HUNTINGTON BEACH : Computer Mentors to Train Teachers

Public high school teachers in Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Westminster soon will be getting more help in using computers because of a state project.

Two teachers in the three-city Huntington Beach Union High School District have been picked as mentors in the California Technology Project. The two, Rachel Carlson and Kenneth Skolyan, will help train other teachers in the district on how to communicate via computer.

“We’ll be teachers of teachers,” Carlson said. “We’ll be helping teachers, and therefore the kids, into the world of telecommunications.”

Carlson and Skolyan are among 20 educators in Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties who were recently selected by the California Technology Project to serve as mentors, or trainers. The goal of the state project is to upgrade students’ abilities to use computers.

Carlson said California has a long way to go. “California ranks 50th out of 50 states in the number of computers available to computer students,” she said. “This project is aimed at getting more computers and technology into the classrooms.”

One of the solutions, Carlson said, is helping teachers become comfortable with computer technology. Carlson said she and Skolyan would help other teachers learn how to communicate with libraries and data banks via computer. Teachers also will learn how to exchange electronic messages with educators in distant areas.

Carlson is assigned to Huntington Beach Union High School District headquarters as a technology coordinator. She normally serves as librarian for both Westminster High and Marina High in Huntington Beach. Skolyan is a Westminster High business teacher.