28 April 1999, Pretoria

--- Telematic Education at the University of Pretoria (Tom Brown)

********

The Yenza! Project: Online Learning for Higher Educator (Ann Tothill,FDR)

Ann Tothill

Social Sciences and Humanities

National Research Foundation

AATothill@silwane.hsrc.ac.za
012 – 302 2672
http://www.geocities.com/~yenza/

The first presentation was done by Ann Tothill, who started with a

background to Yenza! Yenza! as a web-based resource developed by the

National Research Foundation, in partnership with the Infolit Project of the

Adamastor Trust, to promote the use of the Internet in the humanities and

social sciences in South Africa:

South Africa has the highest rate of Internet connectivity on the African

continent, with most tertiary institutions in South Africa enjoying full

Internet connectivity. There is, however, a considerable way to go before

the potential of the Internet as a tool for research and teaching is

realized in South Africa. The Yenza! Initiative seeks to contribute to

understanding the potential role of the Internet, and to provide a dynamic

resource that can make a practical contribution to the development of

Internet, research, and information literacy skills.

The materials on the web site are freely available either for

self-instruction or for use as workshop modules, and are intended for use by

trainers, academics, and postgraduate students at South African tertiary

institutions. A key concern has been to develop content appropriate for the

South African context, drawing on local expertise and resources. Materials

on the site comprise a mixture of annotated links to resources in South

Africa and elsewhere and materials developed specifically for Yenza! It is

envisaged that the proportion of South African content will increase as

local academics come forward with contributions. This contains the following

main sections:

* Learning to use the Internet: Using e-mail & e-mail discussion lists;

searching for information; evaluating information; teaching with the

Internet

* The Research Journey: Starting out; surveying the field; the research

proposal; research methodology; analysis and processing of data; research

outputs

* Discipline-specific resources: History; Gender Studies; Economics; Law;

Sociology; Science Education; Education; Political Science; Psychology

* Developing a Web Site: Site planning; hypertext markup language; site

building

* Yenza! for Trainers: Manual for Internet trainers; sample training

modules; general Internet training resources; compressed version of the

Yenza! web site

Feedback and contributions on the project were invited towards the ongoing

development of the site. Ann Tothill can be contacted for further

information about the initiative and related training courses.

Question and Answers

A number of questions and points of clarity were asked by delegates.

Q: What does Yenza Mean?

A: It means " Do it" (Zulu origin)

Q: When did The Yenza Project go live?

A: Last year September 1998

INTRODUCING WEB-CT AND ITS APPLICATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

Andre van der Merwe, Lighthouse Digital

Raymond Rott, Lighthouse Digital

E-Mail: Litehse@iafrica.com

011-4526880

WebCT is a tool that facilitates the creation of sophisticated World Wide

Web-based educational environments by non-technical users. It can be used to

create entire on-line courses, or to simply publish materials that

supplement existing courses. WebCT not only produces courses for the WWW,

but also uses WWW browsers as the interface for the course-building

environment. Aside from facilitating the organization of course material on

the web, WebCT also provides a wide variety of tools and features that can

be added to a course. Examples of tools include a conferencing system,

on-line chat, student progress tracking, group project organization, student

self-evaluation, grade maintenance and distribution, access control,

navigation tools, auto-marked quizzes, electronic mail, automatic index

generation, course calendar, student homepages, course content searches and

much more. WebCT is used by 657 Institutions worldwide and has been

translated into five languages.

