patth@dasys1.UUCP (Patt Haring) (03/14/88)
Proposal
for
The Establishment of A GLOBAL (electronic) UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM
To be submitted to
The 14th World Conference
of
The International Council for Distance Education
Oslo, Norway
August 10-17, 1988
Conference Theme
"Developing Distance Education"
Organizer: Norwegian Association for Distance Education
in corporation with: The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Church and Education
January 8, 1988
Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D.
Chairman and Technical Director
Committee on a GLOBAL/PACIFIC UNIVERSITY in Process of Formation
A Subdivision of GLOSAS/USA Association
(Un-incorporated Association)
c/o, Global Information Services, Inc.
43-23 Colden Street
Flushing, NY 11355-3998
Phone: 718-939-0928
Telex: 386131 (GIS USA)
WU EASYLINK: 62756570
Parker Rossman, Ph.D.
Consultant in Global Education
Author of "Computers: Bridges to the Future"
Former Dean, Ecumenical Continuing Education Center
at Yale University
P. O. Box 382
Niantic, CT 06357-0382
Phone: 203-739-5195
Dr. Aristide H. Esser, M.D.
President
The Association for the Study of Man-Environment Relations (ASMER) Inc.
"Ecology of Knowledge (EOK)" Group
P. O. Box 57
Orangeburg, NY 10962
Phone: 914-634-8221
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I. INTRODUCTION
The need for greater understanding and cooperation between Asian
countries and the Americas has never been more urgent. In today's increas-
ingly interdependent global economy, the security of Asia and North America
are ever more inter-twined, especially the search for common ground and mu-
tuality between Japan and the United States. The present senior leaders of
the world must now prepare for a smooth transition, including passing on
the "torch of hope for world peace" based on a new global order to the next
generation. To this end, we propose here as our highest priority to dedi-
cate the rest of this century to the establishment of a more adequate glo-
bal educational structure for global citizenship in a "global village" on
Planet Earth, since education is the basis of 21st Century society. The
projects described below may be a promising form of cooperation between in-
stitutes of higher education and students in many countries, which may lead
to the true global knowledge infrastructure needed for the 21st Century so-
ciety.
II. GOALS OF GLOBAL (electronic) UNIVERSITY (GU) CONSORTIUM
The GLOSAS Project is now forging ahead to establish a GLOBAL/PACIFIC
(electronic) UNIVERSITY (GPU) CONSORTIUM to enhance the quality and availa-
bility of higher education through the use of computer, telecommunication
and information technologies around the Pacific rim countries/regions. It
will also involve all kinds of educational, cultural, information, knowle-
dge, vocational and community activities, rather than being confined only
to traditional educational offerings.
This will enable us to interlink various departments of Economics, So-
ciology and Political Science in universities around the Pacific Ocean for
collaborative global peace gaming (the term, American colleagues say, that
Utsumi created in 1971) of the GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation
(GLOSAS) Project (originated by Utsumi in 1972) to explore alternatives for
a better future and to explore alternatives to war on the scale of Pentagon
war games.
The GLOSAS Project proposes gaming simulation on a global scale to
help decision makers deal with interwoven problems. It seeks to construct
a Globally Distributed Decision Support System for a plus sum/win-win,
peace game. This system executes cooperatively, autonomously-managed simu-
lation submodels at distributed locations, and can provide a "meta-langua-
ge" for improved communication among users of the sub-models. It can also
organize and exchange information among dispersed, dissimilar computers
with asynchronous and parallel executions of various submodels at dispersed
locations. We call it a Globally Distributed Computer Simulation System
which also deals with coordination of experts of the submodels via the glo-
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bal Value Added Networks (VANs) for global crisis and ecology management
(Utsumi, 1972, 1980, 1982, 1986).
The ultimate goals of the GPU are four fold;
(1) Global scale peace gaming/New world order alternatives,
(2) Research and development on global problems,
(3) Globalization of higher education opportunities, and
(4) Global employment flexibility for global citizenship.
This project can make a most significant contribution to the North
Americas-Asian (and subsequently, global) relationships and understanding
through international education exchange. We believe that overseas stu-
dents in either face-to-face or telelearning classes will promote a global
perception among young people of the wisdom and experiences of ALL the
world's cultures. This is because full human development depends upon an
integration of social, economic, political and spiritual insights of East
and West, North and South, masculine and feminine. The wisdom of the past
and the richness of cultural diversity are essential elements in the de-
velopment of individuals who can contribute to a more viable future.
