Costing
and University networking: a balanced scorecard
by Professor Paul Bacsich Professor of Telematics, Head
of Department of Networks and Multimedia, and Head of the Telematics in
Education Research Group at Sheffield Hallam University, UK
This paper will consider costing issues and their impact on research-led
universities as they also enter the age of e-learning. The talk will focus
mainly on UK experience but placed in the wider international context.
It is often alleged that research-led universities ignore the cost of
teaching since it is a relatively small fraction of their total expenditure.
However, now that research-led universities are increasingly engaged in
e-learning provision through national and international iniatitives such
as the UK eUniversity, it is increasingly felt that such costs cannot
be ignored.
The presentation will begin by looking at the history and current status
of the Transparency Review in the UK, which has attempted to answer the
eternal question "Does research subsidise teaching (or is it vice
versa)?".
It will continue by describing UK national work on an overall cost model
for e-learning within the wider context of all learning, which is compatible
with those used for face to face teaching and "conventional"
(print-based) distance learning; and also with the latest thinking on
Activity Based Costing - followed by details of the trial of a version
of this model applied to all the teaching in a UK university department.
There is increasing interest in such work in the UK, and intriguingly
(see above) more from research-led universities than from the new university
sector.
The presentation will conclude by speculating on how further to develop
this model so that it provides a detailed analytic and planning tool for
the provision of e-learning programmes in universities and consortia;
in order to attempt to answer the new eternal question "Why is e-learning
so expensive?".
Audience feedback and discussion will be invaluable in setting this presentation
in a Pacific Rim context.
Distance
Learning & the Internet: Human Capacity Development
by Dr Tony Bates Director of Distance Education and Technology,
Continuing Studies Division, University of British Columbia Go
to top of page
The presentation will start by looking very briefly at some of the challenges
facing universities in terms of human capacity development, including
learning needs within knowledge-based economies, economic pressures on
universities, and the challenge of technology. The Internet provides one
method of responding to these broader challenges. The presentation will
then examine some of the opportunities and challenges of international
partnership in the delivery of Internet-based programming around the Pacific
Rim, drawing especially but not exclusively on UBC's partnership with
Tec de Monterrey. Different models of program collaboration, financial
issues, and program development and delivery will be explored. The presentation
will end with a brief call to arms, challenging APRU institutions to make
the management and financial commitment to do things differently through
the Internet.
Creating
the Russian Pacific Digital University: Activities and International Partnership
Opportunities
by Alexei G. Falaleev Director on International Programs, FENU
Open University, Far Eastern National University, Russia. Email: falaleev@raf.dvgu.ru
and Natalia G. Prisekina Assistant Director on International Affairs,
Law Institute, Far Eastern National University, Russia. Emails: pris12@jur.dvgu.ru,
pris13@mail.dvgu.ruGo
to top of page
Our presentation covers the following subjects:
· Recent Russian nation-wide federal programs of distance learning
development;
· Russian Pacific Digital University Project;
· Online degree programs and credit courses of the Far Eastern
National University;
· Our international partnerships and partnership interests in Internet-based
distance learning.
Relevance to the suggested conference sub-themes:
· Infrastructure for e-learning environments;
· Educational frameworks for distributed and distance learning;
· Partnerships and collaborations in distributed or distance learning:
works-in-progress;
· Technology-enabled collaborations in higher education and in
K-12, as well as among the two sectors.
Responding to market opportunities, the new drivers in Higher Education
by Mr Terry Hilsberg Chief Executive Officer of NextEd Go
to top of page
"In many research based universities modern data base and www technologies
have largely been grafted on to the top of the existing cost structure
and craft industry production models. The result is that many such institutions
do not have customizable, scalable, replicable and quality guaranteed
production systems. This is not necessarily a problem for those that exist
in cosseted Government protected environments, where appeals to the national
interest result in more taxpayer money being shipped to the least efficient.
Nor is it a problem for those with a strong brand and capital base. However,
for some who are operating in increasingly trade exposed environments
there may be cause for concern. Here, other domestic and international
players who have understood the impact of the new production systems are
siphoning off much of the growth in the teaching and learning market.
The simple choice for the Author's children, assuming they are smart enough
and no major change in relative prices, is whether in an environment of
liberal education trade in the year 2012, a Stanford, or University of
Sydney education is worth 7-25 times more than a Tsinghua education?"
