Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 2, 1993 TAG: 9309020445
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY WALKER SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Craig County High School is hooked up to the Virginia Satellite Educational Network, which is offering 16 classes, including Latin, Japanese, music and composition, and discrete math this fall.
"The governor's technology initiative in 1988 placed satellite dishes in every high school in Virginia and many of the middle schools," said Anna Lee Gibson, VSEN marketing coordinator and advanced placement English teacher.
Classes are broadcast from Varina High School in Henrico County, the Henrico County School Board office, Wise County Vocational Technical Center, Hylton High School in Prince William County, and three sites in Fairfax County. Classes are taught by teachers with experience and initiative, Gibson said.
Students watch the teacher on a TV screen and communicate via telephone. "It's live and interactive," Gibson said.
"Students and teachers are connected by a series of 800 numbers. If they want to ask a question, usually the numbers are preset so they go straight into the studio. The teacher recognizes the student and they can ask the question live on the air. There's a lot of ideas passing back and forth, just like in a normal classroom."
"I've been in the classroom when the instructor said, `Let's go now to Craig County for an answer to a question,' " said Don Ford, director of instruction for the county.
"You can have quizzes just like in a normal class, but all of our work is faxed back and forth," Gibson said. "After the test is completed, they will fax the test to us; we will get it immediately. The turnaround time for short tests is the next day."
If the class consists of a few advanced students, they may be in the classroom by themselves. But a facilitator is present in most classes.
Facilitators, said Gibson, don't have to be teachers. They can be aides, librarians or someone else in authority who can take the roll and monitor tests.
After class, students can contact the teacher on an 800 number. "You might think we never talk to our students, but that's not true," Gibson said.
No more than 250 students statewide are allowed to enroll in a class, and the minimum number is usually 60 to 80, Gibson said.
In Craig, "we usually have 10 or 12 in Latin 1, probably the number stays the same in Latin 2, and we end up maybe with seven or eight in the third-year program," Ford said.
Craig's experience with long-distance instruction has been "positive overall," Ford said, but there has been one problem: Craig is not on the same class schedule as the school that broadcasts the class.
"Because of scheduling differences, we have to tape it; we don't show it to them live," Ford said. "There have been occasions when we do show live broadcasts, and we prefer to do that because it provides more interaction with the teacher."
Craig County is the only Roanoke Valley jurisdiction offering regular classes through VSEN.
"Everything they offer, we offer in-house with the exception of Japanese," said Joe Kirby, director of instruction for Salem schools.
Roanoke County uses VSEN programming as background material.
"We receive information from the state as to what's coming over," said Johnny Simpson, the county's media specialist.
"It could be in-service for teachers, it could be classes for students. We either pick it up and record it or pull people in for a teleconference."
Roanoke will be using Spanish programming "more or less as a supplement to the classroom," said David Baker, the city's media coordinator.
VSEN's greatest value may be to rural counties like Craig. "As a small division, it would be practically impossible for us to hire two foreign-language teachers," Ford says. "I really feel like the satellite network offers to rural divisions like us opportunities for students they would never have otherwise."
by CNB