Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Kansas City Star | 09/06/2006 | School for the deaf adds videoconference center
The Kansas School for the Deaf will unveil a $50,000 videoconference center Sept. 14.
The center, funded by a grant from the Allstate Foundation, will enable the school to communicate with other schools in Kansas and elsewhere.
“We’re very excited,” said Sandie Kelly, community resource facilitator for the school. “It’s something we have wanted here at the school for a long time.”
Kelly said the center will be an important teaching tool for professionals. It will be equipped with two 63-inch plasma screen televisions. Two cameras – one positioned at the helm of the table and another facing the front wall – will allow visibility of both the group seated at the table and an interpreter.
A computer system will carry calls to other videoconference centers.
Kelly said that the center will serve as a resource for the general public as well as parents, families and students. She said it would also enable the school to extend education programs to isolated rural school districts in western Kansas that may lack adequate instruction for deaf students.
“We’re finding out that these smaller towns in western Kansas already have access to videoconference systems,” she said. “It’s very difficult sometimes to find people out in rural areas that have expertise to teach sign language.”
Kelly, who was part of the team that wrote the grant proposal, said she hopes the center may eventually enable the school to converse with other schools for the deaf outside of the United States.
The Kansas School for the Deaf will unveil a $50,000 videoconference center Sept. 14.
The center, funded by a grant from the Allstate Foundation, will enable the school to communicate with other schools in Kansas and elsewhere.
“We’re very excited,” said Sandie Kelly, community resource facilitator for the school. “It’s something we have wanted here at the school for a long time.”
Kelly said the center will be an important teaching tool for professionals. It will be equipped with two 63-inch plasma screen televisions. Two cameras – one positioned at the helm of the table and another facing the front wall – will allow visibility of both the group seated at the table and an interpreter.
A computer system will carry calls to other videoconference centers.
Kelly said that the center will serve as a resource for the general public as well as parents, families and students. She said it would also enable the school to extend education programs to isolated rural school districts in western Kansas that may lack adequate instruction for deaf students.
“We’re finding out that these smaller towns in western Kansas already have access to videoconference systems,” she said. “It’s very difficult sometimes to find people out in rural areas that have expertise to teach sign language.”
Kelly, who was part of the team that wrote the grant proposal, said she hopes the center may eventually enable the school to converse with other schools for the deaf outside of the United States.