Rural School Internet Connectivity

Graham County Education Consortium

Safford, AZ
 

Introduction/Overview
Organizational Change
Budget & Finance
Professional Development
Technology Infrastructure
Outcomes
Evaluation
Contact Information
 

Introduction/Overview

The Graham County Education Consortium (GCEC) was established in 1999. The consortium's original objective was to help four of the most rural schools located in Graham County (Fort Thomas School District, Pima School District, Solomon Elementary School District, and Discovery Plus Academy) obtain connectivity to the Internet and to help them take advantage of ERATE funding. The consortium applied for and obtained a TLC grant that provided the funding needed to build a wireless wide-area network (WAN) that connected the member schools to the World Wide Web via one of the few existing T1 lines going out of Safford, Arizona, at the time.

Today the GCEC WAN now connects the Graham County School Superintendent's office, 11 school districts (located in Graham, Greenlee, and Cochise Counties), one charter school, one accommodation school, Graham County Regional Detention Center, Eastern Arizona College, Pima Library, and the University of Arizona Graham County Extension Center to each other and to the Internet. The WAN has also made it possible to install and connect Tandburg IITV distance-learning equipment at Eastern Arizona College and six of the member high schools. Currently, Eastern Arizona College is providing five dual-credit college courses a day to each of six high school sites over the Graham County Network (GCNet).

The consortium has recently started dialog with Northern Arizona University (NAU) to integrate NAU’s 60 distance-learning courses into GCNet. It is anticipated that many of the NAU courses will be used for professional development of teachers and, eventually, courses will become accessible to geographically handicapped individuals seeking degrees as GCNet distance-learning sites become extensions of university classrooms within the next 18 months. GCNet currently has one post-high-school student taking courses from NAU at its San Simon High School site in Cochise County. This opportunity would not have been possible without the IITV distance-learning network. Although distance learning is still in its infant stages here in Graham County, it is anticipated that when fully implemented, many others will benefit from university courses offered over GCNet. (Click on “Graham County Consortium” tab at www.fortthomas.org, scroll to the bottom of the screen, and download “GrCnty05.pdf” for a complete copy of the Graham County Enhancing Education Through Technology FY 2005 grant application.)

Timeline Project Deliverables

Year 1, 2004–2005

• July 1 to October 1, 2004—Continue to analyze instructional goals in relation to the technology that is needed to support teaching and learning.

• August 1 to December 31, 2004—Continue to research information on research-based technology instructional integration models.

• August 1 to June 2004—Provide training on distance-learning strategies and techniques to EAC instructors, site teachers, and classroom monitors.

• August 1 to June 2004—Update surveys on level of teacher technology skill.

• June 2004 to June 2005—Identify second Community of Leadership team in each school. • Provide graduate work in technology integration. • Continued training for Community of Leadership teams on basic, intermediate, and advanced computer skills by EAC. • Workshops for Community of Leadership team members conducted by EdTeching for support in principles of technology integration. • Provide instruction in distance-learning delivery strategies and methods for teachers, monitors, and EAC instructors engaged in teaching distance-learning classes. • Provide training to distance-learning teachers and other Community of Leadership team members on development and provision of Web-based classes for high school students.

• August 2004 to June 2005—Onsite training in instructional planning integrating technology provided by EdTeching. • Onsite, in-depth training in coaching and observational techniques and in data collection and analysis. • Continuation of basic/advanced training in computer skills and in use of peripherals such as handheld PCs and SmartBoards by EAC team.

• June 2004 to June 2005—Expand distance-learning classrooms at Duncan High School, San Simon High School, and the Southeast Regional Training Center.

• June 2004 to June 2005—Prepare strategic plan for expansion into Santa Cruz County with the County School Superintendent’s Office and Cochise College.

• June 2004 to June 2005—Increase bandwidth for Internet connectivity to accommodate increased traffic generated from adding Thatcher schools to the Internet connection. • Expand infrastructure, including fiber optic links, wireless solutions, and telecommunication classroom equipment to initiate GCNet distance-learning opportunities for secondary schools located in Greenlee County. • Conduct a need assessment through an outside source to determine infrastructure needs for Greenlee County school connections.

Organizational Change

This project has been amazing in that it has brought all of the above-mentioned organizations together with common goals of providing Internet connectivity, distance-learning opportunities, and professional development opportunities to administrators, teachers, and students living within Graham, Greenlee, and Cochise Counties. Through the leadership of the Graham County School Superintendent, Phyllis Bryce, the following councils were formed to organize the all-volunteer workforce and resources:

Strategic Planning Council

The Strategic Planning Council is the consortium’s Governing Board of Directors. Membership includes all of the school superintendents or their designees and other high-level decisionmakers in Graham, Greenlee, and Cochise County schools. This group determines the goals and objectives of the consortium. Each member is in a position to pledge the support of his/her individual school district. This committee meets on an “as needed basis”; generally, two to four times per year. Each school district, college, charter school, library, etc., is allowed one vote. Applications for funding and all other legal issues must be approved by this committee. (Click on Graham County Consortium / GCEC Credits at www.fortthomas.org for a complete listing of members.)

