A review of the research and identification of research gaps on the impact and effective uses of online tools and resources in the classroom

Report

submitted to

SchoolNet / Rescol

by TeleLearning Network Inc.

Jean Benoit, Laval University (Ph. D. History)
Dr. Robert Bracewell, McGill University
Dr. Alain Breuleux, McGill University
Dr. Thérèse Laferrière, Laval University

Draft

October 10, 1998

Contractor:

TeleLearning Network Inc.
Contact person : Joanne Curry

1. Introduction

The goal of this documentary review is twofold: 1) to update the Documentary Review published on SchoolNet in the summer of 1996, entitled The Contribution of New Technologies to Learning and Teaching in Elementary and Secondary Schools; and 2) to identify research gaps on the impact and effective uses of online tools and resources in the classroom.

According to Unesco's most recent report on Worl Education (1998),

"In the education systems of the advanced industrial countries, computers are currently utilized mainly in three roles: first, the traditional one as a means of ensuring that students acquire a minimum level of computer literacy; second, as a means of supporting and enriching the curriculum; and third, as a medium for interaction between teachers and learners, between learners and between teachers." (p. 84)

The Report goes on to stress that "it is in respect to the third of the three roles () that the computer and associated communication technology could potentially have the most significant implications for conventional education." (p. 87).

In his introduction of state-of-the-art practices for the 1998 ASCD Yearbook on Learning with Technology, Chris Dede remarked: "The Yearbook focuses on exemplary projects with the potential to reconceptualize schooling." (p. V). He went on stressing four types of improvements in educational outcomes of technology-based pedagogical strategies: learner motivation, advanced topics mastered, students acting as experts, and better outcomes on standardized tests (1997, pp. 210-211). that is, higher scores on conventional measures of achievement designed to assess a narrow range of knowledge.

2. Definitions

For the purpose of this review,

online resources and tools are understood to mean the information technology (IT) applied to teaching and learning for 1) the delivery of educational material (instructional technology), 2) the guidance and facilitation of the experience of the student (learning technology), and 3) the support of communities of learners (collaborative learning). "These technologies have the ability to provide access to world-wide resources; facilitate the accumulation and presentation of data; and enable communication, interaction, and collaboration among students and instructors to improve the practice of teaching and the experience of learning." (NSF, 1996, p. V);

effective use of online resources and tools is understood to mean those "applications that engage students with the material, illustrate complex systems or relationships, and encourage interaction with other individuals or teams. Ultimately, the technology tools should become transparent as they engage the user with the material, enabling immersion in the learning process on an individual basis or as part of a community." (NSF, 1996, p. V)

telelearning is understood to mean the use of multimedia computers networked to other computers for learning purposes. (TL-NCE Research Proposal). Learners using computers networked together may get access rapidly from any site at diversified information data or people.

computer-mediated-communication (CMC) has been defined by Kaye (1991) in the following terms : " The use of computers and computer networks as communication tools by people who are collaborating with each other to achieve a shared goal, which do not require the physical presence or co-location of participants, and which can provide a forum for continuous communication free of time constraints. " (p. 5).

cognitive and social impact of teachers and learners working in partnership with technology is understood to be the object of study, that is, research that may be classified as "effects with " rather than "effects of ". This approach contrasts with the study of the effects of technology on learning and teaching (Salomon, Perkins & Globerson, 1991; Salomon, 1996). This shift from learning from media to learning with media in emerging technology research, is noted by Hannafin, Hannafin & Hoover (1996) in the following terms: "this research with technology focuses on how human processing changes in distinct, qualitative ways when an individual is engaged in an intellectual activity using the computer as a tool. Taken interactively, an intellectual partnership is formed between the individual and the technology; the resultting changes to cognition cannot be understood when the individual or the technology are considered apart." (p. 392).

Therefore, this review look into how networks can support collaborative knowledge production and design by students (not just access to information).

