VCRs and Computer Conferencing:
Towards Intermedia Synergy
by George Por

Will VCR-supported telelearning create a mass market for computer-assisted group communications? Reading a story in CommunicationsWeek (8/5/85), I start believing so:

"Later this month 1,000 engineers and technicians at 45 corporate sites around the country are expected to begin taking graduate-level engineering courses over a satellite network sponsored by the National Technological University... Students attend classes at their jobs and can question instructors over the telephone or through AT&T's electronic mail system..."

It's true, this news has to do with neither VCRs nor Computer Conferencing, but after pondering a while about where to file the clip, I found a folder in my filing cabinet which had a "CC/TV Combo" label and a printout with some pink-highlighted ideas that Vic Carson put in a Parti conference in January...

Re-reading Vic's thoughts, I saw some important connections with today's
news of the NTU/AT&T tele-education system. Vic said:

"The student would either see the broadcast live or would tape the
program for later viewing. The student would receive assignments either during the lecture or via a message from Parti and would participate in class discussion
via a Parti conference set up just for that course. This system would allow
students and faculty to be fairly distant geographically.

"Coming back to the idea of a video cassette-based system however, think how much more lively a correspondence course could be if it consisted of a series of lectures that were followed by class participation via a Parti conferencing system!"

My main concern is: How long will computer-based messaging in education be used to do old things (one-to-one, "correspondence course"-type communications) in new ways (broadcast cum e-mail), before such truly new applications will be widely adopted as broadcasted lectures in a complete electronic "campus" environment with online *group* interactions?

In other words, will the National Technological University's $8 million contract with GTE Spacenet for using GTE's satellite do nothing but perpetuate the electronic imitation of correspondence schools, or speed the acceptance of a tele- education that allows students to work together, as Vic Carson suggested?

The answer doesn't depend on NTU, which is, in fact, a consortium of six schools: Colorado State U.; U. of Arizona; U. of South Carolina; U. of Minnesota; U. of Massachusetts at Amherst; and U. of Maryland. It depends also on the programs offered by, and marketing savvy of, the trailblazers of the "electronic campus" concept, which include: Connected Education at the New School for Social Research (see Netweaver #1); American Open University at the New York Institute of Technology; School of Strategic and Management Studies at the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute; and Continuing Education at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

The more support these folks will get from electronic networkers around the country, the faster this medium will make a difference in our educational system. Stay tuned, ask your questions, tell what you think, and spread the word...

Last minute news: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has a 15-year long, $10 million per year grant program to finance the broadcasting of courses prepared by universities through the PBS network. One of their grantees, San Diego State University, has an electronic text demonstration program, and another one, the University of South Florida, has integrated computer feedback with its PBS broadcasted courses.

Talking with Mara Mayer, the director of this grant program at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, I had the impression that PBS is open to consider grants to universities that build computer conferencing in their tele-education projects. So, if you are associated with a higher-education institution and think that you can convince your administration about the benefits of tele-education to the school, why not give a call to Ms. Mayer and ask her to send you the brochure of her grant program. You can reach her at (202) 293-6160.