III. BACKGROUND
1. Preparatory Work of GLOSAS to Establish a Global Infrastructure
It is now possible to extend North American education to other count-
ries, to exchange courses electronically via satellite, slow scan TV and
interactive computer conferencing, as a result of the work of our GLOSAS
Project, during the past dozen years. We have played a major role in mak-
ing possible the extension of U.S. data communication networks to various
overseas countries, particularly to Japan, thus enabling the market expan-
sion of American and Japanese information industries to overseas countries;
the deregulation of Japanese telecommunication policies for the use of
electronic mail and computer conferencing through the U.S./Japan public
packet-switching lines; and also the de-monopolization of Japanese telecom-
munication industries, thus enabling various private terrestrial and satel-
lite communication service companies to emerge, including the statutory
provision allowing the entry of foreign enterprises into Japanese telecom-
munication markets. European Economic Community (EEC) countries now start
to follow the Japanese precedent.
So currently we are working on the content of global telecommunication
networks, starting with the extension of American education to Japan and
other Asian countries around the Pacific through the use of advanced commu-
nication media.
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We are conducting a series of demonstrations of Multipoint-to-Multi-
point Multimedia Interactive Teleconferences with participants from the
Pacific periphery countries/regions. We are showing how courses from univ-
ersities of those countries/regions can be exchanged among many education-
al, business, research and governmental organizations around the Pacific
periphery via a satellite.
The objective of our series of demonstrations is to discover any tech-
nical, regulatory, economic and marketing hindrances in the Pacific peri-
phery countries/regions to creating a GLOBAL/PACIFIC UNIVERSITY (GPU) CON-
SORTIUM. At the same time, we hope to promote awareness of the people in
those countries/regions of the possibility of international electronic ex-
change of educational services among/between them with the use of inexpen-
sive telecommunication media. We hope that our series of demonstrations, a
"building-block" approach which we have been conducting, can be useful to
interest potential users of this kind of service around the Pacific Ocean.
We also hope that our series of demonstrations will establish comradeship
among people involved in the creation of the GPU.
2. Global-Scale Peace Gaming (First Demonstration)
In July 1986 we paved the way for this by demonstrating "global-scale
peace gaming" to explore and develop new alternatives for preventing war
and achieving peace, in our highly successful multi-media (voice, video,
text and data, graphics, simulation model) teleconferencing sessions at the
World Future Society/"Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution" Conference
held in New York City. These sessions were attended simultaneously in New
York, Honolulu, Tokyo, and at the Vancouver World's Fair in Canada.
The "global-scale tools" used in this peace game included computer
conferencing for coordinating various people at dispersed locations before,
during and after the conference; and the FUGI computer model at Soka Univ-
ersity in Japan, a computer-aided global macro-economic model of the inter-
dependent world economy, making forecasts for 62 countries/regions.
Distinguished economists in Japan, such as Onishi (Soka University)
and Shishido (International University), were interconnected electronically
to discuss U.S./Japan trade and economic issues for three evenings with
such noted American economists as Thurow (M.I.T.), Nordhaus (provost of
Yale University); Keith Johnson of Townsend and Greenspan, and UN Economist
Fred Campano. They examined ways for U.S.-Japan trade problems to be re-
solved by the year 2000 so that both countries could face a new era of co-
operation rather than competition, especially with collaborative research
and development in high-tech fields.
Many high-level people now or previously related to U.S./Japanese go-
vernmental agencies have expressed their strong support for similar multi-
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media teleconferencing on a more regular basis, for example to establish an
early warning system of both countries' ever-closely interwoven economic
and trade relationships. So integrative and multi-disciplinary multi-media
teleconferencing between experts from both countries (later with those in
other countries also) shows great promise for the future. Such "peace gam-
ing" can show, without risk, what might be the results of global scale po-
licies or activities, based hopefully on a more accurate picture of the
globe. For example:
Such multi-media gaming teleconferencing with the FUGI world simula-
tion model can provide scholars/students with a quantitative global-
scale tool to test logically and rationally, based on facts and figu-
res, various alternative policies with their consequential effects on
many parts of global sectors and regions. This is because systems
analysis for systemic change at the global level is a precondition for
any significant resolution to today's global-scale problems, as has
been advocated by the GLOSAS Project since it was originated by Utsumi
in 1972.
