patth@ccnysci.UUCP (Patt Haring) (10/05/89)
............ ...........
........... .......... THE
........... . .......... ONLINE JOURNAL
.......... . . . .........., OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AND COMMUNICATION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 1989
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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 Director
University of Alaska Southeast
11120 Glacier Highway
Juneau, Alaska 99801
Phone: 907-789-4538, 4417
BITNET USERID: JFJBO@ALASKA
Technical Coordinator................................Paul J. Coffin
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:
---- ITEM #1 ----
A GLOBAL NETWORK FOR CHILDREN
SECOND INSTALLMENT
by Robert D. Carlitz, Univ. of Pittsburgh,
ID= RDC@pittvms
---- ITEM #2 ----
CENTRAL AMERICA AND DISTANCE EDUCATION
by Irvin Boschmann & Edgardo Richards
cdp!csuca@labrea.stanford.edu
---- ITEM #3 ----
An excerpt from: PROSPECTUS, UNIVERSITY OF THE WORLD
&
A report: NEW UNIVERSITY OF THE WORLD 1989 PROJECT
from James Grier Miller, MILLERJ@SDSC
---- ITEM #4 ----
VOICE MAIL MAKES ITS APPEARANCE IN DISTANCE EDUCATION
by DONALD FRICKER (GBP71R0@ECNCDC) &
S. PRESCOTT (GHL29R0@ECNDC)
---- ITEM #5 ----
S C I E N C E B Y M A I L
by Stephen Brand, IN%"sbrand@SH.CS.NET"
---- ITEM #6 ----
Excerpt from REPORT FROM LISDEC
(Library and Information Science Distance Education Consortium)
by Dan Barron, N400005@UNIVSCVM
---- ITEM #7 ----
CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS
---- ITEM #8 ----
READER REQUESTS
---- ITEM #9 ----
DISTANCE EDitorial:
MISTAKES WE ARE BOUND TO MAKE
by the editor, JFJBO@ALASKA
---- ITEM #10 ----
ABOUT THE ONLINE JOURNAL
* * * * * * *
---- THE ONLINE JOURNAL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION ----
* * * * * * *
---- ITEM #1 ----
A GLOBAL NETWORK FOR CHILDREN
SECOND INSTALLMENT
by Robert D. Carlitz, Univ. of Pittsburgh,
ID= RDC@pittvms
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.
(1) It should be easy for any individual school to connect to the
network. This requirement has several implications. The necessary
hardware should be readily available and not too expensive. The
software which runs on any local node should be simple and modular in
structure. There should be no major administrative chores at the school
level.
(2) It should be easy to develop software for the system. The network
itself can be an aid to software development and distribution. But the
need to support a variety of different machines (consistent with the
first point above) will complicate matters. One solution is to demand a
computer at the school level which is sufficiently powerful to allow a
certain amount of inefficiency in the software it runs. This would ease
the development process - although it would raise the cost of the
machines at the school level. Perhaps the sensible approach here is to
consider the sort of hardware that can reasonably be expected to become
available at low cost over the next three to five years - rather than
focussing upon the low end of currently available hardware. Such an
outlook should make it possible to satisfy requirements 1 and 2
simultaneously.
(3) The network should be structured with certain minimal performance
standards. One might demand, for example, overnight mail delivery
anywhere on the network. And there should certainly be a requirement
that the mail be reliably delivered. These standards should be fairly lax
initially - to allow initial operation at very low cost. But the network
structure should allow for eventual upgrades in the quality of service
and a gradual tightening of the minimal performance standards. It is
important not to get locked into obsolete technology merely because it
is the cheapest alternative at the outset.
(4) There should be a list of initial minimal services that the network
should provide. These should include electronic mail, newsgroups or
some equivalent bulletin board function and file servers or some
equivalent data base management system. Each service should be
structured in a flexible manner to allow a simple expansion of system
services. Mail messages might, for example, encapsulate other services
through a simple system of headers. A particular header might identify
graphics or music content and would invoke appropriate software for
handling these items on the recipient's machine.
(5) Network billing should be on the basis of connectivity and
projected traffic rather than by individual message charges. This
follows the model of BITNET and avoids discouraging users from making
full use of the network. It also allows school systems to anticipate
and cover the costs of the service on a year to year basis.
