"TRENDS REPORT 2000"- A recent report released by the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) identifies six key trends that appear to be influencing the digital economy: 1) the business of policy, 2) software as a service, 3) customer empowerment, 4) the value of information, 5) the digitization of business and 6) education any time/any place. According to the report, the Web enhances learning by providing students with access to content; giving distributed learning to users; enabling individualized learning and improving student, teacher and parent communication. International Data predicts that the market for technology- driven training and instruction will hit $11.4 billion by 2003.(eSchool News, September 00)

ED-TECH SUCCESS HARD TO ASSESS - Educators around the globe are struggling to prove to their governments and to taxpayers that wiring schools for the Internet and other technology is worth the expense. However, most educators agree that there is no good way to measure the impact that technology has on students and that standard measures of student progress may not reveal what technology teaches students. Pedro Paulo Poppovic, Brazil's secretary of distance education, is trying to convince his government that distance learning is key to educating the country's rural population, but so far the government has set up Internet access for only 10 percent of the country's schools. Schools in Brazil and in the United States must spend money and time training teachers, but educators worry that the teacher training and the schools' computers quickly become obsolete with today's ever-changing technology. This makes it even more difficult to convince lawmakers to invest money in education technology. However, educators point to the success of programs such as the International Education and Resource Network and Kidz Online as examples of what education technology teaches students. (Wired News, 13 Sept 00 - Edupage 15 Sept 00)

SCHOOL INTERNET CHANGING CLASSROOM DYNAMICS - According to education experts, the Internet is having a real effect on classroom dynamics. Students who are shy, learning disabled or are just learning to speak English appear to feel more confident with Internet-based lessons. In addition, with the Internet many resources are available to visual learners, another group often less confident in the classroom. Many educators believe that use of the Internet encourages creativity and allows teachers to spend more time facilitating and less time presenting. With 95% percent of the nation's schools connected to the Internet, training teachers to use the Internet is lagging. A recent survey by the Department of Education indicated that almost two-thirds of teachers across the country do not feel confident using computers or the Internet. (Washington Post, 5 Sept 00)