While the grant has provided students many learning opportunities in the past, this year videophones are the focus. You pick up the phone and if you have the proper equipment you can view the caller on a television screen and the caller can view you. It's not just a friend's voice at the other end. I could show friends stuff and they could show me stuff and we would not have to go to each other's house. Fun aside, there is a learning side to the project, said Ferguson.
Students use the videophone technology to call each other and share writing projects.
Ferguson said the technology may also be used to link Southwestern students with Hanover College and with homebound students. We are just getting started. To date, three Southwestern elementary class rooms have videophone technology, and Clifty Fall Rehabilitation will soon be ready to transmit and receive. First-graders, Austin Ames, Randall Barton, Charles Britt, James Carrell, Drew Coles, Dustin Dean, Chelsea Ebley, Henry Green, Patrick Harris, Jonah Hill, Toni Horton, Aaron Long, Kaitlyn Mahoney, Katie McKinley, Lauren Singer, Nadia Solis, Joshua Stockdale, Allison Wyne, and Samuel Yarling.