The technology is also available for lifelong learners. We learned about seniors are using videoconferencing and Skype to keep in touch with friends and family.

The entire project budget was $54,400. MIRC funding covered half of the cost. The balance came from the City and County – either in cash or in kind.

They know the computers will be used to download Google maps of a location before responding, they will be able to get more info on topics such as hazardous materials when necessary and they’ll be able to do paperwork on the scene rather than taking time later to fill out reports. They expect that more uses will emerge as they start using the laptops.

At the beginning of the year, Kray taught students how to use the camera and sound equipment — setting it up, troubleshooting it and taking it down again afterward. Then students got hands-on training by actually producing finished live broadcasts on television.

The academic component of the class includes writing a journal, learning about advertising techniques and picking out different styles in media. They learn camera technique — wide angles, close-ups, extreme close-ups and tight-angle shots.

Not directly related to broadband – except that they will be broadcasting live from their web site soon – but directly related to bolstering skills that make better broadband users. And a reminder that tomorrow’s generation is going to be even less happy with asymmetrical connectivity. We want to be producers of information – not just consumers.

It’s a great first person account of life in Windom – but not on a farm – and the advantages that broadband brings to the area…

Our young people can work for any company in the world right here at home via telecommuting. We get the economic advantage from their good salaries without more pollution and congestion.

Our rural areas are a wonderful place to live, work and play; it is a relaxed pace of life, surrounded by peaceful wildlife, neighbors, family, friends, and plain good living. I believe a lot of people are seeking just those things in a place to call home or to visit, so here is our chance to find and tell them “we have a place for you!”

Blog notes for Blandin Grant by Wayne Wormstadt, superintendent

Benefits of the grant are directly seen through the funding for the equipment to enhance our video classes at Windom.

Other benefits are the opportunities for the students with the video equipment to showcase school district and learn practical skills and influence career choices.

Helps with publicity and public access are future benefits for all involved.

The Homework helper has been a concern as the ongoing cost to support this project to connect students with teachers at home. The ongoing cost of equipment and pay for stipends makes this a very unlikely program in which to sustain after the grant is complete.

A change of course from Homework helper would be to take the funds and provide Smartboards and Webcam in our 6th grade classrooms along with the fiber connection. This would then allow our 6th graders to communicate with students in Mountain Lake and Jackson County School Districts. They currently communicate via paper and pencil through out the year and get together for projects and joint field trips. The collaboration would increase and also allow live interaction. This is important as we are part of an integration collaborative to have our students interactive with other minorities. As Mountain Lake has a significant Hmong and Hispanic population this allows our students to experience ethnic diversity. The live interaction will only increase and enhance the number of opportunities. This will be much more cost effective and sustainable beyond the grant as equipment costs will be minimized and also stipends will not be necessary within this project.

Concern on the video end is the lack of training opportunity and the time allowed to teach a complicated program. Student mastery is difficult with limited time. Resources for the school become tight with new Biennium budget projections coming out. How do we make this program more responsive to the needs of the students including mastery and maintain financial viability of the program in economic strain? An elective with 9 students using expensive equipment vs. a class of 20-25 students with little overhead costs could force us in the future to possible make this a reduction in 2-4 years depending on state funding.

The Blandin Foundation is supporting four standout broadband programs through the Light Speed program. The program’s purpose is to stimulate the deployment of bandwidth intensive applications that connect local institutions to area resident’s home. This post comes from a Light Speed community leader.

The first item to be activated is an informational channel on the local city owned cable system. Students create a power point presentation and then FTP the presentation to the server located at the cable headend. This is then displayed on a local cable channel. Open source software was used to produce the power point. In the near future this server will be moved to the high school and used as part of the overall video learning and information system.

Fiber optic splicing has begun for the the interconnect from the Windom areas high school to the City Of Windom Network Operations Center (Noc) and the headend. This will allow for Ethernet transport to the Noc, and live video streaming to the headend.

The Blandin Foundation is supporting four standout broadband programs through the Light Speed program. The program’s purpose is to stimulate the deployment of bandwidth intensive applications that connect local institutions to area resident’s home. This post comes from a Light Speed community leader.

We have two education and two health care applications in the LightSpeed program and four very different applications. Today, I will give you a brief description of each project.

Home and Community Options (HCO), a non-profit organization, operates a number of residential group homes in Winona. HCO will, in partnership with local telecom provider Hiawatha Broadband, utilize a fiber optic network to connect HCO’s homes and administrative offices with a high-speed WAN. HCO will implement a number of applications over this network, including remote monitoring of several of the homes in the nighttime hours. Using a combination of cameras and sensors, staff will be able to keep a close eye on clients. This will provide savings in staff time and allow one staff person to monitor several homes. In addition, HCO has plans for advanced file sharing so that staff in one location will be able to review client records that now may be located in several locations. Finally, the network will be used for training and staff meetings, eliminating the need for travel across town.

