Distance Learning Center

The Mantua Distance Learning Center utilizes state of the art technology to bring students and staff a Closed Circuit TV, Video Production, Distance Learning classroom. Mantua Basic School has a strong emphasis on incorporating art, music, dance, and drama with other subject areas. This facility provides unique opportunities to support interdisciplinary curriculum development.

The Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) studio is used for a variety of activities from a daily morning news show produced by students, the taping of student projects and plays, and live broadcast of lessons to classrooms. Under the guidance of our Distance Learning Teacher, students learn to use complex equipment in the three-camera studio, a skill that uses math, science, and language arts applications in a real world setting. Every morning, student news anchors broadcast a show to the entire school that includes general school news and announcements, as well as "The Sign of the Day," a brief signing class so that all persons at Mantua can learn to communicate with each other.

The Distance Learning Center is used for the production of videos of class projects, student productions, and video books. Closed-caption video production equipment and software are used to produce captioned videos. This allows Deaf students and Deaf staff equal access to the instructional materials that are created.

Mantua was awarded a Bell Atlantic grant to support the use of the Distance Learning aspect of the production studio. We installed a Tanberg Educator 6000 system for video conferencing. Our goal for the distance learning lab is to go beyond the conventional use for delivery of instruction to its use as a tool for student collaboration. Our primary objective is to prepare our students for the mobile and remote workplaces of the next century. Students are engaged in collaborative learning experiences with students in other schools in Fairfax County, across the nation and around the world.

The professional staff of Mantua Elementary School utilizes two-way Interactive Distance Learning to stay abreast of current research and applications within the field of education. Our focus on technology training and integration improves classroom instruction, and extends learning beyond school walls.