Volume #3, Issue #1
Volume #3, Issue #1
Date: October 1989
Editor:
Jason Ohler, Director
Educational Technology Program
University of Alaska Southeast
ONLINE JOURNAL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION
In the industrial age, we go to school. In the information age, school can come to us. This is the message implicit in the media and movement of distance education.
Volume #3, Issue #1
October 1989
Editor: Jason Ohler
Educational Technology Program DirectorTechnical Coordinator: Paul J. Coffin
University of Alaska Southeast
11120 Glacier Highway
Juneau, Alaska 99801
Phone: 907-789-4538, 4417
BITNET USERID: JFJBO@ALASKA
716 Taschereau
Ste-Therese, Quebec J7E 4E1
Phone: 514-430-0995
BITNET USERID: JXPJC@ALASKA
WELCOME TO THE THIRD SEASON OF THE ONLINE JOURNAL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION
WE ARE ALWAYS INTERESTED IN CONSIDERING YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS.
Bear in mind that the electronic journal suffers from "uncompromising sequentiality"- readers can not skip past articles that don't interest them the way they can in a paper-based journal. Until our technology allows "browsing," our only alternative is to make articles brief and to provide the authors' IDs so they can be contacted directly by readers for more detailed information. This approach cuts down on the network resources needed to distribute the Online Journal and allows for greater reader interactivity, while reducing the amount of unwanted information readers are forced to scroll through.
Therefore, please limit articles to 4 screens (2 pages) maximum if it's possible. If you can, also please indent one tab space on the left and keep the right margin at 70. I look forward to hearing from you.
This issue at a glance:
THE ONLINE JOURNAL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION
ITEM #1
A GLOBAL NETWORK FOR CHILDREN
SECOND INSTALLMENT
There are a few general features which should guide the development of a
network for children's mail. In this note I will advocate
certain general features and present an example which incorporates them.
Once we have refined the general guidelines to follow, then it should be
easy to begin setting up pieces of the network in a manner that will
allow it to be extended easily.
I'm sure I have omitted features which we will certainly need, and I
invite readers to fill in these missing items - as well as to criticize
the items that I have listed above. Without further apology, let me
describe a workable system that satisfies the constraints which I have
just specified.
At the school level consider machines in the class of a Mac Plus, an
Atari ST 1040, an Amiga 1000 or an IBM PC-XT. These machines can all
run UUPC, a public domain package which implements the uucp "g"
protocol. The UUPC package includes a mailer which is even more
primitive than the Unix mail command. This would be replaced by a mail
shell, which would include a mouse-based word processor and mailer. The
mailer would use an address file, which would contain the addresses of
various children's correspondents. Children would select the desired
address from this file and would thereby be insulated from the
complexities of uucp addressing.
The machines specified above are not the least expensive machines
available today. But they do provide the functionality of a mouse
interface and good-quality graphics at a reasonable cost. In mass
production, models of these machines could probably be produced at a cost
of under 500 dollars. All of these machines offer a reasonable C
programming environment and have a range of public domain software
available to them. The UUPC package, in particular, is available for
all of them. No adequate mail shell exists for any of them, but this
development task would not appear to be too forbidding.
The school machines would be linked by phone lines to central mail
servers. Mail transfer could take place at night, so no new dedicated
phone lines would be required. A UUPC session could be started at the
end of the school day. This program would await a phone call and would
transfer enqueued mail messages when the call arrived. Alternatively, the
school machine could initiate calls during the school day, but this would
require a dedicated phone line and perhaps a closer level of
supervision.
The mail server machines could be Unix(R) boxes located at the offices
of the local school board. These machines would have sufficient disk
capacity to hold outgoing and incoming mail for the schools they would
serve. Communication between different school districts would involve
long-distance telephone calls or packet-switched networks. In the initial
stages of the project existing usenet links could be employed to
eliminate some of the communications costs. As traffic on the network
increased it would be necessary for the network to cover its own costs,
however. The Unix boxes would run standard uucp software, which would
provide mail transfer and file serving capabilities for the school
machines. Teachers and older children could log onto the Unix machines
to access news and other programs.
