June 2002 — Editorial
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Assisting Educators On the Use of Technology
Mentoring in education is not as widespread as in other areas. However, in the use of technology, teachers have student mentors. Such programs have proved to be very successful in both teaching other students and assisting teachers. At Park East High School in East Harlem, N.Y., the students run the help desk, install software, prepare and update computers throughout the school, and help the school's faculty integrate technology into their classroom activities. This program is slated to expand this fall to 30 schools in all five of the state's boroughs. The students involved in this project have named it MOUSE, Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools and Education (www.mouse.org). The project is funded by both business and government agencies.
4. E-learning. "Learning New Skills for a New Age" is recognized by many schools of education. The above quote is the title of a new program offered by the University of Pennsylvania's School of Education. It includes Internet integration, education technology, administration and leadership, classroom application, and general education technology. This type of course is offered by many universities, both for credit and noncredit, to assist educators on the use of technology.
Universities are also offering alumni specialized services. Dartmouth College's portal provides its alumni with access to online journals, newspapers and information on specific projects. However, universities hoping to make a profit from e-learning by offering courses online at a specific fee have not fared as well as industry, which is increasingly using e-learning. Computer analysts say by 2005, e-learning will be the single most used application on the Web, growing from $2.1 billion last year to $33.4 billion by 2005. The META Group says that 60 percent of companies will deploy e-learning systems over the next two years. This will also include a "learning management system" to provide a database of information about course content, student needs, course availability, etc.
For various reasons, which include insufficient needs analysis, an inflated expectation of the number of students interested or available to take courses online, the desire to make a quick profit without realizing the cost of providing good course material, etc., a number of programs have closed down. In 2000, approximately $482 million in venture capital was spent on building online tools for e-learning at the college level. In 2001, the amount dropped to approximately $17 million. Some of the schools that dropped their programs or changed direction include:
