TIPS Online - April 1998: The Global Classroom
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The Global Classroom

Using Compressed Video For Learning (Part I)

Innovating Learning in a Web-Based Environment

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Newsletter  BACK ISSUES:
 Volume 2 Issue 4 April 1998

The Global Classroom

Los Angeles Harbor College(LAHC) was fortunate to beone of the two California Community Colleges to be selected as a demonstration site for Pacific Bell’s Education First Initiative. From 1994 to 1997, LAHC and West Valley College had the opportunity to develop videoconferencing applications while being supported by this program. This collaboration resulted in several videoconferencing projects, and provided stimulation and ingenuity both culturally and educationally in a “global classroom.”

In 1995, LAHC brought its 10 year relationship with Barnsley College in Yorkshire, England to a new level of interactivity by utilizing “real time” videoconferencing to rehearse scenes before the two companies of actors (one from the U.S. and the other from England) toured together, first in one country and then in the other. As actors from the two companies played roles interchangeably, the ability to rehearse together as if they were in each other’s presence gave them the edge needed for flawless performances.

Another example of the global classroom was an event which brought the expertise of Shakespearean lecturer David Eades, Principal of Barnsley College, from a lecture hall in England to the other side of the world. The audiences of students, faculty, and staff experienced another dimension of time and space through the interactivity of videoconferencing as well as a sense of the 8 hour time difference (early evening for Barnsley and the beginning of the day for LAHC). Mr. Eades’ topic, “The Timelessness of Shakespeare,” transported the two audiences from the 17th to the 20th Centuries, touching on literary and social issues that are as current today as when the great bard wrote.

Most recently, another partnership has been formed with Cornwall College in the very southwestern tip of England. In the Spring of 1997, two LAHC employees traveled to Cornwall to participate in a U.K. League for Innovations Conference. There, in an astounding finale, 3 LAHC actors in California were directed live, in “real-time,” by Cornwall’s Theater Director in a scene from MacBeth in front of an audience of 200 teachers, administrators, and Governors. The effect was phenomenal. Through the Conference, we learned that the British are in the process of major educational reform; it became apparent they are very interested in emulating the U.S. Community College System.

Currently, the LAHC theater students are collaborating with Barnsley College Theater students writing, producing, and acting in one-act plays. For example, the Barnsley students will fax a student-written script over and the LA Harbor students will act it out the way they "think" it was meant to be. That act is video taped and, through videoconferencing, transmitted to Barnsley. The students begin to work together to refine the scene. This is an excellent example of how the global classroom works for student interaction.

A second collaboration this spring involves Child Development instructors at LAHC and the Nursery Program at Cornwall College. In a series of videoconferences, students will participate in “story telling” techniques and discuss aspects of multiculturalism in an urban U.S. city and a rural British town.

Faculty are often more willing to participate in this new technology if they start small; by offering instructional modules as opposed to a full class, they are able to ease in to it and see how it feels. Most have indicated that they do not want to be a “talking head.” The technology does lend itself more to interactivity which would almost preclude large audiences. However, it is a terrific medium for an eminent speaker to address any group, anywhere, at anytime.

The “rule of thumb” we at LAHC have been using is simply this: Is this an opportunity for students to view or participate in an activity or event which might be otherwise unavailable to them without this technology? Since in most cases the answer is, “No”, the second part of the formula would address whether their educational and cultural experiences would be enhanced and enriched by the experience. The answer to that would be a resounding, “Yes!”

Watching the joy, excitement, and enthusiasm of the students as they interact with the British students has been gratifying and rewarding. It seems that much of the excitement comes with talking to students and faculty half-way around the world. Conversations often turn to questions of weather, movies, food, and dating; a variety of universal and common denominators for all people in all places at all times.

Rather than thinking we may be on the brink of some new and dynamic form of educational presentation, perhaps for now educators should just think in terms of our humanism and how good it feels to meet with and collaborate with colleagues and students in a truly global setting.



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