Aside from the mail shell there is little software development required
in the above scheme. Some work might have to go into assuring reliable
mail transfer under uucp. The system lacks a validation method and may
offer problems on that score. It is my impression, however, that
problems with uucp arise from difficulties in administration and
addressing. By monitoring these aspects of the network carefully we may
be able to avoid any serious trouble in these areas.
The hardware necessary to implement this model network is also readily
available. The mix of single user and multi user systems may attract
the interest of vendors, who typically offer both types of machines for
sale and have not devised a very successful integrated sales strategy.
The market relevant for the present discussion is one which has not been
seriously penetrated by any of the hardware mentioned above. Schools
have typically bought low-end products of the sort that were available
three to five years ago. These are 8-bit computers which sold for
prices of the sort targeted above. Although there is a large software
base for these machines, it can reasonably be expected that they will be
supplanted by the 16-bit machines mentioned in our outline during the
next three to five years.
Bob Carlitz
CENTRAL AMERICA AND DISTANCE EDUCATION
PROGRESS REPORT: CENTRAL AMERICAN DISTANCE EDUCATION PROJECT.
In the last week of July and the first week of August, we
completed the installation of the equipment (a system for
audio conferencing and an electronic blackboard with 30" monitor)
in CSUCA, the Universidad de Costa Rica, the Universidad Nacional
de Costa Rica, and the Universidad de Panama. We have been doing
tests during the month of August to familiarize all the operators
(not least ourselves) with the workings of the equipment. We are
planning an 'inaugural activity' for sometime in September.
We decided to begin with a Costa Rica-Panama subsystem because
the infrastructure (telephone lines, electric power, air-
conditioning) is much more available and/or reliable in these
countries. Based on our experiences with this subsystem, we plan
to conduct a week-long workshop for all the designated operators,
after which we will install the equipment in Guatemala, El
Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. We hope to have the
installation phase completed by mid-November.
Given that the Central American university year is generally
early March to the end of November, our initial plans are to use
the system as a vehicle for conferences, meetings, etc. and to
begin utilizing it as a means for giving courses in March 1991.
The above describes our progress to date in the context of the
international network for distance education which we are trying
to put into place. We are also moving on the other aspect of the
project, that of installing equipment which permits an extension
center of each university to receive courses from the parent
university. The extension centers will not have an electronic
blackboard, so will have full audio conferencing capabilities as
well the capacity to receive data from the blackboard in the
sending site. We have installed the equipment in an extension
center of the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica. Some of the
professors are already using it as a supplement to their usual
teaching methods, thereby eliminating some of the 3 hour trips
(each way) over mountain roads they had to take in order to
physically be at the center.
Any questions can be directed to:
Irvin Boschmann
ITEM #3
An excerpt from: PROSPECTUS, UNIVERSITY OF THE WORLD
Editor's note: The entire Prospectus is available from James Miller at the
above ID.
PROSPECTUS
UNIVERSITY OF THE WORLD
July, 1988
UNIVERSITY OF THE WORLD
I._N._T._R._O._D._U._C._T._I._O._N._
The concept of a university of the world originated with
Dr. James Grier Miller, a scientist and educator, who formerly
served on the faculties of Harvard, the University of Chicago,
the University of Michigan, and Johns Hopkins University, and
as President of the University of Louisville. He is now a
faculty member at the University of California on both the Los
Angeles and the San Diego campuses.
In 1983 the University of the World was incorporated as
a not-for-profit, tax-exempt corporation and in 1984 its central office was opened in La Jolla, California. It is an organization designed to link and connect existing educational
institutions in all countries so that the consortium as a whole
can serve the educational needs of students in all countries.
During its formative years, as the concept grew, alternate names for the University of the World were suggested.
