New ways of delivering
education services
Consolidating the European Library Space
Josep Blat, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona,
November 1999
Introduction: Two perspectives
• pragmatic experience in developing
educational multimedia , Webs and a
system for delivering a European Master
course over Internet
• general issues, a reference: Images et
Éducation Scientifique en Europe
General setting: changing
technology as a must
• centuries of teachers using the spoken
word and the blackboard
• now : changing the technology in the
classroom is perceived as a need
• change is late: electricity, cars, telephone,
... have changed the daily life
• why has education been slow to change?
A specific setting:
the audio-visual culture and
the advent of multimedia
• we live in the audio-visual culture
• first technology innovation in the
classroom: video (not very widely used,
except for distance education)
• second wave of technology in the
classroom: interactive multimedia
(standardised CD-ROM, new authoring
programs)
Two aspects of networking:
communication and publishing
• popularisation of networks came with the
Web: distributed interlinked publishing
• plus: standard browsers (to read) and easy
addition of material and connections
• but also: communication (most people
discover on the Web first e-mail and later
publishing)
• getting the best usage of each and the
best interconnection is key (two examples)
Old and new paradigms of
education (I)
• The old paradigm of educational systems
is
– synchronous (things happen at the same time),
– presential (students in the classroom), and,
– collective-oriented (at least in universities)
• With computers and telecommunication
networks, time and distance barriers can
be removed to a certain extent (to be
explored)
Old and new paradigms of
education (II)
• New communication tools allow for
asynchronous communication
• Networks allow immediacy, thus breaking
partly the distance barrier
• Tools allow more contact amongst
teachers and students (lack of
individualisation can be overcome)
• New paradigm for the whole education, not
just for “distance education”.
Old and new paradigms of
education (III)
• Passive education can be replaced by
active learning: Negroponte's formula was
“Don’t dissect a frog, build one”
• Computers offer wide possibilities of
modelling and simulation
• And network of published resources (the
Web)
• Interactivity, navigation required but also
development of good simulation material
Barriers to new developments
(I)
• More cost instead of savings:
– high quality multimedia material is expensive
(navigation, audio-visual, simulation)
– improved multi-way communication means
more dedication (more e-mail for lecturers)
• Courses over Internet require more
lecturers per student if good standards of
quality are intended
• Insufficient literacy for being able to use
the new means
Barriers to new developments
(II)
• Insufficient literacy for being able to
–
–
–
–
use the new means (students and lecturers)
communicate and publish
make the best of both
use of resources
• Available tools are not powerful enough
and still difficult to use (at least for the
Web).
Some progress points
• Distributed publishing over Internet means
available educational resources unknown
(and unimagined) previously
• Vannevar Bush’s dream of an immense
associative electronic library into life
• Hugely smaller publishing costs allow for
sharing knowledge (should also transform
the economics of IPR)
• sharing and discussing knowledge with
other people will enhance education
Reference to standards and
some examples
• IMS standards for easier publishing
distributed learning content and for using
the content in multiple ways and on
multiple learning systems
• LOM standard will specify the syntax and
semantics of Learning Object metadata
• A research system (Kampus)
• A functioning system (Campus Global) at
UPF