About 15 grant applications had to be submitted to lock down funding for the $6.1 million WNC EdNet project. “We had more private easements between Cashiers and Highlands than we did everything else put together, over 300 miles,” said Hubbs. BalsamWest had to speak individually to every property owner to get permission to build. ![]() “The very things that we love about our rural area create challenges for technology,” said Hubbs.Ĭonstructing in the remote area between Cashiers and Highlands was another challenge. The mountainous terrain was a major obstacle BalsamWest had to overcome while installing equipment underground. WNCEdNet piggybacked onto the larger BalsamWest project, which has installed hundreds of miles of fiber underground to promote economic development in the Western North Carolina. Now, MCNC is also working on linking colleges up to the state network. Nearly 60 schools have been hooked up to their central office in the county via a fiberoptic line, which makes broadband Internet possible and also provides an important backbone for communication between the school district office and individual schools.Ī separate project by a nonprofit called MCNC is in turn connecting these school district offices to a statewide fiber network, the North Carolina Research and Education Network. The WNC EdNet project has traveled down a long road to get to where it is now. Once colleges are hooked up to the statewide K-12 network, student-teachers at Western Carolina University or other colleges may observe teachers in actual classrooms without interrupting lessons.īeing on the same fiber network also decreases overhead for school systems, which only have to pay one Internet bill for all their schools, Hubbs said. Moreover, fiberoptic technology makes professional training more readily available for teachers. “That’s our big push now, to narrow that digital divide,” said Byrd. The widespread reach of fiber across North Carolina to even the most rural schools holds the promise of creating a level playing field for students, according to Bob Byrd WNC EdNet project manager. Linking up to the state network creates access to The North Carolina Virtual Public High School, which already offers 72 courses including Advanced Placement and world language classes. “You’re speaking to or interacting with a teacher in real time.” “It’s not like an online class,” said David Hubbs, CEO of BalsamWest FiberNET, which implemented the WNC EdNet project. Live video will allow for face-to-face interaction between students and teachers. Once these high-speed connections are in place, star pupils from far-flung schools can join together in a virtual classroom to take advanced courses that aren’t normally offered at their own schools. Now, schools with fiber can enjoy 100 megabyte per second connections. WNC EdNet recently got the go-ahead to connect The Highlands School - the last remaining school to join the regional network.Īs late as 2000, schools in Western North Carolina could only transmit 1.5 megabyte per second. ![]() Thanks to a collaborative project called WNC EdNet, high-speed Internet will become a reality for all public and charter school classrooms in Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain Counties, along with the Qualla Boundary. ![]() By the end of this year, nearly every student in the six westernmost counties will have unprecedented access to technology in the classroom.
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