CHAPTER TWO NPTN PROGRAMS: ACADEMY ONE BACKGROUND NPTN's Academy One program allows K-12 schools from through- out the world to access the resources of its community computer systems and participate in a variety of on-line events. While remaining committed to developing general purpose com- munity computer systems, NPTN supports any effort to introduce in- formation age technology to K-12 students, teachers, administra- tors, and parents. As a result, we have developed a new category of affiliate membership to our organization--the Educational Affiliate--and have designed a program to weave these systems to- gether into, in effect, a "Public Broadcasting System" for educa- tional telecomputing. For additional information on how to become an educational affiliate, contact those persons listed at the end of this chapter. IMPLEMENTATION The Cleveland Free-Net was the initial host for Academy One and still serves as a significant system. However, several state- wide educational networks are now also hosting this feature, in addition to community computer systems in many other cities around the world. Academy One participants have access to the full range of Free-Net communications features including: private electronic mail, chat, the Teleport (real-time connections to other computer- ized information resources), as well as a wide range of informa- tion resources in areas such as health, government, law, educa- tion, and the sciences. On many of our community computer systems, a central meeting place has been established for Academy One participants. Included in this area are: a) special sections for students, educators, and administrators; b) an Academy One electronic library; c) a place where telecomputing project ideas can disseminate; d) an area where individual schools can operate their own special interest groups; e) an open bulletin board, and more. In addition, a series of network-wide on-line educational events are held each semester which focus on a variety of K-12 skills. (See list below) Any school may participate in Academy One. The school must: a) provide their own personal computers and modems; and b) if they are not local to an NPTN community computer, make arrangements for an Internet connection (again, as described below). Users may then dial into any Free-Net via the Internet and use the system at will. (Users may also dial into the system via direct long dis- tance phone call, but due to the costs involved this may be pro- hibitive for most schools.) COST Other than for personal computer equipment--none. There is no charge for registration or for use of any Free- Net. The service is free to the user in the same sense that a pub- lic library, for example, is free to its patrons. As mentioned above, users will however have to provide their own computer equipment, modems, and local telephone costs. The Internet is an international academic and research net- work whose costs are borne by the participating colleges and uni- versities. In most cases, these are fixed yearly charges which will not increase as a function of allowing you to participate in this project. WHY JOIN ACADEMY ONE? Academy One provides students, educators, and administrators with: * Access to the information and communications resources of the Free-Nets, NPTN, and other agencies; * A common meeting ground for schools all over the country (and the world) to exchange ideas and information; * A platform upon which a whole host of inter- and intra-school projects can be conducted; * A platform upon which telecommunication and information age grantsmanship can be performed by the individual schools; * A means of (finally) being able to teach telecomputing and other information age skills in a cost-effective environment. HOW TO SUPPORT ACADEMY ONE Academy One depends upon corporate and individual donations in order to continue and expand the work that is being done. To facilitate this we have created the ACADEMY ONE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM to help with raising monies to support the program. The program works like this: 1. When a school registers to be a part of Academy One, they will be asked for the names of several local corporations or foundations which they think might be interested in sponsoring their school. 2. Those corporations and/or foundations will be asked to donate $500 to NPTN to become a partner with that school in that year's Academy One activities. 3. If the donation is granted the following will occur: a) The school will receive unlimited access to any and all community computer systems which are participating in Academy One. b) The school will receive an Academy One teacher's guide and 30 copies of student user manuals for the community computer system they are on. They will also receive a copy of an "original set" which can be Xeroxed off for further distribution within the school. c) The sponsoring agency will receive a letter acknow- ledging their support of an Academy One school, and a copy of a letter to the superintendent of schools for that district announcing their support. d) The sponsoring agency will have their name listed along side that of the school, as a partner with that school, in all on-line lists and printed materials. Please note that ALL monies contributed to Academy One will go toward Academy One purposes. NPTN will take out no overhead on these monies. Corporations, or even individuals, wishing to sponsor Academy One may do so with a contribution aside from the Partnership pro- gram. All monies are tax deductible under the 501(c)(3) status of NPTN. Please keep in mind--NO SCHOOL WILL BE DENIED ACCESS TO ACADEMY ONE IF THEY DO NOT HAVE A SPONSOR. Academy One is open to all and free to all. If you can help us to keep it that way, how- ever, we'd very much appreciate it. AN UN-HIDDEN AGENDA (or a word from our sponsor) The central purpose of NPTN is to promote the development of free, open-access, community computer systems in cities and towns throughout the country. One of the major reasons for doing this project (other than it is long overdue) is to showcase the power, versatility, and utility of community computers. Our Free-Nets are doing nothing that YOU couldn't do in your own home town by setting up a community computer system of your own. (See Chapter 5 for more information)