by LINDSAY DIEDRICH
Lifestyles Reporter

Expanding classrooms: no construction necessary.

By putting two-way wireless cameras in classrooms, Information Technology Services (IFS) is able to expand classroom size.

“This is an experiment to see if we can expand the size of the classroom so students can take the classes they need without spending extra semesters at Appalachian,” Greg A. Williams director of Distance Learning for IFS said.

“We see so many empty classrooms, what if we could make them bigger,” he said.

Classroom to classroom distance learning is not what the original purpose of the technology was.

“We work campus to campus,” B. Darrel Laws information technology services technology support technician said.

The North Carolina Research Education Network (NCREN) is the center of the NC server.

“NCREN provides the infrastructure for the 16 plus one (North Carolina School of The Arts) UNC system schools,” Laws said. “Through NCREN all 17 schools can talk to each other at once.”

Everyone calls into the NCREN control room and they can all see each other on their own screen Williams said.

NCREN can host up to 40 groups at a time.

Not only are classrooms expanding, but the technology is also used to hold classes from school to school.

“We do night classes that are three hours a piece,” Williams said. “The classes are taught were the teacher is at one university and is broadcasted to other universities.”

Williams said although the technology was originally used for campus-to-campus communication, IFS is hoping to expand professorial recourses by using the technology building to building.

Not only is the technology helpful to students, but it benefits the environment as well.

“We were promoting green before it became trendy,” Laws said.

Being able to communicate via video reduces gas consumption, Williams said.

With all the new technology, the UNC System is on the cutting edge.

“We were the first state to have two-way video and multi-connectivity communication between our universities,” Laws said.

With this technology people can communicate via video in the next room or in the next country.

“We can do this in the next room, next building, anywhere on the planet,” Williams said. “If they have the technology, we can meet them.”
Bridging countries and bridging classrooms is more than just technology.

“We want it to be about the communication…” Williams said. “About the people”

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