One would never guess that the clean, spare room in Eden Prairie High School’s media center contains $155,000 worth of technology.

At the Melissa Krull Global Learning Center (named after Eden Prairie’s now-outgoing superintendent), state-of-the-art video conferencing equipment allows students to connect to others around the world. The center was made possible because of a donation from the Stoebner Family Foundation; AVI Systems, the company founded by Joe Stoebner; and AVI’s vendors.

Stoebner had connected to Superintendent Krull through Habitat For Technology, a group that, over the years, morphed into Habitat for Global Learning and was recently folded into the Foundation for Eden Prairie Schools. Stoebner said that he was trained as a teacher and originally taught school for five years before founding AVI, which specializes in audio/visual and media production.

“That’s a part of education that is very important now,” said Stoebner.

“Kids come to school way ahead of their schools in technology use,” he added.

The new center was unveiled during a recent meeting of the Eden Prairie Chamber Board, of which Krull is a member.

Collaboration is the key skill that emerges from this technology, noted EPHS Principal Conn McCartan, during the presentation.

“What happens when people come together?

“That is what this space is about,” McCartan said.

Eden Prairie School Board member Chuck Mueller was curious about how the district can connect this technology upgrade to student achievement.

“This is very ambitious for high school kids,” said Mueller.

McCartan referred to a recent article in the New York Times about the difficulty in connecting achievement gains to technology in the classroom.

The bottom line is that technology allows you to amplify what is good or bad in a classroom, noted McCartan.

There is good instruction going on in EP schools – “It will amplify that instruction design,” he said.

Even during tests with a camera view on Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion School, high school students crowded around a cam-era to check it out, noted EPHS Instructional Technology Coach Jennifer Nelson.

“They were jazzed,” she said.

“I’m so looking forward to the learning that comes out of that excitement,” she said.

The camera can dial anywhere there’s a camera at the other end, Nelson said.

Superintendent Krull said that the district could be working with Fairview Health Services to develop online coursework. Through the center they could connect to medical professionals by video conference.

There’s no official front to the room and that is on purpose, said Nelson.

“We wanted this to be really student directed,” she said. “We can connect to just about anywhere in the world with that camera in a high quality way,” she added.

McCartan said they are partnering with students in Loudi, China on projects and working with scientists studying leaf cutter ants in Costa Rica. Additionally Starkey Labs in Eden Prairie might be interested in working with students through the center. Students in language clubs such as Spanish are planning to use the center to connect to groups in other countries.

CONNECTING TO STUDENTS

In an interview, Nelson noted that with the Global Learning Center, what they’re able to do is different from a regular classroom space.

They’re able to host a lot of groups using a lot of different technologies, she said.

When asked how this center differs from something like Skype, she said that Skype is good for one-to-one conversations. But, with the new video-conference software, they can project HD-quality video.

“You’re not going to get the jumps; you’re not going to get the freezes,” she said.

You can project a highly detailed image, “it shows up highly detailed on our end as well,” said Nelson.

At the same time, the technology itself appears invisible – students walk into the center, grab a table, plug in their laptops and get right to work without fussing over setup.

“I’m really most excited to see the connections that kids make with other people,” said Nelson.