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Challenges
and case studies in deploying by
Ken
Freed Part 2 of
2 All
educational institutions, from kindergarten through
university, are markets for ventures involved in
the production, distribution and display of
educational TV content. In this chapter, we will
examine the leading trends and challenges in the
development and deployment of educational
television aimed at schools, colleges and
universities. We also will identify valuable
business opportunities arising from the delivery of
educational video content in learning institutions.
[CONTINUED FROM PART 1] CASE STUDY
3: BLUEPRINT FOR INTERACTIVE
CLASSROOMS Realizing
the full potential for advanced media in distance
learning for general education and training has
been blocked by the lack of truly cost effective
and operationally effective tools, too little
knowledge about using existing tools effectively,
and the high costs involved in transmitting audio
visual content. Lowering this barrier, competition
and deregulation are forcing down the costs of
high-speed landline transmission while the
increasing number of satellites is making
transponder time more available at a lower cost.
Costs will drop still more as digital satellite use
becomes widespread, yet this depends on when the
major player take the decision to begin more
aggressive deployments. While the world waits for
major players to act, according to Anne Phelan at
the Audio Visual Centre of University College
Dublin, smaller players like education and training
ventures have started removing obstacles by
building "network-independent tools" that take
advantage of the most cost-effective, appropriate
technologies available for live audio and video
communication. Showing what can be done is The
Blueprint for Interactive Classrooms. Since 1995, Phelan
reports, partners in five European countries have
been building prototypes of real (not virtual)
interactive classrooms that support "telepresence"
technologies such as satellite television and
videoconferencing. The partners are University
College Dublin in Ireland, Politecnico di Milano in
Italy, Universite Nancy Videoscop in France,
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, plus
Helsinki University of Technology in
Finland. With UCD as the lead
partner, the five schools have worked together to
design and build model classrooms that can be
emulated worldwide, collecting their daily
accumulating knowledge into a handbook that others
can reference for building their own interactive
classrooms. The partners also make their classrooms
available to those who cannot yet afford to build
their own. The interactive classroom
designers worked to achieve these goals: Each of the five partners
accepted responsibility for developing a different
kind of interactive classroom addressing a specific
problem common to teaching and learning in
traditional and distance education: The five model interactive
are interoperable, able to communicate with one
another. as demonstrated by verification test
conducted in 1996. Helsinki University of
Technology classroom in Finland works on developing
for single learners a learning station that's
compatible with the interactive classrooms. A
learner can receive course content from both
television and computer networks., can interact
with video or computer conferencing, and can use
more traditional technologies such as phone and
fax. Three different individual study applications
are being explored for the single learner station
&emdash; a school or other learning centre, the
workplace and the home. The Katholieke
Universiteit Leuven classroom in Belgium provides a
setting for interactive group presentations, such
as seminars and student work groups, the goal being
to enable video and audio telepresence in a range
of scenarios. The KUL classroom designers also are
developing mobile systems that can be adapted to
diverse interior and exterior environments away
from the campus. The Université
Nancy Videoscop classroom in France supports
interaction within a group, such as business
students doing case studies. Students are seated in
a circle around the room, facing one an other, with
video cameras and monitors in the centre of the
room. One camera gives an overview of the space.
Buttons on each desk allow the students to control
interactions among themselves and with a teacher or
facilitator at a remote site. The Politecnico di Milano
classroom in Italy serves local and remote
students, who can see and hear each other as well
as the teacher. The teacher in the classroom can
use traditional materials like a whiteboard for
local students. For remote students, the teacher
switches between computer-generated slides and live
video from an automated overhead camera that
detects movement. The University College
Dublin classroom in Ireland models synchronous
local and remote use of educational media. An
automated classroom operated by one person, the
facility produces live video, audio and multimedia
transmitted through such networks as analogue or
digital satellite, cable TV, terrestrial TV or an
ISDN phone modem, each variable adjustable
depending on the location of the learners along
with the availability and cost of the various
networks. Going into a bit more
detail about the Dublin classroom, interactivity
between the remote students and the teacher is done
by phone, videoconferencing, and electronic data
communication. The teacher's space combines
television studio technology with the display tools
of a normal classroom, such as a whiteboard.
