Subject: Distance/Asynchronous Learning Tutorial

From: "Lawrence A. Rowe" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 16:08:15 -0700

Hi -

I'll be giving an all day tutorial on Distance/Asynchronous Learning as
part of the ACM Multimedia 2000 conference in LA on tuesday October
31st.  Please pass on the enclosed announcement and details to anyone
who you think might be interested in attending either the tutorial or
the conference.  More details on both is available at
	http://www.acm.org/sigs/sigmm/MM2000/
You can attend just the tutorial if you are not interested in the
general conference.

If you're interested in establishing a distance/asynchronous learning
program or you want to learn about current technology for webcasting
including both room setup and operations, this tutorial might prove
interesting.

If you have any questions, please contact me.
	Larry
-- 
Professor Lawrence A. Rowe          Internet:  [email-masked]
Computer Science Division - EECS       Phone: 510-642-5117
University of California, Berkeley       Fax: 510-642-5615
Berkeley, CA 94720-1776            URL: http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/~larry

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

                Distance/Asynchronous Learning Tutorial
                 Pedagogy, Technology, and Operations

                          Lawrence A. Rowe
                 Berkeley Multiedia Research Center
                 University of California, Berkeley 
                  http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/~larry

Distance and asynchronous learning are important topics in both industry
and academia.  Many educators and technologists developing distance
learning programs are unfamiliar with previous research and experimental
results in pedagogy, technology, and operations related to distributed
collaboration and distance learning.  Distance learning began over a
hundred years ago with correspondence courses. The introduction of
television and video conferencing technology created new opportunities
for delivering education.  More recently, the development of desktop
distributed collaboration tools (e.g., CuSeeMe, the H.32x standards,
Webx, the Mbone tools, and NetMeeting) and webcasting technology (e.g.,
Quicktime Streaming, Real Networks G2, and Microsoft Windows Media) that
operate over the Internet provides more alternatives for educational
delivery. Many universities and companies are using these technologies
to deliver remote instruction.  Many questions remain about educational
effectiveness and costs.

This tutorial will present a broad introduction and survey of many
topics in distance learning ranging from pedagogy to technology
including both studio classroom design and operational issues.  The
first topic covered will be past results from deploying distance and
asynchronous learning technologies.  Learn why "sage on the stage" is a
discredited approach from a pedagogical perspective and why "tutored
video tape" has proven successful in many experiments. In addition,
learn about successful synchronous distance learning strategies that
work with either television or video conferencing technologies.

The second topic covered will be room design and cost.  The basic
equipment needed to produce video conferences and webcasts will be
described and solutions to common problems will be discussed. The
development of a well-designed studio classroom with cameras,
microphones, multimedia presentation equipment (e.g., projectors,
document cameras, VCR's, etc.) is difficult and can be very costly. 
Different classroom designs will be described and compared.

The third topic covered will be the basic technology for distance
learning. Different technologies will be described and compared
including support for audio/video interaction, whiteboard and multimedia
presentations, and other collaboration tools (e.g., chat rooms, media
spaces, etc.). Specific examples covered will include H.32x standards,
the Internet Mbone tools, and streaming media technologies. Tools for
producing live collaborations and for producing rich multimedia material
for on-demand replay will be discussed including emerging multimedia
standards (e.g., SMIL) and lecture 
browser technologies.

Finally, operational issues of producing distance and asynchronous
learning classes will be discussed including program guides, equipment
and labor costs, and operational procedures.

The tutorial will focus on teaching you what you need to know to develop
a distance and asynchronous learning program and what the major research
issues that remain to be solved.

Date/Location/Registration:

The tutorial will be all day tuesday October 31, 2000 at the Marina
Beach Marriott in Marina Del Rey in Los Angeles.  The tutorial is being
held in conjunction with the annual ACM Multimedia Conference.  Cost for
the tutorial is $500 ($400 for ACM SIGMM/SIGCOMM/SIGGRAPH members).  You
can attend the tutorial without attending the conference.  For more
information, including registration see:
             http://www.acm.org/sigs/sigmm/MM2000/	

Background/Prerequisite:  

Interest in developing a distance or asynchronous learning programming
or establishing a research group to explore problems related to 
distributed collaboration. 

Instructor Biography:

Professor Rowe is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science at the University of California at Berkeley.  He received a BA
in Mathematics and a PhD in Information and Computer Science from the
University of California at Irvine in 1970 and 1976, respectively.  He
is also the founding director of the Berkeley Multimedia Research Center
which is an interdisciplinary research group working on applications of
multimedia technology to business, education, research, and society. 

Professor Rowe's current research interests are multimedia applications
and databases, video conferencing, hypermedia courseware, and video
compression. He heads the research group that produces the regularly
scheduled Berkeley Multimedia, Interfaces, and Graphics Seminar
http://www.bmrc.berkeley.edu/mig) webcast world-wide on the Internet. 
Presently, this technology is being used to offer more live and
on-demand courses through the Berkeley Internet Broadcasting System
(BIBS) - http://www.bmrc.berkeley.edu/bibs. This semester the BIBS
system is being used to webcast over 10 classes which produces over 35
hours a week of new video material.

Professor Rowe is an ACM Fellow. He has published over ninety papers on
multimedia systems and applications, programming systems, and database
systems. He is currently Chair of the ACM Special Interest Group on
Multimedia. And, he is a member of the editorial board of the ACM
Multimedia Systems Journal. He has co-authored papers that have won best
paper awards at OOPSLA '91, ACM SIGMOD '96, and ACM Multimedia '98. And,
he has organized and chaired several conferences and served on numerous
program committees.