Perceptions Of An Impending High Speed, Broadband Network: Anticipation And Anxiety Among K-12 Teachers, Technical Support Personnel, And Administrators

摘要

The purpose of this study was to solicit educators’ perceptions of a high speed, broadband network being builtin the Canadian province of Alberta, the Alberta SuperNet. We interviewed eight administrators, teachers, and technicalsupport personnel in six Kindergarten-to-Grade 12 (K-12) schools that concentrate at teaching at a distance. Theyperceive the coming network with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. They anticipate enhancing teaching andlearning opportunities with multimedia learning objects and synchronous interaction on a faster, more reliable network.They are anxious about its associated costs, its compatibility with their existing systems, and its demands forsophisticated technical skills. This study is part of a larger, multidisciplinary SSHRC-funded project examining theaffect of the Alberta SuperNet on several aspects of Alberta society.In 2000, the federal government of Canada announced a four billion dollar plan to build a high speed,broadband Internet throughout Canada (National Broadband Taskforce, 2001). Amidst much criticism (and a keyministerial change), the plan was set aside. Convinced of the appropriateness of the plan, our provincial governmenttook on the segment of the plan that applied to Alberta. As of this writing, the Alberta SuperNet is nearly complete. Acentral part of our government’s justification for the network is its role in enhancing and extending educationalopportunities. As the SuperNet was about to arrive at their doors, we talked to administrators, teachers, and technicalsupport staff in several of Alberta’s Kindergarten-to-Grade 12 (K – 12) distance schools to ascertain their perceptionsof this coming network. (In this paper, distance schools refer to schools that undertake all of their programming at adistance through a variety of electronic and paper based technologies.) In the subsequent pages, we will report theiranticipations of how it will enhance their current practice by allowing them to use bandwidth intensive applications(e.g., videoconferencing and multimedia learning objects), and their anxieties about increasing expenses, trainingrequirements, and conflicts with existing social and technological systems.