12/01/2002

By DOUG BEDELL / The Dallas Morning News

DUNCANVILLE – Hand-written warnings often plaster the computer in the Gebauer family kitchen: "Don't Touch!" "Keep Away!" To an unenlightened visitor, it might appear a household of technophobes.

In reality, the Compaq PC is just busy performing intense computational tasks for its teenage master, 17-year-old Erich Gebauer, one of Duncanville High School's most promising graphic animators.

School assignment or digital dalliance? Erich's parents have a tough time telling his projects apart.

Digital Youth

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"The exact same thing that he's doing for personal projects, he's doing for school," says Erich's mother, Roxanne. "I would say, yes, there's a gray area there now."

For Erich and millions of other American high school students, the blending of schoolwork, entertainment and communication among friends is as logical as it is natural.

Students use the Internet in dozens of ways to help them in school. It is a virtual textbook and reference library, a tutor and study shortcut, a venue for online study groups and an electronic locker, backpack and notebook.

"There is an information race among all the kids," says Erich, a senior. "The more you know, the faster you can learn at school. Most of my friends have been playing around with computers and the Internet since they were 4."

His description of the Internet generation is squarely on target – and uniquely American.

Thanks to a convergence of factors, the Internet beckons to U.S. teens as an inviting, low-cost universe in which to roam, not a scarce resource too costly or complicated for anyone except business executives and scholars.

Local phone calls are, in essence, free in the United States, paving the way for cheap dial-up access. PCs are affordable to a broad American middle class. And the predominance of English from the earliest days of the World Wide Web created a deep reservoir of online content.

Some wireless technologies may have had a faster uptake abroad, but in the United States, the Internet-connected PC – with its adept teen user – is on its way to becoming a household fixture.

More than 60 percent of Americans own a PC. Compare that with, say, Italy, where home computer penetration is only 20 percent.

Embracing the PC

The computer is clearly the king of the technology heap in the United States, unlike other parts of the world where a mobile phone is the ubiquitous high-tech symbol.

So, as technology and media companies rush to offer new broadband services, the main challenge in reaching American youths will be to develop products that work well and are priced fairly.

Elsewhere, businesses face a cultural hurdle: They'll first have to persuade people to buy more computers and spend more time in front of them.

Erich Gebauer started out way behind compared with other U.S. young people. Until his high school years, he spent most of his life in the Solomon Islands, where parents Ron and Roxanne were stationed as missionaries. Like many his age, he played video games and became enthralled with their ability to emerge players in fantastical virtual worlds. The Internet, however, had not been part of his education. Access simply wasn't available.

Key teaching tool

"I came back and I knew absolutely nothing," he says. "I quickly figured out that was a problem."

After immersing himself in computer science courses – and spending countless hours learning to navigate the Internet on his own at home – Erich caught up with his peers. In pursuit of his computer animation interests, Erich's PC may churn for 30 hours or more at a stretch, rendering thousands of images into slick, smooth video game scapes.

To be sure, the comfort level of American youth with the Internet is hardly uniform.

Access at home is an important determining factor. For families who opt out of the online world – or who can't afford a home PC – their youngsters' exposure comes only at school. Moreover, schools' equipment and teaching expertise vary widely.

A recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project estimates that technologically elite high school and middle school students comprise 30 percent to 40 percent of all U.S. teenagers.

But it also found evidence of a troubling digital divide on a couple of levels.

One gap exists between school districts' approaches to technology, which could lead to two distinct castes of graduates – those with and without sophisticated computer skills. Another gap exists between schools and the Internet-savvy students who are hungry for more.

That finding echoes a point raised by business executives trying to tap into the burgeoning teen technology marketplace: Young people are really leading the way when it comes to exploring and exploiting technology. Schools, the Pew study suggests, will have to adapt to the tech demands of the young just as consumer-tech companies have.

"Internet-savvy students are far ahead of their teachers and principals in taking advantage of online educational resources," says Pew director Lee Rainie. "Many believe they may have to raise their voices to force schools to change to accommodate them better.

"And their voices should be added to policy discussions. Educators have a choice: Either they need to adapt or they will be dragged into a new learning environment."

The Pew study, conducted by the American Institutes of Research, was based on the results of 14 focus groups with 136 middle and high school students across the nation. It also used reports from 200 teenagers who responded to an online survey.

One notable finding: Teen respondents repeatedly said that the quality of their Internet-based assignments was often poor and uninspiring – if online assignments were even made at all.

"They want to be assigned more and more engaging Internet activities that are relevant to their lives," says Douglas Levin, the director of the research study for the American Institutes for Research. "Many students maintain that this would significantly improve their attitude toward school and learning."

Erich Gebauer would seem to be a case study.

Video games are certainly relevant to his lifestyle. He and friends often spend hours hooking up computers in local area networks to compete. Curiosity about how game developers do their jobs led several of them to enroll in a computer animation class at Duncanville High.

A teacher provided an educational copy of the expensive Lightwave3D modeling program. And, suddenly, Erich says, he found himself spending hours away from school trying to master nuances of the complex software being explored in class.

During computer animation classes, the instructor provides guidance. "But the best way to learn is to go online and download tutorials for Lightwave," Erich says.

At home and school, Erich and his pals spend much of their time at Lightwave3D.com, seeking out new skills.

"It's got examples of what other really good animators have done, and the pros are always helping out us amateurs," Erich says. "Without that, you'd be stuck with a textbook and notes. I don't think it would work."

Instructors running his high school computer science courses do a great job with the basics, Erich says. "I'm not to the level of being able to ask questions that are complicated or deep enough to challenge my teachers yet."

But with Internet access putting the world's experts within reach of his kitchen computer, Erich says he has grown to idolize a different set of heroes.

"I have a lot of respect for these programmers – any programmers," he says. "They are so incredibly talented. How do you create an algorithm that takes the fuzz off an image that has been scanned?

"That is just amazing to me."

Already aware

"These kids think it's a pity their schools don't 'get it' the way they do about how to use the Internet," says Sousan Arafeh, the deputy project director for this study for the American Institutes of Research.

"Most teens use the Internet for school assignments and in other learning situations, but they say their Internet use occurs mostly outside of the school day, outside of the school building and outside of the direction of their teachers," Ms. Arafeh says. "Clearly, that has to change."

And, apparently, it is – at least in districts such as Duncanville and Plano, where students can surf high-speed Internet connections during the day and are expected to go online frequently at home for school-related projects.

"Every one we do for English these days involves the Net," says Plano senior Drew Layton.

Adds Erich: "At school, they just assume you have it. They assign projects to research online and get documents online. They'll do it for everything now – chemistry, computer science, U.S. history."

To keep in touch as they work and play, both teens say they use instant messaging programs, sometimes conducting multiple conversations simultaneously about every aspect of their lives. Dating banter, computer questions and problems, sports and music discussions flow across their monitors as they multitask their way through post-school hours.

From Erich's perspective, the division over technology inside his Duncanville environment has little to do with school resources. He wants broadband access at home, and his parents have said no.

Erich, with a wry smile: "Mom, if I had cable, it would enhance my ability to learn and grow in a modern culture."

Roxanne: "If you would like to contribute half of the cable connection costs, we'll do it."

Erich: "Oh, forget that."

To him, faster Internet access means he could more deftly blend his hobby and schoolwork.

"The technology that's available to me at home is insufficient, in my opinion," he says. "It's not a lack of will or interest; it's a lack of time and some resources.

"At school it's much better."

E-mail dbedell@dallasnews.com