Jayme Jaramillo
Bushweller,
Kevin. American School Board Journal:
Technology Focus. “Gateways to the
Internet: A host of companies want to be your district’s customized education
portal”. http://asbj.com.2000/11/1100technologyfocus.html
Accessed 5/31/03.
Computer companies are contacting school
systems and trying to entice them to access their Internet Company by promising
financial rewards. Unfortunately, the
promises, along with the dot.com world, often falls apart, are leaving school
systems with wasted time. This exact
scenario has happened in many districts.
For example, Kickstart.com promised the Denver school system 2.5 cents
each time students and/or accessed information through their Internet site, but
Kickstart.com ran out of money and could not pay the school system. An education portal, which some people
believe is imperative for safe research by students, is a search engine, which
tailors the needs of the users and tries to make Internet research more user
friendly. Education portals are being
created constantly and competing to gain the service of school systems;
however, it is hard to know which portals are reputable. The state of Virginia just signed a deal
with AOL@SCHOOL, a new education portal. The companies promise to decipher between
useful and useless web sites. Another
new Internet program created by SchholNet is being attempted in South
Carolina. The program creates a
one-room electronic schoolhouse, which can be accessed by parents, teachers,
students, etc. The problem is
determining whether or not the company is promoting education or economic gain.
The article is very informative and
provides concrete examples of how the business world can rob school
systems. Although computers are an
imperative part of education, they cannot replace traditional classroom
instruction for all students. Computers
and technology should be used to enhance learning, but school systems should be
apprehensive before putting too much time into new start-up programs. Education systems, such as AOL@SCHOOL are probably more trust-worthy than a
small dot.com company trying to increase user numbers. It is a difficult situation, because school
systems want to provide students with state of the art equipment and help them
succeed. It is hard to determine
whether a new system, which sounds tremendous, is worthwhile or a waste of
time. This is a prime example of the
business world and politics playing a role in the world of education. There are benefits to using education portal
systems, because they can monitor student Internet access and only provide reputable
sites. Although computers have been
around for quite some time now and are a part of our everyday lives, there is
always more to learn and beware of!