ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 25, 1996 TAG: 9607250059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
A NEW FIBER-OPTIC system should signal a major shift in how long-distance teaching works and who can receive it over the next few years.
For the same $1.2 million Virginia Tech spends now to beam 24 courses throughout the state, it soon can transmit nearly unlimited offerings.
That's how dramatic the shift will be as Tech and Old Dominion University in Norfolk start sending "distance learning" courses out over a new high-speed network called Access Virginia unveiled Thursday in Richmond.
"We are not planning to go outside the state initially," said Pat Jackson, Tech's director of external programs for information systems. But in time, the university's offerings easily could beam past the state line.
Professors based at the two universities will teach courses at several remote locations linked by a fiber-optic system being built by Bell Atlantic, Sprint Corp. and the state's local phone companies. The system, a high-capacity digital communication link, uses one connection to send two-way voice, video and data, said Jeff Crowder, a Tech systems engineer.
All 23 of the state's community colleges also are linking up to the network, which will allow "a high school in Grundy [to] receive assistance from a biology professor in Blacksburg," Tech President Paul Torgersen said.
Eventually, other colleges, secondary schools and state and local government agencies are expected to join the Access Virginia network, officials said at a news conference at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. By the end of this year, 37 sites will be connected.
Students watching a cyber-lecture will be able to see and hear the professor and ask questions.
Arnold Oliver, chancellor of Virginia's community colleges, said the system will not be for everyone. ``Some people are still uncomfortable in front of a computer screen,'' he said.
But he said ``distance teaching'' will grow rapidly as increasingly computer-literate children enter college.
Tech's graduate engineering distance learning program now spends $1.2 million a year to beam 24 courses out via satellite. Only two courses at a time can be taught, Jackson said.
With the new system, Tech can spend the same amount of money to produce more than 100 courses - and an unlimited number can be transmitted at any time, Jackson said.
Torgersen said Virginia Tech will spend about $1.2 million on the project in the first year. Old Dominion's costs will be about $1.9 million. University officials said the money already had been allocated for satellite technology, which is being replaced by the more elaborate fiber-optic system.
Larry Hengehold, the community colleges' vice chancellor for information technology, said the two-year colleges will spend about $2.3 million in the first year.
Jackson said the five-year contract calls for Virginia Access users to pay a flat monthly rate of $1,000, $5,000 or $12,000 per site, depending on level of service received.
The price is the same no matter where the site is located or whether the user is a college, a secondary school or a government agency.
Robert Woltz, a Bell Atlantic vice president, said the company expects to earn $5 million to $8 million during the project's first two years.
Staff writer Allison Blake contributed to this story.
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