Brooke Johnson is a junior at Northside High School in Jacksonville. She also takes two classes at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics: honors forensic science and honors African American studies. How can she juggle taking classes at two schools that are 146 miles apart?

She does it with telecommunications technology.

Johnson attends the NCSSM classes through interactive video conferencing, or IVC.

The conferencing is made possible by the North Carolina Research and Education Network, statewide telecommunications infrastructure that links hospitals and educational institutions, including elementary, middle and high schools.

Johnson spoke Friday morning at the James B. Hunt Jr. Library at N.C. State University, during NCREN Community Day, an event to recognize the accomplishments and beneficiaries of the statewide network. Johnson, the only student presenter, was recommended to speak at the event Day by NCSSM’s Dean of Distance Education Jamie Lathan.

Johnson is no stranger to online education. She said that in eighth grade and freshman year she took an online German language class through an out-of-state university. She passed the class but found the experience lacking. The class consisted of worksheets, pre-recorded videos and occasional calls. The class was not engaging and Johnson now says she did not feel she was provided the materials to work harder, nor was anyone working with her along the way.

The IVC classes offer a completely different experience because they are interactive and engaging, Johnson said. Over time, she formed relationships with the other students attending the 90 minute classes. The telecommunications infrastructure also allowed her to collaborate with students from different schools on projects.

“Every student needs an approach customized to them and a prerecorded screen talking to them is definitely not that,” Johnson said. “My classes with IVC are completely different and my teachers for my IVC classes are very dedicated to me and help me to understand everything.”

From Johnson’s standpoint, interactive, online classes are the future of American education. Besides being engaging, these classes also have greater capacity to reach more students compared to conventional classroom classes.

“My IVC classes are just as good if not better than my regular courses I take at school,” Johnson said.