News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
According to teacher Jon Renner, the complete Internet access adds Sisters to the many schools on the network worldwide, though, he said, "there aren't many that are as small as we are that have good access."
Last year only four computers in the school were hooked up to the Internet. The new expanded access means more students will be able to use the research tool and whole classes can be taught how to use it at once.
And, as evidence of their entry into a new high-tech era, students will be assigned not only locker numbers when they come to school -- they'll also have their own electronic mail address.
According to Renner, the students will have access to research materials from NASA, the New England Journal of Medicine, Time Magazine, the Center for Disease Control, and a host of other resources.
"There just aren't resources like this in regular libraries," Renner said.
Students during this election year can monitor foreign media's response to the campaign, and Renner plans to lead electronic mail surveying of student opinion worldwide.
With the easy access to a virtually limitless volume and variety of information comes new challenges for teachers and students who must learn to sort good information from bad.
"That's really the new task," Renner reflected. Internet users must figure out how to gauge the credentials of those providing information and, Renner said, determine "what's good and worthwhile stuff to look at versus stuff that's just trash."
To guide students in the right direction, the computers are set up for quick and direct access to listings of pre-established "quality information" sources. Still, wider exploration is part of the appeal of the Internet.
Renner acknowledged concerns that exploration in cyberspace could lead students into areas staff and parents would prefer they not enter.
"We have been pretty firm about having absolutely zero tolerance for some things," Renner said. Sexually explicit materials and materials that encourage violence or demonstrate bomb or weapon making are expressly forbidden territory for students, Renner said.
Students have a lot to learn about the nuts and bolts of working on the Internet. They will learn how to search for particular pieces of information and how to sort through listings on particular subjects.
Once they learn to navigate in cyberspace, Renner said, more and more of their research projects will use the Internet. For Sisters students it is like having the world's largest research library right here in Sisters -- no farther away than their computer screens.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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