NOVOSIBIRSK, Russia - Nina Koptyug teaches English to secondary students at School 130, located in the southwest of Siberia. The local community of Akademgorodok is home to many academic researchers. Not surprisingly, education is highly valued here. "Practically no children drop out of school," Koptyug says, and about 98 percent of graduating students go on to pursue university studies.

In 1997, when a computer lab was donated to the school by the George Soros Foundation, Koptyug began connecting her Siberian students with learners from around the world. "It has made all the difference in the world for me," Koptyug says. The award-winning teacher has become a local leader in integrating technology into learning, and also facilitates international learning projects.

Nina Koptyug has become a local leader for integrating technology into learning.

Her conversations with teachers around the globe remind her of the universal challenges of improving education by incorporating technology. "All of us are faced with the same obstacles," she says. "How do we persuade colleagues and the school administration that this kind of work is needed? How do we manage to turn all these 'new' things, which are already an integral part of most children's lives, into something everyday, ordinary, acceptable?"

In her own community, Koptyug leads by example. She regularly conducts what she calls "open lessons" in her classroom, where teachers from other schools are invited to come and observe. She describes a typical day: "I usually download a lesson which I wrote myself, or which I downloaded from the Web. Students open the lesson and work on the tasks, helping the visitors understand what they see. I circulate around the class, helping both students and adults." She also makes use of a multimedia projector and audio equipment to share materials with her audience. Visiting teachers often outnumber students.

What do teachers see? On a typical day, they might observe Russian students exchanging their writing with students from Australia, Ireland, the U.S., or another community in Russia. Koptyug is an active participant and project facilitator for the International Education and Resource Network (iEARN), which fosters ties among students and teachers interested in working on collaborative online projects.

A project called "Local History," for instance, invites students to exchange essays and photos about the history of their town or village. "They may write about their schools, families, nature, the problems they face, or wishes for the future," Koptyug explains. For her students, the activity provides a chance to put their English skills to use for a real purpose and to write for an international audience.

Another project, called "Laws of Life: Essays from the Heart," encourages students to write about their values, problems they see in the world, and solutions they envision. Students from more than 25 countries have exchanged ideas through the project.

Watching students become interested and engaged in these learning projects has reminded Koptyug of the value of instructional technology. "It is a tool, a source of knowledge," she says. Despite her enthusiasm, she's also aware that many other teachers in Russia "have never used a computer in their lives," Koptyug says. She has led workshops to introduce Russian teachers to technology and help them overcome their "fear of the new technology itself, and fear of showing one's ignorance."

Her outreach efforts are paying off. More than a dozen schools from Siberia have now participated in international projects, building goodwill as well as technology skills. "Internet projects help unite people," Koptyug says.

For more information about participating in international online projects, go to www.iearn.org*.