The Lynchburg College professor is heading up the first teleconference class between Sweet Briar and Lynchburg College. High tech computer equipment allows Perault to teach and interact with his students at Lynchburg College and Sweet Briar College. In the small room at Lynchburg College, two cameras are posted on top of computer and television screens pointing in different directions. The cameras zap live images of the class and Perault to the students at Sweet Briar. A camera at Sweet Briar sends images of the students to Lynchburg College.
Microphones allow students in each class to speak for all to hear.
The notes are computerized and broadcast over the Internet, and a special interactive SmartBoard allows both classes to write and diagram for the other class to see. The grants were awarded to Lynchburg College, Sweet Briar, and Hampden-Sydney in 1997. Students at the area colleges can already take courses for free at each of the colleges, but distance learning will allow them to take the classes without driving. It has great potential. Two students are enrolled in Perault's class, which focuses on geographic information systems.