CERNET Update and Plans
by Professor Jianping WU Director of CERNET Network Center, Tsinghua
University
This presentation will describe the development and plans of China Education
and Research Network which is the Distance Learning infrastructure in
China. Since 1994, among 1,000 Chinese universities, about 800 universities
have been already connected to CERNET. CERNET becomes the largest academic
network in China.
Distance
Learning & Human Capacity Development: The Challenges of Implementation
by Richard Katz Vice President of EDUCAUSE Go
to top of page
The Knowledge-Driven Era's mandate to provide a higher education to a
growing cadre of learners on a global scale is being seized with enthusiasm
by visionary educators, policy makers, and leaders. Impelled by this leadership
and by the relentless and inexorable pace of technological change, the
potential of our educational institutions to seize the human capacity
development opportunity is being simultaneously shaped by technology on
one hand and constrained by institutional culture. Our ability to assimilate
a bold new mandate and a host of enabling institutions depends on our
ability to become nimble. In fact, the current metaphors of the day: personalization,
customization, and the real-time enterprise are in many ways at odds with
the traditional values, norms, and practices of the academy. This presentation
will examine a number of the implementation issues associated with addressing
the challenge and opportunity of human capacity development through distance
learning. Attention in particular will be given to possible strategies
to facilitate the culture changes that will be needed, with reference
to effective practices in place in institutions of higher learning.
Richard N. Katz
Vice President
EDUCAUSE
4772 Walnut Street, Suite 206
Boulder, CO 80301-2538
(303) 939-0318 (phone)
(303) 440-0461
Curriculum Development and Technical Coordination of a Global Bioinformatics
Course: the S* experience
by Associate Professor Shoba Ranganathan, Yunping Lim and TinWee Tan,
S* Secretariat, National University of Singapore Go
to top of page
Despite the booom in bioinformatics, and the rush by many university faculties
to mount bioinformatics courses to fulfil the shortage of bioinformatics-trained
personnel worldwide, the actual definition of bioinformatics and what
constitutes a curriculum is still more an art than a science.
Whatever the definitive curriculum might eventually be, it is clear that
no one institution will be able to muster up the complete panoply of resources
and talent to teach the full broad-spectrum multidisciplinary curriculum
until the field starts to mature. For this reason, through the use of
distance education technologies, commodity and second generation Internet
infrastructure such as APAN and STARTAP/Internet2/Abilene, we are able
to mount an introductory global bioinformatics course based on lectures
contributed by six universities spanning five continents. The pedagogical,
technical and administrative aspects of this distance course, the successful
delivery, the feedback and the plans to run subsequent courses and build
up new online curriculum will be presented and discussed in this talk.
http://s-star.org/
shoba@bic.nus.edu.sg
APBioGRID: Access Grid and the Grid computing initiatives of the Asia
Pacific Bioinformatics Network in support of distance training
by Shoba Ranganathan (*), Vice President, APBioNet, Guansin Ong
and TinWee Tan, Secretariat, APBioNet Go
to top of page
Within the Asia Pacific, there is a second generation internet infrastructure
being built over the past five years called the Asia Pacific Advanced
Network (APAN - www.apan.net). The first project of APAN is the APBioNet
networking project (www.apbionet.org) whereby the bioinformatics applications
of the regional community will be delivered via the APAN network.
This project has been successful in the BioMirrors initiative, and is
being expanded to create an Asia Pacific Bioinformatics GRID computing
infrastructure called the APBioGRID. This infrastructure project uses
the Globus system among others to interconnect ioinformatics computational
and database resources in the APBioNet community. To date, ranging from
Linux clusters to Cray supercomputers, the resources are being pooled
by various collaborators to form the APBioGRID. However, the training
needed to help researchers and network administrators to manage the APBioGRID
is still lacking. We are investigating how this infrastructure can benefit
from the Access GRID, "an ensemble of resources that can be used
to support human interaction across the grid, ... which consists of multimedia
display, presentation and interactions environments, interfaces to grid
middleware, interfaces to visualization environments, ... and supports
large-scale distributed meetings, collaborative work sessions, seminars,
lectures, tutorials and training." Other distance learning technologies
are also evaluated as potential alternatives.
http://www.apbionet.org/resources/apbiogrid.html
http://www.bic.nus.edu.sg/biogrid/
Web-based learning materials
by Jaime Sánchez Dept of Computer Science, University of
Chile, jsanchez@dcc.uchile.cl Go
to top of page
Most
modern learning theories highlight the need for adequate materials to
support learners to construct knowledge. Thus educational software and
multimedia have been used for a while as digital learning materials in
different fields, subjects and areas. Internet provides a variety of services
that when carefully adapted for learners as end users can be a powerful
medium to support and enhance learning.
