To be presented at
The First International Conference on Distance Education in Russia
"DISTANCE LEARNING AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION"
Russian Academy of Science
Moscow, Russia
July 5-8, 1994
June 6, 1994
Dr. Alexander D. Ivannikov
adi@isrir.msk.su
First Vice President, Association of International Education (AIE)
General Director, Information Systems Research Institute of Russia
(ROSNIIIS)
Russia State Research Institute for Information Systems
22, Shepkin Street,
Moscow, 129090, Russian Federation
Tel: +7-095-284-4413
Fax: +7-095-288-1861
Dr. David A. Johnson
djohnson@utkvx.utcc.utk.edu
Former President of Fulbright Association
Professor of Planning, School of Planning
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN, 37996-3300, U.S.A.
Tel: 615-974-5227
Fax: 615-974-5229
Mr. Jim Miller
jimmsl@aol.com
President, SYNECTICS, Ltd.
2 Nickerson Street, Suite 100,
Seattle, WA 98109, U.S.A.
Tel: 206-283-9420
Fax: 206-283-4538
Dr. Takeshi Utsumi
utsumi@columbia.edu
President, Global University in the U.S.A. (GU/USA)
A Divisional Activity of GLOSAS/USA
(GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.)
43-23 Colden Street,
Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A.
Tel: 718-939-0928
Fax: 718-939-0656
Improving and expanding education are essential ingredients of any national development policy. Countries look to the future's well educated generations as the best way to improve their overall social and economic standing. Because of economic advantage, electronic distance education has been perceived as a powerful means to utilize telecommunication technology for the dissemination of teaching experiences and ideas, information, production of two-way exchanges between the emitter and the receiver, bridging time and space limitations.
Global (electronic) University (GU) consortium seeks to improve the quality and availability of international educational exchange through the use of telecommunication and information technologies. GU's main activity is to achieve global electronic education across national boundaries by developing a cooperative infrastructure and by bringing the powers and resources of telecommunications to ordinary citizens around the world. Another goal of GU is to empower underserved people of the Third World, who crave knowledge, wherever they are, by giving them access to the educational excellence available from all the world's finest sources, so as to enlarge and expand the present exchange of educational courses into a worldwide system. Students could access the resources with a far greater variety of educational philosophies, courses and instructional styles than they could ever encounter on a single campus. This is "the 21st century version of Fulbright exchange program."
What is needed in the immediate future is a careful test and exploration of the utility and costs of the various technologies now available for global teaching and learning. We need to determine how best to use the new technologies alone and in combination. To this end, GLOSAS proposes to conduct a three-year demonstration program that will utilize a number of new technologies including Simulcast, desktop videoconferencing systems via Internet, and ShareView/WorldVision in interactive and "one-to-many receive-only" modes via inexpensive narrow-band media. The transmissions will begin with a test demonstration to the site of the "First International Conference on Distance Education in Russia" in Moscow on July 7. This will be followed later in July, 1994 by a one-week program of transmissions to Bulgaria, and possibly to other East Central European countries including Russia and the Ukraine. This paper describes the proposed "Global Lecture Hall (GLH)" videoconference, testing strategies, and evaluation criteria for the Bulgarian program.
Alexander D. Ivannikov
Alexander D. Ivannikov, Doctor of Technical Sciences, is the First Vice President of the Association of International Education (AIE), General Director of the Information Systems Research Institute of Russia (ROSNIIIS), and Scientific Supervisor of Information Systems Research Institute of Russia. Dr. Ivannikov received his doctorate from Moscow Institute of Electron Machine Building, after obtaining Diploma with Honors from the institute. He spent a year at Southgempton University for his post graduate study, and several weeks at London IBM Center and at International Courses on Management in Brno, Czechoslovakia, respectively. He is the author of four technical books on microprocessor, electronic equipment design, large integrated circuits design automation, etc. Besides his over 100 technical articles and papers, he has taught on applications of microprocessors, information technologies, computer aided design in electronics, etc.
David A. Johnson
David A. Johnson, Ph.D., is Professor in both the School of Planning and in the Graduate Program in Ecology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His specializations include regional planning, environmental planning, and international education. He has also taught at Syracuse University's Maxwell School. Johnson is a Member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). He has taught in the USAID Program on Environmental Management, Meru, Kenya, 1982, and in the Program on Environmental Assessment, University of Amazonas/University of Tennessee, Manaus, Brazil, 1987. Dr. Johnson was a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Moscow, USSR in 1978. He has also received Fulbright awards to India, 1983, 1986, and Thailand, 1988. Dr. Johnson is a Past President of the Fulbright Association of the United States and was founder and Chair of the Fulbright Association's Task Force on East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union (1991-94). He is currently Co-Director of the University of Tennessee/University of Amazonas (Manaus, Brazil) University Linkage Project.
