Teachers like the Internet -- if they use it

An education technology group's recent survey found that 84 percent of teacherssay the Internet improves education.

In examining the use of the Internet in the classroom, California-basedNetDay (www.netday. org) also found that 87 percent of teachers feel comfortableusing the Internet, but 60 percent reported using the Internet less than30 minutes each day. Twenty-seven percent use it for 30 minutes to an hour."We basically asked, "Well, all of these school connections have been made,but what's happening with them?' " said Julie Evans, chief executive officerof NetDay.

"The fact that most teachers only use the Internet for less than 30minutes a day really isn't that surprising when you consider that theirNo. 1 constraint is time," Evans said. "They just simply don't have thetime to incorporate the Internet into their curriculum as much as they'dlike to."

The survey seems to show good news in terms of bridging the digitaldivide — 97 percent of teachers surveyed said they did indeed have accessto the Internet. And 77 percent agreed that teachers without Internet accessin the classroom are at a disadvantage.

Teachers "see the value in this but haven't gotten down the road yet,"Evans said, adding that 67 percent do not believe the Internet is well integratedinto the classroom.Lake Snell Perry & Associates Inc., in conjunction with the TarranceGroup, conducted the survey, which consisted of telephone interviews of600 randomly selected public and private school teachers nationwide betweenJan. 31 and Feb. 6.