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GEORGIA'S NEWEST technical institute will open its doors this fall without a campus or a street address. That's because the Georgia Virtual Technical Institute only exists in cyberspace. Students will love its split-second commute, zero parking hassles and round-the-clock class schedule.
GVTI blends standard course curriculums with Internet Web sites to deliver seven certificate programs so far — from the basic AutoCAD operator to medical receptionist. "When I first started on this, I was told not to reinvent the wheel," said Kim Roach, who teaches entrepreneurial education at North Georgia Technical Institute. So she didn't. Instead, Roach spent hours exploring Web sites and hyperlinking them to her online entrepreneurial studies course. The result: Students can cyber-travel in an instant to the Census Bureau home page to find information on starting a business or browse such Web sites as American Express to see examples of business plans. The brainchild of seven state technical institutes (see box), the cyberspace academy shows what visionary administrators and innovative faculty can do when they pool their ideas, talents and resources. Online classes make technical education a reality for many more Georgians: working students, stay-at-home parents, and people who have disabilities or live too far away from a technical institute to make regular trips. And online services at Georgia's public libraries make GVTI accessible even to people who don't own a computer. "When we first met a year ago, we started out talking about how you split up the fees students pay and how you determine which institute gets credit for the enrollment numbers," said Ray Brooks, president of Northwestern Technical Institute. "Then we decided we weren't going to worry about that. We were just going to move forward." And move forward they did. In June, participants reconvened to decide how to standardize course contents, as well as how to provide financial aid, library services and computer services. But, the most exciting sessions showed the variety of ways instructors plan to teach on the Internet. For example, GVTI executive director Debbie Dlugolenski demonstrated a quiz service available from the University of Hawaii. GVTI faculty can use the service to prepare quizzes for their online courses, using a wide variety of options for testing, grading tests and providing feedback to students. Others showed the range of learning opportunities available, from simple, straightforward courses on medical terminology to online classes that allow students to use "virtual" electronic testing equipment. "Right now, we're not even trying to market these programs, but people have heard about them and are wanting to know more," said Dlugolenski. "Augusta Tech has had hits on their Web site from people as far away as Pakistan." And in cyberspace, that's not a bad commute. For more information, check out the GVTI Website or contact your nearest technical institute. -DHH | 
Altamaha Technical Institute |
©1998 Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education. All rights reserved.