10 April 2000

Dear Vendor:

The Computer Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) at the University of Arizona and Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) Magnet high schools have received a grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop low cost high speed connection alternatives to the Internet. We would like to invite you to participate in an Internet Connections Workshop on Wednesday, 26 April 2000, 3:00-6:00 pm at the Cholla High School Magnet Center, the Global Village.

Two magnet high schools in Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) have been selected for participation in the NSF Internet Connections program by the University’s CERL. The NSF grant includes collaboration between the CERL and Pueblo and Cholla Magnet high schools to develop an instructional curricula in the Magnet school areas based on high speed Internet access. The two magnet areas at Cholla and Pueblo are:

• Cholla High Magnet School, Global Studies: Intercultural/International Studies & Law-Related Education
• Pueblo High Magnet School, Communication Arts & Technology.

These two magnet schools were chosen because of the multimedia applications that they run in their laboratories and classrooms and because they require high-speed access to other schools in Tucson and across the country. These schools currently have a requirement for at least a 45-155 Mbps communications access to collaborating high schools and laboratories. However, they are currently limited to fractional T1 links to the Internet that results in less that 50 Kbps throughput to the Internet at each school. Both schools have a need to establish VTC videoconferences and MPEG-based video applications with other schools in Tucson and schools in other parts of the United States. Connections methods that provide a low cost alternative access to the Internet will be investigated and developed under this NSF grant. In addition, schools in North Carolina and Washington, DC have been solicited for integration into the second year of the project.

The goal of this project is to provide high speed Internet access to the two Magnet high schools so that multimedia collaborative sessions can be performed with other high schools. In order to accomplish this goal, our Connections Team at Cholla, Pueblo, and the CERL are inviting industry participation to develop state-of-the-art solutions that may include the use of ISP, wireless, DSL, broadband cable, and fiber optic technologies as connections alternatives. In addition, we seek participation of industry vendors that provide multimedia tools for educational applications in the two Magnet school areas of technology. The purpose of the Workshop is to introduce the NSF Connections Project to the vendors, discuss connection alternatives, and start an open dialogue on team participation. The Workshop will be conducted using Cholla’s Group Systems facility as an electronic meeting place.

To register for the Internet Connections Workshop, please call Debra Cunningham at Cholla High School, 617-7761, or send e-mail to: cunnind@setmms.tusd.k12.az.us. The Agenda for the Internet Connections Workshop is attached.

We look forward to your participation and continued partnerships.

Sincerely yours,

Ralph Martinez, PhD Elizabeth M. Whitaker

ECE, Radiology, Coordinator Instructional Technology

Biomedical Engineering Tucson Unified School District

The University of Arizona