Imagine being able to turn down the volume on your math teachers, or tune them out all together.
Albemarle High School student Igor Rapinchuk has that power. With the click of a button, he can silence all the talk about triple integrals and surface volumes, and instead think about more pleasant things.
It's a neat trick, but not one he's inclined to use.
That's because Rapinchuk, along with eight other highly motivated classmates, is enjoying his part in the University's first-ever telecast math class, Calculus III, with University mathProf. John Faulkner.
Three times a week, the class gathers before a television for a live broadcast of Faulkner's course, which is taught on Grounds to 33 University students. The note taking can be furious, but no one seems to mind.
The program was launched because the students had completed all of the math classes available at Albemarle High and were eager to learn more. But attending classes on Grounds proved impractical.
"They could have gone to U.Va or Piedmont, but that would involve added time and travel, and they would have had to given up other classes that they wanted to take," said Carla Hunt, the high school's math department chairwoman and the students' regular teacher. "The students would much rather stay here."
With the help of Environmental Science Prof. Steve Macko, whose son Nikolas is one of the students taking the class, a solution was found. Instead of bringing students to the University, Macko decided to bring the University to them -- digitally.
"This time last year we were beaming a seminar in environmental science held on Grounds to a group of students in Africa. When I became aware that there were students here in Charlottesville who had no more math classes to take, I decided to try and apply the same methods," Macko said.
An arrangement was made with the University's Office of Telemedicine -- some of the equipment ordinarily used to broadcast live medical images would instead be used to help the students out of their predicament.
"I call it tele-learning because it is interactive learning in the truest sense. The professor can see the students' faces, he can make eye contact, and field live questions," Macko said.
Sprint donated the bandwidth to carry the transmission, while publisher Brooks-Cole supplied free textbooks for the class.
Still, the process was not without hang-ups. For one thing, Albemarle High School operates on a block schedule, which made it difficult for Macko and the other organizers to fit the class into the University's schedule.
But with a little juggling, a compromise was reached. The class now meets Monday, Wednesday and Friday for lecture, and Thursday for a discussion section with Richelle Dietz, Faulkner's teaching assistant.
Then there were the holidays, like Labor Day, which Albemarle High observed but U.Va. didn't. Not wanting the student's to miss a lecture, Faulkner invited them to attend his class in person.
"It was just like usual, except there were nine more people in the back," Faulkner said.
So far, everyone seems to be happy with the experiment.
"Having never done televised teaching, I wasn't really sure what to expect. But I think it has gone really smooth. The whole process has been pretty seemless," Faulkner said, adding that he would welcome the opportunity to participate in the program again.
The high school students are equally enthusiastic.
"It's much more fast paced than other math classes I've taken, and the range of topics is a lot broader. It's the best math class I've ever taken," Rapinchuk said.
Of course, the enthusiasm might change when report cards are issued, but according to Faulkner, most of the students are doing just fine.
"Their scores have been roughly comparable with those of the U.Va. students, which actually says a lot because this semester we have an especially competitive class," Faulkner said.
With this year's program such a success, there are plans to bring tele-learning to other area high schools. In fact, Monticello High School was originally slated to participate this semester, but scheduling problems got in the way. Hunt hopes that next semester such issues won't be a concern.
"We're looking forward to bringing more schools into the experiment. I think it would be wonderful if Western [Albemarle High School] and Monticello could take part," Hunt said.
She also praised Dr. Faulkner for his active support.
"Dr. Faulkner has been wonderful. Without his help, this probably couldn't have happened."
Rapinchuk doesn't say as much, but one gets the impression he feels the same way. After all, he leaves the TV on.
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