3. Methodology

The online search spanned three years (1996-1998) on the contribution of new information technologies to learning and teaching in elementary and secondary schools and universities. The search was exhaustive and emphasize articles, reports, papers and book chapters meeting the criteria for scholarly publications. Excluded from the search were studies on distance education, libraries and conference proceedings. Proceedings were judged to be exploratory in nature and usually do not report final conclusions and findings. Finally, a search using Internet search engines such as Alta Vista or Excite was also excluded. It was thought that the set of citations retrieved would be too large, many of the articles would not meet scholarly criteria and that it would be difficult to evaluate and authenticate the studies. However, online articles, reports, and papers meeting scholarly criteria are included. (See Appendice A, Methodological Notes)

Marcos Silva and Tina Newman, graduate students in the Cognitive Laboratory at McGill University, and M'Hammed Abdous at Laval University conducted the search. Mr. Silva possesses searching skills from his training as an academic librarian and Ms Newman was familiar with the research terminology used by Profs. Bracewell and Breuleux. Mr. Abdous has been working for three years with Dr. Laferrière as a member of the TACT (Technology for Advance Collaborative Tearning) Team. Mr. Benoit has a Ph. D. in History and he is working with Dr. Laferrière as a new member of the TACT Team. He wrote the final draft of the section on Higher Education.

4. Preliminary remark :

High access and proD, a rare combination of events

The networked classroom,--that is, a classroom where there is an easy access to a computer linked to an intranet and the Internet--is a very exceptional reality in K-12/13 and postsecondary education systems in Canada. Universities, colleges, and schools may be connected to the Internet, but rare are the classrooms using online resources and tools for learning purposes. Most of those having access are still in the process of learning about information and communication technologies, rather that with it. A classroom will, for instance, go to the high school/college/university computer lab(s) at specific times for hands-on activities. Or the teacher may borrow a data projector to support a presentation or demonstration. Interpreting surveys on the uses of computers in schools, Unesco concludes that "it is clear that computers are now beginning to be used by the schools for more things than just computer literacy." (p. 81). The Third International Mathematics and Science Study carried out in 1994-1995 found four educational systems where up to one-third of the students (14-year-olds) reported that computers were used "at least once in a while" during their science classes. (as cited by Unesco, 1998, p. 85).

Here and there educational actors are mobilizing and reallocating resources to provide the conditions (connectivity, professional development, and content development) for the use of online resources and tools. A research component may be added in order to document the process, and identify early results. This documentary review captures such experiments, ones that call for nothing less than changing roles in education as electronic connectivity progressively becomes a reality (see Berge, 1997).

Thus, the results of this documentary review are to be considered as reflecting the lessons learned, and made public for the sake of further inquiry. The reader will get glimpses into experiments reflecting social actors' early results into mobilizing resources to face issues of connectivity, teacher professional development, and content in order to initiate a practice of use of online resources and tools.

5. The models of use

The TL*NCE research team on educating the educators has adopted the model of the teacher as a reflective practitioner to study telelearning technologies. Effective use of online resources and tools for teaching and learning purposes requires constant deliberative professional judgment on the part of the teacher. As Schön puts it (1987), the teacher must be " attentive to patterns of phenomena, skilled at describing what [he or she] observes, inclined to put forward bold and sometimes radically simplified models of experience, and ingenious in devising tests of them compatible with the constraints of an action setting " (p.322). Alternatively, there is a growing number of teams of technology and content experts working at providing the classroom with educational materials that take advantage of the multimedia and interactive properties of computers. The assumption of the review team is that in order to meet the social expectations of a knowledge society, the networked classroom will have to rely on both developments. On the one hand, the professional teacher will have to facilitate students' access to online resources and tools, and guide inquiry-based learning, and collaborative knowledge-building. On the other hand, highly interactive tutorials and simulation activities will have to engage learners in individual or cooperative learning tasks, thus allowing the teacher to interact more at length with a student or a group of students in order to identify misconceptions or deepen students' understanding of some subject matter.

The literature that we reviewed supports a mixed model of classroom use of online resources and tools. This mixed model is more visible in the research on higher education, for instance, the instructor him- or herself puts course materials on line while engaging in face-to-face and online conversations with the students. In the elementary or high school classroom where collaborative research has been conducted, the most innovative and promising practices centered around authentic problem-solving, inquiry-based learning, and collaborative knowledge-building. Most findings are context and process rather than content or outcome related ­ see the propositions below. This is to say that the current use of online resources and tools is likely to be guided by personal theories-in-use rather than by reflective practice that takes into account empirical evidence. Thus, learning outcomes, as measured by standardized tests, are bound to vary greatly from study to study in these early stages of the use of online resources and tools.

