Research Evidence Research on cross-classroom collaboration has shown that students who engage in cooperative learning activities via telecommunications show the same gains as those students who are involved in cooperative learning within a classroom. In the Ysleta Independent School District, technology supervisors are finding the BBS to be a simple way to restructure education. Early results show that parents express new respect for schools, teachers are enjoying shared accountability, and children are watching less television in favor of using the telecommunications link. French teachers were part of a 1990 research project using telecommunications to help students use language in a meaningful context. They wrote collaborative stories with students in other schools, exchanged ideas on pollution and the French Revolution with students in France, and participated in an international conference based in Paris.
Teachers also benefit from networking with their peers via telecommunications.
The PBS Mathline Project has middle school mathematics teachers learning about the NCTM teaching standards though collegial discussions, bulletin boards, and email. Initial results indicates that teachers change their classroom behavior as they learn and are supported by their peers. Even with only one computer, an entire classroom can be engaged in a collaborative project. Integrate information systems. Telecommunications, along with other classroom technology such as video tape and video disk, provide multiple levels of communication and information for the class.