Interactive educational programs and courses transmitted via slow-scan
TV and computer conferencing were also demonstrated at our 1986 sessions:
New York University showed how it offers courses in Puerto Rico; the Con-
nected Education of the New School for Social Research in New York City
offers courses (via computer conferencing) to students in southeast Asia,
Japan, North and South America, Europe, Scandinavia and the Middle East;
and audiences in New York, Tokyo, and at the Vancouver World's Fair watched
high school students in Hawaii and Tokyo "meet together" electronically for
instruction in foreign language as a part of the Global TE,#</[oiOIhe
State of Hawaii/ University of Hawaii education program. IBM described
their newly established in-company education program via satellite availa-
ble in Europe and North American continent (an Asian version is on the
drawing board with a center in Sydney, Australia).
3. Globalization of Higher Education (Second Demonstration)
Next, as a step towards establishing a GLOBAL (electronic) UNIVERSITY
CONSORTIUM in order to interlink university departments of Economics, So-
ciology, Political Science, etc., around the Pacific Ocean, we are current-
ly working on the extension of American education to Japan and other Asian
countries around the Pacific through the use of advanced communication
media.
We conducted a panel discussion on "Education for the 21st Century:
Globalization of Higher Education Around the Pacific Basin" at the World
Future Society Conference in Boston, MA, on October 29, 1987. This was a
"Multipoint-to-Multipoint Multimedia (voice, slow-scan and full-motion vi-
deos, text and data, graphics) Interactive Teleconferencing" via satellite
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over the Pacific Ocean which was possible by arrangement with the National
Technological University (NTU is a consortium of 26 U.S. engineering
schools, based in Fort Collins, Colorado), Nihon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) (Japan
Broadcasting Corporation) and others. The technology used for this demon-
stration can be applied to international education exchange with many edu-
cational, business, research and governmental organizations around the
Pacific (and of course, elsewhere) via satellite.
Distinguished panelists were Henderson (Futurist/Economist/Author),
Muller (Chancellor of the U.N. University for Peace in Costa Rica), Olds
(President of Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage, AK; President of
Fetzer Foundation in Kalamazoo, MI), Rossman (Author/Consultant on Global
Education) at the Boston (M.I.T.) site; Miller (Chairman of the University
of the World) in Los Angeles site at the EDUCOM annual meeting; Baldwin
(President of NTU) and Utsumi (Chairman and Technical Director, Committee
on a GPU in Process of Formation, c/o, Global Information Services, Inc.,
(moderator of questions)) at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO
site.
We had 8 active sites for this demonstration; Boston, New York City,
Fort Collins (CO), Anchorage (AK), San Ramon Valley (CA), Pasadena (CA),
Honolulu (HI), and Tokyo. Viewing or recording only sites were at more
than 125 locations including NTU subscribers throughout the United States.
Estimated viewers might have been much larger than we know. Imagine stu-
dents/audiences at such a large global-scale lecture hall spanning from
Anchorage to Florida and from Boston to Tokyo--over a half of the globe--
with instructors at three different locations!
We fortunately had overwhelmingly enthusiastic endorsement and support
of this demonstration project as well as for the GLOBAL (electronic) UNIV-
ERSITY CONSORTIUM Project and participation from many educational institu-
tions in the Pacific area, including the Dr. Arthur Clarke research center
in Sri Lanka (Clarke originated the idea of a geosynchronous communication
satellite), and from Dr. Paul Baran in Cupertino, CA, (who originated the
packet-switching technology). We also had financial and service support
for this demonstration event from many individuals and corporations includ-
ing those that assisted with funds and equipment for our WFS/NYC/July 1986
project.
The use of on-line real-time computer conferencing for back-stage co-
ordination made it possible to effectively eliminate the wasting of air
time during satellite transmission which is a very costly item--several
thousand dollars per hour in commercial rates. The slow-scan TV telecon-
ferencing effectively sent images of panelists and their gathering rooms.
