Uys, P.M. (2000). Towards the Virtual
Class: Key Management Issues in Tertiary Education. Unpublished PhD thesis,
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Available online: http://www.globe-online.com/philip.uys/phdthesis
APPENDICES
Appendix 1
Draft Project
Proposal
Combining hypermedia on the World Wide Web (WWW) as a
distance learning medium
with current educational
strategies to
provide
education to both overseas and
Presented to Bob Bubendorfer
and Head of the School for Business and Information Systems on
Contents
1. Terms of reference
2. Vision
3. Background
4. Objectives
5. Strategies
6. Resources
7. Critical success factors
8. Glossary
9. Resumè
1. Terms of reference
This
report was compiled by
The aim
of this report is to establishing the initial
feasibility of the vision for the Wellington Polytechnic as described here.
This
report is a "draft" proposal owing to :
* the strategic focus of this report,
* the early stages of conceptualising and
* the great number of variables and parameters of this
project due to
-its wide scope
and
-the speed of
changes in the underlying computer technology.
A more
complete investigation (incorporating more role players and lower levels of
detail) will be required to establish the feasibility of this project.
2. Vision
Combining
hypermedia on the World Wide Web (WWW) as a distance
learning medium with current educational strategies to provide education to both overseas
and
In conjunction
with strategies to draw students physically to
* hypermedia presentations
* visits by lecturers to major centres/pockets of our
hypermedia-students in overseas countries and to other centres in
- conduct
student group work
- present
key lectures and
- address
learning problems.
* attendance of students
invited to attend annual/semester workshops locally at the Wellington
Polytechnic.
The
hypermedia presentations will clearly define the NZQA units on the framework
that can be achieved within our courses and we will thus be able (where we have
been accredited) to offer national qualifications to foreign students.
3. Background
At a
workshop on hypermedia, by Prof. Suave Lobodzinski (of California State
University and currently a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of
Auckland) at this Polytechnic, and sponsored by our Research Development Fund,
he stated that universities in the US are turning to hypermedia in an attempt
to attract more students through distance learning.
At the
* links to
information could be "dead" i.e unavailable
* no
security on the servers
* absence
of access control
* lack of
database support which made finding documents
very
difficult.
Hyper-G
was offered free to this Polytechnic and the Computer Studies department has
already communicated with Prof. Lobodzinski who will be sending it shortly (we
have the correct infrastructure to be able to use it).
The cost
of satellite connections and network usage is steadily decreasing. In the
In a
conversation with Mr Higgins, Director of "The Networking Edge" and
the driving force behind the "Wire Wellington" project (to link
buildings and later residential properties with a fibre optic network which
have the bandwidth needed for video presentations), he stated that the business
opportunities via the Internet are a strategic
new option to be researched.
Client-server
technology, which is becoming a standard in the structure of resource sharing
between computers, offer the possibility of sending large files to servers
capable of managing it, with access by the students (and their personal
computers as "clients") which can have very basic configurations.
Dr Mimi
Recker (recently from the US and currently at Victoria University) whom I met
at a recent conference and who has ten years of research experience in using
information technology in education, is convince that the Internet is going to
revolutionise education internationally because it:
* provides, through
hypermedia, a very natural (by
combining the media) and truly
interactive means of communication
* is possible to
facilitate group interaction among
the students and with the lecturer by using groupware (which has
only recently become available) in presentations.
ties in with the opinion of Paul Strassman (previous CEO of Rank
Xerox ) who stated that "case studies show that most of the benefits
derived from information technology are derived from improvements in intra
group communications rather than from acceleration of an individual's
work"
* has an exponential
growth in public and business awareness and number of users in most countries
in the world, with an estimated number of current users of 40 million people
and around 400 WWW servers internationally.