Distance Learning Council

The Distance Learning Council is responsible to determine all IITV distance-learning courses that will be offered over the distance-learning network. Courses may include high school courses, college courses, and/or university courses. Membership on this council consists of EAC’s Dean of Instruction, high school principals, high school counselors, and other administrators as invited. This committee meets quarterly to discuss and resolve all distance-learning issues. (Click on Graham County Consortium / GCEC Credits at www.fortthomas.org for a complete listing of members.)

Technician Council

The Technician Council was just recently formed to provide a forum for the IT directors from EAC and each school district to discuss and resolve network issues. The purpose of this council is to coordinate IT efforts of all the schools when installing IITV classrooms at new sites and/or when installing or upgrading consortium-owned network equipment.

External Evaluator

An External Evaluator has been employed to evaluate the progress of the consortium’s efforts to meet its goals and objectives. This new addition should help the consortium to continue its focus on its goals and objectives.

Technology Educators

Member schools are beginning to hire Technology Educators. The responsibility of the Technology Educator is to teach teachers, one on one, how to use the various technologies in their classrooms. This includes both hardware and software.

Budget & Finance

The Graham County Education Consortium operates with a budget of $185,000. The budget breakdown is as follows:

Description Budget

Connectivity and Equipment Upgrades: $53,800

EAC Professional Development: $21,200

EdTeching Professional Development: $50,000

2 – II TV Distance-Learning Equipment: $60,000

Total: $185,000

Matching funds have been solicited from participating districts to fund the costs associated with the distance-learning classroom equipment. Each school has contributed approximately $30,000. Eastern Arizona College contributed approximately $100,000 of its own funding to install the equipment needed to broadcast classes to the six remote sites.

Professional Development

The Graham County Education Consortium has teamed up with Eastern Arizona College and EdTeching, a group of Northern Arizona University professors, to provide professional development opportunities to all teachers, principals, and administrators in Graham County and Greenlee County.

EAC provides needed training concerning the use of software and hardware in the classroom. Teachers are trained to use all of the Microsoft software applications, PDAs, scanners, digital cameras, etc., and how to implement them in the classroom.

EdTeching has helped the consortium to form a “Community of Leadership” consisting of teachers, principals, and administrators representing each of the member schools. The EdTeching professors are teaching the Community of Leaders how to implement the use of technology in their lesson plans and teaching strategies. EdTeching is also assisting the current Community of Leaders to form a Community of Leaders in their own schools and to exponentially promote the use of technology in the classroom. (See www.edteching.com / Graham County Consortium for more information.)

Technology Infrastructure

The technology infrastructure consists of a combination of wireless WAN connections between Fort Thomas, Pima, Thatcher, and Solomon school districts as well as a fiber connection of all Safford schools. The consortium’s goal is to convert the entire WAN backbone to fiber optics within the next 5 years. Work is currently under way to convert Thatcher and Pima schools to fiber.

Each distance-learning classroom is equipped with Tandburg II TV equipment. This equipment allows all sites to video conference with each other.

Outcomes

Much of the work that is yet to be accomplished by this project is measuring and evaluating student achievement outcomes. The External Evaluator will be gathering data throughout the project year to make these determinations. Comparisons of data will be made against prior data. However, many project outcomes are self-evident through observation and teacher sharing of information. The impact that the Internet has had on the 5,430 students who receive their connection through consortium efforts, is amazing. Students are fascinated by the World Wide Web and are completing research papers using this amazing resource. Teachers are now using technology in their classrooms for the first time, including computers, scanners, digital cameras, video, etc. Many of them, after receiving professional development training provided by the consortium, have mentioned that they now feel confident to return to the classroom and use technology that has been sitting idle for many years. And, lastly, it is exciting to watch an entire classroom of 20–25 economically and geographically challenged students taking college classes via the GCNet that meet the graduation requirements for both high school and college. Many of these students understand the value of this opportunity and are doing all that they can do now to jump-start their college careers.

Evaluation

This project can be reproduced in other rural communities. The main focus of this project has been to bring the outside world to us instead of taking us to the outside world. This has included bringing the Internet to the classroom and bringing college and university courses to our communities. With the technologies available in today's world, no one should be geographically disadvantaged simply because of the rural community in which he or she lives. The world is a much smaller place now that we can connect through the Internet and distance learning.

Contact Information

Eldon Woodall
ewoodall@ftthomas.k12.az.us
928-485-9423