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
May 10, 1989
==========
---- ITEM #2 ----
CENTRAL AMERICA AND DISTANCE EDUCATION
by Irvin Boschmann & Edgardo Richards
cdp!csuca@labrea.stanford.edu
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:
cdp!csuca@labrea.stanford.edu
Irvin Boschmann
Edgardo Richards
=============
---- ITEM #3 ----
An excerpt from: PROSPECTUS, UNIVERSITY OF THE WORLD
&
A report: NEW UNIVERSITY OF THE WORLD 1989 PROJECT
from James Grier Miller, MILLERJ@SDSC
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
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
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 cen-
tral office was opened in La Jolla, California. It is an orga-
nization 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, alter-
nate names for the University of the World were suggested.
Among them, for example, were "electronic global university,"
"open electronic university, and "world electronic universi-
ty." Although these names would include our electronic capabil-
ities, 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, prima-
ry, secondary, baccalaureate, and graduate education will be
available, for credit or not for credit, to meet the require-
ments 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 de-
signed to use electronic telecommunication to disseminate educa-
tional 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 shar-
ing 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 des-
tinations 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 trans-
mission 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
by DONALD FRICKER (GBP71R0@ECNCDC) &
S. PRESCOTT (GHL29R0@ECNDC)
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
by Stephen Brand, IN%"sbrand@SH.CS.NET"
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:
1) Have any questions or comments
2) Would like to volunteer as a scientist
3) Would like to sign up any participants
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
sbrand@sh.cs.net
1-800-729-3300
Head of Public Outreach
Museum of Science
Science Park, MA 02114-1099
Acknowledgement sent to JFJBO
===========
---- ITEM #6 ----
Excerpt from REPORT FROM LISDEC
(Library and Information Science Distance Education Consortium)
by Dan Barron, N400005@UNIVSCVM
Editor's note: The entire report is available from Dan Barron at the above
ID.
First Organizational Meeting of the
Library and Information Science Distance Education Consortium
(LISDEC or Consortium)
REPORT*
21 August 1989
*Introduction*
On 22 June 1989, 31 people representing 19 American Library
Association (ALA) accredited program schools, the ALA Committee
on Accreditation (COA), and the Medical Library Association
convened prior to the ALA Annual Conference in the Convention
Center in Dallas, Texas, to organize efforts that will eventually
lead to the establishment of a consortium to provide Library and
Information Science (LIS) education courses through distance
education delivery systems. The following is a report of the
background to that meeting, the deliberations and outcomes of
that meeting, and the future activities and events related to the
development of the Consortium.
*Purpose of the Meeting*
The purpose of the Dallas meeting was to provide an
opportunity for representatives from ALA accredited program
schools to develop a better understanding of distance education
and the systems involved in making distance education possible;
to discuss personal, professional, and institutional capabilities
and concerns related to the use of distance education in library
and information science; to develop a draft of an organizational
structure for a consortium of ALA accredited program schools to
provide distance education; to determine what, if any, additional
information should be gathered and/or what activities should be
undertaken to develop a long-range plan for the Consortium.
*Background and History of the Consortium Concept*
The concept of the Consortium had its origination in
conversations over a period of years among LIS educators as they
struggled with the problems facing qualified persons who are not
able to attend traditionally delivered LIS education programs.
The problems most often include commitments to jobs, families,
and other personal responsibilities that make it difficult to
impossible to participate in higher education programs in
residence. Further discussion led to the conclusion that the real
problem was not just one of persons not being able to attend
existing programs for initial and continuing education; rather
there is an increasing shortage of well educated professionals,
initially prepared and assisted in their continued development,
to meet the library and information needs of the nation's people.
The problem, therefore, is of a global nature, affecting society
as a whole and the profession specifically, with the potential of
further eroding the image and service capabilities of
institutionalized library and information service.
The problem has been recognized previously by LIS programs.
Responses have ranged from evening classes, weekend classes,
summer classes, and intensive on-campus classes to extension
classes delivered by full-time and adjunct faculty at sites other
than the home campus of the LIS program. A review of the annual
ALISE *Library and Information Science Education Statistics Report*
shows that all but a few ALA accredited program schools provide
for part-time students, about one half offer some courses away
from their home campus, and a few are exploring and using
telecommunications technology to deliver LIS education.
