Distance Learning Programming and Resources A-G H-O P-W Pacific Bell's Knowledge Network Pacific Bell's Knowledge Network includes two transport systems to make the best use of new telecommunications technologies called EdLink and University Hub. They use the public switched telephone network which is already in place, with transport hardware located at the central office. Knowledge Network will use new telecommunications technology and ordinary telephone lines to help connect all California schools. Universities and school districts can use digital Centrex and Pacific Bell Local Area Network (PBLAN) to link their phone systems for voice and data transfers. Advanced Digital Network (ADM) gives them the flexibility to reconfigure the shape of their network with data transport speeds of up to 64 kilobits. Two-way, full-motion interactive video is carried on the copper wire already in place (a T-1 line at 1.544 Megabit transport), making video available to even small and remote schools. Voicemail and electronic messaging can help communications between administrators, teachers, students and parents and allow electronic transfer of documents.   Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (Cable in the Classroom) PBS stations provide educators an array of K-12 programming. Programs include Wishbone, Reading Rainbow and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Check local listings for air dates/times. Support for educators is provided by local PBS stations through workshops, newsletters, guides and on-line services. Some stations offer distance learning classes as well as college credit telecourses. World Wide Web Site: http://www.pbs.org (703) 739-5402 PBS Ready to Earn, Going the Distance Ready to Earn is aimed at enhancing Americans' career opportunities and strengthening workforce competitiveness. It is a broad programmatic banner that PBS flies over a whole range of adult education services. Going the Distance, the first of these services allows students to earn an associate of arts degree from their local college through distance learning telecourses. The degree program requires minimal time on campus, providing maximum flexibility for the working adult. Going the Distance and future services launched under the umbrella of Ready to Earn, are targeted to the National Education Goal that "every adult American be literate and possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship" by the year 2000. The pilot phase of Going the Distance launched in the summer of 1994 with 22 public television stations partnering with 60 colleges to offer the degree program locally. Telecourses are licensed through PBS' Adult Learning Service (ALS), the world's largest distributor of college-level telecourses and the nation's largest provider of video conferences for higher education. Student enrollment in ALS telecourses has grown more than 600 percent, from about 55,000 in 1981 to almost 350,000 in 1993. More than 2.8 million students have enrolled in ALS telecourses to earn college credit. Going the Distance is supported in part by the Annenberg/CPB Higher Education Project, which funded many of the telecourses. The Project is committed to expanding access to higher education through telecommunications. Telecourses are produced by a variety of educational organizations, public television stations, and independent producers, including Dallas Telecourses, INTELECOM, Coast Telecourses, and WGBH.Future Ready to Earn services could include: additional higher education opportunities, video models and on-line databases of new industry-based skills standards; career and labor market information for working adults as well as school-age children; and multi-media demonstrations of occupations. PBS Learning Link PBS Learning Link is a computer-based information and communications network which provides access to educational resources as well as connections to teachers and students across the globe via Internet mail exchange. Serving K-12, it is the first in a family of on-line service in development under PBS ONLINE. Constantly evolving local and national content regularly features topic-specific discussions centered around curriculum issues; lesson plans and on-line classroom projects related to timely events and issues; and a searchable database of public television programs and services. Content is broken down into curriculum-specific forums covering topics such as the Rainforest, space exploration, current events, the environment and the arts. PBS MATHLINE MATHLINE is the first discipline-based educational service offered by PBS. Based on the mathematics standards set by the National Council of Teachers of mathematics (NCTM) and endorsed by the National Education Goals Panel, MATHLINE offers a core national service for mathematics education to which local stations may add services uniquely suited to the schools in their areas. For students, MATHLINE offers standards-based, high-quality instructional programming that will help them become math literate adults who can live and work successfully in a society and workplace increasingly shaped by math, science, and technology. For teachers, MATHLINE offers professional development opportunities via distance learning courses, video conferences, and electronic learning forums. There is an electronic math teacher resource center with e-mail, bulletin boards, discussion forums, and databases of resources for teaching mathematics. For parents, there will be programs and products to help them understand that all children can and must learn school mathematics, as well as programs illustrating how they can help their children develop their mathematical abilities. For education leaders, public policy makers, and the general public, there are programs to inform them as to why a math literate population is essential to the social and economic well-being of all Americans, and how they can support students and teachers in pursuit of outstanding mathematics achievement for all students. MATHLINE launched its services in 1994-5 with a year-long professional development program for teachers of mathematics at the 5-8 middle grades. Teachers view videos of classroom teachers modeling standards-based practices and using mathematical tasks that engage students in important and meaningful mathematics. Content specifications for 25 video were developed by a working group of prominent math teachers and teacher educators. Each video is accompanied by printed resource materials.   