Buttons on the interface console controls the
interaction with the aim of giving the feeling of a
face-to-face session, so teacher and student alike
feel at ease. The supporting technology that
otherwise may intimidate the teacher is kept in the
adjacent control room where one or two producers
and/or technicians use parallel controls to assure
execution of a teacher's commands. The equipment
used by the technicians is partially automated and
ergonomically designed to provide for
cost-effective operation by the smallest possible
support staff. Phelan points out that the
five demonstrations projects developed under the
Blueprint for Interactive Classrooms are not the
only workable solutions to all distance education
problems. Depending on the pedagogical model,
additional options may include wider use of
computer-based multimedia support systems like
high-speed Internet access, or using the new
interactive cable networks. CASE STUDY
4: CABLE IN THE CLASSROOM The
cable industry in the Untied States models the
possibilities for educational television delivery
to the primary and secondary schools. Leading this
effort is the industry coalition, Cable in the
Classroom (CIC), a $420 million public service
project supported by 38 national cable network and
more than 8,500 local cable systems. Launched in
1989, Cable in the Classroom sponsors free cable
connections for 78,000 public or private schools.
(US public schools are government funded, and the
private schools are like England's public schools.)
CIC also sponsor at least 540 hours per month of
commercial-free educational programming that
participating schools may videotape without charge
and keep in their school libraries for use (in
whole in part) by any teacher at the schools.
Teachers tend to play portions of a programme,
pause for discussion, and continue the replay,
allowing the programme to be used more
interactively. CIC reaches 83 percent of all US
students, more than 41.5 million youth who attend
one of 85,600 primary and secondary public schools
in the USA. (For the record, when private k-12
schools are added to the mix along with public and
private colleges and universities, there are
118,500 educational institutions now striving to
educate the American people for the new
millennium.) In addition, CIC sponsors
hundreds of free teacher training workshops every
year, teaching the teachers how to use analog and
digital technologies most effectively. Cable giant
TCI recently donated to Cable in the Classroom
their two state-of-the-art interactive classrooms
(see Chapter 1) that TCI had built in Washington,
DC, and near Denver at the National Digital
Television Center, TCI's home for all of their
digital cable and satellite operations . Being an industry
organization, much of the efforts by CIC are
focused on the "Tech Corps" initiative for helping
schools get wired for high-speed Internet access
via cable modems (all at the expense of the local
cable company). CIC recently commissioned a study
on cable and Internet use in the classroom. They
found that about 2/3 of all schools districts and
3/4 of all elementary and secondary school
buildings in the USA have access to cable
television, which is a 15 percent increase over the
past four years. Also, 2/3 of these buildings have
access to the Internet and World Wide Web, but only
14 percent of the buildings have Internet access in
every classroom, the majority offering Internet
access in only one room of the school, usually the
library or "learning resource center." In contrast,
almost 80 percent of the classrooms have a
television set used for accessing cable programming
and programming broadcast by the local affiliate of
the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). One of their more relevant
initiatives is called, "Cable in the Classroom
Comes Home," a volunteer effort working to involve
parents and community leaders in helping schools to
build educational video libraries. Cable systems
are granting a license to participating parents to
videotape cable programmes without charge providing
the taped programme is then donated to their
child's school library for other students to borrow
and view at home. The parents who tape the program
also may retain a copy for their child to watch at
home, too. For an industry obsessed with piracy of
copyright programming, the campaign represents a
major breakthrough in industry thinking. To help
build support for the initiative, CIC is
coordinated a billboard and kiosk campaign at more
than 30 domestic airports (space donated by AK
Media). Below are listed some
highlights of current [1998] CIC
programming; many of these are one-hour programmes,
cablecast every Monday through Friday. Practically
all of these programmes have websites that teachers
and students can access. One last CIC endeavor
deserves mention, the Family and Community Critical
Viewing Project, a collaboration between Cable in
the Classroom, the National Cable Television
Association, and the National Parent Teacher
Association. Since the Critical Viewing project
launched in 1994, more than 600 free media literacy
workshops, called "Taking Charge of Your TV," have
been attended by more than 15,000 parents, teachers
and community members. in almost 70 cities in 36
states. At least 150,000 copies of the workshop's
free handbook have been distributed. A video,
"Taking Charge of Your TV," with talk show host
Rosie O'Donnell (produced by HBO in partnership
with the American Academy of Pediatrics and
American Medical Association), was launched at a
White House press conference hosted by First Lady
Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clearly, the UK and Europe
can take a lesson from the Americans in this
case. CHALLENGES
& OPPORTUNITIES FOR ETV IN THE SCHOOLS
Expenditures
for educational technologies are increasing
steadily (see Table 5.1), yet most schools are
short of funding within both Europe and the United
States. Colleges and universities also are feeling
the fiscal pinch. Consequently, the deployment of
instructional technologies (IT) is sluggish, moreso
in Europe than in the USA. On both continents,
however, national governments are realizing that
the next generation must have strong technical
skills to survive, that without those technical
skills, their nations will be unable to compete
effectively in the emerging global economy.
