a a

 

The two satellite dishes atop the New Westminster campus will play a key role in
distance education at Douglas College

Centre 2000 provides satellite
learning for high-tech companies

Centre 2000, in partnership with
Kwantlen University-College, has
concluded an agreement to download
satellite feeds of advanced technology
management training and distribute them
to a consortium of high-tech companies
in the Lower Mainland.

The services will provide access to
instructional material from the National
Technological University, a non-profit
group of 35 universities based in Fort
Collins, Colorado, that delivers technical
training to hundreds of sites across the
U.S. The six participating businesses in

the program are: MacDonald Dettweiler
and Associates, Dynapro Systems, Health
Vision Corp., MPR Teltech, Motorola
Wireless Data Group, and Prism Systems
Inc.

The College receives signals on a
satellite dish at the New Westminster
campus, and can provide either live
interactive or video-taped courses to
clients. The $70,000 pilot project runs to
the end of 1995 and is a joint venture
between the companies, Douglas College
and the Ministry of Skills, Training and

~ Labour. I

Projects probe
distance
education

Now that navigating the Internet offers
about as much novelty as using a bank
machine, the next high-tech learning
curve to be faced is the distance-education
classroom.

Backed by $228,000 in Skills Now
funding, Instructional Media Services
(IMS) plunges into phase one of a distant-
education project this fall. The two-year
mission: to seek out effective and
affordable ways of facilitating distance
education and video conferencing for
small groups. Phase two, which begins in
1996 and carries the bulk ($140,000) of
Ministry of Skills, Training and Labour
funding, will examine communications
involving larger groups as well as specific
applications to link classrooms in New
Westminster, Thomas Haney and Pinetree
Way campuses.

IMS Manager Rob Linschoten says
teaching in linked classrooms will
probably mean saying bye-bye to the
blackboard -- it’s impossible to effectively
scan and transmit -- and utilizing new
electronic tools.

“In the fall we’ ll be looking at cameras
which can follow instructors and at
replacing blackboards with electronic
overhead projectors called visual
presenters,” offers Linschoten.

continued on page 5

Quote of the Month:

"The whole world is
becoming a satellite dish,
where everything is known
instantly and collectively."

- Frank Feather, Canadian
Futurologist