The Vision Carolina Project: A New Vision for Telecommunications in North Carolina |-------------------------------------| | Paper presented at CAUSE92 | | December 1-4, 1992, Dallas, Texas | |-------------------------------------| THE VISION CAROLINA PROJECT: A NEW VISION FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN NORTH CAROLINA Dr. Carolyn Blalock Senior Program Director Office of Continuing Education and Extension UNC Charlotte ABSTRACT The Vision Carolina project is a fiber optics based telecommunications system providing virtual proximity. The network is fully interactive. The project involves a partnership in two separate areas in North Carolina - Charlotte and Wilmington. The Charlotte area project involves seven high school sites which span three counties, two community colleges including two distant learning centers and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The Vision Carolina project in Charlotte is further enhanced by its connection to the larger, statewide, fully interactive CONCERT network. The Concert network links eight universities including four medical schools, the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina and the Supercomputing Center. The unique features of this project include the interwoven network nature of the project, the cost effective feature of using Macintosh computers in the classroom for enhanced instructor control of cameras and the educational synergy of sharing instruction across political boundaries. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is involved in a two year pilot project which links public schools, community colleges and universities through a fiber optics based telecommunications network called Vision Carolina. Through this distance learning project, regional partnerships have been formed and new educational opportunities are being developed. Background The Vision Carolina Network is a unique business-education partnership sponsored by Southern Bell and Northern Telecom which began in the fall of 1991. The Vision Carolina project is one of two interactive, distance learning, fiber optics projects sponsored by Southern Bell and Northern Telecom in the nation. The other project is located in Mississippi. It is known as Mississippi FiberNet 2000. The Vision Carolina Network includes two separate networks in North Carolina, an eastern North Carolina project and a southern piedmont project. The New Hanover county network is located in eastern North Carolina. It links a total of five sites within the one county including two high schools, Cape Fear Community College, New Hanover Regional Medical Center and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. The Charlotte area network is located in the southern piedmont area of North Carolina and includes 11 sites. It spans three counties, Gaston, Lincoln and Mecklenburg and links seven high schools, Central Piedmont Community College and its North Area Learning Center, Gaston College and its technology center, The Lincoln School of Technology and UNC Charlotte. UNC Charlotte, Central Piedmont and Gaston College have been involved in distance learning for a number of years prior to the project. The Charlotte area demonstration project is further enhanced by the larger interactive network called CONCERT which is an acronymn for Communications for North Carolina Education, Research and Technology. The CONCERT network is a fully interactive point-to-point network which currently connects UNC Charlotte with seven other universities in North Carolina, four medical schools, the Center for Microelectronics located in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina and the Center for Supercomputing. Through this extended linkage to other network systems, the Vision Carolina network is in actuality an interwoven network. The partners of the Vision Carolina demonstration project in the Charlotte area have access through the CONCERT network at UNC Charlotte to resources and programming across the state. While CONCERT is a completely separate interactive network from the Vision Carolina network system, it represents an important gateway to extended oppportunities and programming. During the two year pilot period, Southern Bell and Northern Telecom have provided full-motion interactive video equipment in the studio classrooms at each site of the Vision Carolina project and underwritten related operational and maintenance costs. At the end of the pilot period, the partners of the project will have the opportunity to purchase or lease the equipment and lease the fiber optics transmission services. While this project is nearly a $4 million project, the business partners are attempting to make distance learning technology an affordable resource for educational institutions. Pricing information is expected to be released by the business partners of the project by February, 1993. Project Partnership The Vision Carolina project is a result of the combined planning efforts of education and business. The educational partners of the project include the participating high schools, community colleges and the two universities of UNC Charlotte and UNC Wilmington. The network is provided by the business partners of Southern Bell and Northern Telecom. VSI, Videoconferencing Systems Incorporated is also a business partner contracted to install and maintain video equipment. Each company has had a significant and important role in the overall success of the project. The sites selected to participate in the Vision Carolina project are committed to the goals of utilizing the two-way, interactive, fiber optic based technology to reach distance learners in effective ways and collaborating with each participating partner to increase the impact of scarce educational