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Schools consider sharing network: High-speed connection would save money and expand online learning.(Morning Call, The (Allentown, PA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 26--While readin', writin' and 'rithmatic are still important, the future of education is all about hardware and software and access to the high-speed digital superhighway. This was the message delivered at a meeting organized by the Bucks County Intermediate Unit on Tuesday in Doylestown to discuss improving the scope and speed of technology and Internet access in the county's 13 school districts and three vocational-technical schools. The BCIU is preparing a plan for a Wide Area Network, which it hopes will be funded in part with state dollars. The new system will create a high-speed network connecting all the county's schools to each other, the Internet and the Internet2 -- a limited-access education-based site -- and help educators implement new educational programs. By joining together, said Richard Coe, executive director of the BCIU, the costs will be less and schools will get more bang for their buck. "Students need to have 21st century skills and be 21st century learned," said Michael Golden, deputy secretary of the state's Department of Education's Office of Information and Educational Technology. He spoke via a rather choppy video conference connection that showcased the possibilities of technology and how far the county's schools have to go. According to Kevin Dellicker, a consultant working for the BCIU, Pennsylvania lags behind other states when it comes to high-speed networks in schools. "But this is changing," Dellicker said, adding that in 2004 schools in the Colonial Intermediate Unit of Northampton, Pike and Monroe counties joined to purchase a high-speed network. In 2005, schools in the Lehigh County and Carbon County Intermediate Units did the same. The cost for such systems, Dellicker said, can range from $2.5 million to $10 million over a 5-year period, depending on the number of schools and the services they purchase. In December 2005, the BCIU was awarded a $15,000 grant by the state Education Department to help put together a proposal for a high-speed network. The money came from the department's E-Fund, a relatively new program that will award a total of $60 million over six years to promote and improve broadband technology in schools. The BCIU plans to complete its feasibility study and put out a request for proposal bid in September and apply for another E-Fund grant. "It won't pay for the whole thing," Coe said of the E-Fund, "but it is a subsidy that could get us over the threshold." A faster network will allow teachers and students to better utilize the Internet by downloading video clips and interacting with other students and teachers from around the world. At the BCIU on Tuesday, elementary school students met in another room to participate in Operation Montserrat: A live interactive, two-way video and audio conference. "They had to come here because they couldn't do it at their school," said Seymour Joseph, the BCIU's director of technology. Students and teachers in the county are already using this type of technology, according to Coe. "There is a lot of opportunity," he said, "but it also creates what we call technical highway overload, traffic gets jammed and it becomes too expensive for each school district to expand its technology structure." Golden described students from Pennsylvania and Mexico talking to and teaching one another about the migratory habits of the monarch butterfly, which annually flies from Pennsylvania to south of the border. "Students will direct their own learning in collaboration with one another," he said, adding teachers still will be very much a part of the process, but will serve more as facilitators and mentors. Currently no schools in Bucks County have access to Internet2. "It's the PBS of the Internet," said Quakertown Community School District Superintendent Jim Scanlon. "It's all educational, a great resource and you don't have to worry about putting in filtering software." Coe and Dellicker said they hope to have county colleges, museums and nonprofit organizations be part of the project, both as content partners, but also as purchasing partners to help bring down the cost. "We would clearly like to be a content partner," said Bruce Katsiff, executive director of the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown. "And we would certainly look at getting bigger bandwidths if we can save money. We could use faster service." [email protected] 215-529-2607 |