Given these considerations, we chose to go back to Schwab's (1973) four constituents (vital factors, commonplaces) of the educational situation " someone teaching something to someone in a given context " in order to provide a model or framework within which to consider the results of our literature search. In addition, we elaborated each of Schwab's four constituents (teacher, content, learner, and context) along a continuum or dimension that is relevant for treating the role and effects of online technology in the classroom:

The teacher (continuum: from transmission to facilitatation). The " someone " teaching may be a teacher in front of the class giving a lecture, but he or she may also be a peer, or an online expert coaching a student into writing as in the case of the Writers in Electronic Residence Program (WIER, see Wideman, 1997). The continuum highlights the role of the teacher, in that at one extreme the teacher may be primarily concerned with delivering content information to the learner, while at the other extreme, he or she may be concerned primarily with facilitating actvities of the learner that result in learning.

The content (continuum: from " canned " to constructed). The " something " that is being taught may be at one extreme an already existing fact or body of knowledge; at the other extreme it may be theme or project that is actively being built up by the learner (e.g., the Madagascar whistling coackrache ?cockroach, Lamon &, 1997).

The learner (continuum: from limited access to online resources to free access to online resoruces). For the purposes of this review, the learner is considered in a highly focussed way, namely with respect to the degree of access he or she is able to achieve to online resources in the classroom or school. Thus, this constituent includes both the technology that is at the learner' disposal and the learner's competence in using it. At one extreme the learners might be in an elementary classroom going to the computer once a week to learn TapTouch, and later on visiting a few sites as part of an electronic fieldtrip; at the other the learners might be in a PROTIC classroom where every junior high learner has a laptop networked to a server which provides intranet- and Internet-connectivity). The signficance of this focus will be seen below when we integrate possible combinations of the constituent dimensions.

The context for the use of online resources (continuum: from low external support for online use to high external support for online use). As with the learner constituent, the context is considered in a very focussed way for the purpose of this review. What we are concerned with here is to what extent the situation of online use includes a champion (or champions) capable of mobilizing resources, bringing together stakeholders (teachers, adminstration, parents) who can support classroom activites, and acting as a resource person to the teacher outside the classroom.

The utility of these constituents can be seen when we create clusters of extreme dimensions in order to highlight the relationship between possible combinations and performance (learning) outcomes :

- one extreme combination is the teacher transmitting a canned content to a resource-poor student in a context in which there is little support for using online resources. This combination (although somewhat stereotypic) characterizes the traditional classroom.

- the other extreme combination is the teacher as a facilitator working with learners who are building content through the use of online resources in a context which provides support for such online use. This combination characterizes an envisioned possibility towards which efforts such as the Knowledge Society Network are working (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1996)

The framework also allows us to classify other possible combinations of online use which have been reported in research on online technology in the classroom. One combination is the situation of having access to experts through online resources in which the expert (as the teacher constituent) is primarily transmitting content to a learner who has access to online resources. The Writers in Electronic Residence Program (WIER, see Wideman, 1997) is an example of this combination. The context in this situation is highly salient--one of the principal concerns of the teachers and researchers involved in the WIER project is the establishment of information technology resources that ensure an easy and timely response of the experts to student requests for feedback (R. Owsten, personal communication). Another possible combination is the situation of the learner having access to online resources, which are used primarily to receive content from external databases. The role of the teacher is to ensure that the information received is accurate; thus the context is one in which access to online resources is supported to this extent. An example of this combination can be found in Saye (1997), who interviewed secondary school teachers and students on their orientation and attitudes to the use of online resources. In Saye's apt metaphor, the majority of both teachers and students were 'accidental tourists', viewing online resources as being another inevitable source of information to be accommodated in the customary activities of teaching and learning in the classroom.

Different combinations within the framework can be seen as setting the conditions for the establishment of new and different classroom practices of teaching and learning. For example, the situation in which the teacher acts more as a facilitator, content is more constructed, and the student is able to access online resources provides the conditions for effective collaborative learning in which students and teachers reciprocate roles, acting at different times as resources, collaborators, and audiences for the demonstration of learning. These combinations also provide the conditions for use of more authentic learning tasks, they enable students to move beyond the classroom and engage outside resources in their learning. Thus, points along the continua of the constituents create a synergy that supports major change in classroom teaching and learning practices.

An important point is that this framework simply outlines the range and possibilities of use (including non-use) of online resources in the classroom. It does not indicate which combinations are more desirable or facilitative to learning. This is because learning, and the use of this learning by students, are highly situational. Sometimes the direct transmission of information, as in learning of conventions such as 'drive on the right side of the road', is the best way to ensure learning. The value of the framework lies in its coordination of online resources (as seen in learner access), teacher role, content manipulation, and context of online resource support: What we should seek to achieve in the online classroom is the potential to realize the various teacher/content/learner/context combinations most appropriate to particular student learning. Students would not be served by being online, constructive, and facilitated all of the time. Because most classrooms are currently in the situation teacher/transmitter, content/canned, learners/little access, context/limited support, the overwhelming thrust of research initiatives is towards the opposite ends of these continua. The anticipated goal, however, is the classroom that can realize all the possibilities of these four constituents, as appropriate for the learning needs of the students.

