 I'm in a video conference class, it's usually just everybody comes in like a normal day. You come in, you sit down, you get all your stuff ready and the facilitator will dial in and the teacher will be there in front and everybody can see you and you can see your teacher. You hear him through a speaker, there's cameras on both sides of the room, one in front, one in back. You have your mics on the table so he can hear you and you can hear them through the speakers, you can hear all the other schools. Teachers can visually observe student behavior during class. You know you can tell the students are paying attention because you can see them. In the studio I actually have three television screens. One where I can see my students, one where I can see what I look like, and one where we can tell what we're about to be broadcasting. There are microphones hung throughout the room so no matter where I move students can hear my words. We have a variety of different ways that we can present the information. So we'll change the view, we'll go to a website, we'll do some chroma key in front of the image, we'll go to the different sites and have them respond and they can be center stage. The collaborative relationship between the teacher and the facilitator at your school bridges the distance for a more seamless learning experience. As a facilitator I basically am the liaison between the School of Science and Math and our school at Southern Ash High School. I am the instructor's eyes and hands and I basically take care of the things that they cannot take care of because it is 70 miles away. With the students sometimes it's hard for them to stay on task. They need someone there that's physically that can say, you know, please pay attention. Can I help you with anything? Do you need paper? And so I just basically make sure they have everything they need to thrive in the environment and to be successful. Distance learning is different from my face-to-face classes because you're able to connect with other students from different schools and you get to hear their different opinions. I think that an IVC class really combines the best of an online class and a face-to-face class in that it takes the independent learning from the online class and the interaction from the face-to-face class and just combines them. Students sharpen their skills by giving presentations and participating in debates. It would cover the entire border. Giving presentations helps me master the material because you have to be able to understand the material and know the material really well so that you can teach to other students and show what you know. Student sites really have different perspectives on issues. Kids from the mountains, kids from the beach, kids from the rural parts of the state, kids from the city. They become more culturally competent because they're exposed to people with different points of view and different ideas about the world. I like interacting with other schools and you get to learn things that you wouldn't learn in a normal class. With archives of daily recordings of class sessions, students have access when they miss class or need to review content. The archives are great for when I was absent from school and I needed to catch up on my work so I could go and watch the class and get the notes that I needed and also to, you know, when I was studying for my test I could go back and review with some of those sessions. Site visits by our teachers provide a real-time face-to-face connection that builds a positive rapport between teacher and students. I think meeting the teacher made it a lot more personal. I feel like you've interacted personally with them so you feel like you've connected more with your teacher. It was interesting to finally put a face with a voice and actually know that that person was interested in you, I guess. They're not just there to teach. They actually love what they do. I would definitely recommend taking an IBC class. Like I said, it really enhances your independent learning. I would tell other people in reference to the distance learning class that it's a wonderful experience that once again it gives you the opportunity to take classes and see things from someone else's perspective other than just in our own environment here. It's also the wave of the future. It's the kind of learning that our students need to be able to do to work globally. For more information go to www.dlt.ncssm.edu.