadian Educational Networking Coalition. This has obviously influenced the direction of my involvement. Here at the National Capital Freenet (NCF), I am the coordinator of Academy One, an education module originating at NPTN which addresses the needs of elementary secondary education within community networks. However, I am speaking to you as a private citizen, because that is the nature and the strength of this entire exercise. I am a volunteer in this experiment like everyone else here, a person who believes that networking is here to stay and that it will make a big difference in our society over the next fifty years. The incredible success of the NCF in such a short period proves that there is a pent up demand within the population for access to services such as those provided by community electronic networks. I believe that the nature of our society in the future, the world which our children will live in, will be affected by this. I feel a responsibility to be involved while this is still a grassroots movement, while the community still has some control over the direction this movement is taking. It is hard not to get carried away by the excitement of the whole thing. Every now and again, I like to go back to the words of our media guru, Marshall McLuhan, who told us that "societies have often been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the content of the communication" (Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore. The Medium is the Massage; an Inventory of Effects. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1967). We are working with a force here which is larger than all of us, the effects of which we cannot predict. It is necessary to be vigilant, to constantly adjust our vision of reality as it changes around us, to be mindful of Ottawa Citizen editor Peter Calamai's warning yesterday morning that we not be lulled into thinking we are adding to knowledge when we are really only adding to information. WHY DO SCHOOLS NEED ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC NETWORKS? "...Our school establishment is strongly slanted towards left- hemisphere standards and skills. Under electronic conditions the right hemisphere gets salience and preference for the first time since the advent of the alphabet 2500 years ago" (Marshall McLuhan and Bruce R. Powers. The Global Village; Transformations in World Life and Media in the 21st Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.) We now have a generation of students accustomed to getting their information in what McLuhan called "acoustic" space -- an audio- visual method of transmitting information, a projection of the right hemisphere of the brain, a process with roots to information transfer methods in ancient storytelling cultures. By the time many of today's students get to school, they have already spent hundreds of hours learning in a right-hemisphere mode. We happily started this off years ago with Sesame Street. This widely supported television program for preschoolers has been teaching our children to count, recite the alphabet and recognize simple words for twenty years now. It seemed such a painless way of learning. Little did we realize that they were also being taught a different way of learning. Schools, on the other hand, still deliver most of their information in the "visual" mode - a primarily left-brain activity, and, according to McLuhan, a side affect of the uniform and linear character of the phonetic alphabet. If McLuhan was correct, the major role television now plays in the lives of most students, right down to the fact that even music is delivered in audio-visual packages, may have caused some fundamental shifts in how they expect to receive and process incoming information. We must start following through with more visual and interactive tools for today's generation of students. One such tool which is now becoming available to schools is the opportunity to participate in projects with other classrooms in other parts of the world through electronic networking. Such programs have been made available over the past few years by groups as varied as the National Geographic Society to NPTN's Academy One. Just as in traditional studies, a framework is provided - goals and objectives, proper planning and evaluation, material which fits into the regular curriculum. But when a class gets involved with a project going on around the world, the sense of excitement in the room is palpable. Everyone wants a part of the action. Teachers who have participated in on-line classroom projects have reported a marked improvement in participation and motivation, as well as improvement in basic skill levels. It would be nice to see electronic networks readily available in all schools as one means of making learning conditions more relevant. ARE SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS READY FOR NETWORKING? In most schools, the only part of the puzzle that is ready for networking is probably the students -- having been primed for this type of activity since their early Sesame Street watching days. Teachers are still lacking easy access to the most basic tool of modern work life -- the telephone. There is a great disparity in equipment available within schools. Some modern schools are well equipped with state-of-the-art computer labs, others are lucky to have an XT in the staff room. For those who do have equipment and the knowledge to use it, there are various networks which run projects specifically for schools. These include systems offered by the National Geographic Society, SciLink, FredMail, Big Sky Telegraph, to name a few. Many of them have costs attached - usually sign on fees, on-line time charges, and/or long distance charges. Needless to say, in today's economic crunch, these kinds of services, if they do become available, can disappear awfully quickly. This is where community networks have an important role to play. WHAT CAN COMMUNITY NETWORKS DO FOR SCHOOLS? Community networks can offer schools access to networking activities with no direct costs attached. They are a comfortable entry place to begin the networking experience and include access to many Internet services. Numerous classroom projects ranging from space launches to an international teleolympics competition are part of a rich and varied program offered annually through Academy One. Community networks can also provide a new form of interaction between schools and the community. We hear a lot today about the isolation of schools and teachers. The following excerpt from an e-mail message sent to me by a teacher leaves little doubt about how critical the situation can get: " What teachers most lack are access to up-to-date information sources, ability to communicate instantly and effectively with other people outside their island prison school environments, ability to share suffering and joy with others who share the same visions and concerns, ability to make a difference..." NCF already has many examples of ways in which it is allowing people to get in touch with the institutions in their community. I don't think enough has been made of the contributions of Carleton University to this project. The Ottawa Citizen has also clearly been a willing and valuable supporter. There will be a payoff as users interact with some of the services available here. Getting answers to science questions from a university professor, sending letters to the editor of the Ottawa Citizen on-line, having direct access to information about community events, city council meetings, courses available, registration procedures, and being able to interact with some of that information by leaving further questions -- all of these will make the institutions much more accessible to schools and the community at large. A community is made up of special interest groups, people with unique expertise in specific areas of knowledge.It has always been difficult for schools to access this pool of talent. In fact, schools are often criticized for not doing so. Community networks have the power to open many new doors for both the school and the community in this respect. WHAT CAN SCHOOLS DO FOR COMMUNITY NETWORKS? If the community networks are used by schools as an educational tool, it would raise awareness in the community that this is not just another nice toy for the already techno-literate. And we do have to make sure that the message gets through. I was attracted to this project because it addressed the computer literacy needs of those who have not had easy access to the tools and many people would not be involved if we weren't continuously working towards that goal. This medium could be another way to promote local school-business partnerships. There are few easy and direct avenues for the local business community to support the education community -- other than donating hot dogs for school events -- which they are always happy to do. Local businesses could be offered the opportunity of sponsoring a school by assisting the school in acquiring the equipment and phone lines which would give them access to community networks. They could become visible supporters of an exciting and dynamic new learning tool. Sounds like a public relations winner to me. THE LAST SPIKE It is interesting to note that, just like the railways in the early part of this century, the large scale introduction of networking is bringing many people in touch with worlds far beyond their previous horizons. We have much to learn in dealing with this new world. But now that the train is in motion, I do not think that it can be stopped. I hope that our common goals will include ensuring that there will be many free and easy access points for those who choose to travel this route -- and that many of the early tracks will lead directly into schools. There, a new generation of travelers is waiting to hear that voyages of exploration into previously uncharted territory are not just an item in a history text. -- Marita Moll Ottawa, Ontario Canada aa319@freenet.carleton.ca