Project Homeroom, Chicago, IL Project Homeroom, a two-year trial program provides 500 Chicago-area elementary and high school students with computers, printers, modems, and network services for home use to extend the learning experience beyond normal school hours and to help students improve problem-solving and information processing skills. Project Homeroom technology enables students at seven schools to communicate with each other or with data bases to complete homework assignments. Some schools have integrated Project Homeroom into existing curricula, while others have created new interdisciplinary classes that span several periods and are taught by teams of teachers.   Project Enable, Indianapolis, IN Project Enable provides computers and establishes a data communication network for teachers and students at Lew Wallace Elementary School #107 in Indianapolis. Teachers use the computers to manage their day-to-day administrative duties, and students can check out the portable personal computers through a lending library program. The electronic bulletin board system exposes the students to electronic mail, topic discussions, interactive games, simulations and other applications. Students and parents at the school use the Education Hotline voice mail system to communicate with teachers after hours. Each teacher has his or her own voice mail phone number to distribute to students and parents. The teacher can record messages listing homework assignments and any other pertinent information. Students and parents can call the number to hear the recording and then leave a message.   Reaching Out Around the World In "Reaching Out Around the World," students at Brown Point School in Tacoma, WA, collaborate in research and writing projects via satellite with students at Collingwood Intermediate School in Invercargill, New Zealand. Among other things, the students have produced a "Declaration for the 21st Century," which was presented to the United Nations Conference on Children in 1990. The students catalogued a number of critical problems, including environmental pollution, AIDS, the depletion of the ozone layer, and drift net fishing. In their declaration, they urged world leaders to address these issues (NEA, 1991).   RETAC RETAC is a full service instructional-television agency, delivers, via broadcast and videotape, more than 1,300 instructional programs to approximately one million students in eight California counties.   The Rural Development Telecommunications Network The Rural Development Telecommunications Network opened in December 1992 with six network connections and will have a total of 19 sites in place by December 1993. The compressed video fiber-based network initially will interconnect the University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University, Northern State University, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Southeast Area Vocational Technical Institute in Sioux Falls, and the state capitol in Pierre. During the construction phase, educators have been trained in instructional design, interaction techniques and given hands-on sessions in the video classroom in place as SDSU's Brookings campus.   Rutgers University Rutgers University has organized a research laboratory to study new technologies for academic libraries. The goal of the laboratory is to preserve what is essential while bringing the benefits of technology to scholars and students. The laboratory is a membership organization open to academic libraries and corporations with interests in library technology.   Satellite Education Resources Consortium, Inc. - SERC SERC is a partnership of educators and public broadcasters that provides quality courses to students and staff development for teachers and administrators. State and local department of education and state and local public broadcasting agencies combine curriculum expertise, technical and production capabilities to deliver live, interactive courses, via satellite. SERC is a non-profit corporation partially funded by the U.S. Department of Education, private agencies and foundations. SERC has members in 23 states. It offers high school credit courses in math, science, foreign languages, and social studies as well as middle school programs. Staff development offerings and graduate studies programs provide the avenue for continuing education and enrichment for teachers and administrators. SERC also provides interdisciplinary seminars and special programming that address important issues facing educators in the 90s. The primary focus is on economically and geographically disadvantaged schools as well as those schools with high course interest but few anticipated student enrollments. Through SERC, schools in rural communities, remote locations and major cities may now offer courses that would otherwise not be available.   Sci-Fi Channel (SFC) (Cable in the Classroom) Inside Space highlights science, technology and space exploration. The program is designed to both educate and stimulate students' imaginations. Inside Space airs commercial-free Mondays from 5:30-6:00 a.m. World Wide Web Site: http://www.scifi.com Jennifer Monaco (212) 408-8815   SCOLA SCOLA is a non-profit organization that re-transmits the news and other programs from 40 countries. It is an ideal tool to help students better understand the language and culture of a country. SCOLA offers four different channels each with a special focus on language and cultural education. Channel 1 carries the national news from around the world. Channel 2 offers a wide variety of programs including documentaries, entertainment programs for children, films, novellas, soaps, game shows and talk shows. Channel 3 offers courses in math, science, and humanities from around the world in the language of the country of origin. It offers students the opportunity to participate in other educational systems, as well as the opportunity to raise the level of world-wide understanding. Channel 4 offers classes in less commonly taught languages which are becoming more important to global communications. Languages include Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Swahili, Malaysian, and Korean. Native American languages include Cherokee and Lakota.   