Among them, for example, were "electronic global university,"
"open electronic university, and "world electronic university." Although these names would include our electronic capabilities, as "University of the World" does not, we prefer and
have retained our original name because it emphasizes content
over process.
P._U._R._P._O._S._E._
The overarching goal of the University of the World is
to advance free speech and thought and to promote worldwide
literacy and scholarship. We believe that a better-educated
world will yield improved international understanding and lead
to a better chance for peace and prosperity among all people.
From the start students have been the main focus of the
University of the World. The student is the principal user and
the ultimate beneficiary of its services. Preliterate, primary, secondary, baccalaureate, and graduate education will be
available, for credit or not for credit, to meet the requirements of individual students.
It is not expected that the University of the World will
grant academic credits or degrees of its own. Rather, it will
make arrangements to allow established institutions of higher
education, willing to give credit for learning by instructional
technologies, to do so internationally.
Most of the world's population growth in the foreseeable
future will occur in the developing countries, many of which
cannot now afford adequate primary and secondary education by
traditional means. They cannot train a sufficient number of
teachers even to minimal standards. Unless mass education by
modern technologies is employed, these countries may never be
able to take their proper place in the world and provide a
reasonable quality of life for their citizens.
The University of the World, therefore, has been designed to use electronic telecommunication to disseminate educational resources to students and faculties in all countries,
especially the less developed nations. We believe
computer-aided instruction systems and video information sys-
tems are now sufficiently advanced to enable the multiway sharing and delivery of course material, called courseware, in a
broad set of academic fields.
[end of Prospectus excerpt]
NEW UNIVERSITY OF THE WORLD 1989 PROJECT
A new project being developed by the Public Broadcasting
Service (PBS) involves satellite transmission of telecasts using the
vertical blanking interval (VBI) to deliver information. VBI is the
first 21 lines at the top of each television picture, and can be used
to convey other information than that on the screen to multiple destinations using the broadcast signal but not affecting the television
image. Receiving this information will require a VBI Data Receiver-
Controller box attached to a computer and a printer to access the
information as it is broadcast. Each VBI line can support transmission at the rate of 9,500 bits per second, approximately 28 pages
of text per minute. This will be one of the best possible means of
delivering information and learning materials to educational institu-
tions internationally. These materials could include all relevant
material for each specific course such as teaching guides, student
workbooks, computer software, bibliographies, research findings, and
many other types of related information. VBI could also offer access
to materials in other educational institutions and professional
development information for educators to enable them to keep up to
date in their disciplines, pedagogical skills, and management
techniques.
In the 1970s, PBS Engineering created the Emmy-Award-winning
system of closed captioning for the hearing impaired, using line 21
of the VBI. Since then, PBS has developed other ways to use VBI,
including the Direct Access Communications System (DACS), an internal
communication system for public television member stations and
National Datacast, a commercial application for high-speed delivery
of data for PBS Enterprises.
The University of the World hopes to be able to use one or
more of the VBI lines in the near future to transmit educational and
research materials and other information to its member nations.
ITEM #4
VOICE MAIL MAKES ITS APPEARANCE IN DISTANCE EDUCATION
A popular computer magazine recently proclaimed "While you were out
voice mail stepped in." The sudden popularity of voice mail can be
attributed to the rapid drop in prices of this high technology
add-on. A good unit can be purchased for as little as $150.00
and quantity purchases drop the price further. Their appearance
in higher education has been very limited the last two of years,
but their appearance is on the rise. As one distance education
course syllabus states to students ,"The use of voice mail in distance
education will increase;use this course to become familiar with
how it works.!"
The main idea of voice mail is the convenience for students and
faculty of obtaining timely and accurate information. Voice mail
does this by providing each distance learner with his/her own
telebox inside a computer where digitized voice messages are stored.
We introduced voice mail last year on our campus, and immediately
found many applications. Those who saw voice mail demonstrated
quickly understood that voice mail will rapidly change many campus
operations. The pace at which institutions will adopt voice mail
and just how applications will evolve remains to be seen.
