Of Many Colors set to perform at WesleyanA&E, page 5

The voice of Texas Wesleyan University students since 1917

WEDNESDAYSeptember 30, 2009

Vol. 92 • No. 17

ONLINE: www.therambler.org

The RamblerMen’s soccer team breaks into national rankingsSports, page 6

Technology creates virtual classrooms

Daniel McGarydcmcgrary@mail.txwes.edu

Texas Wesleyan is using a new, innovative teleconferencing program between its main campus in Fort Worth and the Burleson site.

The program’s software video feed utilizes dial-up teleconferencing equipment to trans-mit live video from classrooms on the main campus to classrooms.

“The idea is to use live video technology to allow Wesleyan’s Burleson site to use all of its classroom space without having to hire more adjunct professors,” said Dr. Carlos Martinez, dean of the school of education.

That has been an important issue for a long time, since the Burleson site usually has only two full time faculty members teaching onsite, Burleson site coordinator Judy Arnold said in a telephone interview.

Burleson site coordinator Judy Arnold be-lieves that the new technology can best be used to create virtual classrooms by combining the live video feed with the traditional arrange-ment of classrooms and desks.

“The teleconferencing goes both ways,” Ar-nold said. “Students in classrooms at the Burle-son site see the main campus classes on a very large screen, and, at the same time, they can ask the professor questions.”

The classrooms on the Fort Worth campus have the same large screen where they see the Burleson classroom live. The result is live con-versations between both sites, almost as if it is one large classroom.

Burleson site recruiter Ashley Shetter be-lieves that the video teleconferencing system is a great idea and has been very well received by students at the site.

“Students who live in Burleson and sur-rounding areas really like the idea of earning a degree from Texas Wesleyan without having to commute all the way to Fort Worth,” Shetter said in a telephone interview. “The system has worked so well that Burleson students really feel like they are in a class with a live professor there.”

Arnold said the overall effect is so realistic that professors in the main campus classrooms even have a seating chart of the Burleson site

Polytechnic High School passes the test, will not close its doorsTexas Wesleyan almost lost

an old friend and neighbor. After facing an uncertain

future, Polytechnic High School will remain open, pro-viding the university with a fellow community icon and academic partner.

A year ago Poly High School faced state closure after fail-ing to meet the minimum state requirements for aca-demic performance for four consecutive years. Students were challenged to pass the Texas Assessment of Knowl-edge and Skills (TAKS) in the spring.

Students and staff succeed-ed, and the school found out this summer that it would re-main intact.

“I was sad at the thought of losing a school in our neigh-borhood,” said Lisa Dryden, an education professor at Wesleyan.

Texas amended the law in 2006 to say that if a school failed to pass any portion of the TAKS with an acceptable rating for five consecutive years the state would require the school to close immedi-ately or have alternative man-agement appointed to run it.

The law also gives the Texas Education Commissioner the option of closing a school af-ter four consecutive years.

If the school had closed, it could only have re-opened as a new school under a new name and half of its students and teachers would be forced to relocate.

Dryden, who is also Wes-leyan’s director of the graduate program of education, collab-orated with Poly through site-based management teams.

The program met monthly at the high school and dis-cussed ways to raise test scores and create a stronger academic environment.

“We built a learning com-munity and raised school spirit,” she said. “Everyone felt a sense of pride in their school and the things they could do.”

Polytechnic improved im-mensely and went on to show double-digit gains in all TAKS categories, said Doug Maryak, assistant principal at Poly-technic.

“People are now coming to us and asking us how we im-proved so much,” he said.

Maryak said it would take two to three days to list every-thing that contributed to the improvement.

However, the biggest thing was a change in the culture, which took several years and didn’t happen overnight.

“Our kids now understand what great success is,” he said.

University President Dr. Harold Jeffcoat and Provost Dr. Allen Henderson present-ed a banner to Polytechnic’s principal, Gary Braudaway, on July 2 congratulating the

school on its achievement.Texas Wesleyan has a his-

tory of partnership with Poly-technic. It allows the high school’s seniors to enroll in university classes for credit, giving them a taste of college life.

It also offers a Speak Up scholarship, which pays for all tuition and fees, to Polytech-nic students exclusively.

During Polytechnic’s strug-gle, Wesleyan circled the wag-ons showing its support for the high school. Wesleyan

organized a letter-writing campaign to students and staff and offered help includ-ing events such as Career Day, a community breakfast and community TAKS fair and tu-toring assistance for students.

Sexual assault alleged in VillageJonathan Resendezjlresendez@txwes.edu

Fort Worth police are in-vestigating an alleged sexual assault that was reported in Wesleyan Village Sept. 24.

Chuck Burton, assistant vice president of marketing and communications, said there were no breaches of security as the assailant may have been an invited guest of a female student.

Burton said the assailant may have met the victim on the Internet.

“We want all students to be extremely cautious,” he said in reference to online rela-tionships.

According to the U.S. De-partment of Justice, sexual as-sault is widely considered to be the most under-reported violent crime in America. Most sexual assaults on cam-pus are committed by an acquaintance of the victim, which explains, in part, why these crimes are under re-ported.

Kelly Neace, resident assis-tant at Wesleyan Village, said she would advise students who are meeting online ac-quaintances in real life to do so in a public place and take a friend.

 TECH, page 3Laura Rosser | Rambler Staff

Students and teachers can now teleconference between the main campus and Burleson site.

Photo courtesy of Office of CommunicationsTexas Wesleyan presents Polytechnic faculty and staff with a congratulatory banner.

“Everyone felt a sense of pride in their school and the things they could do.”

Lisa Drydenprofessor of education