The majority of reports from LIS programs using
telecommunications technology as well as similar reports from
other professional groups such as engineering, medicine, and
business indicate a positive degree of success and acceptance for
the new delivery systems. This fact, coupled with the increasing
availability, encouraged the original discussion group to explore
the limits of telecommunications technology as a possible
solution to the problems of educational isolation.
====== end of excerpt
=====================
---- ITEM #7 ----
CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Subject: ICCC-90 Conference is in India...November 1990.
Reply-To: iccc90%shakti.uucp@uunet.uu.net
ICCC-90
SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS
Tenth International Conference on
Computer Communication
November 5-9, 1990, New Delhi, INDIA
ICCC-90 is the tenth conference of the International Council for
Computer Communication (ICCC). ICCC-90 will provide an important
and prestigious forum for presentation, discussion and debate.
Topics discussed will include all aspects of computer communica-
tion, including technical, scientific, social, policy making,
business and legal aspects.
The Advisory Committee
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.
* Communication aspects of: Distributed Operating Systems, Expert
Systems, Office and Factory Information Systems, Robotics, Secu-
rity and Privacy, Standards, Videotext, Work Stations
* Electronic Funds Transfer, Human Factors, Legal Aspects, Regu-
latory Issues
* Data Communication in ISDN, Optical Data Transmission and
Switching, Packet Radio, Protocol Specification and Verification,
Protocol Conversion, Satellite Data Communication
* Academic Networks, Corporate Networks, Local Area Networks,
Networks Management and Operation, Packet Switching, Open Systems
Interconnection (OSI)
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 Janu-
ary 20,1990. Papers for refereeing can be submitted by E-mail
(ASCII, TEX, LaTEX, or nroff). Accepted papers should be in cam-
era 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 follow-
ing this meeting, the annual EDUCOM Conference will be held on the
University of Michigan campus. On the evening of October 14, a recep-
tion 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 dis-
cussions during this three-day period. There will also be demonstra-
tions 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
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---- ITEM #8 ----
READER REQUESTS
REQUEST #1:
Subject: Videotape and videodisc
From: CALC2C@IMIBOCCO
We use A Tencore authoring system and we would like to do something
using videotape and videodisc; we are looking for experience in this
field (problems, suggestions) not only under Tencore.
Thanks in advance.
-----------------------------------------------------
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.
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---- ITEM #9 ----
DISTANCE EDitorial:
MISTAKES WE ARE BOUND TO MAKE
by the editor, JFJBO@ALASKA
[Editor's note: Recently I was interviewed by AECT for an article for their
journal, Tech Trends. My interviewer wanted to know about pitfalls that
awaited us as we developed distance education networks. What follows is my
response.]
Although I think distance education has great potential, there are, as your
question suggests, pitfalls to be aware of. I'll address just a few of them
here.
Technology almost always serves the power structure, preserving the
status quo. When it doesn't it's considered revolutionary. Distance education
will be both, revolutionary and preservational.
I've talked about some of the problems distance education's
revolutionary nature will cause. As a preserver of the status quo, we should
expect it to amplify problems or inequities that already exist in the
education system. For example, gender or cultural biases built into an
approach to a particular subject which is adopted for distance delivery
simply become institutionalized for a larger audience. American history comes
to mind. How many women or native Americans do you remember studying in
history class? Unless we are careful, we simply end up broadcasting that kind
of myopia on a wide area, rather than local area, basis. Endangered is the
preservation of cultural diversity, already at risk due to the overwhelming
influence of commercial (business and entertainment) telecommunications.
This, incidentally, should not be viewed to be in conflict with pursuing a
global perspective which ideally allows the maintenance of diversity while
focusing on what is cross-culturally universal.
Another example: in the near term, many distance education services
promise to be expensive. Thus, inequities that already exist between poor and
better off school districts will just be amplified, widening the gap between
those who have access to opportunity and those who do not. A new and exciting
approach to education does not necessarily mean that it is based on new and
exciting thinking. We should be vigilant in this regard.
From a very practical point of view, major errors are going to be made
in terms of institutional adjustment to the demands of distance education.