The audio teleconferencing line was superbly clear, and it alone would have
done an adequate job for this type of panel discussions for the most of the
period. The use of facsimile effectively demonstrated easy transmission of
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graphic (actually Japanese Kanji character) messages. The facsimile may be
able to replace personal computer and computer conferencing wherever there
is no means to access public packet-switching networks. The advantage of
the combined use of conventional, proven telecommunication techniques is
that, if one of them did not function according to the Murphy's Law, other
telecommunication techniques can easily act as supplemental means.
4. Distance Learning Around the Pacific Basin (Third Demonstration)
Based on such previous hard track records, GLOSAS now plans another
demonstration at the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC)/Tenth Annual
Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, on February 19, 1988.
The panelists are Urbanowicz (Associate Dean/The Center for Regional
and Continuing Education/California State University/Chico), Utsumi (see
above), Southworth (Educational Associate/Curriculum Research and Develop-
ment Group/ College of Education/University of Hawaii), Grantham (Founder
of National University Teleconference Network/Oklahoma State University/
Stillwater, OK), Mills (Assistant Vice Chancellor/California State Univer-
sity/Long Beach, CA), Wydra (Pennsylvania Teleteaching Project).
At this demonstration we will produce a composite video, combining a
few videos received from several full-motion uplinking sites as well as
from various slow-scan TV sites (using two different manufacturers' units)
in the Pacific/Asian countries/regions. The composite video will be viewed
by more than 125 subscribers to National Technological University courses
in North America and also those in Pacific/Asian countries/regions (Shang-
hai, Seoul, Tokyo, Saipan, Guam, Tahiti, Australia, Honolulu, etc.). As
the same for our highly successful second demonstration, the prioritization
of questions will be made back-stage using computer conferencing in a real-
time mode. Question/ answer will be performed via audio teleconferencing.
We have favorable indications of financial and service supports for
this demonstration from many corporations including those that assisted
with funds and equipment for our WFS/NYC/July 1986 and WFS/Boston/October
1987 events.
5. International Electronic Exchange of Educational Services Among/Between
The People's Republic of China, Japan, Canada, and the United States of
America (Fourth Demonstration)
This fourth demonstration may take place on the occasion of the World
Conference of the World Futures Studies Federation on September 2 to 8,
1988 in Beijing and the World Conference of International Universities in
Shanghai, Beijing and Chang Chun in the summer of 1988 (tentative, but
hopefully both conferences will be held at the same dates).
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The demonstration will be three hours per day for three days (one hour
for showing three pre-recorded courses on each country's specialties, e.g.,
Chinese medicine, culture, contemporary history; Japanese management, engi-
neering manufacturing, high-tech in electronics and bioengineering; Ameri-
can telecommunication technology, software engineering, etc., and the rest
for discussion how to export/import them to other countries). T. Utsumi
may have to forfeit a fully paid invitation to attend to give a lecture at
one of these conferences since he will need to coordinate at the Colorado
State University studio in Fort Collins, CO. Nihon Hoso Kyokai (NHK)
(Japan Broadcasting Corporation) has already indicated their strong inter-
est in participating in this event, even uplinking the signal to a Japanese
domestic satellite in such a way that the event signal can be viewed in
every corner of Japan.
After accomplishing our previous demonstrations with analog transmis-
sion technique via INTELSAT satellite, this proposed demonstration will
combine the use of all digital satellite transmission techniques with a
newly inaugurated INTELSAT Business Service (IBS) by cooperation of tele-
communication equipment manufacturers in the U.S. and Japan.
IBS is a totally integrated digital service which can accommodate the
full range of communications requirements. IBS can offer global coverage
and international connectivity between and among faculty and students when
they are geographically separated, and at their preferred time with various
time-differences around the globe. IBS permits access close to the user to
minimize total service costs.
If the GLOBAL/PACIFIC (electronic) UNIVERSITY will need to include al-
most all the Pacific periphery countries/regions, a global beam on the
INTELSAT satellite will have to be used. A large dish antenna will subse-
quently be required to receive weak signals, and it is a costly initial in-
vestment. The international telecommunication regulations require that the
signals from those satellites have to be received by the dish antennae of
the overseas telecommunication authority of each country. This will add
more expense in transmitting the signals from their dish antenna to local
recipients via terrestrial micro-wave lines.
