Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 26, 1995 TAG: 9509260047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DALEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
When Higdon poses a question, the observer often answers through a loudspeaker.
No, the observer is not some odd creature from outer space. It's interactive television.
Monday morning, Botetourt County officials unveiled the nearly $1 million system that they say is a precursor to the classrooms of the future. The Botetourt school system is the second in Southwest Virginia to have a fiber-optic teaching television system; the technology also is in use in Tazewell County.
"Instead of moving students with buses, we're moving ideas with fiber optics," said Susan Kidd, an administrative assistant with the Botetourt County School System.
School administrators hope the Botetourt Educational Television Network will allow the school system to offer a broader curriculum to both traditional high school students and adults seeking continuing education.
Roanoke & Botetourt Communications, the parent company to the county's telephone company, was the major contributor. R&B donated more than $600,000 of telecommunications equipment, construction work and employee time to get the project off the ground.
Four classes are being offered: industrial workplace education, history of Western civilization, advanced government and advanced biology. The history, government and biology courses carry college credits.
Using 2,305 miles of fiber-optic cable, the system links Lord Botetourt and James River high schools, the Botetourt Technical Educational Center and Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in Clifton Forge with video and audio monitors.
The system keeps the instructor on the screen by following the sound of his or her voice. Student voices are picked up by microphones on their desks, and the teacher can focus the camera on those who speak. A teacher's aide keeps watch on the class.
As Higdon made his presentation at Lord Botetourt, he could respond to the questions of students at James River.
U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, who delivered the keynote address at the dedication, envisions even greater potential.
"We are on the edge of something here," he said. "The opportunities are stunning."
Goodlatte said students soon will be able to gain access to the classrooms of major universities throughout the country and visit libraries and museums in distant cities via television.
The students even may be able to visit the halls of Congress as the information highway grows, Goodlatte said.
The goals of the school system are not quite as far-reaching:
School administrators see the system as a way to make sure that students in rural schools have the same course opportunities as those in more suburban settings.
Teachers could benefit from a better in-house training program.
Students will be able to take classes that will give them both high school and college credit.
"I am proud to be here as part of a small school division in Southwest Virginia that is leading the way in technological advancement," said Botetourt County School Superintendent Clarence S. McClure.
Allen Layman, president and CEO of R&B Communications, told the gathering of bankers, business people, politicians and school officials that the best was yet to come.
"What you will be seeing is just the barest outlines of what education will be like in the 21st century," he said.
"Our vision is to see schools and universities throughout Virginia interconnected via fiber-optic cables, whereby every school will be able to send and receive educational programming for our students, teachers and communities. The power and use of such a powerful educational tool is only limited by one's imagination."
by CNB