6. The evidence of impact

The emerging trends (propositions) are drawn from research conducted at both the K/12-13 and the postsecondary sectors. The results regarding the K-12/13 sector are mainly process-oriented(?), whereas those of the Higher Education sector include more outcome-oriented results. A total of . studies that pertain to the K/12-13 sector are included (reviewed: ), compared to 96 studies at the higher ed level (reviewed: 150?). Propositions concerning the higher ed level only appear in point form in this documentary review, but are substantiated by hyperlinks to an annexed document, made of rich descriptions of each of the emerging trends (conceptual and practical aspects) in the networked university classroom using online resources and tools. Propositions related to the K/12-13 sector are complete in and of themselves, hyperlinks being made to a number of relevant online documents.

6.1 The K-12/13 networked classroom, and its context

In the networked classroom (computer lab), all students may engage, at synchronous or asynchronous times, into activities that involve the use of resources and tools put on an intranet, or accessible through the Internet (see Berge & Collins, 1998, Vol. 1, Ch. 3 for a fuller description of an online classroom). For information and communication purposes, K/12-13 classrooms did not awaited the arrival of the WWW to engage in telematics activities. Trentin (1996) pointed to three teaching contexts in which telematics can effectively help the educational process at various levels:

a) Plain utilization of the network for communication, that is, as a powerful tool for navigation through distributed information and for interpersonal communication.

b) Using computer networks in support of educational activities that can be conducted with or without the network (e.g., correspondence) but which in this way gain new educational and cognitive momentum, as well as producing greater motivation and involvement.

c) Learning activities based on specific approaches which are strictly dependent on the use of telematics and could not exist without the network. (p. 11)

With respect to the latter, Trentin observed that "telematics is not only a resource that adds value but is rather a key factor in the adoption of new methods supporting the teaching/learning process". (p. 11). Our framework takes these three levels into account. One may note here the similarity with the distinction made by Maddux, Johnson & Willis (1997) regarding computer use in education: Type I applications, "which make it easier, quicker, or more efficient to teach the same things in the same ways we have always taught them", and Type II applications, "which make available new and better ways of teaching". (Quoted by Harlow & LaMont Johnson, 1998).

The 1996 Documentary review reported on the value of Type I applications (for instance, Computer-Assisted-Instruction & Integrated learning systems providing drill and practice for remediation to structured curriculum and instruction; see also Kulik, Kulik & Bangert-Downs, 1985; Kulik, 1994 or Herman, 1994). The focus of this review being more narrow, we built on the demonstration made in the 1996 review as we look into the full spectrum of use of the latest educational technology to enter the classroom, online resources and tools on multimedia computers. Highly interactive multimedia or hypermedia activities may come in a variety of formats (CD-ROM, authoring software, specialized websites, etc.), but Internet resources and tools have the property to be vastly distributed.

Type I activities are more likely to be associated with the TCLC- Model (teacher/transmitter, content/canned, learners/little access, context/limited support). [this paragraph on the computer-as-a-tutor is to be completed]

In studying the impact of online resources and tools use along this model, one is well-advised to acknowledge, however, that behind it lies a rather naïve view of epistemology. As stressed by Harlow & Johnson (1998), who define epistemology as "referring to the nature of how the mind processes and forms beliefs about the objects and events in our surroundings", "the idea that we form our notions of the world directly by letting them seep through our senses and mind is considered to be the position of naïve epistemology". (p. 15) (see also Miller quoting Popper, 1985; Novak & Gowin, 1984). But one must also acknowledge that education systems are built in their entirety on such an epistemology, and that any departure from that is bound to go, at one point or another, against the grain.

Hollenbeck (1998), who reported on a more democratic learning environment being created with the support of networked computers, observes that the computer is now given a second chance ­ this time as a tool rather than as a tutor ­ and with the hope that it will help change the learner's schooling experience. "Coupled with the rhetoric of school reform, the Internet-driven curriculum is seen as a place for students to create meaningful knowledge on their own, using an environment full of experts waiting to be interviewed and vast amounts of information ready to be mined." However, as he notes, "most of the new promises [being made] remain based upon the computer delivering information to the student." (p. 38). This observation is also made by the RAND Corporation who looked (1998?) at the first two years of the New American Schools initiative by doing case studies of 40 schools in seven of the participating districts. RAND concluded that buying the technology, plugging it into a school, and thinking that things will improve is not much. The study stressed that much of the improvement depends on the schools and the districts themselves.