Diverse studies of Internet-based distance learning are implemented with
known systems such as Learning Notes, WebCT, Blackboard, TopClass, and
AulaNet. Most of them provide access to diverse services such as chats,
e-mail, file downloading, mailing lists, newsgroups, and videoconferencing.
Here the entire system is implemented in a Web-based environment plus
the enrichment with the access to these services.
We have designed, implemented, tested and retested a mixed system for
training in-service teachers in topics concerning information and communication
technologies (ICT) and how to integrate them to the entire school curriculum.
We have developed a system composed of interactive classes, textbook,
and a web-site as a digital learning material. Part of the system consisted
of on site learning sessions with trainers, using textbook and classroom
activities. The digital part of our system is an entire Web site dedicated
to extend, improve and enrich the learning process. This study will present
the use of Web facilities to implement Web-based learning materials to
support in-service teacher training on the use and integration of ICT
into the school curriculum.
Gerontology Masters program
by Dr Ed Schneider Dean of the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
at the University of Southern California Go
to top of page
The Marshall School of Business, the School of Policy, Planning and Development
and the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern
California have developed an online Master's Degree in Long Term Care
Administration. This is the first degree of its kind on this planet. It
will use the online techniques developed by the School of Gerontology
for its successful Master's of Arts degree in Gerontology. Students have
taken online courses in gerontology for 5 years at USC. We have developed
a novel approach that features the interactive power of internet distance
education in contrast to the talking heads approach used by many institutions.
In addition to undergraduate and graduate education, we have also developed
self-contained post-graduate education modules. We are prepared to demonstrate
all these course materials.
Better Learning Through Blending
by: Suh-Pyng Ku Vice Dean and Chief Information Officer, Marshall
School of Business, University of Southern California suhpyng.ku@marshall.usc.edu
Go
to top of page
This presentation will discuss the first eLearning initiative undertaken
by the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
Marshall is using blended learning to enhance the education undergraduates
receive in large lectures. Blended learning is a combination of live meetings
that take place in a classroom, blended with information presented by
computer and computer facilitated learning experiences. About one quarter
of the course occurs in the classroom. To study the effectiveness of blended
learning, we are carefully evaluating and comparing learning outcomes
in blended and conventional environments. The first blended course offered
at Marshall can also be taken conventionally with the same professor teaching
both courses. This presentation will cover the rationale for this approach
as well some lessons learned while developing and delivering the course.
Early results from surveys administered to students at the beginning and
end of the course will be discussed with preliminary findings presented.
Suh-Pyng Ku
Vice Dean and CIO, Academic Information Services
Professor of Clinical Finance and Business Economics
Marshall School of Business
University of Southern California
Hoffman Hall 700E
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1426
Tel: (213) 740-0674
Fax: (213) 740-6465
A Joint Distance Education Project of Tsinghua University and World
Bank
by SUN Xuewei et al Go
to top of page
The traditional method of training through oral delivery to a crowded
lecture theatre, supplemented by hard copy resource material, handout
data and problem sheets is rapidly becoming antiquated as the principal
medium for imparting knowledge. With the development of information technology,
people can get high quality training without the limit of time and space.
The School of Continuing Education of Tsinghua University (SCE), sponsored
by World Bank Institute (WBI), launched a joint distance education project
about one year ago, which aims to explain the opportunities and challenges
posed by China entering WTO. The audiences of the course include state
owned enterprises (S.O.E.) managers, local government officials, professionals
and researchers. The project is based on textbooks, multimedia courseware,
the satellite transmission network, organizing and tutoring learning in
remote training centers located all over China, videoconferencing, and
online service. SCE is committed to develop distance course and coordinate
with each remote centers, while remote centers are to operate training
in their multimedia classrooms through satellite transmission network
or Internet. The training program started early last year when the courseware
was launched in Chinese, the renewed bilingual ones will soon be designed
for students in mainland as well as in Hong Kong, and in the future the
internet and videoconferencing will be taken as the primary media. The
first run of the project lasted from March to June, 2001, and second one
from Aug. to Oct., altogether educating over 1000 managers and officials
from 16 cities, among them 799 participants got certificate jointly offered
by SCE and WBI.
