Cable in the Classroom's Project Cam.

Broadband technology, the high-speed gateway to the Internet, is giving library media specialists amazing new powers, and a host of new tools from Cable in the Classroom, the cable industry's education foundation. Among these is Project Cam, part of a suite of new interactive educational tools developed by Cable in the Classroom to offer educators and students the learning benefits of broadband. The platform enables two locations to connect via simple webcams. It enables a ninth-grade government class to discuss the local election process with their city's mayor; science classes in Ohio to become explorers in the Panamanian rainforest; and teens in Pennsylvania to share original poetry as part of a poetry slam.

Available free of charge on www.ciconline.org/projectcam, Project Cam offers each project access to a private Web page, where participants can share live video and audio feeds, communicate with live text-based chat capability, and store and share all kinds of files.

What makes Project Cam so exciting is that it's a great bridge that erases distance, making the educational journey broader and wider ranging than it could possibly be if traveled on foot. Recently, first-year middle school Spanish students in Maine "met" with high school students thousands of miles away in Puerto Rico. Students had a great time sharing their respective cultures and practicing each other's languages--an authentic learning experience that could only be replicated if students physically traveled to each other's countries.

According to Peggy O'Brien, Ph.D., executive director of Cable in the Classroom, broadband and the Web can add to the learning process in ways that other elements simply cannot match. Thanks to cable technology, lessons no longer have to sit on a page, she says. They can leap around the rainforest canopy and come straight from the mouth of a famous explorer.

On Project Cain's website (www.ciconline. org/projectcam), educators can join projects looking for partners or just read up on the details of existing projects for ideas for creating their own. Projects are categorized by subject, including cross-curricular. In terms of technology required, users need a webcam, a microphone, a high-speed Internet connection and the free Flash plug-in. Complete technical directions can be found by clicking on the "directions" link from the Project Cam homepage.

In addition to Project Cam, the Cable in the Classroom website also offers access to a growing collection of broadband learning experiences that lend hands-on excitement to lessons, including Shakespeare: Subject to Change, a 15-minute behind-the-scenes journey through the Bard's world and work and the ways it has been altered over the years. Another learning experience is in the works now, giving students and teachers a chance to find out what kind of a presidential candidate they might be--how well they are able to balance integrity, special interests, issues, messages, and money.

These projects, and more, are available on www.ciconline.org.

Jill Nyhus

Assistant Director of Technology

Cable in the Classroom

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