ISOC Document Title: Proposed ISOC Role in Support of Primary and Secondary Education Author: Richard Perlman, David Lassner Date14 September 1995 Body: Board of Trustees Document: 95-067 Revision: basic Supersedes: - Status: MaintainerR. Perlman Access: unrestricted Coments to: rdperlm@PacBell.COM or david@hula.its.Hawaii.Edu Contents: * Purpose * Proposed Actions and Activities * Required Resources * Acceptance and Implementation * Glossary --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Purpose: The Internet Society should make specific committments to support Primary & Secondary education Internet activities to further the understanding, and application of Internet technologies in the educational process. The goal of this work is to enable students and teachers to access information on the global net and also contribute information back to the net. It is our belief that this exchange of information benefits the educational process and provides students the means to enhance and augment their education and thus determine and achieve their personal career and life goals. ------------------------------------------------------------ In order to achieve this purpose ISOC should consider engaging in following actions and activities over a three year period: Year One * Develop sources of funding for ISOC expansion of Primary & Secondary education activities. The major effort should be toward coprorate and foundation contributions with a goal of at least $25,000 in the first year. * Develop, or assure the availability of, catalogs of activities, projects, resources, people, and software development efforts concerned with Primary & Secondary educational applications of the Internet. This information would serve to facilitate connections and collaborations between teachers, developers, technicians and others in the field (i.e. a clearinghouse for Internet Primary & Secondary educational activities). Coordinate with other groups (i.e. Global School Net) to avoid duplication of efforts and guarantee coordination of efforts.) The goal of such a clearinghouse would be for anyone interested in education to find resuorces related to her/his needs at an appropriate level, cost, location, etc. * Support and participate in the ISOC developing countries activities with specific information and programs designed for primary/secondary schools and teaching and learning in general. * Encourage the coordination and collaboration of educational efforts with and between groups and organizations like: o IETF o W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) o CNIDR o CoSN o ISTE o NSF o US Dept. of Ed. Office of Educational Technology and other similar national organizations. o Soros Foundation o I-Earn o Regional Education Laboratories o etc. This list will need to be carefully evaluated to yield a short list of organizations and groups that will produce the most highly leveraged results and can be managed within the resources available for Primary & Secondary education in ISOC. It is suggested the top two organizations be selected for the first year, and then additional groups added at the rate of one or two per year or as resources permit. * Coordinate the education related elements of the annual INET conference and provide year to year continuity for Primary/Secondary education related elements. Direct an annual Primary/Scondary school 'colloquim' to be held in conjunction with INET. Additionally, assure that both the colloquim and INET workshops are part of a well thought development process that maintains a planned direction and builds over time. Year Two * Expand corporate fund raising and promote ISOC membership in the Primary & Secondary community. New ISOC members could be asked to select an area of interest and that show of interest might be used to allocate some amount of funding. As a related initiative reciprocal membership discounts might be arranged for members of other related organizations such as ISTE, CoSN, NCTM, etc. * Prepare and distribute promotional materials for the use of networking in Primary & Secondary education. This might also include an ISOC Primary/Secondary web page and a periodic (quarterly) news letter. * Promote the use of Internet technology in education through ISOC participation in and/or suport of selected education and Industry forums like. o TelEd o NECC o IETF o etc. * Initiate and sponsor regional Primary & Secondary education mini-INET conferences directly focused on the needs of educators. This should have self-sufficiency as a goal and might be spun off once it is functioning at an self-supporting level. This activity might be managed in cooperation with local ISOC chapters. Year Three * Advocate the views and needs of the Primary & Secondary educational community to the Internet product developers and vendors. This should be closely coordinated with the IETF Internet School Networking (isn) working group which is chartered to advocate the needs of schools to the engineering groups. * Represent educational Internet users in legislative and policy making forums. This function should be performed in close coordination with local chapters and other groups like CoSN. Given the International nature of ISOC, much of this work would be directed towards developing guidelines for policy development and support. If no unique and additive role can be found then this activity should not be pursued. ------------------------------------------------------------ What resources are needed to perform these activities: A permanent position at ISOC in support of Primary & Secondary education. While this job would initially be part-time and staffed by a volunteer, it should move toward being a full-time paid position. As part of the creation of this position thought must be given to the selection process, length of assignment, and accountability for effectiveness and quality of the work. Since this position will have direct responsibilities to the Primary & Secondary education communities it is strongly suggested that they have a significant role in the selection and oversight processes. Such a voice might be established through the creation of a Primary/Secondary advisory committee or similar group. Additional volunteers to work in workshops, interface with other organizations, perform clearinghouse functions, etc. An observer role for Primary & Secondary Education on the ISOC Board of Trustees to ensure the involvement of Primary & Secondary education in the ISOC leadership process. Clerical/staff support - 5-8 hours per week Additional volunteer staff for events. Budget for travel, material production expenses, phone costs and misc. expenses. $40,000. Budget for conference and workshop support - $80,000. This amount should probably be set as a matching fund for corporate and other contributions with a total funding goal of $160,000. ------------------------------------------------------------ Proposed Acceptance and Implementation Procedure: After review by the interim Primary/Secondary co-chairs this document should be circulated among a select group of ISOC members, teachers and people in related organizations (like CoSN, ISTE, IETF, etc.) for comments and upgrades. It should be then presented to the ISOC President input and suggestions. A specific proposal for implementing the ideas discussed in this document should then be created and after re-review with the ISOC President and Executive committee presented to the ISOC Board of Trustees. This will serve to inform the Board of the direction proposed for ISOC in the Primary/Secondary field and allow for their concurrance of any aspects of the plan that might require Board approval. Barring objections from the Board, the plan should then be implemented by the ISOC President and Director. ------------------------------------------------------------ Glossary of terms: Primary & Secondary Education The schools and related orgainzations providing education for childern and youth generally between 5 and 18 years of age. In some countries "career schools" are options in the secondary grades. Primary & Secondary education does not include Colleges and Universities, post-secondary Trade schools, Community and Junior colleges or other institutions of higher learning. The term "Primary & Secondary education" is preferred over "K-12" since it is more generaly descriptive of the schooling processes around the world. K-12 Grades Kindergarten through 12. These are the normal grades/levels for Primary and Secondary education in the US. Teaching and Learning The broad term for the lifelong education process. Includes Primary/Secondary, Higher Education, Trade and career training and adult education.