April 2002 — Editorial
Print this article | Email this articleClick here to receive your FREE subscription to T.H.E. Journal
Educators' Acceptance of Computer Technology?
They have found courses that feature both the Web and face-to-face presence produced the same or superior success rates when compared to similar face-to-face or fully online courses. It has become extremely important for educational institutions to serve residential students as well as those who cannot come to campus. However, despite this increased use of the Internet, we have not yet begun to understand how to use the Web most effectively in education.Government, state and local support is expected to increase. The "No Child Left Behind" 2002 education school budget is forcing schools to be accountable for their students' learning through mandatory annual testing that will require the assistance of technology for both testing and instruction. Districts in which 15 percent or more of their students come from low-income families will have more flexibility in how they spend Title I money. But, big cities such as Chicago, which gains 29 percent more in Title I allocations, tend to gain the most.
Many states are also involved with statewide initiatives on the use of technology. For example, the Florida Department of Education provides financial support in incorporating schoolwide technologyas part of the school improvement process. Local school systems, in their desire for reform, are spending more on technology with funds from local referendums, businesses and parent groups.
However, money for research in education has declined. U.S. universities and colleges conduct about 48 percent of all basic research in the country, with the federal government funding nearly half of that. In the past 10 years, the majority of increases in federal and state support have been in medicine and the life sciences. For the physical sciences, computer science and engineering, basic research funding has declined more than 20 percent over the last decade. It is also interesting to note that President George W. Bush's fiscal 2003 budget boosts IT spending by 15.6 percent over fiscal 2002, as the country wages war on terrorism. This increase is in sharp contrast to the 1 percent increase in IT spending last year. Educators have also requested a 1 percent increase from the fiscal 2002 budget of $574.7 billion to $580.3 billion in the fiscal 2003 budget. An agency-by-agency comparison of 2003 IT funding is posted on Federal Computer Week's Web site at www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0218/how.pdf.
As educators, we must keep with technology, which is moving so quickly it becomes obsolete before we have a chance to understand its implications and applications.
