Plummeting test scores and a significant decrease in the United States' educational ranking among world powers had alerted national leaders to the crisis in education. Interactive classrooms, void of human teachers, are emerging as the country's response to the severe shortage of experienced and qualified educators. At the simple press of a key, tens of thousands of high school students are taught by a single highly qualified technoteacher.
Students sitting in front of a large computer screen submit questions on a rotating basis.
In addition, technoteachers are online a minimum of four hours daily to answer any voice e-mails. Through the use of interactive computers, transmitting sound and movement faster than television, the technoteacher does his or her job in front of tens of thousands of students. In addition, the World Wide Web is available to import material illustrating difficult concepts. Science classes often tour biohazardous sites or nuclear fusion plants to help grasp a concept. Daily, technoteacher Clive Carter III enters an empty classroom in Albany.