forsee
Coisus

 

First Nations Resource Guide
Places to go, people to see

SIDE

Language Partners

Briefs
Library orientations

NO of W

THE DOUGLAS COLLEGE NEWSLETTER ff SEPTEMBER 1996

 

College goes interactive

n recent years, new technologies have

allowed educational services to reach

more people than ever before. Using
e-mail, the Internet and file transfers,
distance education students in even the
most remote areas can now study,
converse and share information with
instructors and other students.

The next great leap in distance

education—and inter-campus
communications—is video conferencing,

which offers the benefits of “real time”
interaction in a virtual setting. Over the

summer, Douglas College aquired one of

only a half dozen new V-Tel video
conferencing units in Canada.

“This is the latest technology,” says
the Centre for Educational Technology’s
Bruce Clarke. “It took 18 months to
research all of the available options to
make sure we were getting the most
effective system for our needs. It’s like

looking over the edge of a precipice—
how do we take off without falling off?”
Using the new equipment, instructors
or group leaders can go beyond basic
audio and video to reach a number of
people at once. Now they can give
demonstrations using imported computer
graphics, slides, charts or text—anything
that would be used in a “real” classroom.
Using a “pen-pal” feature, they can also

continued on page 7

 

The College's Ubiquity video conferencing system in use during an advanced American Sign Language course with Kelowna
students. The new V-Tel system will allow for even more interaction between the College and remote sites.