For students from Brown Middle School in Ravenna and Walls Elementary School in Kent, that means a lot of individualized attention from teachers over the next 10 weeks.

"We have 10 faculty members, undergraduates from Teaching Education, and volunteers to work with the students in groups or individually," said Dale Cook, associate dean of the College of Education and Summit professor in Learning Technology.

"The classroom involves more than just a group of students placed in front of computers learning to play video games. Students don't just sit and watch, they're asked to perform a task and respond in turn. The multimedia involved includes computers adapted for audio-visual capabilities with interactive software that includes cameras and microphones."

The classroom has undergone some changes since its inception in April.

"We spent the first semester getting used to what's there; things like space and equipment," Cook said. "It was fairly arbitrary on my part. We wanted the students to be there in the first 10-week session to develop relationships.

"After talking to teachers, we decided the length of time spent in the classroom would be organized around units - or topics - of study over a four to five week period. After that, another teacher would be brought in for another length of time."

The classroom is used in conjunction with an observation area concealed by one-way glass.

"We wanted to know the impact of the way teachers plan for instruction as well as the impact on the way students learn," Cook said. "We have an environment in the observation room that doesn't exist anywhere else. Yes, there are similar classrooms, but none have the cutting-edge technology we use for observation, analysis and research in K-12 learning."

The one-way mirror has had little influence on the students performance in the classroom.

"The main goal of the observation room is to capture the process of the way teachers teach and students learn as assisted by technology," said professor Harold A. Johnson, a facilitator in the Ameritech Classroom.

"Last year we conceptualized. Now, we're implementing and flushing things out," Johnson said.

The classroom is a challenge for teachers as well as students.

"Teachers are asked for feedback on themselves," said Norm Fischer, an instructional specialist. "They're walking away from the security of a regular classroom where education is a private matter. In this setting it's just the opposite - a credibly public place. How they teach can be shared with others going into the education field, and the teachers benefit by seeing themselves under the gun."

Even though the program is administered by the university, the agenda is left entirely up to the instructor.

"The rule of thumb is the teachers are in control," Johnson said. "Nothing is researched without their permission."

Initial funding of the classroom began with a $250,000 donation from the Ameritech Foundation.

"We're always interested in endowments and grants," Cook said. "We must continue to upgrade the classroom every year to keep the facility on the cutting-edge. We're more reliant on state and private funds than federal funding, but we're still interested in securing federal support."

Cook will be meeting with U.S. Rep. Tom Sawyer, D-Akron, in Washington, D.C. at the end of September to discuss the matter.