Summary of LIGHTHOUSE DIGITAL

LIGHTHOUSE DIGITAL is the authorized distributor of WebCT in Southern

Africa. They are active in two markets, Education and Publishing. Their

cleint base includes many of the top Universities and Corporates companies

in the country. Their main product thrust in the Educational market is

WebCT. Recently LIGHTHOUSE DIGITAL has been approached by various corporate

companies to assist them in their efforts to re-purpose their traditional

Computer Based Training for the Web through the use of WebCT. LIGHTHOUSE

DIGITAL plans to extend these services rapidly in the future. LIGHTHOUSE

DIGITAL provides the support, maintenance and training for WebCT in Southern

Africa. The MD of the company Andre' vd Merwe can be reached at

http://www.users.iafrica.com/l/li/litehse

---------------

Lighthouse Digital has been operational since 1992 and focuses on Internet

Publishing and Educational markets. It has Anglo American, De Beers,

Ster-Kenikor and the Argus as current clients. The company is also an

authorised distributor and training partner for Web-CT and PHRASEA. The

company operates on a solution-based approach.

Web-CT is the culmination of 4 years of development at the University of

British Columbia (UBC) and has had dramatic uptake within the two years of

its official release; ten licenses per day and the product is now used in 30

countries across the globe. It is available in five languages.

Technical Overview

Various platforms are available i.e. windows N.T, Unix, Linux Red Hat, AIX

FreeBSD, Sparc. The application uses perl scripts and the Apache Web Server.

Web-CT stands for The World Wide Web Course Tools. This package facilitates

the creation, management and delivery of sophisticated WWW educational

environments and also creates entire on-line courses or supplement existing

course delivery medium.

Web Base Training (WBT) is an innovative approach to distance learning, in

which Computer Based Training is transformed by technology and methodology

of WWW, the Internet, and intranets. Until recently, most WBT sites have

merely been reproduction or printed material. Currently WBT is not

publishing on the WWW, however publishing information on the WWW may form

part of a strategy within a specific adoption of WBT. The future of WBT is

in Information Management Systems (IMS) and engineering objects which are

very much on demand.

Web-CT facilitates the WBT environment through Web-Based Training and more

specifically through use of built-in software tools within Web-CT. These

tools can be divided into two distinct categories:

--- Student Tools with self evaluation-tests, personalised homepages, search

features, records and results. Other features include compiling of study

guides, passwords, bookmarks, notes, progress reports and you can stop and

resume all sessions.

--- Designer tools. This is for adding links, referencing, page tracking,

file and student management, customising courses, learning out comes. Other

features also include a welcome page, quizzing, learning outcomes, and

online help (Dr Web-CT).

Together the Student and Designer Tools also provide: chat rooms, bulletin

boards, private mail, calendar, index, glossary, whiteboard, CD Rom, group

testing and self testing.

Web-CT is an empty box into which you can develop your own course or page.

The instructor and student can work close together. This can encourage

student participation as for example, a shy student can ask a question that

they normally would not ask in a contact session. Yearly, new students ask

the same question over and over – now the instructor can refer them to

Web-CT and a frequently-asked-questions page. In addition, student course

material can be tracked by the instructor. This includes a list of students’

most recently viewed pages in the course and records of how often students

visited what site.

Currently in South Africa Pretoria University is planing full implementation

in 1999, with Stellenbosch, Natal and Wits Universities still in the pilot

stage of implementation. Potchefstroom University is currently evaluating

its pilot implementation. Learning Channel Campus, is also still at the

pilot stage.

The programme is totally Y2K compatible and does not require a user to know

HTML to operate it. A user can author in other programs if files are then

converted to HTML.

Questions and Concerns

Q: Can I incorporate it into my own home page?

A: Yes

Q: Is there an online WebCT help?

A: Yes

Q: What was the response from the market?

A: Great for Universities, Web CT is an empty box in which you develop your

own course. Corporate operations tend to want a whole course already

designed and packaged for them - this is not what we currently provide, but

we are looking into it.

FOR SOUTH AFRICA

Vis Naidoo, Department of Education

Vnaidoo@educ.pwv.gov.za

012-3226625

The primary objective is to explore the feasibility of a dedicated

educational channel / service and to develop a business plan for such a

service.

