OAK RIDGE SCHOOL USING INTERNET TO SURF INTO FUTURE

Dillon Stahlheber, a junior at Oak Ridge High School, helped set up the school's Web Page on the Internet in the Industrial Technology classroom.

A Kodak DC40 digital camera that doesn't use film was one of the items purchased with the grant. The camera takes photos that can be scanned directly into a computer for use on the school's Wed Page.

Industrial Technology teacher Wayne Bock, top, helped Web Master Dillon Stahlheber with a program called Snapshot that allows photos to be transferred into the computer from a digital camera.

OAK RIDGE -- The future promises to be filled with 'Net surfing Web masters, and, thanks to a state incentive grant, the Oak Ridge School District will produce some of them.

Oak Ridge was one of 35 schools in a pool of about 120 awarded grants to develop technology this year.

"The grant will allow us to demonstrate how new technologies can be integrated into the industrial technology classroom," said Wayne Bock, the district's industrial technology teacher and technology coordinator. Bock, who wrote the $4,468 grant, said the school has bought new equipment, including a digital camera, a flatbed color scanner and computer software and hardware with the grant money. This will be used to develop a World Wide Web page, he said.

"Our main goal is for our home page to communicate with patrons and to get some communication going with other schools," he said.

Bock has four goals for the project, which is being worked on by high school students. He wants students to learn to use a new communication medium and to improve their language skills.

Bock also wants students to learn to use technical tools and to communicate with other schools around the world.

"My theory is that by publishing students' work on the website, they will feel more inclined to write better, because when they publish on the Internet they are communicating with the world," he said.

Bock hopes the grant will allow the school district to promote a greater sense of involvement and ownership in the district's parents. "I demonstrated equipment at a PTO meeting," he said, "and my plan is to begin posting calendars or even menus on the Web page." Bock said the district will probably publish the district report card on the Internet eventually, as well.

When writing the grant, Bock cited a changing community economic structure and restricted funds as reasons the grant was necessary. "In the past, most local jobs were agricultural," he wrote. "Most new jobs are technical in nature, and these jobs now outnumber farming as an occupation. In addition to the changing workplace, more women are seeking careers outside the home."

He added, "If our community is to remain viable, then technical training must become available and students made aware of the opportunities that will follow such training. Although there is a strong commitment to improvement of the instruction, the passage, in April of 1995, of a major building project will jeopardize funding for additional equipment. Alternative funding sources such as grants are the only way to acquire new technology equipment and supplies."

Bock said the school district has been very supportive of grant-funded programming. "The school board's philosophy is if a teacher is willing to write the grant, they will support it," he said. "Sometimes the school has to match funds, but this grant didn't cost the school anything because it didn't require any matching funds."

Bock has been awarded seven grants for the district. He said he enjoys writing them, and he hopes he continues to build upon the school's technology.