Family & Education Outpost - Commitment to Education

PROMISE AND REALITY

We all have heard spectacular claims about the ability of advanced communications technology to transform education. However, exploring technology's potential carries its own challenges, and educators struggle to find ways to obtain the resources, make long-term financial commitments in the face of rapid technological change and train teachers and others on how to use new applications to full advantage.

At Ameritech, we understand these challenges. Consequently, we provide educators with the resources they need to bridge the gap between possibility and reality. We make significant investments in teacher training, software, hardware and network infrastructure, because we have seen how the technologies we deliver can invigorate education and help educators confront some of the toughest issues facing our schools today.

TECHNOLOGY AT WORK

We build interactive distance learning networks to enable teachers and students in one classroom to share lessons and discussions with students and teachers in distant locations. These networks also take students on virtual field trips to explore zoos, museums and other destinations.

We provide technology and expertise to turn classrooms into information hubs at the center of the worldwide network. Library automation, Internet access, electronic mail and bulletin boards, desktop computer conferencing, on-line research resources, "chatline" and "meeting room" services and voice mail — all of these technologies from Ameritech help educators take students far beyond the classroom wall.

Using these technologies, students work from home in the evening, accessing multi-media libraries at their schools or on the other side of the globe. They collaborate with distant classmates and others over computer networks, revising projects in real-time. Parents employ voice mail to keep daily track of their child's progress and assignments even though they may not be able to visit the classroom on a regular basis.

BUILDING A NATION OF NETWORKS

We have helped create integrated networks linking schools, libraries, cultural, civic and government institutions, research facilities and homes wherever they are. Ameritech has focused much of our infrastructure spending on building broadband data and video networks to make this ideal reality. Each year, we make significant investments in our communities to build networks and provide a wide range of advanced data communications services.

BRINGING TECHNOLOGY TO THE CLASSROOM AND THE COMMUNITY

We are committed to bringing educators the technology and the information that our communities and schools need now, and we are passionate about technology that enlivens education and transcends the barriers of time and space. We know education is on the brink of great possibilities. We are working hard to bring those possibilities to life.