resources. Collaboration Collaboration has been an essential part of the project. A consortium was formed by both demonstration projects. The Consortium for the Advancement of Public Education, (CAPE) was awarded a training and development grant by the Bell South Foundation to assist the two demonstration projects in implementing distance education. This grant has been used to support several joint meetings and retreats for the teachers and facilitators of the two demonstration projects to share insights and experiences. Unfortunately fiber optic linkage of the two demonstration projects was not feasible during the first year of the project. In order to facilitate planning and the management and operation of the network, the partners of each of the demonstration projects developed smaller consortia. The business partners of Southern Bell and Northern Telecom were included in the area consortia membership. Additionally, VSI, a company contracted for the installation and maintenance of equipment in the classroom was also included in consortium meetings. The inclusion of the business partners in the regular meetings of each consortium has been essential in maintaining channels of open communication between the technical designers of the demonstration projects and the end users. A wide, comprehensive representation at consortium meetings has afforded consortium members the opportunity to examine issues and concerns from educational, technical and industry viewpoints. Since the beginning of the project, refinements have been made on a continual basis. Without input from students and teachers, there would have been considerable delays between when a problem was voiced and when the problem was addressed. Independent Evaluation Objectivity is needed to provide information for informed decision making. An independent assessment of the project was considered to be an important component of the project. Information is needed which spans the full range of the project from instruction to operation. The research firm of Evaluation Resources, Inc. located in Memphis, Tennessee was selected to do a comprehensive external evaluation. A release of the evaluation results of the first year are expected in December, 1992. Technical Design The Vision Carolina project is based on fiber optics, a technology which allows the transmission of laser pulses of voice, data and video signals over a thin, hair-like strand of glass. Southern Bell provided the fiber optic pipeline connecting each of the participating sites and digital switching equipment. Northern Telecom provided the distance learning software and computerized hardware, video codec equipment and fiber optic terminals. VSI was employed to install and maintain the video and audio equipment in each classroom. The network was designed around a switched DS3 technology. A CODEC, coder/decoder, is used to send signals into each school site and direct them back to the central switching station where they are combined and sent out to other sites. A Macintosh computer in the classroom controls video displays at both the sending and receive sites. Program schedules are maintained electronically. A distance learning software package designed by Northern Telecom drives the network. The system has been designed to allow the network to be reconfigured on a scheduled basis through specifying the originating and receiving sites. This design provides maximum flexibility by allowing any participating site to be connected to any other site within the network. Classes, special programs and teleconferencing sessions are scheduled on the network through a system administrator. Interactive sessions are arranged ahead of time so that the system administrator can program the switch control computer with the session schedules for all sites. Studio Classrooms The location of existing fiber cabling was a primary factor in site selection. Classroom selection, however, is important consideration which can impact on the success of any distance learning project. Classrooms were surveyed by VSI and recommendations were made. Most high school classrooms required extensive grooming necessary to bring the room to certain minimum standards for audio and video. Audio Audio is a critical consideration for interactive distance learning projects. In general, participants are less tolerant of poor audio than poor video. Acoustical treatments were necessary in order to prevent ambient and transient noise. Commercial acoustical panels were found to be quite expensive and few sites were able to afford them. Through some research, it was found that an inexpensive alternative would be just as satisfactory and extremely economical. A proposal was made for the sites to construct frames containing ordinary R-16 insulation material. It was discovered that if the insulation was placed with the open side out to the room and the frame covered with a burlap type sturdy fabric preferably in a blue color to enhance video quality, the walls of classrooms could be brought up to a satisfactory standard. It was determined that this alternative made substantial improvements in room audio when placed along approximately 60% of adjacent wall space. The audio in each classroom was also greatly enhanced through carpeting each classroom and improved when the microphones were positioned on stands over the tables to prevent them from "gating on" due to the shuffling of books or papers and other transient noise. Audio and video equipment in the classroom should also be connected to a dedicated electrical circuit to prevent the introduction of extraneous noise of other devices such as lighting ballasts and cooling compressors being on the same circuit. Video High quality video and audio is a necessity for distance