Purpose: A learning community has been developing in a distributed environment amongst the members of the Centre for Enhancing of Learning and Teaching (CELT) located in the Bathurst, Goulburn and Orange campuses of Charles Sturt University. This group is known by the acronym of GDMOB, with the purpose of the community to facilitate the…

As a veteran teacher at a NCSSSMST (National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology) high school, the author takes pride in allowing her students to stretch their minds. But as a teacher of gifted juniors and seniors, it has always been a challenge to keep her students up to date with key events in…

Videos of teachers that students taped in secrecy are all over online sites like YouTube and MySpace. Angry teachers, enthusiastic teachers, teachers clowning around, singing, and even dancing are captured, usually with camera phones, for the whole world to see. Some students go so far as to create elaborately edited videos, shot over several…

A unit of study on Ancient Greece is a part of the fourth grade social studies curriculum at Belmont Day School. The students spend 10 weeks exploring Greek history and mythology. This article discusses a new project that the authors conducted, wherein one of them was going to Greece on a study tour, while the other one stays in Belmont Day…

This paper evaluates the effects of federal initiatives in educational technology in elementary and secondary education over the past half-century. While federal resources have been diluted across many programs, this paper focuses on the few initiatives in which the federal role was substantial and integral. The findings from this paper have…

At the Western Institute of Technical and Further Education (WITAFE) in New South Wales (NSW), vocational education and training (VET) courses are being delivered to students in isolated homesteads and remote Aboriginal communities by Interactive Distance eLearning (IDL). IDL provides satellite-supported two-way broadband voice, one-way video and…

This report presents the results of two studies in the area of telecommunication for people with aphasia and mental retardation in Sweden. A brief outline of the use of still picture telephones for picture based distance communication is presented. Overall, still picture telephones were effective as a communication aid for people with either…

An introduction is presented to data transmission technology and networks for information retrieval purposes. Data signals are analyzed, modulation techniques are discussed, communication procedures between terminals and the central processing unit are surveyed, and possible network configurations are considered. (Author/PF)

Paper describes the ATS-6 satellite which is being used for a year-long series of education and health experiments. (Author/HB)

This report focuses on the first of three phases in a project at the Institute of Agriculture, Forestry, and Home Economics (IAFHE) at the University of Minnesota. This project has been charged with developing a plan for delivering credit and on-credit educational offerings at multiple locations in the state. Background information on the project…

Focusing on how to use a microcomputer as a terminal for searching online databases, this digest addresses the following topics: (1) hardware and software requirements; (2) configuring the software; and (3) basic requirements for specific microcomputers. Special features in communications software which allow microcomputer users to do database…

Three papers consider telecommunications policy in Great Britain and Germany specifically, and the nations of the European Economic Community generally. The first paper, "German Telecommunications Law and Policies" (Ernst-Joachim Mestamacker) outlines the present structure of telecommunications in West Germany, and discusses deregulation…

Two papers consider the effects and advantages of a nation's development of a modern information technology. The first paper, "Information, Information Technology, Modern Telecommunications and Economic Growth: A Case Study of New Zealand" (Herbert S. Dordick), examines the effects of information technology on the economies of such…

Intended to identify essential skills for academics and students as our society comes to depend increasingly on electronic text, and to decide how, when, and where these skills should be taught, this paper begins by discussing the tools of electronic information processing, i.e., telecommunications, computers, and software. A summary of the skills…

Mobile satellite (MSAT) technology is the basis for a new component of the telecommunications industry capable of providing services to small inexpensive subscriber terminals located almost any place in the world. The market for MSAT space segment capacity (bandwidth and power) is a natural monopoly that can be logically and technically…