Building a School Without Buildings
              
                        by Ken Blystone
                        
 Thousands of students in El Paso, Texas are going to school 
 without leaving home.  They "travel" to school via computer 
 modem, meeting in new electronic hallways and classrooms not 
 because they have to attend, but because they want to.
 
 This summer, students from all parts of the city will attend 
 the Academy Virtual School.  This new electronic school 
 provides kids of all ages a fun and exciting place to gather.  
 It is a safe environment that can be explored from home under 
 parental supervision, and local public schools are starting to 
 catch on to the concept.
 
 Over the past decade, telecomputing activities have become 
 highly popular with children.  This has caused rapid growth 
 in local, regional, and national educational computer 
 networks.  Computers attached to modems allow computer users 
 to transmit and receive text files, software programs, 
 digitized images, and digital music over standard telephone 
 lines.  Such activities are becoming commonplace for computer 
 users, especially for young people who have computers in 
 their homes.
 
 Public schools have recognized the need to teach students how 
 to use computers and have installed many machines for this 
 purpose.  But the educational use of computers has focused 
 primarily on using the computer in a "stand-alone" fashion.  
 Now, more and more schools are beginning to connect their 
 computers to instructional networks by purchasing modems and 
 linking their computers together through the telephone 
 system.  Schools have found that it is easy and relatively 
 inexpensive to start a campus-based computer network.
 
 Last school year, five public schools in El Paso started 
 educational campus-based systems run by teachers.  Del Valle 
 High School, Wiggs Middle School, Desert View Middle School, 
 Indian Ridge Middle School, and Eastwood Heights Elementary each 
 run a campus computer their students can call.  Each school 
 system is connected to FidoNet, a 22,000 member computer network 
 that started in 1984.
      
 FidoNet is a "grassroots" network that provides connectivity for 
 millions of people all over the world at little or no cost.  The 
 UTEP College of Education sponsors a system on this network to 
 allow future teachers the opportunity to be mentored by 
 experienced teachers.  Since many of the electronic conferences
 on FidoNet are "gated" to Internet, many non-university people
 (parents and public school children) now have access to Internet
 through FidoNet.
 
 In 1990, a group of teachers in the United States and Canada 
 started the International K12 Network.  Operating as a sub-set 
 of FidoNet, the K12 Network has spread to nearly 500 systems in 
 12 countries in only three years.  By "piggybacking" the smaller 
 K12Net on the larger structure of FidoNet, students and 
 teachers are the winners.
 
 Using school computers connected to FidoNet/K12Net, students 
 and teachers have the ability to form friendships with people 
 all over the world.  The familiar term "pen-pals" is changing 
 into "key-pals" since children now use keyboards instead of pens 
 to write to each other. Teachers from around the world volunteer 
 their time and expertise to make the system work.
 
 The French teacher at Desert View Middle School, Toy Wong, uses 
 the K12 Network in her classroom to help students learn the 
 language and culture of France.  Her students are encouraged to 
 write e-mail messages in French to students in France or Canada.  
 After students in France receive messages from students in El 
 Paso, they respond in English (the language they are trying to 
 learn) through the computer network.
 
 Since messages are transmitted electronically, it is usually 
 only a matter of hours before the mail is "delivered."  This 
 makes the process of key-paling much more interactive than 
 pen-paling since hand delivered letters to distant countries 
 can take days or even weeks to deliver.
 
 In addition to using computer networks for key-pal activities, 
 schools have found many other instructional benefits of 
 telecomputing.  Students can use modems to tap into electronic 
 libraries to look up information stored in computer databases.  
 Some systems allow students to take tests on-line that are 
 automatically scored and recorded.  Students also use 
 telecomputing to work collaboratively on the creation of 
 digital artwork and music.  Most K12 Network systems make free 
 educational software available to teachers and students through 
 a process known as downloading.
 
 On-line peer tutoring is possible on multi-line systems.  
 Callers type back and forth to each other while connected to 
 the system.  This has become one of the most popular activities 
 for students ages 10 through 18 on the Academy Virtual School.  
 Students spend many hours on-line each day writing to their 
 electronic friends.
 
 The Academy serves eight school districts in west Texas.  Its 
 success can be measured, in part, by the extent to which 
 local teachers and students have voluntarily embraced this 
 computer-mediated environment.  Over 5,000 students, 
 teachers, parents, and community participants meet in this 
 electronic environment without the need for a physical school 
 building.
 
 The Academy is operated by Academy Network Systems, a 
 non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing educational 
 opportunities for students to learn and teachers to teach via 
 modern telecommunications technology.  The system gets 
 approximately 30,000 calls per month.  Through the work of many 
 dedicated teachers and community volunteers, the Academy 
 Network has grown from a simple single line system started in 
 1985, into a dynamic 15 line electronic school built out of 
 modems and microchips instead of bricks and mortar.
 
 The impact of computer telecommunications on how we conduct 
 education is likely to be greater than we can presently 
 imagine.  As a virtual school, the Academy is radically 
 different from traditional schools.  It remains open 24 hours a 
 day, 365 days a year.  Students read lessons, take tests, ask 
 questions and get answers "virtually" as they would do in a 
 traditional physical school building but without leaving their 
 keyboard.  Instead of students going to school, the virtual 
 school comes to them through their computer screen.
 
 This school, although it has no physical campus, serves 
 thousands of students and it only cost $5,000 to create.  
 This is an important fact to taxpayers and school board 
 members who are looking for economical ways to provide 
 instruction to children.  While a traditional school that 
 serves thousands of students would cost millions of dollars 
 to build, a virtual school can be started for a fraction of 
 that cost.
 
 Inasmuch as limited funding is available for desired school 
 improvements, it is important to understand the potential for 
 new technologies to help bring about fundamental educational 
 change.  By expanding our mind-set from one that can only 
 conceive of education taking place in a traditional physical 
 school building to one that includes reaching students using 
 virtual schools, we may actually be able to provide 
 instruction in new ways.
 
 I encourage parents, teachers, and school board members to work 
 toward the development of community sponsored virtual schools 
 that serve all children within their locale.  A virtual school 
 can serve the collective educational needs of students in new 
 and exciting ways.  Yet, to be able to take advantage of 
 electronic schools teachers need access to educational 
 networks.  Schools need the money necessary to buy modems and 
 telephone lines that will allow them to begin to explore the 
 electronic global village.
 
 Modems and the instant networks they create can join schools, 
 businesses and homes together.  Every minute a child spends in 
 an electronic virtual school is a minute spent reading and 
 writing--interacting with an educational community that is 
 global in scope. Electronic schools are interactive, 
 inclusionary, equalizing, provocative, and educational.
 
 Electronic virtual schools are dynamic and, most importantly, 
 affordable. Electronic learning environments are changing the 
 way in which children learn.  Every day a virtual school can 
 present the student with new and interesting challenges that 
 come from a worldwide community of learners.