Fiber optics connects Indian writer with high-schoolers
Margaret Poe - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 3/1/06 Section: Metro
Speaking into a microphone in a nearly empty North Hall classroom, Mani Rao seized the opportunity to impart some wisdom to the Iowa high-school students on a TV screen.
"I hope everyone realizes the value of the place you're living in," said Rao, a native of India and permanent resident of Hong Kong and, this spring, the UI International Program's writer in residence.
With the aid of Iowa Communications Network technology, on Tuesday, the writer eloquently interacted with students on topics ranging from her writing process to the lingering bitterness between Hong Kong and China. The TV screen, which beamed the high-schoolers' images and questions into the room, offered the internationally published writer a glimpse into rural Iowa schools.
For the students, the fiber-optic-enabled conversation provided an instant portal, not only into a classroom dozens of miles away, but into a distant world of Hindu gods, Mumbai streets, and well-traveled polyglots. For the writer, it was another successful morning of outreach.
Rao - whose shaved head, dark eyes, and elegant features form a commanding presence among those milling the streets of Iowa City - has bypassed city life for a year-long sojourn in Iowa's "wide open spaces." While participating in the International Writing Program in the fall of 2005, Rao discovered this "lovely, literary town" is the ideal place for writers, thus prompting her to apply for the spring residency.
The outreach division of International Programs uses the technology to connect inquisitive Iowa youth with global visitors approximately three times a semester, interim coordinator Ursula Adelt said. While Iowa City students often have access to international scholars through the UI, many across the state are not so lucky, she said. The conversations allow visitors such as Rao to engage in direct conversation with young people from every county in the state.
An Iowa Public Television Program, "K-12 Connections," partners with the Iowa Communications Network to coordinate and fund interactive chats between students and guests. It is free for teachers to have students participate in the programs, said Jennifer Konfrst, the manager of communications for Iowa Public Television.
"We think it's important to make things available to Iowans across the state, regardless of where they live or how much they can pay," she said.
E-mail DI reporter Margaret Poe at:
margaret-poe@uiowa.edu
"I hope everyone realizes the value of the place you're living in," said Rao, a native of India and permanent resident of Hong Kong and, this spring, the UI International Program's writer in residence.
With the aid of Iowa Communications Network technology, on Tuesday, the writer eloquently interacted with students on topics ranging from her writing process to the lingering bitterness between Hong Kong and China. The TV screen, which beamed the high-schoolers' images and questions into the room, offered the internationally published writer a glimpse into rural Iowa schools.
For the students, the fiber-optic-enabled conversation provided an instant portal, not only into a classroom dozens of miles away, but into a distant world of Hindu gods, Mumbai streets, and well-traveled polyglots. For the writer, it was another successful morning of outreach.
Rao - whose shaved head, dark eyes, and elegant features form a commanding presence among those milling the streets of Iowa City - has bypassed city life for a year-long sojourn in Iowa's "wide open spaces." While participating in the International Writing Program in the fall of 2005, Rao discovered this "lovely, literary town" is the ideal place for writers, thus prompting her to apply for the spring residency.
The outreach division of International Programs uses the technology to connect inquisitive Iowa youth with global visitors approximately three times a semester, interim coordinator Ursula Adelt said. While Iowa City students often have access to international scholars through the UI, many across the state are not so lucky, she said. The conversations allow visitors such as Rao to engage in direct conversation with young people from every county in the state.
An Iowa Public Television Program, "K-12 Connections," partners with the Iowa Communications Network to coordinate and fund interactive chats between students and guests. It is free for teachers to have students participate in the programs, said Jennifer Konfrst, the manager of communications for Iowa Public Television.
"We think it's important to make things available to Iowans across the state, regardless of where they live or how much they can pay," she said.
E-mail DI reporter Margaret Poe at:
margaret-poe@uiowa.edu
