> 
> Here is the full list of suggestions for a potential document called, we
> came up with this list during both ISN Working Groups: "Common Pitfalls
> for K-12 General Community"

(Please excuse bad spelling.  I am not a native speaker and I am typing
this rather fast to get it sent in time.  English punctuation remains a
mystery to me:  Punctuation (and may be the structure of the sentences)
is German.)

Here are some comments concerning this topic.  All numbers I give are
estimated/experienced and are accurate within +/-30%.
> 
> **  Technology Wasted
> *	Lack of Support/administration/training/peer support/funding

If computer-"freaks" are using the computers in the school, stability is
not too much a problem.  There is always someone in the room, who knows
how to improvise.  But as soon as "normal" teachers and students are
using the computers, even a paper jam in the printer can block a whole
lesson.  Up to this point this has nothing to do with the Internet: This
problem arises even if you just want to use a Multimedia CD-ROM.

If you want stabile(?) computers in a school, you have to spend about
$500 per computer to keep the hardware up to date.  If you are not going
into Intel-architecture, this may be a bit lower (European prizes).

A computer installation of about 30 machines requires about 20 hours a
week of "care" so that it works, with the degree of propability
nescessary for classroom use.  This time may be considerably lower, if
you use Unix-Workstations.  It may be slightly lower, if you use
Windows-NT, it may be considerably higher, if you teach programming and
network-administration on these machines.  This time is not proportional
to the number of computers: The time each(spelling?) workstation adds
varies greatly with the OS used.  (I have no experience with Macs.)

This time contains some (say 4) hours of "pedagogical" work:
Evaluating software to be used in the classroom, looking for web-sites
suitable for the school and such.

These 20 hours contain about 2--4 hours for _inter_networking: Caring
about the connection to the outside world.

Outsourcing this work (the technological aspects) is about $3000/month
per school in Germany.  Getting the work to be done by the school-system
reqires a technically skilled person for a group of 3 schools, I
estimate: $20000 per school per year.

Summary:  As you see this is not a problem of the "Internet", but a
problem of computers as media in schools --- wether isolated,
LAN-connected or Internet-worked.  The Internet adds 10--20% of
complexity and costs.

> *	Administration (how do you leverage remote administration).
> 	What tools will you choose and have rules/policies and
> 	procedures.) Keep TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) in mind.
> *	Different kinds of machine management.
> *	The change of teacher's role from "I" to "We"
> 
> 
> **  Modem pools & any other related modem issues
> *	Using an ISP rather than having your own modem pool (this is not
> 	cost effective)
> *	Buying good desktop modems as to paying for cheap ones.  You get
> 	what you pay for.

I don't understand that.  The school has a LAN and connects that LAN to
the Service Provider.  If the school wants to offer dial-in to it's
communitiy it's up to them.  And this is much work.
> 
> **  Not enough planning with changing of providers (ISPs)
> *	Get your own domain name (e.g. school.k12.state.us)

That's most important!  As the SPs want to chain customers to them, they
will not tell about independant domain-names.  Even worse:  BIG SPs such
as AOL, CS, MSN will try to offer proprietary solutions which, if
accepted by the school, will require a complete new software if the
SP is to be changed.

> *	Run DHCP
> *	Rent/leasing vs. purchasing/taking out a loan
> 
> **  Lack of Technology Planning
> *	Electricity consideration
> *	Heat
> *	Asbestos
> *	Before you take the plunge (learn how to setup if all things
> were equal).
> *	Classrom Setup
> *	OSHA requirements
> *	Education requirements, quick exit from the classroom, how many
> 	students per machine, what kind of classroom 

I could contribute on that (will to it verbally in Munich).
> 
> **  Importance of Commercial support
> *	Pay now vs. pay later
> *	Service maintance (save in the long run)
> *	Cost of training/spares/hardware

I have a problem with that:

Do you talk of teacher-training?  Is it about how to use the software?
OK.  There is a teacher in each school who knows how to use Netscape
(including Mail&News).  He should take 2 hours and tell the others.
Please don't "sponsor" schools by sending wannabe-charismatic 
marketing-people to the school to tell everybody (during a whole
afternoon) how cool it is that you may store bookmarks in a list for
future reference to that document.

You need perhaps a day to teach the concepts:  The concepts of the
services, the lack of an editorial process in publishing, the associated
quality-authenticy(?)-issues and stuff like that.  That can't be done by
a SP  or, better, it could be done if they try to adapt to the need of
the schools.  I haven't seen it yet, except perhaps in some of the
"Freenet"s.

You need a week to get the teachers to do some test-projects and use the
Internet as a source for information.  If you have good participants, be
prepared that your new media is compared with a plain boring old
library.  The library usually wins.

You need a whole new concept of teacher-training if you want to teach
(them/us) how to use the net as a tool of communication and
collaboration.

> 
> **  Security
> *	Protect Infrustructure
> *	Anything that demands privacy (e.g. teachers sending grades to
> 	students)
> *	Appropriate Material - filter Usenet
> *	Your students cracking from the school server
> *	If your student is cracking what to do?
> *	Have an AUP/ monitor the systems

We have solutions for some of that.
>