Distance education is not, as some mistake it to be, the simple translation
of content from one delivery medium to another. Distance education touches
every facet of an educational organization, not just teaching. Counselling,
administration, student registration, all have to make adjustments. And
distance education brings with it new pedagogical demands not anticipated in
the face-to-face model. For instance, most evaluation in K-12, and in many
cases post-secondary as well, goes in one direction, from teacher to student.
It is an evaluation model without a feedback loop. This makes the
establishment of community in any real sense impossible. For distance
education to be truly successful, there has to be feedback to make up for the
lack of face-to-face give and take. (Incidentally I would argue that it is
necessary for local education as well, but that is an entirely new topic.)
Another example: distance education generally requires much more
thorough lesson preparation. Classroom teachers who become involved in
distance education are often shocked by the amount of extra works it
requires.
Just a word about the creation of learning networks. I fear we will
learn the hard and expensive way that we should be creating multi-purpose,
cooperatively designed networks rather than a series of stand alone networks
to separately serve education, government, business, what have you. The
benefits of creating multi-purpose networks, sharing of intra and inter-state
and even international resources, and consulting a cross section of people
(teachers, students, administrators) to help design them will, in many cases,
only be appreciated in hindsight.
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---- ITEM #10 ----
ABOUT THE ONLINE JOURNAL
WHAT IS THE ONLINE JOURNAL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
AND COMMUNICATION ?
[What follows is an excerpt from the first issue of the Journal.
Feel free to send suggestions to the editor.]
This first issue will be primarily concerned with the Journal
itself. Once we provide an idea of the Journal's identity and
direction, we hope you will contribute to this rapidly growing
field of education and communication.
THE MEDIUM
==========> We want short contributions, 4 screens maximum. Rather
than trying to compete with a paper-based magazine which does a much
better job of presenting long articles, we want contributions that
present overview information. Based upon information gleaned in
contributions, readers can directly contact the author for
more details.
THE MESSAGE
===========> The issues that the Journal is concerned with fall into
four basic content areas:
Content Area #1- *** Distance Education ***
The Journal is interested in distance education as the
organized method of reaching geographically disadvantaged
learners, whether K-12, post secondary, or general enrichment
students. Areas of interest include:
* delivery technologies,
* pedagogy,
* cross cultural issues implicit in wide area education
delivery,
* distance education projects that you are involved with,
* announcements, workshops, or programs of study,
* anything else regarding the theory and practice of
distance education.
Content Area #2- *** Distance Communications ***
The Journal recognizes that education encompasses a broad area
of experience and that distance education includes distance
communications that fall outside the domain of formal learning.
The Journal welcomes contributions that deal with serving people
at a distance who aren't necessarily associated with a learning
institution. The Journal welcomes information about, for
examples:
* public radio and television efforts to promote cultural
awareness,
* governmental efforts to inform a distant public about social
issues,
* or the many training programs run by private business to
upgrade employee skills.
Content Area #3- *** Telecommunications in Education ***
Once the distance education infrastructure is solidly in
place, local learners will want to tap into it, because they
simply prefer learning in a decentralized setting or because
they want to expand their learning opportunities and resources
beyond those immediately available to them. This phenomenon,
which we call 'bringing distance education home,' will grow in
the coming years and we look forward to hearing from people
about telecommunications in education, as a tool or a content
area.
Content Area #4- *** Cross Cultural Communication Efforts ***
--> Particularly Between the US and the USSR <--
The Journal is interested in projects concerned with
overcoming cultural barriers through the use of electronic
communication. The Journal particularly looks forward to
contributions concerning:
* efforts to improve electronic communication between the USSR
and the US
* international electronic conferences
* cultural domination through the inappropriate use of media
* the use of telecommunications to promote understanding of the
human condition
* * * * * * * * * *
To subscribe to The Online Journal of Distance Education and
Communication, send the following command to LISTSERV@UWAVM :
SUB DISTED your_full_name
All contributions should be sent to JADIST@ALASKA
Any other questions about DISTED can be sent to: Jason B. Ohler, Editor
JFJBO@ALASKA
or
Paul J. Coffin
JSPJC@ALASKA
Disclaimer: The above were the opinions of the individual contributors and
in no way reflect the views of the University of Alaska.
* * * * * * * * * ** *
***** End of the Online Journal of Distance Education & Communication *****
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