Gentry High School students part of distance learning program
Posted on Monday, January 16, 2006
GENTRY — Students in a classroom in Gentry High School on Jan. 9 listened, asked and answered questions as a teacher explained basic business e-mail etiquette.
The teacher to whom the students listened so intently wasn’t a person standing in the front of the room. She was an image on a big-screen television, broadcast from her office and classroom in Maumelle, teaching a class on fashion merchandising.
The class is part of the school’s new distance learning program, which encompasses the fashion merchandising course and a sports marketing course, both taught through the state’s Department of Education Distance Learning Center located in Maumelle, as well as a college-level English course taught through Northwest Arkansas Community College.
Technology Director Joni Wilson said the school received a $30,000 grant for the program. The money purchased three big-screen televisions, two cameras, microphones, VCR and DVD players and furniture.
Two of the televisions allow students to see their teacher and students in other schools also taking the course. Gentry students are learning with Mountain Pine and Booneville in fashion merchandising and with Cross County in sports marketing. The students can also see themselves on one of the screens, which made them a little nervous at first, Wilson said. "The first day, the kids were self-conscious. As time goes on, though, they’re starting to ask questions and talk to the teacher, so it’s getting better," she said.
The classroom, which can be divided into two rooms with a screen, also has what appear to be large plexiglass panels hanging in the front and middle of the room. The panels function as highly sensitive microphones. "The teacher can hear whatever the students say, even if they speak in a soft voice. They’re so sensitive we mute them when announcements come on because everyone can hear them," Wilson said.
Students in the sports marketing and fashion merchandising classes are making a sacrifice to attend the classes. The state’s distance learning center is on a different bell schedule than Gentry schools, and each class overlaps into two class periods. To take the courses, students must give up two regular school courses. The students must wait approximately half an hour for class to begin and about the same amount of time after the class ends before going to regular classes.
Seniors may elect to take the NWACC English I course instead of senior English at a cost of $125 for three hours of college credit, saving the students $300 in college fees, Wilson said.
Seats are limited for classes through the DLC, as teachers keep class sizes to 20 to 25 students. The school must tell the center in advance how many seats in a class they would like. Once all seats are filled, no more students are admitted to the class. "You have to plan way in advance for how many seats you want to ask for. We asked for five in fashion merchandising and eight in sports marketing. I’ve had students come by and ask about being in the classes with the TVs, and I have to say no because we just don’t have the seats," Wilson said.
Besides the convenience of learning at a distance, students can log on to the DLC website at http://dlc.k12.ar.us to receive assignments by e-mail. Tests are sent to each campus’ facilitator for the students.
The district will ask for more seats next year. Wilson said she hopes the distance learning program will be in use all day during the next school session. She said she also hopes to expand the course offerings from NWACC to include college-level algebra and Western civilization.
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