Web-Based Learning: Much to Gain, And Many Barriers

Some of us who have advocated Internet use for teaching and learning are starting to despair, in fact, of ever seeing the bright future we once envisioned.

By Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum

Effective technology integration in schools, especially using online resources, is less likely to be widely accepted now than at any time in the recent past. The forces actively working against it are now stronger than the forces working for implementation. And the barriers to change are more entrenched. As a result, there is little momentum to add technology and its somewhat complicated curriculum- development models. Some of us who have advocated Internet use for teaching and learning are starting to despair, in fact, of ever seeing the bright future we once envisioned. But learners have so much to gain that overcoming the barriers and continuing to forge a path for change should be an important objective for all educators.

Let us take a closer look at the forces working to impede technology- integration efforts. They are fourfold: political, economic, philosophical, and empirical.

In political terms, a standards-based, high-stakes-testing environment has forced educators to focus on traditional forms of classroom practice. Emphasis on tests that affect students' futures (and even on tests that affect only school reputations) leaves little time for supplemental methods, new ideas, or anything seen...