This paper describes some key development and experiences in the evolution
of the project, and analyses the questions facing the future of the project.
Key Words: distance training, WTO, evaluation, e-learning, web-enhanced
course.
Issues in managing the transition to an off-campus study program: a
case study from Law
by Gary Tamsitt Director, Legal Workshop, Faculty of Law, The Australian
National University Go
to top of page
This session will consider a case study of a collaborative approach to
the intense educational development involved in the transition to a successful
technology-facilitated off-campus study program. Drawing on a history
of many years of collaboration between the ANU Educational Development
group (CEDAM) and the Legal Workshop group in the Faculty of Law, the
project case study centres on a 12-month development period during 2001.
The study program is a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (GDLP), taken
by some 150 or more students per year from all over Australia as well
as overseas.
There are up to 15 separate courses of study. Our experience indicates
that:
· a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning activities
including a judicious mix of on and off-campus activities can meet the
combined expectations of the study program held by students, faculty,
the profession and the institution.
· quality can be maintained by a sustained commitment to an evidence-based
approach to course redesign and redevelopment involving:
· developing and engaging in a group (peer) process of teaching
review;
· acquiring, interpreting and acting on student feedback in a timely
way; and
· using external facilitation by CEDAM staff to support these two
processes.
· if appropriate attention is given to key leadership issues and
support for curriculum design, the transition can be substantially completed
over approximately three or four iterations of course design, development
and implementation.
· despite it being an apparently counter-intuitive approach in
an economic sense, a one-on-one coaching model is an effective and seemingly
efficient way to support the demands to rethink curriculum experienced
by faculty.
Virtual Environments for Manufacturing and Training (VEMAT)
by Hock Soon Tan et al (hocksoon@tp.edu.sg) School of Engineering,
Temasek Polytechnic Go
to top of page
One of the main goals in a modern society is to provide education to her
citizens. This goal is often hampered by the lack of human and financial
resources. The shortage of qualified teachers as well as facilities is
apparent all over the world. This shortage is one of the key factors in
preventing institutions from providing a quality learning environment.
It is felt that one of the ways in which this problem could be alleviated
would be to share expertise and resources. Today, communication - in particular,
remote communication through high-speed connections is very much a possibility.
It is possible today to communicate inexpensively and effortlessly with
anyone, anywhere, and anytime.
This paper explores the use of the VEMAT (Virtual Environments for Manufacturing
and Training) concept in the teaching and sharing of technology to a larger
audience. VEMAT allows expensive resources such as specialized machines
to be "shared" over the Internet, thus reducing investment in
capital and allowing the set up of resource sharing among institutions
and their partners. Hence, institutions will be able to make use of these
shared resources to provide training for their students. The paper will
cover a case study of how a prototype was set up for this purpose.
S* Life Sciences Informatics Alliance: Forging a global alliance in
Singapore, South Africa, Stanford, Sweden and Sydney
by A/Professor Tony Weiss S* Chairman, Molecular Biotechnology
G08, University of Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia Email: a.weiss@biotech.usyd.edu.au
Go
to top of page
S-Star.org is an alliance between six prominent educational institutions,
spanning five continents. It encompasses collaborative teaching between
the Karolinska Institutet Sweden, National University of Singapore, Stanford
University USA, University of Sydney Australia, University of Uppsala
Sweden, and University of the Western Cape South Africa. In addition to
the main site in Sydney, we have nine mirror sites including Singapore,
South Africa, Taiwan, USA, Malaysia, two in India and two in China. The
S-Star worldwide alliance provides a global, unified bioinformatics learning
environment that is made up of modular courses in the disciplines of genomics,
bioinformatics, and medical informatics. Our mission is to provide education
to interested students everywhere, regardless of background, with the
help of the internet. Our emphasis is on the use of streaming video and
synchronous slides, coupled with scheduled courses that use the IVLE teaching
interface.
