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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.