EXPANDING HORIZONS THROUGH INTERNET; AREA SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS LEARN TO HUNT, PICK, AND FIND

Teacher Tammy Gaines helped Stephen Sauceda and Carrie Mosebach access the Internet in her gifted class at Oran.

Students in Cape Girardeau, Oran and Perryville can send a message to anyone around the world via the Internet and expect more than one response the next time they take a trip on the information superhighway.

Jackson schools will have the same capability to expand their educational horizons next year.

"A student can send a message saying he or she is looking for pen pals in New Zealand or Russia, have it bounced around the world and get several messages," Oran Superintendent Jack McIntosh said.

"The learning process becomes very exciting because people and places that were once limited to textbooks and periodicals are now brought alive through personal messages and up-to-date videos," said McIntosh. "So many subjects can be linked together that way."

McIntosh said, "Once they learn how to access information and where to go to post notices and ask questions, students are eager to get involved in the education process."

McIntosh calls the search process hunt, pick and find. There are Internet yellow pages and an infotrack that allows users to begin the search for information on a specific topic.

Through Internet, the latest information about the Oklahoma City bombing can be accessed in a matter of minutes. "It saves you a lot of time," McIntosh said. "I remember going to the library at Southeast Missouri State and finding the right magazine, only to realize that somebody ripped out the article I needed."

The aforementioned features and others area available to area high-school and elementary students through a program called MOREnet. MOREnet is a three-year technology network project made possible by a grant from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Without the grant, district costs for connecting and providing support for MOREnet would be approximately a one-time fee of $8,000 and from $7,000 to $12,000 for annual participation. Schools in Missouri get MOREnet for a one-time fee of $4,000 and are assessed a yearly participation fee. The fees are paid for through technology funds provided by the Outstanding Schools Act.

In just the first year of operation in a three-year plan, some 260 schools already gained access to the system. Jackson High School librarian Dedra McElrath said she and computer instructor Cathy Hecht have been attending seminars in Columbia and should be ready to go by next fall.

"We will work on what we've learned throughout the summer and should be able to teach instructors and students next September," McElrath said.

Oran has been connected to MOREnet since December. "There are so many ways a student can learn by using the Internet," McIntosh said. "One thing we have to watch, though, is the kind of language students use when they're looking for a pen pal. Sometimes a student from Oran will describe herself as a single girl from Oran, and that will get quite a few responses from males around the world."

Cape Girardeau School District technology coordinator Kimberly Gwyn said she hopes to have an e-mail server system in place by next fall. The e-mail, an electronic mail system, enables a user of the Internet to send a message with an address. When someone answers the question or message, the information is sent to the address and the user will be able to pick that data up the next time he or she uses the system.

"We've only been hooked up to MOREnet since March 22, so we're still installing a lot of the equipment we'll need," she said. "The students seem pretty excited about it so far," Gwyn said. "They realize the tremendous amount of material that is available to them and how quickly they can access that information."

Cape Central High School has a more sophisticated system. Several phone lines come directly from the school board office and are accessed by fiber optic cable; thus, several students and teachers can use the information superhighway at once.

At smaller school districts such as Oran only one computer can be used at a time, and the user must dial a number to activate the MOREnet system.

"After we get the e-mail system in place, there is almost no limit to the amount of people we can get involved in Internet," Gwyn said.

Gwyn is using information on the Internet to solve problems and prevent difficulties from occurring in the future. "You can get messages about viruses that are out there and also responses to questions about the best software on the market," Gwyn said.

"Just today I found out that we should be wary of Cinderella. It has been identified as a virus."

Perryville High School technology coordinator Wayne Neathery said students are still learning about ways to search for information. "We have what we call a bookmark, where students find what they're looking for and then mark the location for future reference," Neathery said.

He said Perryville High teachers will learn more about the Internet when they take preschool workshops in late August for the next school year.