Are We There Yet?
Changing Trends in Online Learning and Internet Use
In just 15 years, Internet connectivity in schools, homes, neighborhoods, and commu- nities has spread far and wide. Since the mid-
1990s, the percentage of public schools connected to the Internet skyrocketed from 35% to
100%. According to a 2006 U.S. Department of
Education Study, public instructional classrooms
with Internet access in the United States grew to
94%, up from 14% a decade earlier, and the ratio
of students per Internet-connected instructional
computer decreased from 12: 1 to as low as 3.8: 1.
Approximately 62% of all U.S. households have
Internet access at home, according to a National
Telecommunications and Information Administration study conducted last year, and the
Pew Internet & American Life Project reported
that more than half of these connections were
broadband as of 2008. Low-income and minority households have made great strides in
Internet access, but those with higher incomes
and education levels still use the Internet more,
according to E. Hargittai’s 2008 study in Social
Stratification, suggesting that more education
and research are needed.
The percentage of U.S. Internet-connected
households with children under 18 is as high
as 70%–80%, by National Telecommunications
and Information Administration estimates. Indeed, the Pew Internet & American Life Project
reports that the vast majority of young people
under 18, from a range of backgrounds, are going online from various locations, but mostly
from home. Adolescents age 12–17 represent the
largest and fastest-growing group of Internet users. D. F. Roberts, U. G. Foehr, and V. I. Rideout
reported in their book Generation M: Media in
the Lives of 8–18-Year-Olds that high-schoolers
spent an average of nine hours a week online in
2005, and that is likely even higher today.
Notwithstanding these reports of ever increasing Internet access in the United States, there is
still so much we don’t know, including:
• The types, quality, and outcomes of people’s
Internet use in general
• The differences in online participation among
diverse groups of learners
• The prevalence, types, and outcomes of various
online learning opportunities available with
newer Web-based technologies
That is why I, along with my colleagues Beth
Robelia and Joan Hughes, recently wrote in a feature article for the May 2009 issue of Educational
Researcher that we need more research into informal online learning spaces as well as formal online credit-granting courses in which the teacher
and student are in different locations.
Although a coherent and up-to-date snapshot
of online learning is hard to establish, reports
from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) help shed some light. NCES
observed that during 2004–05, 37% of public
school districts and 10% of all public schools
nationwide enrolled students in technology-based distance education courses. Of these, 72%
were high school students. Interestingly, NCES
observed no change in the percentage of districts
with students enrolled in technology-based distance education between 2002–03 and 2004–05.
But several studies, including Liz Pape, Mickey
Revenaugh, John Watson, and Matthew Wicks’
2006 study published in Distance Education
(Volume 3), have lamented the lack of common
policies and metrics for calculating indicators of
RESEARCH WINDOWS
Christine Greenhow
Christine Greenhow
is a Harvard-trained
educational researcher,
former school teacher,
and recipient of the
University of Minnesota’s
Outstanding Postdoc-
toral Scholar Award
for her research on how
people learn, teach, and
collaborate with emerging
technologies. Learn more
at www.cgreenhow.org.
