How a visionary classroom teacher co-founded “Robin Hood’s Band” at Tel-Ed ’94, launched the Online Internet Institute, and laid the deep foundation for ASCEND ADVANCE, Inc.
“Modern communications technology offers educators powerful opportunities. It brings the world to the classroom and community… No matter what their socioeconomic or ethnic background, and no matter where they live, the learning field for all students can be leveled.”
— Bonnie Bracey, Service Learning on the Information Superhighway (1998)
“Ancestors” · composed and performed by Ferdi Serim. I selected “Ancestors” because Bonnie is now an ancestor. She sees her vision come to life when she looks through our eyes at what students are doing.
With the passing of Bonnie Bracey (Bracey-Sutton), the global educational technology community lost one of its most fierce, visionary, and compassionate champions. An elementary classroom teacher from Arlington, Virginia, Bonnie dedicated her life to ensuring that technology was never treated as a static luxury in isolated computer labs, but as a humanizing instrument for social justice, equity, and student agency.
A recipient of the Presidential Award in Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST), a Fulbright Scholar to India (1987), a Christa McAuliffe Educator (1992), and a NASA Challenger Fellow. Bonnie secured over 40 classroom grants to bring cutting-edge scientific inquiry into her elementary school.
Appointed by President Bill Clinton as the sole K-12 classroom teacher on the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIIAC), ensuring frontline educators shaped national telecommunications policy, the KickStart Initiative, and school connectivity standards.
Traveled nationwide on the White House CyberEd tour under Vice President Al Gore, served on the advisory board of the George Lucas Educational Foundation for decades, advised the UN ICT Task Force across 22 countries, chaired the ISTE Digital Equity Special Interest Group, and received the UNESCO Outstanding Service to Digital Equity Award.
Respected by corporate CEOs, agency heads, researchers, and classroom peers alike, Bonnie was widely recognized as “the best networker and resource connection provider in STEM education,” constantly connecting teachers with tools, ideas, and each other.
The organizational lineage feeding ASCEND ADVANCE today began in November 1994 at the International Conference on Telecommunications in Education (Tel-Ed ’94) in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
During a landmark panel presentation titled “Forming Robin Hood’s Band: New Paradigms for Collaboration, Ideas, and Funding,” co-presenters Ferdi Serim (then a Princeton, NJ classroom teacher and jazz musician) and Bonnie Bracey issued a transformative call to action. They recognized that public funding, technical resources, and high-speed networks were too often trapped within institutional silos, leaving frontline teachers without support.
“Combining Content and Context to Create Dynamic Learning Communities”
OII was dedicated to reshaping teaching and learning by helping educators and students harness the Internet to improve classroom achievement and cultivate 21st-century skills.
In June 1995, OII received formal federal backing through a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant (Grant No. REC-9554232). Functioning as a nationwide “train-the-trainers” network hosted at oii.org, OII brought together teachers, content specialists, and technology mentors to build collaborative online learning models. In summer 1995, OII launched its first national cohort, training over 400 K-12 educators across the United States to become local technology leaders and mentors in their districts.
Rather than boring teachers with generic software tutorials, OII gathered educators around topics they loved, such as the migration of Monarch butterflies or Gregor Mendel’s genetics, and taught them how to build online lesson plans, WebQuests, and collaborative networks around those passions.
OII’s philosophical engine centered on four core questions for systemic educational reform:
An early educational blog and podcast series hosted by OII co-founder Ferdi Serim and Technical Director Art Wolinsky, sharing field reflections, pedagogical strategies, and interviews with educational pioneers.
Art Wolinsky authored Internet Power Research Using the Big6™ Method (Enslow Publishers) and directed OII’s Information Technology for Learning (IT4L) modules, pioneering proactive internet safety, digital ethics, and critical information evaluation in partnership with WiredSafety.
Published frameworks: This work was documented in Ferdi Serim and Melissa Koch’s seminal 1996 book, NetLearning: Why Teachers Use the Internet (O’Reilly & Associates).
| Role | Key Leader(s) | Historical Focus & Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Co-Founders & PIs | Ferdi Serim & Bonnie Bracey | Co-conceptualized OII at Tel-Ed ’94; secured NSF Grant REC-9554232; aligned classroom innovation with NIIAC national policy goals. |
| Technical Director | Art Wolinsky | Pioneered proactive internet safety, digital ethics, and information literacy (partnering with WiredSafety). |
| Regional Site Directors | Celia Einhorn, Betsy Frederick | Directed New Mexico OII operations; connected K-12 classrooms to supercomputing infrastructure, Santa Fe Institute complex systems modeling (StarLogo), and Project G.U.T.S. |
| Key Advisors & Partners | Andy Carvin, Larry Anderson, Dennis Harper | Facilitated cross-institutional project partnerships with GenYes, Global SchoolNet, and distance learning networks. |
As internet access became widespread throughout the 2000s and 2010s, the fundamental challenge of educational technology evolved. The barrier was no longer just physical access to computers, but deep digital equity gaps driven by rural isolation, broadband affordability, low literacy, and socio-emotional displacement.
To address these challenges, the core philosophy of OII evolved into ASCEND ADVANCE, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, under the executive leadership of Ferdi Serim as Principal Officer.
Reframing historically under-resourced families and students from “at-risk” to “At-Promise,” combining functional digital navigation with the I.M.A.G.E.S social-emotional learning curriculum to foster personal self-efficacy.
Expanding OII’s “teachers teaching teachers” model into intergenerational community hubs across New Mexico. Integrated with the 100% New Mexico Initiative, these hubs deliver digital literacy alongside 10 Vital Services, such as food, medical care, housing, parent supports, and job training.
Programs like “Artful Intelligence: Bringing Graduate Profiles to Life through STEAM” (distributed via PBS LearningMedia) and the CSM (College Student Mindset) course continue OII’s legacy of connecting artistic reasoning, mathematics, and 21st-century technology to real-world workforce pathways.
Ferdi Serim and Bonnie Bracey co-present “Robin Hood’s Band” at Tel-Ed ’94 in Albuquerque, co-founding OII.
OII receives NSF Grant REC-9554232 and trains 400+ K-12 educators in its inaugural summer institute.
Bonnie Bracey serves on NIIAC, advising the White House CyberEd tour, the George Lucas Educational Foundation, ISTE, and the UN ICT Task Force across 22 nations.
OII’s founding vision lives on in Santa Fe, New Mexico, empowering “At-Promise” communities through digital navigation, PATH hubs, STEAM learning, and socio-emotional well-being.
Bonnie Bracey dedicated her life to ensuring no teacher or student was left behind in the digital age. Help us honor her legacy by supporting digital equity and community navigation across New Mexico and beyond.