PART II: VIDEO SHOW OF GLH ON JULY 7, 1994

Next, I would like to show you some video clippings of our highly successful GLH on July 7, 1994, which was originated from the University of Tennessee, to celebrate the bicentennial anniversary of the university, and was connected with the First International Conference on Distance Education in Russia, which was taking place in Moscow.

In spite of some technical difficulties, the GLH was full of exciting demonstrations of advanced desktop videoconferencing technologies that seem to indicate the future direction of global electronic distance education. This particular GLH was the most complex one in the past decade with demonstrations greatly appreciated by viewers around the world. Thus, we successfully accomplished our main goal of comparing and evaluating various delivery technologies for global electronic distance education exchange, which is one of the most important uses of the Global Information Infrastructure (GII) -- a term coined by Vice President Al Gore at the conference of International Telecommunication Union held in Buenos Aires, last March.

We will now forge ahead to promote the use of WWW, Mosaic, CU-SeeMe, MBone, ShowMe, etc., through TCP/IP oriented Internet for the realization of asynchronous, just-in-time, individualized education, and of one-to-many multimedia ShareView system and of packet-radio and -satellite through inexpensive narrow-band terrestrial and/or satellite channels. Our GU activities will then apply those cost effective delivery systems to explore next problem areas, such as design of courseware, training of facilitators, fund raising, etc.

Since these demonstrations are so new and the GLH was very different from conventional videoconferencing, I will firstly describe briefly the underling premises.

PREMISE 1:

Education is fundamental for any society and nation building.

PREMISE 2:

Globalization of society is the trend of the 21st century.

PREMISE 3:

Communication is the key component of education.

PREMISE 4:

Application of high technology, especially "tele"- communication with computers, to education is an inevitable trend; thus global electronic distance education is inevitable.

PREMISE 5:

Information needs to be disseminated widely with the use of telecommunication, which implies global scale. Thus a Global Information Infrastructure is a vital necessity for fostering global citizenship with "participatory democracy."

PREMISE 6:

The value of information increases with wider dissemination, which in turn requires a low-cost delivery system. An "old" economy based on "tangible" and "visible" manufacturing of commodities is different from a "new" economy based on "in-tangible" and "in-visible" information and knowledge in which "creativity" is highly valued, and toward which our global society, particularly the United States, is now heading.

PREMISE 7:

Possible uses of the information superhighway are in (1) education, (2) business, and (3) entertainment. Education is social investment, business is for return of the investment, entertainment is for relaxation. This is the order of importance for building a new nation and a new society in the 21st century.

Japanese two Kanji characters "Benkyo" for "study" or "learning" consist of "Ben" and "Kyo." "Ben" is for striving to learn and "Kyo" to force yourself; thus "Benkyo" is to learn and acquire new knowledge with sweat and toil -- which is far from "relaxation."

PREMISE 8:

Acquiring knowledge is a joy, and sharing knowledge is an ultimate joy.

"In my country, only 13 people in 100 obtain an education. In this century, the accumulation of material possessions has signaled wealth, but in the 21st Century, it may be the attainment of knowledge that differentiates the classes."

--Dr. Juan Camilo Ruiz, deputy director,
Colombian Institute for the Development of Higher Education
Quoted from CREAD flyer

PREMISE 9:

Asynchronous, "just-in-time," individualized education is the ideal system of education and training.

PREMISE 10:

The order of importance for electronic distance education delivery system is (1) voice, (2) documents (text, graphs, diagrams, freeze-frame pictures, photo, computer capabilities [such as spread-sheet, simulation, etc.], whiteboard, etc.), and then finally (3) video.

PREMISE 11:

The word "video-conference" may not be appropriate to use for electronic distance education, since it emphasizes "video" rather than "audio," and "conference" is not appropriate either for situations in which "experiential learning" is taking place -- it should be something like "globally collaborative learning platform (GCLP)."

Conventional videoconferencing is for collaborative discussion. GCLP with computer through TCP/IP oriented Internet or Plain Old Telephone (POT) line is for collaborative, synergetic learning and creation of new alternatives based on facts and figures.

PREMISE 12:

Socialization is an important factor in education. Once met, people remember the faces of instructors and fellow classmates -- the amazing power of the human brain, a factor often not taken into account in the application of telecom media and in electronic distance education. Thus, once met, video (and its quality) may not be of major importance.

PREMISE 13:

Acquiring knowledge is an individual matter, but collaborative experience with learning will enhance it. Knowledge gained through interaction becomes wisdom. This is the so-called "experiential learning." Interaction on simulation model, etc., on computer with fellow classmates will enhance this learning.

PREMISE 14:

Major portion of funds for electronic distance education should be applied to tuition/scholarship and courseware development -- which will eventually come back to course providers as their compensation, and will in turn increase the number of students, and thus contribute to the spread of global electronic distance education -- rather than spending a major portion of the funds on costly telecom media and equipment.

PREMISE 15:

Computer screens are better than analog TV monitors. When the computer screen is transmitted via satellite, resolution of the monitor (and recorded video tape with it) is degraded. Also, when we use an analog TV monitor (via satellite or via digital high speed line), we cannot have immediate access to computer capabilities (such as spread sheet) or simulation model exercise.

PREMISE 16:

Equipment at local receiving sites should be in full use for other purposes -- such as teaching aid, administrative uses, etc. -- when it is not in use for receiving electronic distance education courses via telecom media. This is especially important in under-served overseas countries, and can only be accomplished with inexpensive desktop videoconferencing systems.

On the other hand, satellite downlinking facilities and digital video equipment require a large initial investment with additional high operating costs for their telecom; they are idle while not in use.

Also, if the computer is used with Internet, it can retrieve a variety of various databases, Mosaic, Gopher, etc., giving access to libraries throughout the world.

This cannot be done with satellite or with switched digital and ISDN.

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