Computer prices continue to fall, while performance improves. Students, teachers and parents are becoming more familiar with computer systems and their capabilities. Meanwhile, hundreds of state and local networks and private service providers have begun to address the technology needs of education. Although the diffusion of information technology within education continues to increase, the overall rate of adoption remains slow. Today, compelling teaching and learning applications are the exception, not the rule.
Current uses reach only a small number of technologically-literate school communities.
Current application of NII capabilities to work place training is more extensive and technologically advanced than educational applications, yet it lags well behind what is needed and available. The story of workplace training seems to be a case of the haves receiving more and the have-nots remaining neglected. Small firms, those with 100 employees or less, provide about 35 percent of total U.S. employment, but they lack the expertise to provide in-house training, the resources to pay for outside training, and sufficient numbers of people who need training at any one time to justify focused training efforts. Larger firms are more likely to provide training than smaller ones, but the training they provide is mostly limited to college-educated technicians and managers. The lower the level of skills possessed, the less likely the worker is to receive training from any source.