Jim Miller
Jim Miller is President of SYNECTICS, Ltd., a systems integration company specializing in communications and computer-based solutions, which he founded in 1990. SYNECTICS, Ltd is a Microsoft Solutions Provider. Mr. Miller has developed, managed, and designed a computer system for curriculum planning, fiber optic-based communications systems, and collaborative work platforms using compressed digital video on digital, analog, and satellite circuits. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and was chair of the Northwest Chapter of the IEEE Computer Society. He is also Co-Founder and Executive Vice-President of DataGlyphics, Inc., where he has developed a PC-based system for medical records. Mr. Miller has spent over 25 years in the high technology areas of developing communications and computer systems. He has worked as a design engineer with Western Electric and Bell Labs, as an engineering manager at Pacific Northwest Bell and as a product manager, strategic planner, and systems designer at US West where he was recognized for outstanding and innovative contributions as a member of the President's Club. He has presented at and chaired national symposia on computer and communications systems, including the first Bell System Multiplexer Users Group meeting, IEEE Northcon, and Telephone Companies Owning and Maintaining Minicomputers (TCOMM). He has consulted internationally. He has served with numerous civic and educational groups. He holds a degree in Physics from the University of Arizona where he was student body vice-president. Mr. Miller has attended graduate school programs in business and computer science at Fairleigh Dickinson University and the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Takeshi Utsumi
Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., is Chairman of GLOSAS/USA and President of GU/USA which he created in 1988. Among his many duties he is board member of the Strategic Educational Planning (ST.E.P.) Institute (Ramat Gan, Israel); the University of the World (La Jolla, California); the World Association for the Use of Satellites in Education (WAUSE) (Bari, Italy); a member of the Advisory Board for the Chronicle of Distance Education and Communication (Nova University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL); an advisor to Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES) of the New Jersey Institute of Technology; a member of International Electronic Advisory Council of Hawaii Network for Education in Science and Technology (HI-NEST) of the University of Hawaii; a member of External Advisory Committee of the Bankwide Task Force on the Proposed Electronic Media Center of the World Bank (Washington, D.C.); and an honorary member of advisory committee of Distributed Knowledge Project at York University (Toronto, Canada) and others. Among his over 150 related scientific papers are many presentations, for example, to the Summer Computer Simulation Conferences which he created and named. He is a member of various scientific and professional groups, such as Chemists Club (New York, NY); Columbia University Seminar on Computer, Man and Society (New York, NY); Fulbright Association (Washington, D.C.); International Center for Integrative Studies (ICIS) (New York, NY); Society of Satellite Professionals International (Washington, D.C.); etc., and is now completing a technical book in the area of his profession.
Peter T. Knight, Ph.D., Chief
pknight@worldbank.org
National Economic Management Division, Economic Development Institute
The World Bank,
Washington, DC. 20433, USA
Tel: (1-202) 473-6313
Fax: 676-9879
The author thanks Prita Chatnoth for assistance in preparing a first draft. Takeshi Utsumi, Gary Hyde, and Greg Kearsley provided helpful comments. The views presented in this paper are those of the author and should not be attributed to the World Bank.
The digital revolution is driving major changes in the way education is produced and delivered. Sharp and continued falls in the cost of storing, manipulating, and transmitting information are interacting with rising relative costs of traditional education and increasing demand for life-long educational services. In the early twenty-first century people will be able to study what they want, when they want, where they want, and in the language they prefer, electronically. Russia needs to train its managers and financial personnel in analytical techniques necessary to operate successfully in a market economy. Building on a strong technological base, Russia can spread these skills her few existing centers of excellence across her 11 time zones through modern electronic distance education. In the process Russia can become a leader in the emerging global market for education services. The World Bank can play a significant role in promoting, financing, and even producing electronic distance education services, helping make the vision of quality education for all a reality.
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URL: http://library.fortlewis.edu/~instruct/glosas/news42.htm
June 1994
GLOSAS NEWS was orinally posted to the WWW at URL: http://library.fortlewis.edu/~instruct/glosas/cont.htm by Tina Evans Greenwood, Library Instruction Coordinator, Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado 81301, e-mail: greenwood_t@fortlewis.edu, and last updated May 7, 1999. By her permission the whole Website has been archived here at the University of Tennessee server directory of GLOSAS Chair Dr. Takeshi Utsumi from July 10, 2000 by Steve McCarty in Japan.