learning applications. The high bandwidth of the DS3 circuits enables the system to realize the advantage of the higher resolution of three chip cameras installed in each classroom. Single chip overhead cameras were found to be quite adequate for picking up graphics and other information projected from the instructor's writing board. Large monitors were installed in the back of each classroom to assist instructors in seeing students at other distance locations. Additional monitors were included in the front of the classroom for the students to see the classrooms of the distance sites. Macintosh computers were installed in each classroom to make the operation of the cameras more accessible and feasible for instructor or facilitator control within the classroom. However, in most cases instructors found the assistance of a facilitatorin controlling the cameras helped them to maintain their concentration on the students and the instructional process. Features The network platform was designed to provide the opportunity for four sites to interact simultaneously. The limitations of a single a quad-split design were soon realized. There is a need for two dynamic quad-splits to include the additional sites in the Charlotte area project. Continuous presence is a feature of the network which allows for up to four classrooms to have equal access to participate in open interaction without manual intervention by a studio operator or facilitator. This is an important feature which promotes the type of interaction found in a traditional classroom. The network has also been designed to support data transmission. This feature which is currently being put into place and will provide for the merging of full motion video, data and audio over the network. Each site must purchase a router to connect a local area network to the video network. Computer transmissions from one local area network to another will greatly assist the merging of the "on-campus" site with remote computer resources and ultimately resources around the world. A device was recently purchased for the network by UNC Charlotte which will allow the digital signals of computers to be converted to broadcast signals. This device, Willows Perpherial, allows a computer screen to be displayed on composite television monitors. This feature will greatly assist and encourage faculty who incorporate computers as part of the instructional process to become involved with distance education and utilize the network. Instruction over the Network The focus of this presentation is primarily on the efforts and progress of the Charlotte area demonstration project. While the two demonstration projects differ in regard to the interwoven nature of the Charlotte area project and the inclusion of a Medical Center of the Wilmington project, the two demonstration projects have been progressing in similar ways to expand distance learning opportunities in their respective regions. The Charlotte area project has targeted three areas for the achievement of specific results through the network. These areas include: 1. To equalize access by students to outstanding programs, courses and instructors. 2. To share resources for teaching and research and promote collaboration among partners. 3. To discover the full potential of fiber optic technology for enhancing teaching and learning. The Vision Carolina network is viewed as a tool for the sharing of limited resources across political boundaries and educational levels. For example, the network will allow schools to share classes on subjects for which there might not be enough students at an single site to justify adding a special course or a teacher. Never before have high schools in one county been in a position to share resources with another county in North Carolina. The Vision Carolina network has positioned networked institutions to share information and resources across educational levels. Community colleges are linked with Universities and both are linked with the high schools. This linkage will stimulate many new and innovative collaborative projects. Instructors have indicated that teaching a distance learning class is very different form a conventional class in some ways and very much the same in other ways. Teachers and faculty have not requested additional training in teaching on the system other than to have someone to show them how the system works. For example, a physics course was team taught over the network during the first year. The teachers in this course indicated that they had to plan differently. They had to spend more time in the planning process to prevent the possibility of becoming talking heads and were challenged to rethink what they had been teaching individually to draw on the strengths of each person's teaching style. Faculty are challenged to keep the remote class as involved as possible. This often involves pausing to give not only the class in front of the instructor time to ask questions but the remote class also. Courses Taught Over the Network Courses taught over the system include the high school exchange of the low incidence courses of French IV, Spanish III, Latin II and advanced math. Several University courses were added during the second year. This fall a two semester sequence of Japanese courses was offered to high school students. The Japanese courses are broadcast from UNC Charlotte to two high schools where students will receive eight semester hours of university credit. A special Financial Management course will be broadcast to two high schools in the Spring, 1993 semester. This course will be team taught and the students will receive three semester hours of University credit. Several courses in the Masters of Public Administration program and undergraduate courses