A study of factors affecting the continued use of the satellite education network services in Illinois schools

In 1988, the Illinois State Board of Education, Western Illinois University, and the Texas Interactive Instructional Network began to jointly administer a program that became known as the Satellite Education Network. Sixty-one Illinois school districts received free satellite dishes and other electronic equipment that would enable them to receive interactive audio and video instruction through the system.The purpose of this study was to determine what factors led these schools to either maintain or discard their association with the Satellite Education Network. With three of the schools having consolidated, survey questionnaires were sent out to the fifty-eight schools that were part of the original Network. Fifty-one of the schools responded to the questionnaire. Two of the schools granted permission to be used as case studies, of which one was a school that maintained its association with the Network and the other was a school that had withdrawn from the Network.In the group of schools that maintained their association with the Network, the services were widely perceived as strongly related to the district's goals by the board of education, administration, teachers and community. This support provided the resources necessary to not only insure the program was perceived to be successful in the districts, but to also insure its survival.In those schools that discarded the program, most of the districts had little need for the Network's services. They desired the free satellite equipment and other hardware provided by the Network, but were less interested in the services provided by the technology. Lacking support, the system, which was perceived by many schools to be expensive, was viewed as costing too much and providing too little, and was discarded by these schools.This study provides a perspective for policymakers to use to evaluate their efforts as they attempt to influence schools through grant programs. This study also adds to the body of research on change in schools, providing an understanding as to what factors led schools to ultimately decide on the fate of a change effort.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio