Nebraska K-12 Internet Evaluation Progress Report and Executive Summary--18 Months.

World-wide communication, information gathering, and information sharing are possible through the Internet. Nebraska and its educational community are in the process of connecting to this resource. Fifteen Educational Service Unit (ESU) servers, located across the state, provide access to the Internet for almost all public K-12 schools. Currently, an evaluation team from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, in cooperation with the ESUs, is investigating the impact of the statewide effort to connect schools and teachers to the Internet. This summary and report are related to the first 18 months of a comprehensive 5-year evaluation process, which focuses on examining the general impact on teachers, students, and schools. A pre-training survey of all Nebraska ESUs (3,776 surveys) was conducted in order to provide an evolving baseline on Nebraska teachers who enter the ESU training process. Following training, in addition to a post-training survey (N=659), information was gathered from server data analysis, classroom observations, and teacher interviews. Each of the data sources were examined for related implications, with cross-referencing between sources conducted when appropriate. Implications from each data source are examined in the report. General implications include: (1) significant progress is being made for the implementation of statewide connectivity; (2) community interest is starting to parallel educational interest; and (3) Nebraska continues to play a national leadership role. Appendices provide: pre- and post-training survey; pre- and post- training survey graphs; Internet coordinator's data request form; innovative user electronic mail protocol; and innovative user interview protocol. (Contains 22 references.) (MAS)