The Arachnet Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture __________________________________________________________________ ISSN 1068-5723 August 20, 1993 Volume 1 Issue 5 SQARV1N5 BLYSTONE Building a School Without Buildings by Ken Blystone (blystone@tenet.edu) Educational Technologist & Instructional Supervisor Ysleta Independent School District 9600 Sims El Paso, Texas 79925 Voice:915-595-5676 Fax:915-595-5930 Thousands of students in El Paso, Texas are going to school without leaving home. They "travel" to school via computer modem, meeting in new electronic hallways and classrooms not because they have to attend, but because they want to. This summer, students from all parts of the city will attend the Academy Virtual School. This new electronic school provides kids of all ages a fun and exciting place to gather. It is a safe environment that can be explored from home under parental supervision, and local public schools are starting to catch on to the concept. Over the past decade, telecomputing activities have become highly popular with children. This has caused rapid growth in local, regional, and national educational computer networks. Computers attached to modems allow computer users to transmit and receive text files, software programs, digitized images, and digital music over standard telephone lines. Such activities are becoming commonplace for computer users, especially for young people who have computers in their homes. Public schools have recognized the need to teach students how to use computers and have installed many machines for this purpose. But the educational use of computers has focused primarily on using the computer in a "stand-alone" fashion. Now, more and more schools are beginning to connect their computers to instructional networks by purchasing modems and linking their computers together through the telephone system. Schools have found that it is easy and relatively inexpensive to start a campus-based computer network. Last school year, five public schools in El Paso started educational campus-based systems run by teachers. Del Valle High School, Wiggs Middle School, Desert View Middle School, Indian Ridge Middle School, and Eastwood Heights Elementary each run a campus computer their students can call. Each school system is connected to FidoNet, a 22,000 member computer network that started in 1984. FidoNet is a "grassroots" network that provides connectivity for millions of people all over the world at little or no cost. The UTEP College of Education sponsors a system on this network to allow future teachers the opportunity to be mentored by experienced teachers. Since many of the electronic conferences on FidoNet are "gated" to Internet, many non-university people (parents and public school children) now have access to Internet through FidoNet. In 1990, a group of teachers in the United States and Canada started the International K12 Network. Operating as a sub-set of FidoNet, the K12 Network has spread to nearly 500 systems in 12 countries in only three years. By "piggybacking" the smaller K12Net on the larger structure of FidoNet, students and teachers are the winners. Using school computers connected to FidoNet/K12Net, students and teachers have the ability to form friendships with people all over the world. The familiar term "pen-pals" is changing into "key-pals" since children now use keyboards instead of pens to write to each other. Teachers from around the world volunteer their time and expertise to make the system work. The French teacher at Desert View Middle School, Toy Wong, uses the K12 Network in her classroom to help students learn the language and culture of France. Her students are encouraged to write e-mail messages in French to students in France or Canada. After students in France receive messages from students in El Paso, they respond in English (the language they are trying to learn) through the computer network. Since messages are transmitted electronically, it is usually only a matter of hours before the mail is "delivered." This makes the process of key-paling much more interactive than pen-paling since hand delivered letters to distant countries can take days or even weeks to deliver. In addition to using computer networks for key-pal activities, schools have found many other instructional benefits of telecomputing. Students can use modems to tap into electronic libraries to look up information stored in computer databases. Some systems allow students to take tests on-line that are automatically scored and recorded. Students also use telecomputing to work collaboratively on the creation of digital artwork and music. Most K12 Network systems make free educational software available to teachers and students through a process known as downloading. On-line peer tutoring is possible on multi-line systems. Callers type back and forth to each other while connected to the system. This has become one of the most popular activities for students ages 10 through 18 on the Academy Virtual School. Students spend many hours on-line each day writing to their electronic friends. The Academy serves eight school districts in west Texas. Its success can be measured, in part, by the extent to