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Internet2's leading-edge network adds DELEARN 12:52 p.m., Feb. 27, 2007--The DELEARN statewide education network has become an Internet2 Sponsored Education Group Participant (SEGP), providing students, faculty and researchers access to one of the most advanced networks in the world, it was announced Feb. 21 by Internet2, the University of Delaware and the Delaware Department of Technology and Information. DELEARN brings together the state's universities, colleges, schools, libraries and other education and culturally oriented institutions to share information and technology. It is the 38th state education network to participate in the program. DELEARN member institutions will now connect to Internet2's nationwide high performance network through MAGPI, the regional advanced networking hub serving Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Through this connection, DELEARN institutions will also participate in the Internet2 K20 Initiative, which extends leading-edge, Internet-based educational opportunities not available today on the commercial Internet to the K20 community. UD is a charter member of Internet2, and its Office of Information Technologies has worked closely with the Delaware Department of Technology and Information to develop this high-performance network. "The Office of Information Technologies and the Department of Technology and Information enjoy a close collegial relationship that has reaped benefits for each, and also for the state constituencies that we serve,” Susan Foster, UD vice president for information technologies, said. “University sponsorship of the state SEGP is yet another manifestation of the mutual value we find in that relationship,” Foster said. “We are looking forward to building rich collaborative opportunities for our public K20 communities and the state's cultural and service institutions.” The connection to Internet2 will provide Delaware's public school students with more sophisticated technologies like videoconferencing for live language, and also cultural and other educational interactions with students all over the world. One example of how the Internet2 network is already in use in the state is at the Delaware School for the Deaf at the Margaret S. Sterck School in Newark, where students have access to the expertise of sign-language enabled instructors at other Internet2-connected schools like those in Oklahoma and Georgia. UD has been an active participant in that project, alongside the state and the Christina School District, since its inception in 2004. DELEARN also hopes to enhance art preservation and conservation projects at its highly esteemed Hagley Museum and Library and the Winterthur Museum and Country Estate by enabling distance collaboration with experts worldwide. "Through this new connection, made possible through a generous sponsorship of Delaware's Department of Technology and Information in collaboration with Internet2 member University of Delaware, more students and teachers in Delaware will be able to create virtual classrooms and laboratories that put global resources and experts at their fingertips," Louis Fox, director of the Internet2 K20 Initiative and vice provost at the University of Washington, said. "Over the past five years, we have seen the amazing results that advanced networking can bring to the K20 community and we look forward to working with DELEARN to further enrich this growing program." The DELEARN community will be able to tap into already established programs under the Internet2 K20 initiative, including master music classes taught by world-renowned musicians at the New World Symphony or the Manhattan School of Music using DVD-quality videoconferencing. Members also will be able to participate in events such as Megaconference Jr., an annual project that uses videoconferencing technology to bring together thousands of students in elementary and secondary schools from around the world for an all-day learning conference. And students also can take part in famed oceanographer Bob Ballard's Immersion Project, receiving live interactive undersea exploration demonstrations from divers in remote locations around the world. |
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