Technology provides a different way of teaching

BY MICHELLE MILLER
STAFF WRITER

School districts are starting to think outside the box when determining what programs and courses to offer students. As enrollment numbers continue to decline and cuts in state aid are proposed, school districts are beginning to rely more heavily on technology to cut costs.

Several schools already provide distance learning, where students from various schools are taught by a teacher via-internet connection. The question is, will schools rely more on distance learning and other technological resources as teachers retire in order to cut costs?

Peter Livshin, superintendent of Milford Central School, says that is exactly what MCS plans to do. The one thing MCS has going for it is its distance learning room, says Livshin.

According to Livshin, the district has begun looking at the master schedule for the room. The goal is to have the room busy every period, he says.

MCS Board of Education President Tom Brennan says students have attended classes this semester with students from Roxbury, Stamford and Edmeston through distance learning. Milford teachers have taught in the past, and will teach next semester, says Brennan who says the district is exploring tapping into other instructional arrangements with Morris and Gilboa.

``Milford is prepared to pursue any cooperative arrangement locally, regionally, nationally or internationally that benefits Milford kids and taxpayers,’’ says Brennan.

According to Livshin, the distance learning room is used throughout the day, but it is not used to its maximum. He says the district plans to offer Spanish through distance learning next year and is looking at offering French in the future. Livshin says the district can make money on every class it teaches through distance learning.

There are no positive projections that decreasing enrollments will not continue and it is hard to tell whether small schools will be able to be self-sufficient and continue to survive, says Livshin. He believes rural schools will have to look into the concept of online high schools _ also called virtual high schools.

This technology is becoming more popular across the country and some urban schools in New York have already started testing it, says Livshin.

During last week’s MCS board of education meeting, Otsego- Northern Catskills BOCES Superintendent Nicholas Savin said he believes online offerings will be the most cost effective way to deal with decreasing enrollments.

He said once equipment is purchased, there are little cost because school districts will not have to worry about the equipment getting sick or having to pay retirement costs.

Online classes may help enhance curriculums, especially for rural schools, by providing options to students the district itself does not have the resources to provide on its own, said Savin. Distance learning was designed for smaller classes whereas online courses will be able to serve a large number of students, according to Savin.

Although Livshin says he believes the technology will help save money, he says he believes the new concept will ``open a can of worms’’ and will ``clearly butt heads’’ with the teachers’ union.

``What I am hoping is it will do is open up more collegelevel courses,’’ says Livshin.

``Hopefully, it won’t mess too much with core classes.’’

Livshin says he does not know where the whole concept is headed and there will be things to consider such as, will students be self-motivated enough to get on a computer to complete work at such a young age and how will classes be moderated.

Cooperstown Central School began offering virtual field trips to students through its Polycom Video Conferencing Unit in November.

According to Mark LaValley, network systems coordinator, the unit is being used primarily for virtual field trips and meetings.

LaValley says using the unit for meetings helps save the staff from having to travel. He says the use of the unit in classrooms has been slow but steady as teachers find a place for it in their daily routines. Scheduling and planning ahead of time is key, says LaValley.

According to LaValley, teachers have to find the appropriate virtual field trip or class, then schedule it and make sure it fits the curriculum they are teaching. For example, LaValley says a social studies teacher who teaches a class on World War II in the spring, may want to schedule a virtual field trip at the World War II floating museum _ The Intrepid _ in New York City. He says the teacher would need to gather information at the museum’s website and then send an e-mail to schedule a date and time for the virtual field trip in advance in order to save the time slot.

``It takes some work to be that organized and ahead of time,’’ says LaValley.

LaValley says, as expected, the students really seem to like using the new technology. It is something different from the daily classroom routine and gives students a chance to interact with ``experts’’ in a particular field, says LaValley.

For example, on Nov. 24, first-graders had the opportunity to experience an underwater exhibition lesson at the Columbus Zoo by using the Polycom Video Conferencing Unit.

Representatives at the zoo sent packets of information and activities to the students before they went on their virtual field trip to be used as part of the lesson. LaValley says a zoo instructor led the class via two-way video conference for an interactive experience that lasted about an hour. The instructor talked about a specific animal and its habitat, and then switched to a live shot of the animal at the zoo, all in real time.

According to LaValley, video conference technology is decades old, but more people are using it on a daily basis. SKYPE is very popular with teens who like to talk to friends and family over long distances, says LaValley. He says the video conference technology also used to be very expensive, but now is very affordable.

Text Only