Wrong turn on the information superhighway : education and the commercialization of the Internet

Are students using the "information" superhighway or are they really on the "commercial" highway? This book offers a rare counterpoint to the generally rosy view of the Web, showing how students are contaminated by a hyper-commercialized electronic environment and offering recommendations for taking back the Internet for our schools. In this dynamic volume, Bettina Fabos: • Investigates the shortcomings of the multibillion-dollar project, the "Educational Challenge," to link every U.S. classroom to the information superhighway, exposing the advertising campaigns and corporate maneuvers that lured schools online. • Explores how educators use the Web in their classrooms, providing advice to help students and teachers look more critically at information provided by commercial search engines and sites. • Features an eye-opening case study of a technologically advanced school district, illustrating how commercialization influences every aspect of students’ online research. • Identifies solutions, such as noncommercial subject directories and the emerging digital archiving movement, as the best hope for educators to take back the Internet from commercial control." "We need more analyses of the depth and critical eye that Bettina Fabos offers us here." —From the Foreword by Carmen Luke "__Wrong Turn on the Information Superhighway__ sets the standard for books about the Internet and education. This provocative, timely volume offers sound arguments and bold solutions about the dilemmas educators face as the Internet becomes increasingly privatized. It is essential reading for educators, policymakers, researchers, and the general public as they develop critical frameworks for understanding the role of the Internet in teaching and learning." —Cynthia Lewis, University of Iowa Offers A Critique Of The Role Of The Internet In American Schools. Investigates The Advertising Campaigns And Other Corporate Maneuvers That Got Schools Online, As Well As The Way That Educators Use The Web In The Classroom. Part I: History And Context: Giddy Prophesies And Commercial Ventures: The History Of Educational Media -- Wiring America's Schools -- Commercial Internet Strategies Make Inroads In Schools -- Part Ii: A Commercial Highway In Every Classroom: Educators And Librarians Address The Commercialized Web -- A View From The Inside -- Visions Of A Better Internet -- Appendices. Bettina Fabos ; Foreword By Carmen Luke. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 165-173) And Index. Describes how students are being exposed to a commercialized version of the Internet and includes information on how to develop noncommercial resources.