The 1996 Documentary Review identified the teacher's pedagogy as the key factor once access to ICTs is provided. Studies reviewed had been for the most part conducted in individual classrooms. By including the context level ­ as captured by the presence or not of champion(s) --, this current study extends beyond the individual variable level to reach the policy level. The Rand study concluded that schools differed greatly in their ability to implement reforms, design teams varied widely in their capacity to help schools, and districts offered varying levels of support. Our 1998 analysis framework is inclusive of educational leaders whose practice is outside the classroom, working at the school, the school district, or the government levels. They too espouse particular pedagogical approaches influencing policy affecting what is going on in the classroom and the measurement of student achievement. The ASCD Yearbook (1997) noted that better outcomes is often associated with higher scores on conventional measures of achievement designed to assess a narrow range of knowledge (pp. 210-211).

Moreover, policy makers wondering if they are making the right decisions with regard to school and classroom connectivity are also likely aware of other educational trends such as the following : 1) more emphasis is put on achievement, 2) changing relationships between schools and their communities, and 3) educators are forming partnerships to improve teaching and learning. The first trend is often pursued with an orientation toward the past (the back-to-the-basics solution), the second with an orientation to the present (the awareness of student diversity, and a communal approach to face educational challenges), and the third with an orientation to the future (lifelong learning skills for all). For teachers to meet these expectations, better technology, that is, multimedia computers linked to other computers, is bound to help make a difference ­ see the historical contribution of technology to education (the alphabet, the book, the blackboard, the overhead projector, the video projector, the computer). In other words, to accomplish a task growing in complexity, like in other professional domains, teachers could use better technology. As access issues are resolved (learning about technology), new pedagogical possibilities emerge, ones teachers need to experiment with in order to obtain satisfying results ­ as measured by student learning outcomes.

With respect to specific learning achieved, the 1996 Documentary Review stressed a number of studies which reported better learning in various subjects and various skills and attitudes developed, including higher order intellectual skills such as reasoning and problem solving ability, learning how to learn, and creativity. The Educational Testing Service (Wenglinsky, 1998) analyzed a national database of student test scores, classroom computer use, and other information, for Ed Week's Technology Counts '98, and found that eighth graders whose teachers used computers mostly for "simulations and applications"- generally associated with higher-order thinking- performed better on NAEP than students whose teachers did not. Meanwhile, 8th graders whose teachers used computers primarily for "drill and practice"-generally associated with lower-order thinking--performed worse. gains were greater at the middle school level than in elementary school. Among 4th graders, students whose teachers used computers mainly for "math/learning games" scored higher than students whose teachers didn't. The research found no association, positive or negative, between 4th graders' scores and either simulations and applications or drill-and-practice. See http://www.ets.org/research/pic/technolog.html

Psychometrics Canada Ltd. just completed in Alberta and British Columbia also shows higher achievement test scores in math (Oct. 7, 1998). This comprehensive, year-long study involving 1,184 students in 14 Alberta and British Columbia secondary schools has found that students using computer-based courseware achieved higher test scores and higher levels of comprehension than students using traditional textbooks and classroom techniques. Approximately half of the students (the "test group") used a set of computer-based courseware developed jointly by the governments of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan and educational publisher ITP Nelson. The other half (the "control group") used standard math textbooks. Outcomes were measured at the end of the school year by administering the Alberta Education Grade 9 Mathematics Achievement Test (based on the common math curriculum used in the western provinces). Students demonstrated improved performance with the computer-based courseware called The Learning Equation Mathematics (TLE Math). Key findings included: 1) A higher percentage of students using TLE Math scored 50% or higher on the final math test (65% vs. 41%) and more TLE students achieved an 80% grade or higher (19% vs. 5%); 2) The TLE Math method led to improvements in tested content areas, including knowledge, skills, number, pattern and shape.

