Internet2 is a non-profit membership organization of 208 universities working in conjunction with government and industry to operate a private national Internet Protocol (IP) network reserved for the exclusive use of the US research and education (R&E) community. The Internet2 network is an advanced, high-performance network that supports advanced or complex applications that do not work on the commercial Internet or do not work well. As the national R&E backbone, the Internet2 Network provides connectivity between institutions and connectivity to international research and education networks thereby providing access to the global research and education community.

The benefits for two-year colleges are impressive, and we have just scratched the surface of the potential. Through Internet2, college instructors can provide their students with access to experiences, skills, cultures, technologies and learning far beyond what is allowed by the traditional barriers of geography and service area. They can connect in an unprecedented manner with other colleges, universities, research labs, performing arts centers and an immense array of other resources – all of which can be brought to bear on improving student outcomes and opportunities.

Two-year colleges have been pioneers and front-runners already in building courses and programs in the World Wide Web. The intellectual flexibility gained through that is serving and will serve the colleges well in developing and moving out into Internet2 in a similar manner to future improve the experience of the distance learner. Illustrations and examples speak more eloquently than rhetoric in detailing this activity – and demonstrating the potential.

Students, for instance, in two-year science classes are observers and participants in gene-splicing experimentation at a major research university, and the bandwidth and resolution available through Internet2 has made that possible. Astronomy and physics students are using (and controlling remotely) telescopes at observatories located thousands of miles away to study distant galaxies, again thanks to the Internet2.

A truism in the industry is that a significant segment of the student market for any two-year college is the place-bound student. The other side of that coin is that a place-bound student, therefore, is limited to what his or her local two-year college offers.

Access to the Web has changed that for the types of courses and programs that fit in a Web-based learning environment. However, that still leaves out many forms of learning – hands-on, experiential learning for one. Now the Internet 2 offers the opportunity to address that type of content as well. The extreme broadband available makes it possible for students, as in the example, to manipulate remote instruments. It also allows for the construction of virtual environments and learning experiences through immersive simulations to achieve even more. In the future, a student could practice welding through entering a virtual welding booth – or conduct simulated arthroscopic surgery on a virtual patient.

The chief implication, then, of the Internet 2 for the two-year college is in its ability to continue demolishing geography as a barrier for what a college and do with and for its students.