In order to circumvent this costly factor, we may need to test the use
of a newly inaugurated inexpensive ($5 to 7/hour) IBS at this fourth demon-
stration. This may enable the installation of a receive-only, small inex-
pensive (up to $10,000/unit) dish antenna at the recipient's (university's)
campus, albeit it may provide only color slow-scan TV, audio, data, and
facsimile teleconferencing capabilities. The installation of such a dish
antenna on a university campus may be regulated in each country. One of
the purposes of our demonstrations is to discover any regulatory hindrances
in those countries/regions.
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This demonstration will reveal not only very attractive, inexpensive
global telecommunication media to our overseas participants, but can show
the convenience of direct transmission/receiving from the originator of an
educational service to the premises of the receivers in various countries
with inexpensive telecommunication facilities. This demonstration may also
accelerate the proliferation of the IBS in global education, thus benefit-
ing not only INTELSAT but also telecommunication equipment manufacturers.
Upon successful completion of this demonstration, we plan to use the
IBS as the backbone of global telecommunication networks for our GLOBAL
(electronic) UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM, albeit it is one-way from the U.S. to
our overseas counterparts--the return communications (mainly audio, slow-
scan TV, facsimile, data and computer conferencing) are to be made through
ordinary overseas telephone lines, thus avoiding telecommunications policy
restrictions for uplinking to the INTELSAT satellite directly from premises
in various overseas countries.
Currently, there are several "distance education" programs via satel-
lite underway in the Pacific region, but they are mostly local and ad-hoc/
one-time events utilizing only analog transmission technique for audio, or
at best slow-scan TV, teleconferencing without interactive two-way features
by the use of computer conferencing or facsimile. Especially, there are no
such programs which are now inter-linked with American universities with
such features.
On the other hand, the European Society for Engineering Education
(SEFI), in close cooperation with the Commission of the European Communit-
ies and corporate sponsorship of leading companies has been developing a
program patterned after the National Technological University. Their pro-
ject, PACE (Programme of Advanced Continuing Education), planned to broad-
cast their first pilot satellite program in late autumn of 1987.
IV. OPERATION OF EACH COUNTRY'S CONSORTIUM
1. Organizational Structure
We will firstly establish a GLOBAL/PACIFIC (later global) (electronic)
UNIVERSITY (GPU) CONSORTIUM which enables an international electronic ex-
change of educational services between educational, business, and govern-
mental organizations in various countries via various electronic and tele-
communication media. The GPU CONSORTIUM will consist of consortia of vari-
ous countries around the Pacific and Asian countries/regions, and will be a
regional division of GLOBAL (electronic) UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM due to time
difference with other parts of the world.
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A federation of consortia (FC) will be created within each participat-
ing country to represent all interested consortia and organizations in that
country. The GLOBAL (electronic) UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM in the U.S.A. (GU/
USA) will be the federation, and will also be responsible for the collabo-
ration of such groups in the U.S.A. as well as for liaison and financial
arrangements between all GUs in various countries. The GU in each country,
such as GU/CANADA, GU/ JAPAN, etc., will be responsible for the collabora-
tion with such groups in the country, and will have a franchised relation-
ship with the GU/USA.
These are non-profit educational organizations of the GLOSAS associa-
tion in each country, naming them, for example, GLOSAS/USA Association or
GLOSAS/CANADA Association, etc. Each association will undertake the estab-
lishment of GU as a subdivision of the association. They should be autono-
mously managed in each country by cooperation and collaboration with each
other's counterparts. Each country's association should seek necessary
funds to establish and sustain the country's GU consortium.
In addition to Japan and Canada, we have started to form consortia in
more than 65 countries in cooperation with the Association for the Study of
Man-Environment Relations (ASMER) Inc., Global Education Associates (GEA),
the International Center for Integrative Studies (ICIS), the University of
the World and the Evolutionary Services Institute (ESI).
2. Procedures for Cooperation
Presently there is a consortium in the USA which represents engineer-
ing schools that offer course materials to corporations. Such "selling and
buying" consortia could be the core of a future GU/USA. Their organization
today consists of:
(a) Twenty-six schools provide instructional television courses in engi-
neering and computer science. This class work is distributed via a sa-
tellite network started by the National Technological University (NTU),
which has offered graduate degrees since 1986.
(b) The selection of course materials for continuing education (but not for
college credit) is done by the Association for Media-based Continuing
Education for Engineers (AMCEE) which started producing audio-visual
educational materials in 1976 and now uses the NTU for delivery via sa-
tellite. (Colorado State University, a NTU member, physically delivers
NTU courses via satellite.)
