Classrooms without walls: advances in telecommunications promise to transform both learning and teaching

Article Abstract:

Telecommunications advancements are penetrating education at the high school and elementary levels as students are participating in classes offered on an interactive network and others are tapping into information data bases at universities and research centers. Southern New England Telephone Co. provides a fiber optic network for students to participate in remote Russian language classes. AT and T's Learning Network connects classrooms worldwide for a collaborative curriculum. College campuses are linked through Internet, which allows global conferences and access to data bases and libraries around the world. Even though the cost of implementing the technology might seem an obstacle, once a network is installed, the school has access to information and teachers that would cost schools considerably more. Simple telephone lines connect students to campuses through a joint effort between Cincinnati Bell Inc and Apple, a far less expensive method than some higher technologies. Making the transition from standard curricula and scheduling to interaction with worldwide systems will take dedication from administrators and teachers, but the benefits of educational networks cannot be denied.

Telephone and telegraph apparatus, Innovations, Telecommunications services industry, Telecommunications industry, Fiber optics, Telecommunications, Cost benefit analysis, Educational innovations, Databases, Database, Network architecture, Network architectures, Interactive Video, Communications Technology

---

On-line teaching: 'distance education' uses electronic links to recast the campus; now, students earn degrees from remote settings tied to college TV setup; philosophy on a Maine island

Article Abstract:

'Distance education,' which refers to the use of telecommunications technologies to deliver educational packages and services to students, wherever they might happen to be, is redefining higher education. For example, the University of Maine offers classes via an interactive television network so that even students who live on remote islands off the coast of that state, who previously could not attend regular classes, now find it convenient to do so. And corporate engineers now can attend classes delivered from the National Technological University via satellite, so that engineers can earn degrees at their workplaces. Such arrangements are changing the nature of educational institutions that participate in them because scarce resources and expert faculty now can be shared via electronic communication networks. Overall, a new 'populist vision of education' is emerging: adult part-time students will probably be a 'new majority,' accounting for 60 percent of college enrollments by the late 1990s. Distance education tends to suit their needs.

Colleges and universities, Social aspects, Universities and colleges, Satellite communications, Education, Higher, Higher education, Adult education, Social conditions, Satellites (Astronomical bodies), Distance education, Digital television, University of Maine, Educational programs (Mass media), Educational broadcasting, Social Issue, Satellites, Maine, University of, National Technological University

---

High-tech training; companies turn to technology to try to bring their employees up to speed

Article Abstract:

American corporations are currently spending $30 billion a year on formal training and by the year 2000, 75 percent of people currently employed will have to be retrained. All of which is leading large corporations to invest in advanced technology and systems management to create high technology classrooms that may prove effective in the public schools. Computerized learning techniques use interactive educational programs that teach students at their own speed, allowing them to master lessons 25 percent faster than classroom teaching. Satellites are also proving valuable by enabling a briefing or conference to be transmitted to multiple remote locations.

Reports, High technology, Computer assisted instruction, Employee training, High technology and education, Computer-Assisted Instruction, Personnel Management, Training of Employees, Study

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Designing telecommunications networks for the reseller market. A multiobjective methodology for selecting subsystem automation options
• Abstracts: Product/customer critical evaluation. It's time to stop overselling activity-based concepts
• Abstracts: Market provision of custom software: learning effects and low-balling. Cost allocation revisited: an optimality result
• Abstracts: IBM to sell assets left over from its past. Businessland directors take a loss and transform it into a big gain
• Abstracts: The determinants of goal commitment. What should we do about motivation theory? Six recommendations for the twenty-first century

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.