Broadband in Dutch Education: Current Use, Experiences, and Thresholds

Abstract

Broadband potentially has benefits for education, but in order to be beneficial it has to be used. In this chapter, we have investigated from a user perspective: (1) to what extent broadband is used in Dutch education (in the classroom as well as in the organisation as a whole); (2) the experiences teachers have with broadband, including impediments and added value. This was done by a survey under 221 Dutch teachers, ICT-coordinators, and school boards. Results show that teachers, ICT coordinators, and school boards are interested in using broadband in their schools as they see the added value, but there seems to be an impasse: without infrastructure, there are no services and without services there is no need for infrastructure. Schools can break out of the causality dilemma by giving an impulse to the market by combining forces and demand. Moreover, teachers need to be trained in using the new tools and service.