School system in Connecticut diocese experiments with live Webcast

Published: 2004-05-06

NEW LONDON, Conn. (CNS) -- In a first for the Diocese of Norwich, students at two Catholic schools 40 miles apart learned Internet safety tips, unscrambled words and reviewed the seven sacraments together -- without leaving their schools. Students accomplished this feat this spring through a live Webcast hosted by Andre Archambault, technology coordinator for Catholic schools in the diocese. "Using a technology like this you can bring knowledge to any of the 23 schools from anywhere in the world," said Archambault, who wants to apply technology used in the corporate world to education. "The best education in the world could come to our elementary schools at a low cost," he told the Four County Catholic, Norwich's diocesan newspaper. At St. Joseph School in New London, about 110 fourth- through eighth-graders gathered in the auditorium where a computer had been connected to a liquid crystal display projector. From his office 17 miles away in Norwich, Archambault focused a video camera on himself and greeted the students, who saw his image displayed on a section of the large projection screen and applauded.

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