High-tech classes link digital students and teachers
Senior says goodbye to the classmates she knew as images on TV monitor
By LORA ANDREWS
Student correspondent
As the school year draws to an end and Hillsboro High students say so long to fellow students and teachers in our regular classes, we also wave a digital goodbye to the students and teachers we know only by their images on TV monitors in our Interactive Television (ITV) classrooms.
As the class of 2007 graduates from "High-tech High School," we have had ITV classmates and teachers who we never meet in the real world. In fact, ITV has become a common way for students and teachers from different schools to be connected in real time in one classroom.
There are five high schools in our ITV network: Centre, Hillsboro, Marion, and Peabody.
There were about 100 Hillsboro students enrolled in ITV classes this year, according to Janet Whisenhunt, the Hillsboro ITV facilitator.
"And with a school of our size, it's impressive with how much technology we have at our disposal compared to larger schools," Weinbrenner said.
As you might expect, the lone ITV classroom at HHS looks like no other classroom in the school.
Tables and chairs face a wall of TV monitors. Tiny-but-powerful microphones hang from the ceiling, so everyone can be heard. A live shot of the entire class is taken by a small camera with a wide-angle lens.
At the front of the class, the teacher has a digital overhead projector as well as a laptop from which he or she can make live demonstrations.
When class begins, the system automatically dials in the right schools. And when class is over, teachers collect homework via fax or the computer.
During my high school career, I was in five ITV classes: French I, French II, College Algebra, College Sociology, and College Speech. Each one was a different experience.
My French classes were taught by JoAnn Good, a teacher in Marion. This year she taught out of her classroom through a portable ITV device, on a cart.
My class was made up of two Hillsboro students and eight Marion High students, and we got know each other pretty well. In fact, we laughed at each other's jokes just as if we were all in the same room.
But College Algebra was a different story. Our professor was from Cloud County, and at the moment I can't remember his name, even though it was just a semester ago. Which goes to show you how the loss of real contact can hurt the student-teacher relationship.
College Speech on ITV was bizarre. We had to give speeches to our classmates in the room, and also to those in other classrooms, through the camera. (I got marked down once for not looking enough at the camera during my speech).
The only ITV class I took with the teacher in my presence was College Sociology taught by Joyce Jackson. That made it easier to connect with the teacher, but it also was easier to forget about students from the other sites.
This year, there were three HHS teachers who taught an ITV class: Scott O'Hare taught Earth and Space Science, Stuart Holmes taught Current Issues and International Relations, and Jim Robb taught Government.
And O'Hare says it wasn't hard to learn to be an ITV teacher.
According to O'Hare, ITV has been a good teaching experience, with the exception of "a few technical glitches."
"Sometimes it is hard to remember to get papers to the other sites," O'Hare said. "And it's harder to change plans spontaneously. But I like it, and I would do it again. I taught myself a lot of it. It is a very
user-friendly system."
My ITV classes are some of my favorite classes because it brings a sense of excitement to the classroom. But often my fellow students and teachers don't really know me, and vice versa.
One moment I'll remember from my ITV classes was when I actually met one my cyber-classmates in real life, at an away basketball game.
Here was a guy I'd seen and talked to every other day on ITV, but when I saw him in real life, I hardly recognized him.
And, it felt awkward.
But despite its drawbacks, I've enjoyed ITV because I was able to take classes I otherwise wouldn't have had the opportunity to take.
