The OPEN Connection

by Anthony Lanni, Superintendent, North Central Education Service District

North central Oregon offers some spectacular scenery. The territory of North Central ESD begins on the east bank of the Deschutes River at the Columbia Gorge and continues east to Morrow County; its southern border is formed by the northern boundaries of Crook and Grant counties. This means great views of the Columbia Gorge, the Deschutes and John Day Rivers, and the mountains. It also means sparse population -- our demography ranges from rural to frontier. Distances between villages and services can be great. For example, one teacher explained that, if the local store was closed, getting a simple loaf of bread would require a 100-mile round-trip.

Another effect of our geography has been costly Internet services. Two of the counties served by North Central ESD have no local Internet provider. To connect to the Internet, schools have had to purchase expensive 800 numbers. To make matters worse, the schools are limited to one active computer for each 800 number -- not a good solution.

Fortunately, things have begun to change. The Oregon Public Education Network, (OPEN) has provided our area with greatly improved, less expensive access to the Internet. We get state contract rates for our phone lines and our students and teachers get instant Internet. And OPEN, by way of Multnomah ESD, established our connections and handled all of our questions.

All schools in the North Central ESD service area now have 56k lines and are networked. All district teachers have had Internet training. And thanks to OPEN, all of the World Wide Web's global information sources are easily within the reach of all of our students. Assignments that once required trips to distant libraries can be accomplished on the computer through the Internet.

The local schools are now exploring distance learning using OPEN and the Net; two schools have students enrolled in CAD courses whose teachers are miles away. Teachers and staff are also taking college courses on the Net using the OPEN connection. This is a huge savings in both time and mileage, since colleges and universities are hundreds of miles away from our area.

The lack of local Internet providers in two of our counties makes Internet access expensive for residents, too. Schools in these areas have established evening hours during which both students and community members can use OPEN and the Internet. An unintended result of this service has been a public relations bonanza for the schools.

In north central Oregon, the OPEN connection has brought the technology revolution to our community, changing the way we teach, the way our children learn, and the way we learn. It has done this by instantly connecting our area to the world of information.

What does the future hold? The North Central ESD intends to serve as the technology leader for our area. We are planning intensive teacher and staff training programs. Distance learning with two-way voice and video is on the agenda. We have a Web page ready to go. Gilliam County government is working with us, and county offices will soon be online with OPEN.

Our area has been connected with OPEN for less than a year, and already many of us can't remember what it was like before we had OPEN. Thank you OPEN. And thank you to all of our friends at the other ESDs who have helped make OPEN a reality for us and for our community.