Education
Is the Internet Helping Island Schools?
The Answers Is Yes In Some Places, No In Others.
In this series of reports from different parts of the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands, we try to find out if the distance-learning techniques and use of the Internet have improved the quality of education in the region. Judging by the reports of our correspondents, the answer is yes and the answer is also no. Although there is special federal funding set aside to upgrade schools and universities’ access to the Internet and distance learning, the execution of these programs differs from place to place.
The University of Guam hosted a distance-learning workshop in August, partially sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation from Japan, to take a look at the future of distance education in Micronesia. The five-day regional conference brought together college educators from around the American Pacific and the U.S. mainland.
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Dr. Harold Allen, president of UOG, told the participants, "The future of all of our communities in the Western Pacific region is dependent upon access to education. Our island leaders fully understand the critical roles that education and research play in supporting a viable economy and economic growth. Absent an aggressive, collective posture, the Western Pacific will not achieve its full potential. As the region’s only university, the University of Guam hopes to bring together leadership from throughout Guam and Micronesia to develop a common agenda."
The common agenda would include issues of access, bandwidth, hardware and instructional skills. Distance learning in the American-affiliated Pacific Islands is often focused on upgrading the skills of teachers and professors, or on providing access to research for both students and their teachers.
The following reports from American Samoa, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Palau show some of the successes and limitations of the technology/education interface in the Pacific.
| AMERICAN SAMOA |
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| BY FILI SAGAPOLUTELE |
American Samoa has often been isolated from modern technology and expertise from abroad, but now it is considered one of the leaders in the Pacific in the area of connectivity and Internet use in the schools.
Dr. Sili K. Sataua, director of the territory’s Department of Education, says that "The influx of technology has revived American Samoa. Today we are able to access experts and other professionals, as well as have others access our local talents and expertise via technologies such as video teleconferencing, email, online discussion boards and so many other modes of telecommunications.
"Five years ago, American Samoa’s schools, both public and private, had very limited Internet access. Those schools fortunate enough to have a computer with a modem were only able to use dial-up access at 28.8 kbps. This was the extent of American Samoa’s Internet connections in our schools and, if a school was lucky enough to have additional phone lines, it could have additional computers accessing the Internet. Yet most of our schools had one telephone line and one computer hooked up to access the Internet."
The E-Rate Program, which was born out of the U.S. Telecommunica-tions Act of 1996, is the source of funds to support school and library technologies in the United States. The program allowed American Samoa to receive needed funding to build the infrastructure for high-speed Internet connectivity in all of the schools. American Samoa is unique in its E-Rate proposal, in that its program includes not just the public schools, but the private schools as well.
Currently there are approximately 17,000 students from kindergarten to 12th grade in the territory’s public and private schools. Roughly 10,000 of that number are in the public schools. Five years ago, the student-to-computer ratio was approximately 200:1 in public schools. By May of 2002, American Samoa will have lowered this ratio to 8:1 in public schools.
"This massive infusion of computers in our schools was to insure that every child and teacher is afforded the opportunity to access the information and experts on the Internet or via conferencing technology," Sataua says. "Now every public school has a computer lab."
Sataua says that there is a real need to have local talent to maintain this type of Wide Area Network.
"We have invested in developing our local talents and have trained local employees in the areas of Cisco Routers, ADC ATM technologies, NT and G4 servers. This training allows for the stability of the Internet connection," he says.
"Distance education" courses via the Internet are also being used by local teachers and school administrators to improve their skills and to work on advanced degrees. "We have nine teachers and administrators participating in a distance learning program with Western Illinois University. The course is primarily a Web-based delivery, with occasional face-to-face meetings with the instructors, either in Samoa or in Hawai‘i."
This group of nine DOE employees is part of a broader Pacific group consisting of 21 other teachers and administrators from Hawai‘i, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, Guam, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The group is doing graduate studies in "instructional technology and telecommunications," and its members will serve as staff developers for their departments.
"The Department of Education also utilizes distance-learning methods to provide in-service workshops for our local teachers," Sataua adds. "We are also experimenting with the National University of Samoa in the delivery of mathematics courses by teleconferencing for our teachers in the upper elementary and secondary schools."
| MARSHALL ISLANDS |
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| BY GIFF JOHNSON |
Most high school and college students in the Marshall Islands are learning how to use the Internet for research and communication. However, the high cost of Internet access severely restricts its usage by local schools.
"We’d use it a lot more if the price was lower," says Majuro Seventh Day Adventist High School principal Jeff Brown. However, at $3.60 an hour, Brown says Internet costs are too high to encourage student and teacher use of the net beyond a few 45-minute class periods each day.
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Both Brown and Assumption High School principal Biuma Samson point to the importance of local students being computer and Internet literate, particularly if they’re planning to head off to college after graduation.
The National Telecommunications Authority, which provides Internet services to the Marshall Islands, says that costs associated with the service for such a small subscriber base make it financially impossible to offer the kind of access that is taken for granted in countries such as the United States.
The two-year College of the Marshall Islands keeps a close eye on the Internet clock to hold costs down. The CMI library has only one Internet connection for student use. Even that is used only when absolutely necessary, says librarian Maxine Becker. As much as possible, the library uses its free Internet connection through the University of Hawai‘i’s PeaceSat program. PeaceSat, however, is problematic because it is frequently off-line and doesn’t provide easy access for the college.
"We just don’t get the same funding per student as Palau Community College and the College of Micronesia [in the FSM]," Becker said. "We don’t have the kind of money to pay" for expanded Internet access.
Still, a key part of making the Internet a functional resource for students is developing their search skills and understanding of how to do research, Becker says. Through the use of CDs and computers, the library assists students in developing those research skills, she says. "So the day we can offer unlimited Internet access, they’ll be ready for it," she adds. In the end, however, access is the key to making the Internet really work for education. And Marshall Islands schools, from elementary through college, still don’t have good Net access.
| PALAU |
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| BY REBECCA STANFEL |
According to Edwel Ongrerung, the official in charge of communications and technology issues with the Ministry of Education, the main limitation in Palau’s schools is not lack of computers, but the expense of Internet connection. A DSL connection, which allows multiple computers access to the Internet, costs $800 a month. Because of this, the Ministry is unable to provide Internet connections for any public school (with the exception of Palau Community College).
The Ministry of Education began trying to get Internet access for the high school in 1994, and has made next to no progress in the interim. It is entirely a cost issue. Palau High School, which is Palau’s only public high school, has five computer labs in several different buildings. It would either cost $4,000 a month for DSL or $30,000 to wire them together, and the Ministry simply cannot afford this. However, its new solution is to wire the high school through the Ministry’s connection across the street (using a wireless bridge). This way, they’ll be going through one $800 a month connection. This project should be completed shortly.
According to Ongrerung, "The telephone company has not had the incentive to service the Ministry. Their priorities are elsewhere." Because of this, the Ministry has to explore other alternatives.
Neither Palau High School nor Palau’s 17 public elementary schools have Internet access for either students or teachers. None of Palau’s private elementary or high schools has Internet access for students either, though some, such as the Seventh Day Adventist School, provide access to teachers.
At Palau Community College, there are two computer labs with Internet access. However, these are for classroom use only and are not open to the student body outside of class times. PCC has another computer lab, but it is only for word-processing. The college library has only four computers with Internet access. "We need more computers with access and we need faster access," one school staffer says.
