Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 25, 1994 TAG: 9410010027
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S16 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
By the end of the first semester, they will have access to $3.6 million worth of new technology that will place them on the cutting edge of a 21st-century education.
Financed with federal funds, the new learning aids will help to better prepare students for the rapidly changing workplace. And they will help students enhance their understanding of and skills in the visual and performing arts.
The magnet center will get a state-of-the art physics laboratory, technology courtroom for mock trials, video production-digital imaging studio, problem-solving laboratory with multimedia stations and equipment for advanced students in biotechnology and environmental chemistry.
The school also will have computers and technology for a travel and tourism center with on-line capability for reservations and trip planning.
And there will be a new piano and music laboratory where students can use computers to help compose music.
The new learning aids will supplement another $3.6 million worth of high-tech equipment for Fleming and Ruffner that was financed by federal money and installed last year.
The new federal grant will enable the city to move and consolidate some laboratories so they will be more convenient for students and teachers, said Sandra Burks, magnet program specialist.
Roanoke schools open Sept. 7.
Schools in Salem and the counties of Botetourt and Roanoke will open Aug. 29
The classroom of the 21st century will resemble a high-tech laboratory with access to the much acclaimed information highway, educators say. The laboratories will be comprehensive, computer-driven, state-of-the-art technology centers for middle and high school students.
Technology also will bring changes in elementary schools, where some kindergarteners already use computers.
In the Roanoke Valley, the Fleming-Ruffner center has attracted the most attention because it has received so much federal money.
But all school systems in the valley - Roanoke, Salem, Roanoke County and Botetourt County - are developing plans to use more computers and other technology.
Roanoke Superintendent Wayne Harris said the Fleming-Ruffner center enables students to get a jump start on college and high-paying careers.
"The educational experiences provided by the [center] will allow students to be better prepared for a great variety of careers when they finish high school and will assure that they will be better prepared [for colleges and universities]," Harris said.
"Future career paths could include aeronautical engineering, biophysics, systems analyst and biomedical research," he said.
Computers and other high-tech instructional technology quickly are changing from frills and luxuries into necessities in education.
Botetourt County has been in the forefront of school divisions that use computers and other instructional technology. Botetourt has a computer laboratory with 22 computers at each elementary school and several labs at its high schools.
Superintendent Clarence McClure said Botetourt hopes to begin using interactive television soon to network schools.
"We're up to our ears in technology," McClure said.
Wayne Tripp, Salem school superintendent, also has stressed the need for more instructional technology. He included funds for more computers and technology in the next school year.
"We need to give more attention to equipment and to the tools of education," Tripp told the Salem School Board.
In Roanoke schools, there is a wide variation in computers and technology. At some federally funded magnet schools, there is one computer for every five students while the ratio at some other schools is one for every 25 or 30 students.
Harris said the schools, especially nonmagnet schools, need more computers and other instructional technology. He has proposed a $7.5 million plan for upgrading technology over the next five years. The plan will be financed with grants, contributions and local funds.
Harris has set a goal of one computer for every five students in all schools. That means that the city will need 2,500 computers.
While the city has been successful in obtaining federal funds for the magnet schools, about two-thirds of all city schools have not been eligible for these funds and lack money for instructional innovations.
Strapped by the lack of funds, Roanoke has been able to buy only a few computers for many schools.
Soon after becoming school superintendent, Harris appointed a commission to study the technology issue and make recommendations. The study produced the $7.5 million plan.
The city has included $1.5 million for computers and other technology for schools in a proposed $23 million bond issue in a November referendum.
The Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke County school systems are participating in a campaign by the Roanoke Regional and the Salem-Roanoke County chambers of commerce to persuade businesses and industries to donate old or unused computers to the schools.
John Saunders, a member of the Roanoke School Board, is helping to oversee the campaign. The response has been good; 125 computers were donated in the pilot project involving the Crystal Spring Elementary School in Roanoke.
Educators say that students are inspired and teachers are networking to share ideas in schools connected to computer networks.
The Roanoke school system is establishing a technology department to plan for technology needs, manage the equipment and train teachers to use and maintain it.
A hot line will be established so schools can call for assistance if they have problems with their computers, said David Baker, coordinator of audio-visual and library services.
Roanoke has hired three students on a part-time basis to help train the teachers and more computer whizzes likely will be recruited to help with the job.
Baker said educational technology is more than just computers. It includes communication satellites, video recorders and computer networks.
Another part of the technology explosion is the growing use of cable television in classrooms and schools.
In 1989, only 6,000 schools in the country had cable, even though there was widespread recognition of television's potential as a teaching tool.
Since then, more than 64,000 schools with more than 35 million students have been connected to their local cable system.
Roanoke's schools will have access to an educational and governmental channel on Cox Cable Roanoke. Roanoke Valley Television airs on Channel 3 of the Cox system.
"We can use it to broadcast classes and provide programs about the schools," Baker said.
by CNB