When Fairmont State College instructors return to class this fall, they will have a new tool at their disposal: a ViaTV Phone. Bob Moffett, Media Specialist at the college, which is located in Fairmont, West Virginia, about a hundred miles south of Pittsburgh, PA, read about ViaTV Phones in a trade magazine and ordered a couple of units for the school.

After demonstrations for faculty members in the spring, the College's Education Department immediately decided they wanted to use ViaTV Phones for videoconferencing with student teachers who go off to teach for the first time at schools throughout the state as the final part of their training.

"It's going to save the faculty a lot of time by them not having to drive thirty or forty miles, several times a week to conference with these student teachers," said Moffett. "The real beauty of ViaTV is its portability."

Moffett foresees the ViaTV Phone being used for the occasional guest lecturer who is an expert in a certain field and resides far from the West Virginia campus. In the past, these individuals would telephone their lecture into a hall full of students. If there was enough time to acquire a photo of the speaker, a slide would made of it and be projected upon a screen to look at during the lecture.

All that will change now with 8x8's videophones. "We plan to ship a unit to the speaker. It's so easy to set up, there should be no problem. And then our students will be able to hear and see the speaker." With ViaTV Phones in use, students and guest lecturer will be able to see each other, enhancing the lecture immeasurably and making the learning a lot easier. An instructor needs to see their students' faces to be sure the message is being received.

As a liberal arts college with an enrollment of around 6,000, Fairmont State College doesn't have a huge budget. Using other videoconferencing or distance learning options like computers and satellite broadcasting are not feasible options except on special occasions.

"For about the cost of one hour of satellite time, we can buy one ViaTV Phone unit," says Moffett. "You don't get TV broadcast or satellite broadcast quality but there is certainly a niche for this device."