CANFIELD VIDEO COSMETOLOGY Students watch, learn from one another via a school-to-school TV connection
The technology was used earlier this year to reach students in Baghdad.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
emetra Taylor worked the pink hair gel from roots to end and combed the section of light brown hair toward the right.
Then she looked up from the dummy head to determine what she should do next.
But the Mahoning County Career & amp; Technical Center cosmetology student wasn't looking toward her teacher. She was looking at a television and the fellow student who spoke to her from its screen.
The MCCTC students were linked recently with cosmetology students at the Trumbull Career and Technical Center in Champion via videoconference. And the Trumbull students were walking their Canfield counterparts through a rather complicated "updo."
"We can actually see them doing it and taking us through the steps. It's better than looking at a picture," said Demetra, glancing at the copied sheet of instructions on the table before her.
"They're on our level. It's not like a teacher, it's our peers," added Demetra, a senior from Austintown Fitch High School. "We see them doing it and it makes us want to do more. They're our age. I think, 'If they can do it, I can do it.'"
Teachers team up
The link was planned by Cheryl Cornich, who teaches cosmetology at the Trumbull school, and Linda Tomko, who teaches the course at the Mahoning County school.
"It makes it even more special, because we're friends and because she [Cornich] graduated from this school and I taught there," said Tomko, adding that the students also looked forward to the session.
"Here we are doing something this great, and we're learning," she said.
The Trumbull students chose a style they thought they could do well and teach well, Tomko explained. In December the roles will reverse, and the Mahoning students will teach.
This type of learning and communicating with other schools enhances students' understanding of a subject or topic and also heightens interest, improves motivation and increases retention, said JoAnn Santillo, the distance learning coordinator at MCCTC.
Other videoconferences
She said there are roughly 15 videoconferences at the center each year and many have been school-to-school and class-to-class interactions. Besides hearing from NASA and COSI, students have had conferences with the Toledo Zoo, the Cleveland Clinic, Vanderbilt University and other organizations. They also communicated with a high school in Baghdad, Iraq, shortly before the war.
Kristen Datko, a senior from Boardman, said the program is a change from regular classroom work and offered a fresh perspective.
"We're going to be able to learn from other students and what they think instead of always listening to the teacher," she said.
As for Demetra, she was also impressed with the technology.
"It's neat. I like it. It's interesting," she said. "I need to get one of my own instead of calling people and writing people."
viviano@vindy.com