One mobile learning program is serving rural students with extra long commutes

Ever since several school districts were consolidated into a single district covering about 600 square miles, children from rural Grapevine, Ark., have attended school in Sheridan, Ark., which requires a 90-minute bus ride each way.

That extra three hours a day has now become an additional learning opportunity for the students who ride the bus. Through a unique pilot program, students now have the use of either a laptop or iPod equipped with interactive educational programming for the duration of the ride. The laptops connect to an on-board Wi-Fi router, which communicates with the Internet via a cellular router on the roof of the bus.

Billy Hudson, a professor at Vanderbilt University, likens the bus to a “mobile one-room schoolhouse with computers on it.” Hudson, who grew up in Grapevine and wanted to help the community, thought up the idea several years ago and, after raising funding from family and friends through the Grapevine Historical Society, has made it a reality.

A portion of the funding covers the cost of a part-time teacher who meets with participating students twice a week to oversee their mobile learning experience. “Now there is 20% to 30% more learning time for kids that is under the purview of the school,” Hudson said.

On average, 30 students in kindergarten through grade 12 ride the bus each day. Thirteen of the students were identified as gifted or high-ability, said Dr. Julie Hudson, a physician at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital who is married to Billy. The two co-founded the project, which they have dubbed the Aspirnaut Initiative. As part of the initiative, those 13 students have received the use of laptops, which are loaded with interactive math and science materials from Aventa Learning. Other students on the bus get to use iPods pre-loaded with up to nine hours of educational material.

“We add another eight to nine hours every few weeks,” explained Dr. Hudson, who added that equipment is collected from the students at the end of each commute. “Students say this is helping them with their classroom activities,” she said.

The next step, the Hudsons hope, will be to obtain grant money to study the program's impact. The program also will get a test of its effectiveness soon, when four students take an advanced placement biology test.

If the program yields positive results, it likely will be expanded. Considering that the typical rural student's commute averages an hour per day, it's not surprising the Hudsons have received a lot of inquiries about the program.

Many of these have come from educational organizations. But because many rural telcos are accustomed to acting as leaders within a community, particularly when communications technology is involved, they also are well-positioned to spearhead similar efforts in other communities.