On our campus we have used it in the following ways.
A large and popular telecourse incorporated voice mail. From the start
the students received printed instructions on how to use the voice
mail system. A video taped orientation by the instructor which was available
to students also explained voice mail and how to use it.
Voice mail makes information available to students easily (over the
phone) at times convenient for both the student and instructor
(once messages are stored in the computer, they can be retrieved
whenever the computer is turned on and phone lines are not down.)
One student called at 3:00 am to retrieve information. Other called
at times other than normal working hours but at times that were
good for them.
Voice mail was also used to call students in the telecottages. Messages
were pre-recorded and sent several times during the term.
Students were reminded of the dates and times of the course orientation
before the course actually started and they received advance
reminders of exam dates, times and locations. Near the close of
the course students who had not turned in assignments were called
and reminded to turn in work before the course deadline.
Students were also able to leave messages. This function is like
that of an answering machine. Voice mail is digitized sound and
clearer than tape based phone machines. From the point of view
of the instructor however, the voice mail procedure, unlike an
answering machines can show on the PC screen which student has been
called (identified by telebox number) when they were called and
the message's length.
Students responded well to the innovation; since they were familiar with
answering machines and phones, the addition of voice mail was readily
adopted (except rotary phone users who found using the DTMF tone
generator which simulated a touch tone phone to be awkward.
Completion rates for the course were compared with other courses
the same term that had not used voice mail. The telecourse with
voice mail had a higher completion rate (82% versus 74% for the
others.) These results should be replicated and their potential
impact on future enrollments should be estimated.
There are many other applications not discussed here and drawbacks
and cost are not discussed. To get a feeling for the system and
how it works, call in the USA 1 312 534-1664. Interrupt the
message by punching #999 in order to preview our system. This
system will be up and available until December 31,1989.
ITEM #5
S C I E N C E B Y M A I L
I'd like to introduce to you a program based at the Museum of Science in
Boston, MA called Science-By-Mail. This program, which is presently mail
based, brings together thousands of children grades 4-9 and scientists in all
fields as pen pals. Children around the world receive 3 science challenge
packets a year that focus on subjects that are generally interesting to kids
(ie. space, ice cream, special effects, science detectives) . Working in
groups, alone, or with their families, participants explore scientific issues
through hands-on activities and interesting design problems. The program is
non-competitive, non-judgemental, open ended, and encourages children to work
in small teams of four. With this design, we hope to foster intrinsic
motivation to learn within each group of participants. Children send in
their solutions in the form of reports, video and audio tapes, drawings, etc.
Scientists review the children's solutions to the problem packets and send a
note of encouragement and support to the children.
Due to the tremendous success of the program, we have expanded and
established chapters in Nashville; Richmond, VA; New York City; New Jersey;
Charlotte, NC; Louisville; and Derry, Northern Ireland. Within the next
year new chapters will open in Knoxville, TN; Kansas City, MO; Augusta, GA;
Akron, OH; Minnesota; Anchorage; and Auckland, New Zealand. Due to the
postal aspect of the program, those living in other geographic areas can
participate through the Boston chapter.
The future of the program will include Science-By-Modem and Science-By-Fax.
Some of the obstacles to this addition of technology are cost,
accessibility, and ease of use of communication media. We are carefully
discussing these additions to the program.
Feel free to contact me if you:
The deadline for applications in October 15th and the cost per group is $40.
Limited scholarships are available on a financial need basis.
Stephen Brand
by Robert D. Carlitz, Univ. of Pittsburgh
ID= RDC@pittvms
May 10, 1989
ITEM #2
by Irvin Boschmann & Edgardo Richards
cdp!csuca@labrea.stanford.edu
cdp!csuca@labrea.stanford.edu
Edgardo Richards
&
A report: NEW UNIVERSITY OF THE WORLD 1989 PROJECT
from James Grier Miller, MILLERJ@SDSC
CENTRAL OFFICE
1055 TORREY PINES ROAD, SUITE 203
LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA 92037, U.S.A.
