THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 11, 1995 TAG: 9508110233
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Faces bathed in the white-gray glow of their computer screens, the 20 students sit intently in the darkened room waiting for their guide to whiz them through storehouses of on-line information.
``Let's explore the Internet!'' urges instructor Walter Deal, an associate professor of technology education at Old Dominion University. With multiple clicks of point-and-press ``mice,'' Deal's charges, teachers all, are off, surfing the collection of computerized databases known as the World Wide Web.
Some 200 middle and high school teachers from all over the state converged in South Hampton Roads for a three-day technology conference that will conclude today. The gathering, sponsored by the Virginia Technology Education Association, drew primarily public school technology specialists.
Participants had their choice of classes on the Internet, desktop publishing, computer-aided design and manufacturing, CD-ROM-based multimedia instruction and materials science.
Thursday, there was little chatter and no horseplay in the Ocean Lakes High School classroom where the Internet seminar was held. For many, this was the first opportunity to venture out into the fast lanes of the Information Age.
``I know it's not new to a lot of people, but it is a new thing to me,'' said Nora Adkins, a middle school technology education specialist who teaches in Charles City County. ``I want to keep up with what's new and what I can use. It's going to help me keep up with what's going on.''
In addition to the Ocean Lakes site, sessions were held at Oscar Smith, Princess Anne and First Colonial high schools, as well as the Radisson Hotel in Virginia Beach. Organizers said the Internet seminar was one of the most requested and best attended of all of the presentations.
``These are top-of-the-line teachers who want to learn,'' said ODU's Deal. ``It (the computer) should not be a box that they're sitting in front of but don't know how to use. (On-line) information is here. This is the kind of thing you can do in your classroom to make learning more exciting and dynamic.''
Going on line can be especially intriguing for students who don't routinely use computers, or know little about them. For these, the potential lies in bringing the world's accumulated knowledge to inquisitive fingers, eyes and ears.
``A lot of our children, especially our low-income kids, don't get a chance to travel,'' said Dwayne Banks, a technology teacher at Crittenden Middle School in Newport News who participated in the Internet seminar. ``We want to expose them to other parts of the world. You can do that over the Internet.''
For Net neophyte Laurie Limoge-Jamerson, the conference underscored an expanding interest in computer technology at Orange County High School, where she teaches. She said the school will be adding another instructor to meet an expected doubling - from 150 to 300 - in the number of students expected to enroll in computer classes in the fall.
``A lot of my kids don't know how to use a computer,'' she said. ``This is something I want to add to my class. I just need a phone line to put into my room.''
The obvious enthusiasm of conference attendees did not seem to be deterred by the nagging expense and installation problems that all schools face when considering computer systems. Yet another dilemma is how to provide all students equal access to equipment that, for the time being, remains relatively scarce.
Organizers contend, however, that even in a time of fiscal belt tightening, at least teachers will be somewhat more knowledgeable about the uses to which computers can be put - arguments that may speed purchase requests in their respective districts. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/Staff
Dwayne Banks, a teacher at Crittenden Middle School in Newport News,
navigates his way around the Internet. Banks and other educators
attending a three-day workshop in Virginia Beach learned how to
broaden computer technology in the classroom.
by CNB