The process started at the Education Broadcasting conference in February

1998, where both Ministers Naidoo and Bengu committed their respective

departments to research the concept. A number of reports are also relevant

to the process, including old EME Forum reports, the TELI Report, the IBA

Triple Inquiry, and the Department of Education’s (DOE’s) Education

Broadcasting Plan.

This study was embarked upon with the DOE Vision, which is ‘Development of a

lifelong learning education and training system that delivers quality

education and training to all its citizens’.

The Department of Communication’s (DOC"s) vision is to improve the quality

of life of all people in South Africa, to make South Africa a

knowledge-based society, and to help to create an information economy.

The current status is that Phase 1 is being completed by Pricewaterhouse

Coopers and is due for completion by the end of April. Phase 2 will be

completed by SAIDE by the end of August this year.

OUTPUTS -

Phase 1 outputs should include: international benchmarking, costing and

financial models, potential sources of income, and technology and

infrastructure situational analyses.

Phase 2 outputs include: impact of channel/service, cost of channel/service,

strategies to establish, channel/service, models of ownership, strategies

for the development of content, outreach strategies, and a business plan for

implementation

The consultative process is threefold. First is a call for submissions,

second consultative meetings, and third a national public meeting.

TELEMATIC EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA

Tom Brown, University of Pretoria

telehelp@postino.up.co.za

tbrown@postino.up.ac.za

http://www.up.ac.za/telematic/

012-4202678

Telematic Education or flexible learning is a philosophy of education that

refers to a learner-centred approach to teaching and learning. This

learner-centred approach allows flexibility in terms of aspects such as exit

and entry academic programmes, portability and accreditation, education and

delivery modes, style and strategy of learning and importantly, time, place

and pace of study.

Therefore, the philosophy behind the phrase "flexible learning" is an

umbrella terminology that is used to describe a mixed or multi-mode of

education. It includes all contact education and distance education modes,

as well as all possible combinations thereof. We can however distinguish

between two categories of flexible learning viz. Intra-flexible and

inter-flexible.

Telematic education therefore refers to a comprehensive system of flexible

learning. It emphasises however the use of technology to enhance the

teaching and learning environment, mostly over a distance (Note that paper

materials are also included in the use of the word technology). Telematic

education includes the full spectrum of education modes: from face-to-face

contact to paper based and web based distance education. It also includes

supportive modes such as interactive television and interactive multimedia.

Brown is currently promoting telematic education at Pretoria University

through promoting flexible learning and setting up units and projects on

campus with a virtual campus for virtual education. This new education model

’s driving forces are low and high technology in the teaching and learning

environment, as well as flexibility for the model to operate in a group

and/or with dependent and/or independent individuals. These areas all have

various features, which are inter-linked.

The Vision for Telematic Education is to transform the University of

Pretoria into a global leader in flexible and lifelong learning with a

mission to facilitate and participate in actions aimed at the establishment

and improvement of flexible learning environments, based on the lifelong

learning needs of its clients.

The basic unit for Telematic Education consists of the following: TeleTuks,

Telehelp, Telemedia, Virtual Campus and a very strong management structure

at the core of all this.

* Management’s role will be to manage projects, finances, marketing,

research, ensure quality control, and to develop strategic alliances and

partnerships.

* TeleTuks-: will be responsible for interactive television education (ITE),

video conferencing, infrastructure for learning centres, as well as the

provision loan or repair of audio-visual equipment and video production.

* TeleMedia-: will deal with instructional design, development of both paper

and electronic study material, interactive multimedia, computer-based

testing, graphic designing, and photography.

* TeleHelp:- is a one stop service centre providing student support,

lectures and training, as well as administrative support and logistics. It

will also provide a courier service.

The proposal for a virtual campus is drawn from the vision of providing

quality education, through the WWW, which learners can access at a more

flexible time, place, and pace. Further, it includes providing an online

service such as application, admission, registration, payment, student

results and records, career services, library access, career guidance and

social opportunities apart from studying and communication.

