New FCC regulations that will reduce the cost for telecommunications services to schools and libraries will put broadband, switched, digital technology within reach of many more communities. Some districts who originally intended to provide instruction within a district or region on a shared digital broadband network have found that courses taught in high schools can easily be switched to cable stations and broadcast directly into the home for homebound students and for adult consumption. Again, the home or workplace computer opens many avenues for interaction and support for learning outside the traditional classroom. By fully integrating cable, broadband telecommunications, local and wide area networks can yield very high returns on a school or district's investments in technology. Network Enabled Computing has emerged as a technology itself within the past three years.
Many districts have or are near completion of systems of local area networks in and among schools.
The goal of most schools is to incorporate every classroom and office into an inter-network or wide area network. Remote access is often supported by call in lines. Some schools operate programs that loan laptop computers with modems to students, teachers, and adults in the community while others are keeping classrooms and libraries open into the late evening for students and their parents to use. From home or work, children and adults can access wide area networks and the information resources available there. In this way, a community that spends millions on infrastructure and resources such as CD ROM based full text periodicals, encyclopedias, atlases, and a host of local data bases are leveraging their investments to meet a broader range of needs and dong so for many more clients than in the past.