POWERPLAY SHRINKING THE DISTANCE BETWEEN RURAL SCHOOLS IN SOUTHEAST COLORADO

Students in the twelve rural school districts that stretch across 6,600 square miles of rural Southeast Colorado are using technology to close the gap of distance. These districts make up the Southeastern Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). They may be separated by distance, but the gap is getting smaller academically thanks to the expanding PowerPlay distance-learning system provided by BNI Solutions.

Distance learning was brought to Southeastern BOCES in 2000 through a statewide grant called the Beanpole Project. Since then, the program has grown to link the twelve school districts with the ability to offer live videoenabled classes throughout the day. The types of courses offered via the distance learning system are virtually limitless. The schools of BOCES currently offer: General Psychology, College Trigonometry, American Government, High School Spanish I and II, Introduction to Statistics, College Algebra, Introduction to Literature, College Spanish, English Composition I and II, Western Civilization I and II, Introduction to Sociology, and Public Speaking and the list is growing all the time.

If that sounds like a mouthful, that’s a good thing, says Loraine Saffer, director of technology and professional development for Southeastern BOCES. For BOCES the distance learning system is not some special equipment that mostly goes unused.

They use it day in and day out and it has become a critical component to delivering a comprehensive curriculum to the students. “Our students really appreciate having the additional options in the classroom and we plan on increasing the variety in the future,” says Saffer.

In addition to high school courses, the system also provides the ability to deliver dual college credit courses for students, professional development for district staff, and adult educational opportunities for community members. That’s not to say the distance- learning system has been welcomed with open arms, explains Lamar Superintendent Dr. Wayne T. Graybeal. There seems to be a fear that the district will be “less than whole” if it does not have a full complement of teachers on site.

“This is understandable; however, it is getting increasingly difficult to attract teachers in some disciplines, in particular, foreign language teachers,” he said.

“The system allows a district with such resources to share them with other districts in need.” “It has been a lot of hard work and teachers have had to get out of their comfort zone, but we now have a cadre of five or six teachers that feel comfortable with it,” remarked Graybeal. “In the beginning, I didn’t know the impact that it would have. Now, it is absolutely clear in my mind the benefits of distance learning systems for small, rural districts.”

The future is bright for BOCES as they continue to grow the number of courses offered. They even have plans of adding new districts to the network, which will even broaden their pool of resources and allow them opportunities that simply wouldn’t exist without the distance-learning system.

Distance Learning

High Speed WANs

Private CATV

All contents copyright © 2000-2009 BNI Solutions LLC
Questions or Comments can be directed to the BNI Webmaster