Students learn while they ride on WiFi-equipped bus
Unlike others in the Sheridan School District’s fleet, bus No. 46’s magic comes from a small cellular router and a rooftop antenna that provide WiFi Internet access for laptops and Apple iPods.
The school bus ‘ a mobile virtual classroom ‘ is a key component of the new “Aspirnaut Initiative,” a pilot project launched in April by Grapevine native and Vanderbilt University professor Billy Hudson in cooperation with his family, the university, the Sheridan district and the Grapevine Historical Society.
Through the technology, students are taking courses independent from the classes during the school day. The project includes a satellite classroom and a teacher in Grapevine to provide after-school help to those taking the online math and science courses.
Summer and weekend trips to Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn. ‘ making it possible for students to talk and work with eminent scientists in their laboratories and classrooms ‘ are also parts of the initiative.
“At some point you hope that there is some part of this that can be transposed to many different places,” said Hudson, a Vanderbilt professor of medicine and biochemistry as well as director of the Center for Matrix Biology. “This is an experiment. It’s not about Sheridan; it’s about rural America.”
In Arkansas alone, there is potential for making use of the time students spend on the bus. An average of 325,000 of the state’s 452,000 public school students ride school buses that travel about 5,000 routes and a total of 243,000 miles a day, said Mike Simmons, the state’s senior school bus transportation manager.
Ethan Clement, an 11th-grader at Sheridan High School who wants to become a microbiologist, said that, until she became involved in the Aspirnaut Initiative, it didn’t dawn on her how much time she was losing.
“I’ve been riding the bus since I was in kindergarten, up to one-and-a-half hours each way,” Ethan said. “Until this program, I never really thought about it. It was the daily routine.
“But we were wasting time sitting here. This could be an opportunity for everyone. Why waste your time on the bus, looking out on the same road you’ve looked out at every day?”