07/23/96

Contact: Bonnie Beach (614/593-0253 or 614/592-3631) or Colleen Sexton (614/593-4429)

ATHENS, Ohio -- Faculty in Ohio University's College of Education will host 86 teachers from Central and Southeastern Ohio beginning Monday (July 22) for two weeks of intensive training in the use of a new computer network linking 22 schools in the state.

The network, called the Learning Community Link (LCL), is an expansion of the Appalachian Distance Learning Project (ADLP) created by the College of Education in 1991. That project linked three elementary schools in the region -- East Elementary in Athens, Whitwell Elementary in Ironton and Deering Elementary in Coal Grove -- to the college's Video Education Interactive Network using a fiber optic network providing two-way video and audio technology.

The LCL adds classes from 19 elementary, middle and high schools in the Athens City, Columbus Public, Ironton and Dawson-Bryant (Coal Grove) school districts to the three founding ADLP participating schools. The project is being studied by the North Central Regional Education Lab in Oak Brook, Ill., as a possible national model for "telecommunities" involving schools.

Initial connections during LCL's development have been via e-mail and Internet activity. Project directors say the link, scheduled to begin operation this fall, also will feature two-way interactive voice and video technology over which Ohio University professors will conduct teacher development and promote collaboration among educators. The collaborations will translate into innovative teaching -- of science and mathematics as well as with interdisciplinary approaches -- using the advanced technology, which connects students in all 22 schools, as well.

"The technology allows students to communicate more. The more they communicate, the more they retain and the better they understand concepts," said Colleen Sexton, former Ohio University assistant professor of curriculum and instruction and current SchoolNet Plus administrator.

One computer in each participating school will feature desktop video conferencing in addition to text and graphics via the Internet. Eight buildings will have full video and audio connections.

The project received a $682,000 grant from Ameritech and $500,000 from the state Department of Education's Goals 2000 program this year. Participants and sources of funding and support for the project also have included participating schools, the College of Education, Ameritech, GTE, the Ohio Department of Education and the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Through Aug. 2, Sexton and Bonnie Beach, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction and project co-director, will host the 86 participating teachers for a program focusing on upcoming projects that will use the technological link. The first interdisciplinary project will center around the theme of rivers, a uniting factor in each community.

Most training will take place at East Elementary School in Athens, with some sessions at the Ping Student Recreation Center, Copeland Hall and the Computer Services Center on the Ohio University campus.

"The whole focus will be a problem-solving approach," Sexton said. "If we want teachers to engage the students, we have to show them how to teach with a problem-solving approach using the technology."

LCL is one of 14 SchoolNet prototypes in the state. SchoolNet is a state-funded project to connect classrooms within each Ohio public school building with wiring capable of transmitting interactive voice, video and data.