The future is in the hands of the children. A motto BellSouth Corp. is supporting by dolling out educational grants to teachers in the Southeast.

The grants are designed to equip students with the 21st century skills required to thrive in today's digital workplace, BellSouth said.

Sixteen regional teachers shared in the $18,000 purse. Each teacher must use a portion of the grant to attend a two-day symposium, dubbed "Exploring the Future of Learning," in Seattle. The event is designed to assist teachers in helping students to meet six objectives: use e-mail and video to communicate; develop information literacy skills; develop products through computer applications; use technology to make education relevant to current events; develop basic computer skills; and use technology to bring students from around the world to work together toward a common goal.

Technologies demonstrated during the conference include next-generation learning and teaching applications for palm-sized computers and videoconferencing.