The Lorain County Distance Learning Consortium (LCDLC) is an innovative approach to enhance teaching in Northern Ohio using televisions, cameras, and large capacity phone lines.  Imagine sitting down in front of your television and having the capability to talk with the person on your screen!  Interactive Videoconferencing does just that.  Both sides see each other in real time, can communicate simultaneously, and can hear and see one another as if actually there. 

A total of 11 school districts in the LCDLC are equipped with interactive videoconferencing equipment.  Each classroom has two 32” televisions, which displays a near and far side picture.  PC based systems allow teachers to utilize and share any pc program during a videoconference.  High tech document cameras provide a great means to show 3 dimensional objects, photo negatives, 35 mm, and transparencies in fine detail. 

Since Interactive Videoconferencing uses a high capacity telephone line, a class can connect with anyone in their region, state, nation, or the world with compatible equipment.  This allows teachers to share resources and teach collaboratively across distance with unlimited access to content experts and resources.  Student are enabled to participate in virtual field trips to sites including the Cleveland Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo, Columbus Zoo, LearnCo, COSI Columbus, The Ohio Historical Society, Campus Martius Marietta, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Cleveland Clinic.

The LCDLC consortium began in early 2000.  Many stakeholders including educators, business, higher education, community-based organizations, parents and students gathered to discuss how interactive videoconferencing could be used in innovative ways to meet the needs of students.  Two separate grants totaling over 1 million dollars were received, which offset the initial capital equipment costs.  Additional funds are being sought to continue to provide additional funding for new and existing schools.

Presently, we conduct training for middle school and high school teachers monthly to pilot ongoing team-teaching sessions and to access unique content providers around the world.  This adopted “train the trainer” model allows our existing core teachers to assist and train other teachers next year, expanding our project so that more teachers may use the tools and resources provided through the use of interactive videoconferencing.