The "GLOSAS/USA Association for GU/USA," will make business contracts
with U.S. consortia and organizations which provide distance learning edu-
cational services, such as the NTU. The marketing rights obtained from
those providers by GLOSAS/USA for GU/USA will be passed on to GLOSAS asso-
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ciations in overseas countries to be disseminated by GU consortia in their
countries. (The direction of flow can be reversed in the future for inter-
national education exchange between/among countries.)
Since the NTU has been providing credit courses in the U.S. via GSTAR-
1 satellite, albeit in computer science/engineering courses for M.S. degree
only, at present, with a possibility of expanding into business administra-
tion courses in the near future; and since the satellite has its footprint
to cover most of southern Canada, GU/CANADA will firstly engage in the mar-
keting of NTU courses.
3. Prospective Subscribers/Clients (An Example with Canada)
As similar to the case of NTU subscribers in the U.S., NTU students in
Canada will be the employees of business, industry and governmental organi-
zations which will pay the students' tuition and fees to GU/CANADA. The
NTU subscribers in the U.S. include leading corporations, such as Alcoa,
Analog Devices, AT&T, Bendix, Boeing, DEC, Kodak, Du Pont, General Dynami-
cs, GE, GTE Spacenet, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, IBM, Intel, Los Alamos
National Labs, Magnavox, Mead Data, Motorola, NASA Langley, Naval Research
Lab, NCR, Pacific Bell, Polaroid, RCA, Rockwell, Sandia National Labs,
Tektronix, 3M, U.S. Government Agencies, etc.
GU/CANADA will firstly go after the Canadian subsidiaries and affilia-
tes of those U.S. organizations to market the NTU courses, provided that
those Canadian organizations already have necessary telecommunication dish
antennae on their premises. (For example, NCR/Waterloo branch office will
receive NTU courses in the very near future.) Once GU/CANADA has marketed
NTU courses, the necessary negotiations, paper work and financial flow will
be cascaded back through GU/USA to the U.S. provider, i.e., NTU. Beyond
business, industrial and government organizations, GU/CANADA will make an
effort to market NTU courses to established educational institutes in the
future.
4. Future Activities
After the marketing flow and procedures for NTU courses to Canada are
established by the cooperation of GU/USA and GU/CANADA, GU/USA will expand
its coverage by inviting other consortia and organizations in the U.S.
which handle other fields than NTU's electrical engineering, computer sci-
ence, manufacturing systems engineering, and engineering management. Vari-
ous credit/non-credit educational services are now available from many
organizations in the U.S., such as International University Consortium
(mostly credit courses for bachelor degrees in liberal arts), the National
University Teleconference Network (NUTN) (mostly non-credit educational
programs), etc. Canadian clients for those educational services may inc-
lude community colleges and grass-root civilian organizations.
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5. Delivery System Across the Pacific Ocean
Full-motion video lines via satellite are very expensive, especially
across oceans--several thousand dollars per hour at commercial rates.
Urbanowicz (1987), however, said that "Educational programming via satel-
lite clearly does work and it need not be full-motion video, as the United
States Agency for International Development (AID) projects have successful-
ly demonstrated in Indonesia." Subsequently, our experience with the above
demonstrations may suggest the following procedures for the conduct of a
GLOBAL/PACIFIC (electronic) UNIVERSITY;
(1) Prior to a new semester, hold a face-to-face gathering or a multipoint-
to-multipoint multimedia interactive teleconference, at which students
and instructors can get acquainted with each other,
(2) Regular courses to be connected by one of the following schemes (in the
order of most desirable to least);
(a) multipoint-to-multipoint multimedia interactive teleconferencing,
(b) express (next day) delivery of full-motion color video-tapes of in-
struction sent to each country's GPU team, which will then uplink
to their domestic/regional satellites. This method would be com-
bined with global computer conferencing and facsimile for question/
answer,
(c) audio and slow-scan teleconferencing, supplemented with video-
tapes, global computer conferencing and facsimile for question/
answer,
(d) audio teleconferencing, supplemented with video-tapes, global com-
puter conferencing and facsimile for question/answer.
(3) Hold multipoint-to-multipoint multimedia interactive teleconferencing
once or twice during a semester.