Shamu TV, Sea World, Inc. Shamu TV is a free, live, television program that takes students into the field with scientists, backstage with animal trainers, on rounds with veterinarians, and face-to-face with sharks, killer whales, and other wonders of the sea. Shamu TV is designed to help fill the need for quality science programming by showing real-life role models and sharing accurate scientific data for the kindergarten to high school levels. The program can help instill in students an appreciation for science and a respect for all living things and environments. Programs are available closed captioned.   SHOWTIME (Cable in the Classroom) Family programming includes The Legend of Gator Face, Annie O, and The Song Spinner. Educational programming can only be exhibited in schools after obtaining specific written consent. Free videocassettes are available whenever contractually possible.) Many programs are closed-captioned. World Wide Web Site: http://www.showtimeonline.com Jocelyn Brandeis (212) 708-1579   South Carolina ETV, Rural Star Schools Project South Carolina ETV has produced a "how-to" program for teaching via distance education. The series with accompanying text will help teachers and schools understand the value of distance learning and guide those interested in building programs of their own. The series includes videos on the studio classroom, technology and interactivity, student participation, lesson planning and facilitator activities.   Star Schools Program, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, United States Department of Education In December 1987, the Star Schools Program Assistance Act was authorized for five years (1988-92). With reauthorization, Star Schools celebrated its tenth anniversary in the school year 1997-8. The act provided federal funds that allowed grantees to acquire, build, design, program, and operate educational programs, requiring only that services be provided to schools eligible for Chapter One aid. The project is administered by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), of the U.S. Department of Education. Originally, grants were given for two years, but are now five years. The grants were made to eligible telecommunications partnerships and only multi-state applicants won grants in earlier years. A single state grant was added in 1992. The project has recognized that team efforts are required to provide the best services for the students and teachers (Withrow, 1992). The program was originally designed to reach rural areas but has since been expanded to provide for otherwise unserved populations in K-12. There have been several rounds of funding which accomplished a great deal for distance learning and the 500,000 students and 50,000 teachers that it has served to date. Projects offer instructional modules that can be integrated into classroom curricula, video field trips, and enrichment activities. They also offer formally structured semester-long and year-long courses. To deliver services, projects use many distance education technologies - satellite delivery systems, open broadcasts, cable, fiber optics, computer conferencing, digital compression, interactive videodiscs, FAX machines, and the ordinary telephone. Several include activities using the Internet. Services include instructional programming, staff development, and classes for parents. There have also been Star Schools Dissemination Grants awarded to establish the Distance Learning Resource Network (DLRN) which is a clearinghouse for all types of education about distance learning including research, programming, telecommunications plans, training materials, and consultation. Currently, the Star Schools Program operates in 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, with at least 20 origination sites and 5,000 participating schools. The principal technological problem faced by the grantees has been the inadequacies of the domestic telecommunications infrastructure in the locations most in need of distance learning. Some of the rural telephone systems have functioned very poorly. In addition, it is difficult for many inner-city schools to have a telephone installed in classrooms (Withrow, 1992). The StarSchools projects are a major step in creating hypermedia interactive-learning resources. In the new vision of education, as articulated by Secretary Richard Riley in Goals 2000, Star Schools can play an essential role in demonstrating how, as the telecommunications infrastructure of America expands, it can deliver high-quality interactive multimedia programming on demand of the learner to the home, school, and classroom. In the 1994-96 round of funding, major emphasis was put on pre-service and in-service for teachers which, for the first time, recognized an educational system composed of K-12 and schools of education. Based on the success of the first years of the Star Schools projects, they have been successful and students in the distance education classrooms are achieving as well as or better than students in traditional classrooms (SWRL, 1993).   State Networks Networks are often planned and implemented on a state level. A recent survey found that approximately 60 percent of the states now operate a statewide computer or telecommunications network. Some states have established their own networks to serve schools and other nonprofit organizations within their specific boundaries.The Texas Education Network (TENET) and Virginia's Public Education Network (PEN) are examples of statewide systems that connect K-12 administrators, teachers, and students for no cost or at a nominal fee. The state networks generally provide some degree of statewide services such as bulletin boards, conferencing, curriculum resources sharing, and administrative data transfer as well as a gateway to the Internet and other networks such as AppleLink, CompuServe, MCIMail, AT&T Mail, FrEdMail, and FidoNet. Check with your state education agencies for information on the network capabilities. from "A Technical Guide to Teleconferencing and Distance Learning," 3rd edition