These learning outcomes in a subject matter such as mathematics are likely to have a convincing effect on both other teachers. Because the public demand is for learning outcomes, process-related outcomes are of interest to professional educators. In the 1996 Documentary Review, the effective use of new technologies in facilitating student learning and performance was linked to the following prerequisite: that participants have the knowledge and skill to use the technology (technological and pedagogical Knowledge and skill). Process-related outcomes were identified at the time as being the following: 1) student motivation (greater spontaneous interest, time and attention devoted to learning activities), 2) the relationship of students to knowledge (that is, how students approach knowledge and incorporate it into what they already know), and 3) cooperation among students in the same class and among students or classes in different schools, near or far, for the purpose of making them more aware of other realities, accessing relevant knowledge not strictly defined in advance, and executing projects with a genuine relevance for the students themselves, and possibly for other people. It was found that they tend to develop a spirit of research, as demonstrated by the search for more extensive information on a subject, a more satisfying solution to a problem, and a greater number of relationships among various pieces of knowledge or data. As a result of such conditions of use, more integrated and better assimilated learning could result (see the seventh observation of the 1996 Review: The potential for simulation, virtual manipulation, rapid merging of a wide variety of data, graphic representation and other functions provided by the new technologies contributes to a linkage of knowledge with various aspects of the person, thereby ensuring more thorough assimilation of the many things learned.

Some of these outcomes clearly point to Type II activities, that is, ones of a transformative nature, which we suggest to associate with the TCLC+ Model (teacher/facilitator, content/constructed, learners/high access, context/extensive support). Though the scientific evidence was even more scarce in 1996 than it is today, the relationship between knowledgeable teachers and improved learning was discernable. In 1998, the Unesco World Report 1998 still concluded to a derth of rigorous research findings demonstrating clear learning gains over conventional classroom processes, that is, with the learning that is now becoming more and more useful in active life outside the school. (p. 93). Such findings were also found to be scarce in Ed Week's Technology Counts Report (http://www.edweek.org/sreports/tc98/intro/in-n.htm ). In the national study that he conducted in the U.S., Wenglinsky (1998) also found improved attitudes towards learning math, greater ability to self-manage learning, and improved work habits, thus confirming on a large scale results already identified in experimental studies. We now turn to new research results (1996-1998), as we identify specific emerging trends which point to the significance of the changes one may have to make in his or her pedagogy in order to effectively use online resources and tools.

6.1.1 Emerging trends

Trend 1

Higher levels of learner control

are called for as classrooms get more online

Access to hypermedia and hypertext gives the online classroom broadened and expanded information sources, curricula, methods, and intellectual artifacts. Once an online resource is found, further access may be tightly controlled or open-ended. "Whereas traditional approaches to computer-based learning have been rooted in behavioral learning principles, contemporary approaches are more often rooted in cognitive learning theories." (Hannafin, Hannafin & Hooper, 1996, p. 391). The design strategies which maximize the learning potential of open-ended environments put the locus of control on the learner's side, enabling the learner to engage much more in the construction of content. This in turn makes student learning strategies much more significant in the classroom. Students who take control of these technologies must be able to plan, choose, inquire into topics, solve problems, and evaluate results.

The online classroom may engage in online activity in most academic areas (environmental studies, mathematics, science, language arts and social studies). In such instances, curricula are less planned by teachers guided by one source (see the textbook), but are more likely to include up-to-date information and take students' interests into account. The Internet makes possible a greater range of learning and teaching activities (see Harris' list of activities, 1998).

Studies on simulation or visualization technologies, ones enabling students to learn complex systems in more concrete ways (Pea, 1992; Gomez) as well as studies on semantic networks (online concept maps) provide informative glimpses into upcoming possibilities for teaching and learning. REALs (rich environments for active learning) are, according to Grabinger (1996), "much more comprehensive and holistic than individual computer applications" (p. 668).

It is to be understood that, until recently, the "release of agency" by the teacher to the student was not highly valued by various social and educational actors. It took numerous orientation documents, one of the latest being the Delors Report (1996), to articulate a rationale as to the necessity in a knowledge society of more active and collaborative learning on the part of the learner. Yet, many parents, journalists, and educators have not brought themselves up to speed on this issue.

During this time, there are teachers that innovate in the production of desk-top educational materials, sometimes involving their students as designers or co-authors of data bases (see Tiessen & Ward on CSILE, in Berge & Collins, 1998), project managers or co-researchers (Scardamalia, 1997). Some publishers and telecom companies market their educational activities.

The debate over the utility of the information accessible on the Web is likely to remain strong as long as society doesn't come to terms with issues of authority and control (autonomous and creative vs. obedient students, meaningful vs easy and playful learning, learning from a complex versus linear information structures, see Shapiro, 1998, in Berge & Collins).