U.S. East coast evening hours correspond to morning hours in Japan and
Korea, i.e., evening courses from American East coast universities can
easily be received in those Asian countries. China and the Philippines
have one hour difference, and Singapore and Indonesia two hours. American
universities located in West coast have more time slots, especially the
Universities of Guam and Hawaii can have the most advantageous time slots
from morning/noon to evening, respectively.
Tufts University in Medford, MA, along with counterparts at Moscow
M.V. Lomonosov State University will start an unprecedented joint course
taught simultaneously using the same syllabus, parallel readings--and let-
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ting students participate in the same class discussions--in the history of
the nuclear arms race between the two nations "The United States, the Sovi-
et Union and the Nuclear Arms Race in Historical Perspective." The program
will include four satellite-relayed televised sessions, during which Soviet
and American students will carry on live transcontinental discussions of
critical events such as the Cuban missile crisis. Tufts President Jean
Mayer hopes for three satellites--enough to cover the globe--to be devoted
strictly to academics. Modeled on this arms class, it would let students
throughout the world follow the same curriculum and discuss--via satellite-
-weapons control, conflict resolution and other ways to avoid war. Mayer
hopes that when those students become adults they will do better than their
parents at waging peace. (Gallagher, 1987; Begley, l987)
Further in the future, a satellite library of video-taped college
courses may be feasible with compact optical disk memory and computers.
IBM has once advocated a huge supercomputer on a geostationary orbit.
Japanese firms are developing an erasable compact disk memory system.
Hundreds of thousands of these could be stored in space to be accessed by a
juke-box type unit. Three such space stations could serve the entire
earth, each connected by laser beam. Individual students, with small dish
antennae anywhere in the world, could receive educational excellence avai-
lable from any other part of the world. We call this a "Strategic Peace
Initiative (SPI)." The implications are far-reaching. For example, gra-
duates of a GLOBAL (electronic) UNIVERSITY should be able to seek employ-
ment anywhere in the world, perhaps working in another country via telecom-
munications networks while living at home. Talented graduates may even be
able to choose between numerous job offers from many corners of the world.
V. GPU'S ADDED VALUES
(1) To establish GLOBAL (electronic) UNIVERSITY CONSORTIA (GUs) in indivi-
dual countries around the Pacific basin (and later world wide) in co-
operation with the aforementioned affiliated organizations.
(2) To help create culturally appropriate educational course materials ge-
nerated in different parts of the world, so as to avoid offending the
cultural sensitivities of any who receive GU courses.
(3) To develop and administer all exchange arrangements between GUs of va-
rious countries. Since each GU is in principle both payer and payee,
all inter-consortium transactions will be brokered by GU/USA which will
act as an international financial clearing-house.
(4) To conduct a series of demonstrations on the use of advanced electronic
delivery systems for the globalization of higher education.
- 13 -
(5) To provide an international editorial board which will publish a news-
letter, and which will recommend and supervise all materials placed in
GU's electronic library.
(6) To provide translation and circulation services for any material re-
quested from GU's electronic library.
VI. EXPECTED BENEFITS
There is at present no systematic international exchange of audio-
visual course materials (even between the U.S. and Canada via satellite).
Corporations and institutes of higher learning in North America, Japan and
Europe have established off-campus/off-hours audio-visual educational inst-
ruction to meet expressed employee/student needs and interests in technolo-
gical areas, and we anticipate a similar demand in agriculture and health
sciences.
The GLOBAL/PACIFIC UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM will initially be composed of
educational institutions specializing in distance education in the Pacific
periphery countries/regions. These are particulary interested in providing
quality education to nontraditional learners who, because of constraints on
time, resources, or available options, are unable to go abroad to other
countries to study by attending regularly scheduled campus-based classes.
Overseas students can receive by their choice a quality education from
universities in other countries without ever leaving their home towns. A
strong advantage to students would be their opportunity for a far greater
variety of educational philosophies and instructional styles than they
could ever encounter by enrolling in a traditional program at a single cam-
pus. They can do this with minimal disruption to their careers and impor-
tant work projects. They can have intimate and constant dialogue with
overseas instructors and other students in various countries via computer
conferencing. Such dialogue can help prevent the high rate of drop-out in
the first year of their registration. Students can also send their facsi-
mile materials from their home, if they acquire an inexpensive facsimile
unit, and/or from overseas university consortia to American instructors.