TELEPHONE: (619) 456-0103
BITNET:MILLERJ@SDSC
FACSIMILE: 619-454-3206
by DONALD FRICKER (GBP71R0@ECNCDC) &
S. PRESCOTT (GHL29R0@ECNDC),/CENTER>
by Stephen Brand, IN%"sbrand@SH.CS.NET"
sbrand@sh.cs.net
1-800-729-3300
Head of Public OutreachV
Museum of Science
Science Park, MA 02114-1099
Acknowledgement sent to JFJBO
| Clayton Andrews, USA | Ashley Goldsworthy, USA |
| Carl Hammer, USA | Mohan Kaul, UK |
| Yasuo Makino, Japan | Michael R. Miller, UK |
| R. Narasimhan, India | E. A. Owolabi, France |
| Dorothy Philips, Canada | Pramode Verma, USA |
The Programme Committee
| M. N. Faruqui, India | Anil Garg, India |
| B. N. Jain, India | Farouk Kamoun, Tunisia |
| Peter Kirstein, UK | Peter Kuehn, FRG |
| S. L. Mehndiratta, India | Louis Pouzin, France |
| S. V. Raghavan, India | S. Ramakrishnan, India |
| S. Ramani, India (Chairman) | S.I. Samoylenko, USSR |
| K. R. Srivatsan, India | Ronald Uhlig, USA |
| T. Viswanathan, India | S. G. Wagle, India |
Topics: Original papers are invited on the following topics. Papers in related areas are also welcome.
Address for Correspondence
S. Ramani
Chairman, Programme Committee, ICCC-90
National Centre for Software Technology
Gulmohar Cross Road No. 9
Bombay 400 049, INDIA
Phone: +91(22)6200590/6201606
Telex: +81(11)78260 NCST IN
E_mail: iccc90%shakti@uunet.uu.net OR iccc90@ncst.in
Deadline: Full papers for refereeing must be received by January 20,1990.
Papers for refereeing can be submitted by E-mail
(ASCII, TEX, LaTEX, or nroff).
Accepted papers should be in camera ready form.
Subject: First Annual Meeting of the University of the World
From: Millerj@Sdsc.BITnet (James Grier Miller)
Editor's note: A detailed agenda for the meeting as well as University of The World's Newsletter is available from James Grier Miller at the ID above
FIRST ANNUAL MEETING OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WORLD
On Saturday, October 14 through Monday, October 16, the First Annual Meeting of the University of the World will be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the Sheraton University Inn.
Immediately following this meeting, the annual EDUCOM Conference will be held on the University of Michigan campus.
On the evening of October 14, a reception for all the University of the World meeting attendees will be held at the Mental Health Research Institute, the location of the first office of EDUCOM in the 1960s.
Members of the Board of Trustees, UW officers, Chairmen of national Councils, and others involved or who wish to become involved with the University of the World will participate in meetings and discussions during this three-day period. There will also be demonstrations of new electronic technologies and educational and research hardware and software. Particular attention will be directed to the exchange of instructional materials among educational institutions internationally.
REGISTRATION FORMS MAY BE REQUESTED BY CONTACTING:
First Annual Meeting
University of the World
1055 Torrey Pines Road, Suite 203, La Jolla, CA 92037
(619) 456-0103
BITNET: MILLERJ@SDSC
| Stefano Renzi | Phone: +39-2-8384.5040 |
| Universita' Bocconi | Fax: +39-2-8384.2000 |
| Via Sarfatti 25 | Telex: 316003 - UNIBOC |
| 20136 Milano - Italy | E-mail: calc2c@imibocco |
REQUEST #2:
FROM: Don Watkins, V076GZHB@UBV
Paraphrased by the editor:
I am looking for distance education opportunities for the handicapped. Thanks in advance.