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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1995-06-07, Page 2$-TNI HURON IMPOi1TOR, Jww 7, / SM Feature Wired in the dawn's early light BY GREGOR CAMPBELL Expositor Staff It is sort of a new twist on "Sunrise Semester" here in Huron County. A unique technological ex- periment by the public board of education this school year has enabled senior high school students to study Canadian literature very early in the morning. Four large, state-of-the-art televisions and modern microphones Zink high schools in Goderich and Clinton to teachers and class with a perennially popular OAC English course fashioned by John Smallwood at 7:30 a.m. The course is taught , primarily by Debi Homuth with assistance from Bruce Shaw. Both are English teachers, and the vice-principal and principal respectively, at Goderich District Collegiate Institute. Homuth teaches from either school as her hectic schedule dictates. She can see and talk to the students who can similarly interact with her. Gone is the blackboard in the this early morning English class. It has been replaced by what is called a "whiteboard", complete with fancy electronic erasers, viewed on the television screen, similar to the video devices that telecasters now use to diagram plays for viewers on Monday Night Football. There is also a new gizmo called a document camera that is used much like an old-fashioned overhead, allowing visuals to enhance the subject in both rooms. The foray into Adcom video- conferencing technology is a unique pilot project of the Huron County Board of Education. Adcom is the name of the company. .Twenty-six students from a relatively vast area, covering the range of both Goderich and Clinton high schools, started the course last January. The class was almost evenly split between students going to Goderich and Clinton Central Huron, and between girls and boys. GREGOR CAMPBELL PHOTO HIGH-TECH EXPERIMENT - Huron County high school teacher Deb Homuth poses in front of some of the large monitors being used in a pilot project to teach Canadian Literature for one class in two places. Now five months later about 20 students remain, a slightly higher than average dropout rate, according to Homuth, who attributes this almost entirely to the early morning time slot. Students must find their own way to class. The Goderich school is on the semestered system while Clinton is not. The busy timetable of the two teachers was another reason for the early hour. Both have many other responsibilities at GDCI and Bluewater Secondary School in Goderich. There wasn't enough interest at either of the two schools for them to individually justify offering the course. The new technology and pilot project offered area educators an op- tion other than cancelling the class. The up -front costs of such a high-tech system compared to the traditional would certainly be higher for a small rural board such as Huron's, Homuth says. At this point the tech- nology is neither a money nor teacher -saver, she adds, but it can save programs and offer students more choice in an climate of declining en- rollments. "The kids are extraordinarily comfortable using the tech- nology with no fear or ap- prehension, Homuth says, far more than she was when she began teaching the course, although familiarity has bred confidence using the hardware. She has observed some aspects of more traditional class interaction seem less spontaneous in this higher -tech group. When discussing a novel or poem in a "normal" class, for instance, individuals often help other students finish and explore their ideas with off-the-cuff input. Homuth calls this phenomenon "innuendo" and in a subject as subjective as English it can be important for fluid discussion and flow. The new technology might better serve a yes -or -no, true - or -false type subject, she notes. Homuth says this new electronic environment is more "formalized" and "after -class human contact" is also lost for whatever school she isn't at that day. That's one reason she has face-to-face breakfasts for the entire class once in awhile. The students seem genuinely keen to get together with the faces and voices they've been studying on-screen with daily. The recent Royal Commis- sion on Learning cautioned that young men seem to be taking to new technologies in greater numbers and with more en- thusiasm than young women. With about a 50-50 split in male-female enrolment which appears to have been deter- mined by what individuals wanted, the Huron pilot project doesn't hint at this conclusion, although Homuth has noticed girls are sometimes less eager to have cameras focused on them some mornings because they tend to be more self- conscious about their ap- pearance. Some have gone so far as to ask student technicians not to focus on them before class because they "feel ugly". The technicians are senior students who set up the cameras and microphones at both schools each morning, and receive academic study credits for doing so. This allows Homuth or Shaw, whichever the case may be, to stick to teaching when classes com- mence in the wee hours each day. The video -conferencing tech- nology will be used again next year, but the Huron board hasn't evaluated this year's beginnings yet, or determined where or how this interesting pilot project will go from here. 14 11;e444N4 for the serious violin student with HANS BAUER from the UNIVERSITY of .WESTERN ONTARIO Comes to Seatorth area :; • every 2 weeks Call 1 (519) 433-0630 • Beginners and advanced students welcome! McMaster Siemon AINSURANCE BROKERS INC. AVM NIIXIMS FALUN M TRAM C®ACllAL llJ IIIY IUNANcZ RILL SIEMON VICKI SIEMON AN?.7TE Me AGGART DAN PROCTOR 68 Ontario Rd. 348-9150 Mitchell 1800561-0183 Quality Care Air Conditioning Service. Your car's air conditioning system should be checked annually. At Hart Ford Mercury we have four highly trained, certified technicians on staff. We can check your complete air conditioning system for only: S 95 QUALITY CARE Where the Quality 0Continues (Plus taxes, Parts & Labour extra) And just so you won't lose any freon (if your system needs repair), we'll store it FREE. CALL FOR AN APPOINTMENT TODAY! WO= ith% Kim • • iIIIY>5:"tom its• TIM CUMMING PHOTO ONE FOR ALL, ALL FOR ONE - The sign the new Seaforth District High School executive is pointing at reads 'Girls', which is appro- priate. For the first time the school has elected an entire council of girls. They are Marcy McCall, vice; Heather McMillan, social convenor; Erin Jamieson, president; Lyndsey Salverda, secretary; Judy DoImage, treasurer and Mandy Hadenko, second vice. Happy Citizens' Dinner held The Seaforth Happy Citizen's held a potluck dinner to close off its meetings for July and August on June 1 at the Legion. They all sang accompanied by Mildred Traviss on the piano. We then sang grace before partaking of a bounteous dinner of goodies. The club is invited to Huronlea at Brussels on June 8 for a barbecue din- ner at 12:30. After the dinner some played euchre and others danced to the music of "The Yesteryears". Those winning prizes for the euchre were: Ladies high was split three ways, Dorothy Hayes, Eva McCartney and Pat Bennett. Lone hands - Mary Hart and Annie McNichol. Low - Margaret Cater. Men's high - split three ways - Sandy Pepper, Pat Ryan and Bruce McLean. Lone hands • John Goldsmith., Low • Alvin McDonald. 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