Prof. Robert Spence (Professor
of Information Technology at the Imperial College of London), in the keynote
address and in a personal discussion at the recent NZCS conference, stated that
according to industry experts in the United Kingdom, most of the current
hardware limitations would be removed in the following two decades. At the
According to Mr Robert Lau
from Singapore, the secretary-general of SEACC and speaker at the NZCS
Conference, the opportunities in South East Asian countries for New Zealand
educational institutions has greater potential than before on account of:
the high regard for our
educational standards
deregulation and
liberalisation sweeping across
4. Objectives
4.1 Reach and retain more
clients (students) in foreign countries as well as in the wider
* income and cash flow
* physical space
restrictions in
* the growing need of
specialised computer labs
4.2 Build a reputation of
technical innovation
quality of products
addressing the client's
needs in
an international market.
4.3 Increase
the productivity of our staff by adding
the concept and application of hypermedia to content and facilities, which
already exists.
5. Strategies
5.1 Receive senior
management support for this project
5.2 Forge closer links with
institutions, organisations and individuals currently conducting research and already
involved in "Education and the Internet" and conducting business over
the Internet (business areas currently realising the potential are less than
10!)
5.3 Conduct our own research
into this area via
the above contacts
the limited number of
publications in this area
conferences
in order to determine
:
* feasibility
* detail requirements
* detail of resources
required.
5.4 Constructing a project
group from within the polytechnic and utilising external parties (where
necessary and appropriate). The internal Polytechnic staff who attended the
Hypermedia Workshop represented the Departments of Computer Studies, Design,
Electrical Engineering, Academic Staff development and Fashion and Food.
5.5 Forge closer links with
SEACC for penetration of these markets
6. Resources
6.2.1 People
Four categories of
people are required on hypermedia projects according to Prof. Lobodzinski,
namely
* producer : performing project management duties
* content director : organising and ensuring the quality of
the content
* graphics/design artist : ensure quality presentations
* software
specialist : expertise in hypermedia and the related software,
hardware
and networks .
This project brings
together, I believe, the following disciplines:
* education (including
psychology and sociology in education)
* multi-media
* networks
* client-server
architecture
* systems development
* graphical design.
6.2.2
Hardware
* Multi-media computers:
additional required at work and in some
cases at home
* Good network links : fibre optic to be considered and
satellite connections in the long run; we already have satellite connections
via WWW
6.2.3
Software
* A language like hyper-G : will
be obtained without expenses
* A type of UNIX : we
have Lynux in Computer Studies
·
Multi-media authoring package : which we have in Computer Studies and Design
6.2.4
Procedures
* forming a project group and
establishing procedures
6.2.5
Finances
* evolutionary allocation of resources
as project develops since we will be
breaking large areas of new ground in conjunction with other institutions
7. Critical success factors
7.1 Top management support
7.2 Ensuring confidentiality
of the project
7.3 Speed of implementation
(since global on-line commerce is now perceived
in a ore serious light by more businesses internationally)
7.4 Controlling access on
the WWW to our educational materials
7.5 Bridging the gap of ESL
to penetrate the Asian market
7.6 Working with SEACC in
making the Internet more acceptable in a large number of Asian countries by
providing solutions to their concerns such as (barriers are freedom of speech,
pornography, terrorist activities)
7.7 Linking to the
"Wire Wellington" project in the near future (at a cost of about $10 000
per building)
7.8 Basing our material on
the NZQA Framework
7.9 Making resources
available (people, finances, procedures)
7.10 Thorough planning and
management of the project
8. Glossary
Bandwidth : the amount of characters possible to
send over a network
Client-server : where the processing of a
client-computer can be performed on another computer, the server, which has a bigger
capacity
Hypermedia : multi-media over a wide area network
like the Internet
Multimedia : digital media which combines sound,
text, pictures,
data, video and navigational elements
SEACC : South East Asian Computer
Confederation
World Wide Web : the
graphical user interface to the Internet
9. Resumè : September 1995
…..
Appendix 2
HYDI Presentation