Lakewood Hospital in Staples has a growing number of hospice, post-operative and other homebound patients. Lakewood will be using its grant to hire and staff, purchase equipment and begin to use both video and monitoring equipment to visit and monitor patients in their home. These technologies will allow nursing staff to visit with patients more regularly and keep track of vital information on weight, blood sugar, blood pressure, pulse and other measures. Lakewood will be determining which clients are best suited to use this equipment. Medical reimbursement policies seem to be at least as complicated as the technology application so there are many considerations to the implementation of a successful initiative.

Windom Schools will be using their grant for a number of exciting purposes. They will energize their school’s mass communications curriculum by purchasing equipment that will enable students to create local content that can be streamed over the Internet and shown on the local cable access channels. They will also be encouraging teachers to adapt their courses for online and video delivery so that the district can showcase some of its advanced content. In addition, the school district plans to expand its current homework hotline program to include video over web cams so that teachers can demonstrate math and other visual solutions.

The Little Crow regional school technology consortium in Hutchinson has a strong regional fiber network. Their grant will be used to purchase a digital video recorder and affiliated equipment so that video content can be captured and streamed over the Internet. This will make content more available to greater numbers of teachers and students, multiplying the impact of video field trips, guest speakers and other exciting curriculum.

Blandin Foundation recognizes that there is more to creating a technological vibrant community than fiber connections. Users must be willing and be trained. Sometimes additional equipment, software or services must be purchased to successfully launch a new application. The LightSpeed Program has provided the resources necessary to take advantage of big bandwidth networks and try new things. Congratulations and good luck to our grantees!

What’s the thinking behind the creation of the LightSpeed program?
In community broadband, it is a mistake to focus only the connectivity provided by a network. Some advocates romanticize instantaneous adoption of advanced technologies throughout the community. In fact, once connectivity is in place, other deployment challenges rise to the top, like specialized equipment, software, and end-user training.

The LightSpeed program provides funding to overcome these challenges and encourages the adoption of new broadband intensive applications, especially in the education and health care areas.

A second reason for the LightSpeed Program is to provide evidence of the value of big bandwidth networks, most notably FTTP networks. Skeptics always ask, “What are you going to do with all of that bandwidth?” LightSpeed grantees will serve as demonstration projects and provide real world answers to those questions.

The Blandin Broadband Strategy Board’s Vision Statement emphasizes both the deployment and the use of ultra high-speed next generation broadband. The LightSpeed Program promotes achievement of the vision by stimulating end-user thinking about what is now possible in their own communities with the local deployment of high-speed networks, especially in partnership with their local telecommunications providers.

What projects were funded through LightSpeed?
Four projects were funded in this grant cycle, two each from education and health care. We have projects in Winona, Staples, Windom and Hutchinson.

Our Winona project is very exciting. Blandin Foundation provided a grant to Home and Community Options, a non-profit organization serving people with disabilities. HCO has a number of residential group home facilities in Winona. As a component of the project, Hiawatha Broadband will expand its existing fiber network to connect HCO’s buildings. HCO will use the grant funds to purchase video conferencing equipment so that residents can be monitored remotely, especially at night. HCO will also utilize the network for staff training, more centralized computing and file sharing. HCO’s developing expertise in the use of these technologies will provide an opportunity for entrepreneurial development and help the organization to become more self-sustaining.

Lakewood Hospital in Staples received a grant to facilitate increased use of video to monitor home care and hospice clients in their homes. This will increase staff productivity and enable more regular communications with clients. Lakewood spent almost $50,000 on mileage reimbursement for their home health care staff last year. The system will allow staff to touch base with clients more regularly, observe their health status and advise the client and their caregivers. As broadband services vary throughout the service area, Lakewood will adapt their service delivery to the bandwidth available.

Windom Schools will be taking advantage of WindomNet, the city’s FTTP network. The school district will create a video-ready classroom, create a video production class and provide various forms of video to the home learning opportunities, including video homework hotline services.

Finally, Little Crow Telemedia Network will receive funds to develop the capacity to store and forward video content on-demand. This will allow students and their parents to review course content at their homes. A system like this will multiply the value of their current video offerings that are offered during the day on a fixed schedule.

These projects sound very interesting. How can I stay up with the deployment and implementation news?
Each project manager will regularly contribute on the Blandin on Broadband blog. It should be very interesting to follow both the technical, organizational and end-user challenges over the next year. In addition, I will be monitoring the projects and also contributing on the blog. We want to make sure that we increase our understanding of the hurdles for successful project implementation and pass on what we have learned to others considering similar projects.

Will more funding become available for additional projects?
Blandin Foundation has not committed funds for additional LightSpeed projects at this time.