The Calvert Marine Museum is extending its educational programs across the country thanks to a 2009 Dominion Education Partnership Grant. The museum’s distance learning programs give teachers world-wide the ability to bring real-time educational experiences into their classrooms by using point-to-point video conferencing via the internet.
The program began over a year ago with support from Comcast and an equipment grant from Polycom. “The program was going fairly well,” reported Deputy Director Sherrod Sturrock, “but we were frustrated about getting the word out. The $10,000 grant from Dominion has proven an ideal partnership to help us reach new audiences.”
Sturrock further explained that the distance learning programs take the museum’s themes and expands them to fit a wider audience in diverse locations. “We offer programs for grades 2 to 6 on fossils, Captain John Smith and his exploration of the Chesapeake Bay, lighthouses, invasive species, and the environmental importance of the estuary and marsh.”
Dominion has a presence in nine states across the country, including Maryland. Those communities have been invited to sign up for ‘free’ distance learning programs, subsidized by the grant. This fall, the museum provided 29 programs to schools across the state of Virginia. More are being scheduled in other states over the winter and spring.
“This is what I call a win/win,” said Sturrock. “We are able to do more programs, Dominion is supporting their communities, and the schools are receiving a quality product at no cost to them.”
For more information on the distance learning program at the Calvert Marine Museum, call Sherrod Sturrock at (410) 326-2042, ext. 32.