The web-based platform for this virtual campus will consist of five key

areas viz. Faculties, Academic Information Service, Academic Administration,

Financial Administration, and Telematic Education. All of this will need a

comprehensive marketing strategy.

The virtual campus will run on the Web-CT web solution, because this is

compatible, integrated, and has good support and maintenance as well as

knowledge management systems.

The Telematic Education projects require a project proposal with a

three-year budget, while a steering committee will approve seed funds and

appoint integrated project teams.

Coordinating all this at the University of Pretoria will require a committee

comprising of TE and faculty representatives.

Programme statistics for 1998 include:

- paper based: 7 undergraduate 18 postgraduate

- web-based: 0 undergraduate 7 postgraduate

- IT support: 3 undergraduate 6 postgraduate

Programme statistics for 1999 include:

- paper based: 16 undergraduate 24 postgraduate

- web-based: 1 undergraduate 23 postgraduate

- IT support: 4 undergraduate 14 postgraduate

CHANGING EXPECTATIONS OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION: THE CASE OF GLOBAL ACCESS

www.globalaccess.co.za

Brett Belinsky

Business Focus is a strategic integrator of end-to-end solutions in the

business communications environment, with integrated communications such as

Business Television, Viewer response systems, Datacasting, and Media

integration

MEDIA INTEGRATION being: Desktop publishing, Multimedia CD-Rom, Advanced,

Internet/Intranet applications, electronic learning platforms, video

streaming to the desktop, and archive video repository.

Global Access offers a networking service which provides multiple platforms

for digital satellite services including: Video, audio and data

transmission, satellite capacity covering the globe with C-Band and Ku Band

transponders, (over 4200 receive sites in Southern Africa with 29

engineering teams in Africa). It transmits over 3500 TX hours per annum, and

offers a proactive multilingual help desks.

Other features include global expertise with international offices in

Dallas, London, and Singapore, and 7 teleports and capacity on 19

international satellite transponders. Its offers permanent networks in

Europe, the US, The Pacific Rim and throughout Africa.

It offers a multilingual call centre with a number of help lines for all

customers, including a fault analysis service. The staff normally rectify

problems over the ‘phone’.

On Process and Content, the programme has creative process methodology,

which includes instructional and production design, organic tool-kits,

scripting and research, ENG field gathering, SNG signal delivery, studios

and presentation, traffic and logistics

The course style is based on:

* Education not Television,

* Learner-Centric Courses,

* Experienced Lecturers,

* Interactive Questions,

* Live or taped Demonstrations,

* Customer & Expert Interviews and

* Animation and Video Graphics

Global Access also prides itself on ‘getting it right with the 3’Cs approach

’ which is providing ‘Content that is Critical to their job and Compelling’.

They aim to ensure that they hit the mark every time with the right content

which involves the audience and is given by effective presenters. Because

television is passive, they have to work hard to grab attention. Getting the

right content for the right audience is key and must have a quality level of

a video production. They use a studio centric strategy of using silence and

involves for example, getting learners to read something pre/post work or

group work.

They ensure that everything happens at the studio. At remote sites, a keypad

is used as well as other technologies like live streaming video-conferencing

to the desktop via standard telephones or via video-tape.

Course activity includes: group work, brainstorming, open discussion between

site, interactive questions, attendee input is actively sought.

Advantages for the client are clear: an increased student retention,

decreased travel costs, increased content covered, decreased training cycle

time, decreased training cost per student, pioneering change through

integration.

THE NEXT MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE ON THE 14 JULY 1999

***************************

Telematics for African Development Consortium
P.O. Box 31822
Braamfontein
2017
Johannesburg
South Africa
Tel: +27 +11 403-2813
Fax: +27 +11 403-2814
neilshel@icon.co.za
www.saide.org.za

***************************
For Browsers that don't support frames:
BACK to TAD archive index