Diversion of public funds into upgrading all
educational institutions, therefore, has taken on
as much strategic importance as funding the
military or transportation. Tony Blair announced a
major educational initiative within his first weeks
in office as Prime Minister, for instance, and
similar calls have come from other chief executives
throughout the developed and developing world.
Financially strapped governments cannot risk the
political heat of raising taxes to provide the
required funding, so the approach being touted is
creating partnerships between the public and
private sectors, a "win/win scenario." We can readily see the
public benefits from private contributions to
upgrading educational institutions, but where is
the benefit to the business and corporation that
contribute thousands or millions to the essential
technological upgrades? A better-trained and more
productive workforce in the next generation does
not reassure the dubious stockholders demanding a
near-term return on their investments, and
excessive tax breaks as incentives may break the
national treasuries. Is the only solution for the
educational and government leaders to urge more
"enlightened self-interest" and simply hope for the
best? One solution is for the
schools to immediately use the new technologies
going into their facilities to begin generating
their own revenues. Entrepreneurial zeal can help
remove schools from the dole. Robert Winter at EBU
likes to cite the example of a UK school in Bristol
with a new Internet-based media lab. The pupils
gained solid computer literacy while publishing
their own home pages on the Web, but the media lab
costs around £35,000 per year to run, funds
the school could ill afford. The solution found by
the headmaster was to hire out the media lab to
adults in the evenings and the week ends, charging
fees for IT training, thereby raising the funds to
keep the media lab "free" for his pupils. The
Bristol model is highly instructive. When John Dillinger was
asked why he robbed banks, he said, "That's where
the money is." When it comes to education, schools
also need to go where the money is, and that means
adult learners. The adults may be taking a class
for personal or professional reasons, but they can
afford education and training services or else they
would not be there. And if they are getting
reimbursed or subsidized by the business or
corporation employing them, their willingness to
pay for education is limited by the their own
willingness to learn.. The business and corporation
benefit by being able to send staff for training at
advanced educational facilities, and this justifies
any investment they make in helping to build or
upgrade the media facilities at these educational
institutions. Further, the business and corporation
gain prestige in the community by contributing to
the education of the youth, which yields both
tangible and intangible rewards. Another beneficiary of the
public-private are all the companies that
manufacture the equipment being installed in the
educational institutions. While companies like
Cisco Systems and Apple and IBM may be contributing
their wares for free or at reduced rates, they and
other vendors prosper both near-term and long-term
from having their products in the schools. Even
those concerns that contribute products at their
own expense tend to see overall sales increase from
other purchasers within the community (the Og
Mandino effect). And as schools turn their media
facilities into profit centers, the vendors who
contributed products initially are likely to be the
first one approached when the schools later go
shopping with cash in hand for newer
equipment. Therefore, readers seeking
investment opportunities in media companies need to
make sure the venture is contributing technology or
services to educational facility upgrades in the
local community. Further, if the company is
involved in video content production, ascertain if
the company is pursuing multimedia spin-offs, such
as a CD-ROM or DVD. If a company is producing
educational programmes or telecourses, find out if
the companies supports the contents with any
interactivity via the Internet. For telecourses,
the interactivity need to enable the students to
interact with one another, with the instructor and
with external learning resources in a timely and
efficient manner. Also, be sure that the
programming has an "evergreen" appeal, that the
programme won't be old news before it's ever
shipped. Further, make certain that
the programme or telecourse will actually fit
within the curricula of the targeted educational
institutions. The brilliant Lionhart series by
James Burke, "The Day the Universe Changed," was
adopted by scant few colleges professors because
his original interpretation of technology and
history did not fit any established theories being
taught in the classroom. In addition, an offering
cannot fit too snugly to the curriculum. A
telecourse on 19th Century English authors may
cause the faculty member who earns his or her
living from teaching that course to vehemently
oppose its purchase. Perhaps the one sure bet
may be to invest in programmes or services designed
to "teach the teacher" about the use of educational
technologies. The rapid deployment of interactive
media over the next generation means that the need
for training the trainers will not go away any time
soon. Overall, the best way an
investor can own media stocks that appreciate value
is to support companies that support the drive to
bring educational institutions into the 21st
Century. Look for organizations participating in
one of the ETV coalitions, especially those that
involve broadcasters or pay TV services in
cooperation with a telephone company and at least
one university. Do your homework for any individual
company before placing a buy order, of course, but
a careful investment in the future is rarely a
mistake. (c)
1998-2005
by
Ken
Freed.
Based on the book, Financial
Opportunities in Educational
Television, by Judah Ken Freed. . New
in the CASTING
THE NET OVER GLOBAL
LEARNING An
comprehensive overview of critical advances in k-12
and higher education along with corporate training
and lifelong learning.
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