ABSTRACT
This volume describes a number of innovations in the field of Internet based education from a research group that helped invent the general approach. Some readers may have come upon this volume hoping that it would contain simple prescriptions on how to use the Internet for learning as determined by simple either-or comparisons, the "hard re search" that is so lauded by experimental traditionalists. However, as any teacher who has tried to implement a research-based innovation knows, there are no simple answers. Research is important, and the defining characteristic of research is an empirical stance, a willing ness to " listen to the data" and to look for patterns that hold true across time and space. Our work as researchers certainly fits this bill. However, as is true with most educational research, the simple studies and simple answers ("Which is best, A or B?") are notably back grounded in the work. The tricky part of doing educational research is that the devil is in the details-interventions may take on widely vary ing forms depending on the teacher, the classroom context, and even the particular geographic location. In technology research in particu lar, many ask questions that belie the role of context. The question, "Is tool A better than tool B?" is foolish if one doesn't ever examine what is done with tools A and B or why. In all of the work reported in this volume, these so-called horse race studies are backgrounded. They are used to answer important questions, but any experimental comparisons are highly embedded in a tapestry of efforts that blends
creative technology and curriculum generation, proactive implemen tation, and iteration. This cycle of activities makes sure that the com parisons examined make sense-that they are compelling-and that the interventions tested represent the best possible examples of their kind that could be provided.