in Criminal Justice have been planned for broadcast to Gaston College from UNC Charlotte. Scheduling has occurred on a first come first served basis. This method of scheduling has been adequate for network programming so far. However, as demand for network time increases in the near future, a priority system may be required. For example there may be a need for access time for special non-credit sessions for professional and staff development and network time may be reserved for special types of programming. Challenges The unique features of the Vision Carolina project have brought about challenges. The Vision Carolina project represents a major milestone in educational synergy in the state of North Carolina. New levels of cooperation have been required and achieved. Instruction is being shared for the first time across political boundaries, district lines and institutional levels. The sharing of resources has required advance planning and often adjustments in school and instructor teaching schedules. Administrative decisions at the participating sites have been required to accommodate the needs of the all of the partners in the project. The Vision Carolina partners have been challenged to work through differences in academic calendars and class period schedules including daily start times. Courses have been brokered across educational levels and district lines. Planning sessions have been required to achieve a greater understanding of not only institutional requirements but course management and credit issues. Telecommunications can enliven and revitalize education by extending opportunities well beyond the boundaries of the traditional classroom. Partners of the project have been challenged to work with their faculty in exploring the full potential of fiber optic technology to enhance teaching and learning. A forum for the exchange of ideas was sponsored by the Office of Continuing Education and Extension at UNC Charlotte during the first year of the project. Faculty were given the opportunity to submit proposals and have their ideas reviewed and critiqued by the forum participants. Small grant awards were made through the BellSouth Corporation to encourage faculty to experiment with the technological capabilities of the network for the delivery of programs and opportunities that would not be possible without the use of the network. Future Directions During the pilot stage of the project, the number of Vision Carolina sites will not be expanded. However, planning is occurring with the future in mind. Building and maintaining a broad base of understanding and awareness of the educational potential of distance learning technologies is critical to the continued success of the project beyond the pilot stage. Network demonstrations have been planned for schools which are not participating partners of the project. Students from nonparticipating sites have also been invited and encouraged to participate in network opportunities by traveling to one of the Vision Carolina sites. Strategic planning and a supportive infrastructure are essential for the effective use of distance learning technologies. Not all structures are well suited for interactive distance learning. Specifications are being developed to outline the physical design, space, equipment and renovation requirements for the addition of future sites on the Vision Carolina network. Careful thought must not only be given to the physical requirements of electronic classrooms but also to financial aspects. In addition to broadcast equipment and the lighting and acoustical treatments required for an effective distance learning environment, the inclusion of additional equipment such as a fax machine, a telephone, copier and personal computers which facilitate the convergence of video, audio, print and data transmission should be considered. These additional elements enhance the learning experience of students in an electronically mediated environment. Merging technology and education requires a planned educational process to appropriately integrate strategies and teaching methodologies which will facilitate learning. There is a continuing need to explore and discover which teaching strategies are most effective in meeting the learning needs of distant learners across educational levels. The Vision Carolina partners anticipate many different types of applications and uses of the network. Future uses include expansion of teaching, in-service training for teachers, teacher roundtables and alliances to enrich teacher education experiences and curricula and a continuation of the low incidence sharing of scarce resources. An expansion of telecommunications in North Carolina is under exploration in North Carolina. This expansion may include a statewide broadband network in the very near future which may provide connectivity to as many as 2500 sites. This expansion of network sites will not only make network services much more economical but more accessible. Telecommunications is changing the way we think about and view education in North Carolina. The possibilities for creativity and innovation in programming are almost limitless. Distance learning is here to stay. The question will be not if there will be distance learning alternatives for students but how many opportunities can be networked together to provide the best match of services for a student's particular needs. Telecommunications technology is a tool empowering educators from the secondary school to the graduate school level to reach students and prepare them to function in a global society. UNC Charlotte has a unique opportunity to extend its resources to the region, across school districts and educational levels, through the electronic highway of the Vision Carolina network.