Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 17, 1995 TAG: 9504170016
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The city plans to install a telecomputer network that will provide two-way voice, data and video communication to teach homebound students through regular classroom instruction.
And within four years, the city hopes to begin installing virtual reality laboratories in all 29 schools that will provide real-life simulations in three dimensions, with student interaction.
About the same time, city schools will be equipped with distance-learning technology, which will allow students to be taught by instructors or participate in video conferences thousands of miles away.
City students could talk with Japanese students by video, for example, while they are studying about Japan.
The instructional equipment is included in an ambitious $23 million long-range technology plan that is designed to put Roanoke schools on the cutting edge of educational technology over the next decade.
The plan, approved last week by the city School Board, outlines the technology that will be acquired, establishes requirements for student technology skills, and sets technology training standards for teachers and other employees.
Rita Bishop, assistant superintendent for instruction, called it a "state of the future plan" that will prepare students for the 21st century. The plan is expensive, but "it is doable. It is realistic," she said.
The technology plan establishes performance standards grade by grade, beginning in kindergarten when children will be taught basic keyboarding and mouse skills. By the second grade, pupils will be creating stories, using graphics and solving problems with computers.
By the 12th grade, students must acquire computer publishing skills and know how to use compact discs, spreadsheets, simulations and portable technology.
The plan addresses the projected technical needs over the next decade, and provides the school system a systematic framework on which to make technological decisions.
There is a wide disparity in technology now available in schools - computers, instructional networks and satellites. The school system has obtained federal funds for magnet programs with a technology focus in six schools, but the other schools have not been eligible for these funds and do not have nearly as many computers.
A survey last year found the school system had 2,568 computers, an overall ratio of 5-to-1.
In some magnet schools, the student-to-computer ratio surpasses 2-to-1. The Roanoke Academy of Math and Science has 373 pupils and 200 computers; Highland Park, 320 pupils and 147 computers; William Fleming High, 1,540 students and 509 computers; and William Ruffner Middle School, 640 students and 211 computers.
In some nonmagnet elementary schools such as Fishburn Park and Grandin Court, however, the student-to-computer ratio is 15-to-1.
One-third of the city's 29 schools have instructional networks, and 14 schools have computerized libraries.
Audiovisual and multimedia equipment is available in all schools; scanners are used in six schools; and satellite technology is available in eight schools.
"It is amazing how far we have come in two years. We had little technology [when Wayne Harris became superintendent]," Bishop said.
Bishop said the city can't afford to finance the technology plan completely with public funds. She said much of the funding will have to come from outside sources.
Under the proposed financing plan, the schools hope to get $8 million in private and corporate grants, $1 million in private donations and $1 million in federal funds.
The financing arrangement also includes $5 million from year-end surpluses, $3.5 million in bond issues and $4.6 million in budgeted operating funds.
In the next three years, the schools will have $5 million in budget operating funds and bond money to implement the early phases of the plan. This will include expansion of computer networks, business and technical education technology, computerized language laboratory, computerized libraries and other technology.
The plan requires all teachers and employees to obtain a basic level of technical knowledge. Advanced training will be provided to help administrators and teachers fully integrate technology into classroom instruction.
Bishop said that a third of the money will be spent on training to make sure teachers and employees know how to use the technology so the students can get the most out of it.
The training will be designed to help the teachers overcome the fear of change and their "technophobia" so they can build use of the technology into the curriculum.
All city schools will be renovated or constructed so that the new technology can be installed quickly and efficiently, the plan says. Bishop said the schools will ask technology experts to help revise the plan annually.
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