It’s raining outside, but a group of students are on their way to the zoo to study the natural habitat of various animals. Elsewhere, United States high school students take a tour of a European castle without a passport. And right here in Ulster County, college students learn about elementary instruction from speaking with a teacher more than 30 miles away, without ever leaving the university campus.

All of this is possible using state-of-the art interactive audio and video technologies, widely known as Distance Learning. Now, classroom instruction and virtual field trips to schools, museums, and almost anywhere around the globe can be provided to students, exposing them to a myriad of educational possibilities.

With the assistance of Paul Rubeo, instructional/curriculum specialist for Ulster BOCES, distance learning technology allowed SUNY New Paltz undergraduate students studying under Dr. Devon Duhaney, assistant professor for Secondary Education, to experience visiting with Saugerties Riccardi Elementary School teacher Linda Valk and several of her second grade students without ever leaving the New Paltz campus.

“The connection to Distance Learning is one group reaching out to another group,” offers Rubeo, who says the four-county regional BOCES Joint Management Team (JMT) is continuously looking at ways in which they can cooperate to provide services using videoconferencing and webcasting. “The JMT increasingly understand that methods of delivering educational instruction are evolving.”

At the SUNY campus, Rubeo conducted a presentation on “Computers in Education Class” that covered many aspects of videoconferencing and webcasting. He sees the collaboration on Distance Learning as an important one, especially when the demands for today’s students include critical thinking, problem-solving, and the ability to think independently while working collaboratively.

Through “Computers in Education Class,” Duhaney’s undergraduate students were able to “meet” and speak to Valk, via two-way audio/video webcasting and directly ask her questions ranging from instruction techniques to classroom behavior of the students. They were even able to chat with several of her students who popped by to say hello to the future teachers. “This collaboration makes it relevant for the students—to see what’s happening in the field,” says Rubeo, adding, “To be able to connect pre-teachers with classroom teachers provides a lot of potential. The ability to have that connection into the classroom will also help teachers with instruction.”

Duhaney says having Rubeo come to the SUNY New Paltz campus was multifunctional. “First, I wanted to get the students (who consist of teacher candidates and current teachers pursuing their master’s degree) to become familiar with Ulster BOCES and what Ulster BOCES does. Some people know Ulster BOCES for special education or career and technical education. I wanted them to see the other piece of Ulster BOCES—the professional development side. I wanted them to become familiar with the resources Ulster BOCES has to offer so that as classroom teaches, they can tap into them.”

Duhaney says his students gained some valuable insight. “I wanted to have them see Distance Learning videoconferencing in action; to expose them to how teleconferencing with video and audio, and the use of a whiteboard on the computer, can be used effectively with classroom activities. It was great exposure for the students.”

Today, instruction can be described in lots of new ways, says Rubeo. “So we have to ask ourselves, ‘How can we share experiences, knowledge, and resources?’ Partnership is important,” he says.

Jane Bullowa, assistant superintendent for Instructional Services at Ulster BOCES agrees with Rubeo. “With the technology available to schools today, students have access to a greater range of resources and access to many more learning opportunities beyond their books and classrooms. Students interested in taking courses can join a class at another district and teachers can tap the expertise of colleagues and specialists so that students’ learning can be enhanced,” she says.

According to Bullowa, the district superintendents of the four BOCES have charged their Technological and Professional Development staff to work together across the region so there can be seamless connectivity between all districts and school buildings for distributive learning activities. “The objective is to have teacher expertise and student work shared across the region.”

And as with everything new and exciting, some initial challenges do exist, says Rubeo, especially with everyone learning about the new technologies at the same time. “Students, teachers, and administrators are all learning to cope with the technology changes,” he notes. “It’s a whole new world, and Ulster BOCES can help.”