RFC 1709 (rfc1709) - Page 2 of 26

K-12 Internetworking Guidelines

RFC 1709            K-12 Internetworking Guidelines        November 1994


II.  Rationale for the Use of Internet Protocols

   In 1993, the Bank Street College of Education conducted a survey of
   550 educators who are actively involved in using telecommunications.
   (Honey, Margaret, Henriquez, Andres, "Telecommunications and K-12
   Educators: Findings from a National Survey," Bank Street College of
   Education, New York, NY, 1993.)  The survey looked at a wide variety
   of ways telecommunications technology is used in K-12 education.
   Their findings on Internet usage are summarized below.

        "Slightly less than half of these educators have access
        to the Internet, which is supplied most frequently by a
        university computer or educational service."

        "Internet services are used almost twice as often for
        professional activities as for student learning
        activities."

        "Sending e-mail is the most common use of the Internet,
        followed by accessing news and bulletin boards and gaining
        access to remote computers."

   The following chart shows the percentage of respondents that use each
   network application to support professional and student activities.


   Applications                    Professional             Student
                                   Activities              Activities

   Electronic mail                 91                      79

   News or bulletin board          63                      50

   Remote access to other          48                      32
   computers

   Database access                 36                      31

   File transfer                   34                      19


   The value of the Internet and its explosive growth are a direct
   result of the computer communications technology used on the network.
   The same network design principals and computer communications
   protocols (TCP/IP) used on the Internet can be used within a school
   district to build campuswide networks.  This is standard practice
   within higher education, and increasingly in K-12 schools as well.
   The benefits of the TCP/IP protocols are listed below.



ISN Working Group