which local teachers and students have voluntarily embraced this computer-mediated environment. Over 5,000 students, teachers, parents, and community participants meet in this electronic environment without the need for a physical school building. The Academy is operated by Academy Network Systems, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing educational opportunities for students to learn and teachers to teach via modern telecommunications technology. The system gets approximately 30,000 calls per month. Through the work of many dedicated teachers and community volunteers, the Academy Network has grown from a simple single line system started in 1985, into a dynamic 15 line electronic school built out of modems and microchips instead of bricks and mortar. The impact of computer telecommunications on how we conduct education is likely to be greater than we can presently imagine. As a virtual school, the Academy is radically different from traditional schools. It remains open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Students read lessons, take tests, ask questions and get answers "virtually" as they would do in a traditional physical school building but without leaving their keyboard. Instead of students going to school, the virtual school comes to them through their computer screen. This school, although it has no physical campus, serves thousands of students and it only cost $5,000 to create. This is an important fact to taxpayers and school board members who are looking for economical ways to provide instruction to children. While a traditional school that serves thousands of students would cost millions of dollars to build, a virtual school can be started for a fraction of that cost. Inasmuch as limited funding is available for desired school improvements, it is important to understand the potential for new technologies to help bring about fundamental educational change. By expanding our mind-set from one that can only conceive of education taking place in a traditional physical school building to one that includes reaching students using virtual schools, we may actually be able to provide instruction in new ways. I encourage parents, teachers, and school board members to work toward the development of community sponsored virtual schools that serve all children within their locale. A virtual school can serve the collective educational needs of students in new and exciting ways. Yet, to be able to take advantage of electronic schools teachers need access to educational networks. Schools need the money necessary to buy modems and telephone lines that will allow them to begin to explore the electronic global village. Modems and the instant networks they create can join schools, businesses and homes together. Every minute a child spends in an electronic virtual school is a minute spent reading and writing--interacting with an educational community that is global in scope. Electronic schools are interactive, inclusionary, equalizing, provocative, and educational. Electronic virtual schools are dynamic and, most importantly, affordable. Electronic learning environments are changing the way in which children learn. Every day a virtual school can present the student with new and interesting challenges that come from a worldwide community of learners. _____ Articles and Sections of this issue of the _Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture_ may be retrieved via anonymous ftp to byrd.mu.wvnet.edu or via e-mail message addressed to LISTSERV@KENTVM or LISTSERV@KENTVM.KENT.EDU (instructions below) Papers may be submitted at anytime by email or send/file to: Ermel Stepp - Editor-in-Chief, _Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture_ M034050@MARSHALL.WVNET.EDU _________________________________ *Copyright Declaration* Copyright of articles published by Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture is held by the author of a given article. If an article is re-published elsewhere it must include a statement that it was originally published by Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture. _________________________________ _THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL ON VIRTUAL CULTURE_ EDITORIAL BORAD EJVC Founders/Arachnet Moderators Ermel Stepp, Marshall University, Editor-in-Chief M034050@Marshall.wvnet.edu Diane (Di) Kovacs, Kent State University, Co-Editor DKOVACS@Kentvm.Kent.edu A. Ralph Papakhian, Indiana University, Consulting Editor PAPAKHI@@IUBVM Editor, _The Cyberspace Monitor_ Algirdas Pakstas, The University of Trondheim, Norway Algirdas.Pakstas@idt.unit.no Editors, _Virtual Square_ Diane (Di) Kovacs, Kent State University, Co-Editor DKOVACS@Kentvm.Kent.edu James Shimabukuro, University of Hawaii jamess@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu Consulting Editors Anne Balsamo, Georgia Institute of Technology ab45@prism.gatech.edu Patrick (Pat) Conner, West Virginia University u47c2@WVNVM.WVNET.EDU Skip Coppola, Applied Technology, Inc. skip%aptech@bagend.atl.ga.us Cynthia J. Fuchs, George Mason University cfuchs@gmuvax.bitnet Stevan Harnad, Princeton University harnad@Princeton.EDU Edward M. 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