By Matt Gleckman

The recent purchase of a new video camera and a non-linear editing system (the same one used to produce the hit movie The Blair Witch Project) has local school administrators, teachers and students excited.

While students won’t be running through the woods in pursuit of haunting spirits, they will use the $40,000 worth of equipment to generate TV, video, and Internet-based educational curriculum.

Although, for the time being, the equipment will be housed at the San Juan Basin Technical School, it will be available to the Dolores, Cortez, Mancos and Dove Creek school districts as well as Pueblo Community College and the adult education program.

Darrin Cheney, instructional technologist for the Mountain Plains Distance Learning Partnership in Wyoming, stated that funding for the project will come from the national star schools program as well as NASA who joined with the Mountain Plains Partnership 6 months ago.

"The star schools program, developed by the U.S. Department of Education, made $10 million of grant money available in 1997 to be distributed throughout the United States over the five years to follow," said Cheney.

According to the program’s website, funding is available for projects such as instructional modules, video field trips, enrichment activities and semester and year-long courses to be delivered to distant classrooms via satellite, open broadcast, fiber optics, fax machine, telephone, the Internet, etc.

NASA, which provided $31,000 of the necessary $40,000 for the project, has also made available a number of extra educational tools.

"We were very excited to have NASA approach us and offer their services," says Cheney. "Not only have they given us the money to purchase this equipment but they also offered textbooks, maps, CD ROM’s, posters and access to their engineers."

Bill Lewis, executive director of San Juan Basin Technical School, stated that in the near future students and teachers will be working on projects that will tie in both the new technology and core studies such as reading, writing, and math.

"This curriculum will then be shared throughout Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming by students in grades K-14," Lewis said.

Along with core classes such as English and math, this new technology can be used to develop courses on nursing, automotive, and life skills, added Cortez Adult Education Director Ann Miller.

Administrators also mentioned that these tools will be very beneficial for cross-cultural education. "In the future we may be able to study an indigenous culture or add to the Ute or Navajo tribe’s web sites. The possibilities are endless," says Cheney.

"Right now the teachers are very eager to learn about this new equipment and the more they learn the more willing they will be to get involved.