Oregon Daily EjITlCrftld
Students In Allen Hall watch as Mass Media and Society Is broadcast from the IMC Students from three other Oregon state colleges also participate In the class
FROM A
DISTANCE
Story by
Lori
Bettineski
Photos by
Gary Grass
The days of overcrowded classrooms, limited
enrollment and little to no exposure to tech
nological equipment beyond those clunky
overhead protectors may be numbered,
thanks to the latest technology wave that's
sweeping across campuses everywhere, including
the University.
With the help of satellites, computers and a lew
inquisitive professors, Ore
gon students can take class
es from other campuses
through ED-NET, a telecom
munications network that
extends the benefits of live,
interactive video, voice and
computer data communica
tions to the state as a whole
Through an Oregon State
System ol Higher Education
grant, the University's School
ol Journalism is exploring
ED-NET this term by offering
Guest lecturer
Tom Wheeler
dltcunet
photographic
Illustrations
with the class.
two required core classes, J201 Mass Media and
Society and J?02 Information Gathering, via this
new network system.
How it all works is that students taking the class
a! the University are on a cable hook up with the
IMC and Allen Hall. Professor Al Stavitsky. who is
teaching J201, and Professor Tim Gleason, who is
teaching Information Gathering, give their lectures
in a studio in the IMC while students watch them on
tug-screen monitors in Allen There are micro
phones set up in Allen for students who have ques
tions With the help of two-way audio transmission,
the professors can respond to them directly.
As for the students taking these two classes at
other colleges, the whole process gets a little more
complicated
Currently, there are about 12 students from Port
land Community College, Eastern and Central Ore
— -jag;——--a—
THE FUTURE CLASSROOM
Journalism 201 and 202 are participating in a new distance education program The program ts
designed so students can attend dassea that may not be currently ottered at th«r schools
Spaconat 3
J
Oregon Heaetend
tMC
( Library
□
221 Allen
OPB
U campus
PCC
Js
sosc
OThe lecture that
students at
Portland Community
College, Southern
Oregon State and the
students in Room 221
Allen see is taped at
the University tn Studio
A Besides the lecture,
students will see video
tape, othef class
discussions and
information put on a
video overhead.
©The HeacJend
controls aW input
and output during the
class Room 251 Allen
is connected directly to
the IMC All audio hnks
between the
classrooms here and
at PCC and SO SC are
two-way. However.
PCC and SOSC can t
send video ot their
classrooms They can
only receive video
from IMC
OThe class is than
broadcast to a
receiver on Blanton
Heights and wired to
Oregon Public
Broadcasting, which
then relays it to
Vtnyard Hill.
OVinyard Hill then
acts as a relay
amt passes the signal
on to OPB in Portland
OPB in Portland is the
central point lor the
ED-NET
©When the signal
reaches OP8, it is
then sent to a satellite
77 km above Earth
OThe satellite
Spacenet 3 then
transmits the signal to
PCC and SOSC where
the sudents can watch
the class and
participate
[
MATT GAHTOAEffxwaW
yon State Colleges who are enrolled in these class
es and "attend1" them by going to special class
rooms at their colleges where satellites bring them
the lectures via television. Although these students
can see and hear Stavitsky and Gleason, the two
professors cant see them, but they can hear them
and answer their questions with the two-way audio
transmission capability.
To further aid communication between the stu
dents and professors, all students have E-mail
accounts and on-line discussion groups that they
are expected to take advantage of. Gleason said
more students are interacting with him through
these methods than ever before
1 think this type of classroom setting puts more
emphasis on outside communication." Gleason
said. "So far. I've answered several hundred E-mail
messages and there seems to be more response
from students than ever."
Although University students who enrolled in the
two classes this term didn't know the classes was
being ottered on-line when they enrolled, both
Gleason and Stavitsky believe students have come
around to the idea and are more comfortable with it
than they were lour weeks ago.
“Initially, there were a lot ol people unhappy, but
my sense is that people seem to be giving it a
chance and are finding it satisfactory." Gleason
said. “There's been a large number of students that
haven't had any experience with using the Internet
and other computer functions so they've had to
overcome some pretty high hurdles. I expect it will
become less of a problem though as we continue to
work with it."
Despite fears over how all of this works, there are
benefits to be ginned from both campus perspectives
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