Slow-scan TV and audio teleconferencing will also be held occasionally in
order to increase their sense of participation and affiliation among facul-
ty and students, in addition to the extensive use of video- and audio-taped
course materials.
Delivery of educational excellence on a global scale can be accompli-
shed without constructing new academic buildings and classrooms, without
major new investment in instructional resources and despite the shortage of
faculty in some fields. The interlinkage of GLOBAL (electronic) UNIVERSITY
CONSORTIA in various countries can open up many opportunities for cross-
- 14 -
pollination of ideas and research results, not only among traditional univ-
ersities but also between universities and industries--synergistic rela-
tionships in global scale. The result may well be a quality of education
well above that neither the academic community or industry could achieve on
their volition. Such inter-linkage can also serve for teacher training
with emphasis on professional development programs for faculty as well as
for international, interdisciplinary cooperation in research and develop-
ment on various global problems.
In a sense, we--in cooperation with those who are working on similar
projects in Europe--are now creating a new global educational institution
with the establishment of a GLOBAL (electronic) UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM,
strengthening and improving education and hence democracy in the world.
Offering courses by satellite can help bring quality education to the third
world, aiding in the transfer of technologies and information. An electro-
nic university consortium in every country can be a gateway for importing/
exporting educational services via telelearning courses.
VII. CONCLUSIONS
As the globe shrinks with inexpensive transportation and ever increas-
ing multinational trade and commerce, humanity must find a way for the
world's young people to learn together as the Japanese say: --- "Onaji Kama
no Meshi wo Ku-u" which means "live under the same roof together." Even
preliminary experimentation can improve international relationships--far
beyond the enlargement of telecommunications and information technologies--
in an effort to reach out to people in many countries to promote mutual un-
derstanding and cooperation. Our projects will help build a RAINBOW BRIDGE
OVER THE OCEANS between cultures and peoples and, as seen in our previous
work, this exchange of courses can contribute to improved North Americas/
Japan/Asia (and later European and global) relationships in economics, cul-
ture and in providing Pacific (and later global) security. "Learning toge-
ther and working together" are the first steps to realizing world peace,
said Senator Fulbright.
Barriers to the establishment of educational instruction on an inter-
national scale are manifold, ranging from the problems of language and re-
sources to the problems of marketing and sales on a multi-lateral basis and
determining the financial implications. GLOBAL (electronic) UNIVERSITY
CONSORTIA in every country can be well positioned to act as middlemen and
brokers to overcome these barriers because of its multi-disciplinary and
multi-cultural global contacts. We are planting seeds for a truly univer-
sal approach to research and learning in the 21st Century.
- 15 -
VIII. REFERENCES
Begley, S. and M. Starr; "Satellites for the Classroom"; NEWSWEEK, November
16, 1987, Page 103.
Gallagher, J. E.; "Iron Curtain Raising on Campus"; TIME, October 12, 1987,
Page 65.
Urbanowicz, C. F.; "From Morse Through Marconi and McLuhan: The Global Vil-
lage Today"; Paper presented at the "Great International Celebration
of Satellite in Space" Conference and the Session on "History of Com-
munications Satellites" of the Society of Satellite Professionals, Oc-
tober 14-16, 1987, Washington, D.C.
Utsumi, T.; "Global Gaming -- Simulation with Computer Communication for
International Cooperation"; Paper presented at The 1972 International
Conference on Computer Communication, Washington, D.C., October,
(1972).
ibid.; "GLOSAS Project: GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation"; Proceed-
ings of The 1980 Winter Simulation Conference, Vol. 2 (Simulation with
Discrete Models: A State-of-the-Art View), Orlando, Florida, December
3 to 5, (1980), Pages 165 to 217.
Utsumi, T., J. DeVita; "GLOSAS Project (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simula-
tion)"; Computer Networks and Simulation II, Edited by S. Schoemaker,
North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam, (1982), Pages 279 to 326.
Utsumi, T., P. O. Mikes and P. Rossman; "Peace Games with Open Modeling
Network"; Computer Networks and Simulation III, Edited by S.
Schoemaker, North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam, (1986), Pages
267 to 298.
--
Patt Haring {sun!hoptoad,cmcl2!phri}!dasys1!patth
Big Electric Cat Public Access Unix (212) 879-9031 - System Operator
Three aspects of wisdom: intelligence, justice & kindness.