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	INTERFACING TECHNOLOGY & EDUCATION by Mark Barnett Fall, 1999 TOPICS ON THIS PAGE Introduction Distance Education JBU Background Technology Education Topics for 1999 (Table Chart) Questions Answered Recommendations Conclusion Introduction.  If Information Technology leaders are responsible for interfacing technology with business, with the primary goal of reducing company expenses and increasing corporate profit, then what is the responsibility of the Educational Technology leader?  Is it not to interface technology with education, with the goal of reducing direct teacher involvement and greatly increasing the active involvement of the student in the learning process, with the potential of broadening and improving their knowledge skills? On that supposition, ET leaders should be most familiar with numerous ways to interface technology into the teaching/learning process.  In approaching this elucidation,  I explored situations locally whereby technology was being used for educational purposes.  The following were the main questions I was searching for in my investigation: Why was technology chosen as the integer for an educational purpose? What was the educational goal for integrating technology into the learning process? How was technology being used (its role) in the application? Who were the target audience? How effective was this integration? What improvements could/should be implemented into the program? What changes are being planned as technology advances Distance Education.  After making dozens of contacts with technology experts in my community, the first observation I made in my exploratory process was how few applications were to be found for using technology in the educational process.  I finally caught wind of a distance education program being administered by the prestigious private university in my hometown.  So I checked it out. JBU.  I discovered that this university had recently begun offering an Advance Degree Completion program in Organization Management to currently employed workers (see http://www.jbu.edu/advance/).  To get into this program the applicant had to have completed at least two-years of college, and have several years of work experience (for which they were given college credit).  This upcoming year JBU is offering a similar advanced degree in Business Information Systems. These classes meet simultaneously once a week on Thursday evenings for 18 months in four separate campuses around the state.  Instead of using technology to link the students with the instructor,  JBU sends four separate staff members to each of these four sites to teach the class in person. So far this Advance Degree Completion program has been highly successful. Out of an enrollment of around 1,400 students, over 300 are registered in this program.  In order to build a greater image for recruiting new students,  JBU has also recently begun offering about a dozen courses online (http://jbuonline.org/D2index.real?area=494).  Even though the university has no plans to offer a degree online, these courses are specifically designed to attract high school and international students.  This research proved to be disappointing to me because it really didn’t utilize technology to any significant degree in an educational role. Upon further calling and investigation, I discovered that there was some type of distance education program currently being offered through the local hospital.  So I called Heather Kinzey, the Education/Wellness Coordinator at the hospital, and set up an appointment to find out more about this eductional service and the technology being used.  The following are things I gleaned from the interview with Mrs. Kinzey, as well as things I observed from witnessing one of their live distance learning lectures: Background.  In 1995 the University of Arkansas Medical Science (UAMS) teaching hospital began a distance education program to support the staff in smaller hospitals and clinics through the state.  Their purpose was to provide medical support and continuing education for physicians, nurses, medical specialists, therapists, nutritionists, as well as for the community in general.  This was an extremely valuable service being offered.  In the past, if any of these professionals wanted to take continuing education courses or attend subject-specific seminars, they would have had to travel hundreds of miles, stay in a motel, pay expensive registration fees, and lose valuable time on the job (down time).  The most unique thing about this educational service was there is no charge for participating in this program, since it was funded by the state university. Technology.  The technological method UAMS chose for offering this service was live lectures using a two-way, audio-video format channeled through T1 phone lines.  Different health-care specialists give health-related presentations and seminars based upon a variety of subjects, most of them deriving from suggestions recommended from the rural communities themselves.  Even though this is a free service, each community is responsible for providing the technical equipment to receive the live broadcast.  The equipment required includes: Two TV’s (one to view the lecturer/instructor; the other to view either themselves or other classes/students in the remote areas) A wall-mounted remote controlled Video Camera A Computer/Server A Control Panel Pad hard-wired to the Computer T1 Telephone Access Flat Microphones

The first cities UAMS invited to participate in this pilot project were rural city/towns in the far corners of the state, with plans to fill in the rest of the state in the following years.  The hospital in the city closest to me was one of the first towns in the state chosen by UAMS for this unique service, located in the far NW part of the state.  Hearing about this wonderful opportunity, a local philanthropist donated not only enough money for the original equipment (costing $75,000), but also set up a fund to pay for all the telephone access charges for years to come.

The local hospital contributed a room about 30’ X 30’ and some tables and chairs for this distance education course.  They also added a part-time staff person to administer the program.

It was very interesting to observe how the education coordinator was able to use the Control Panel Pad to maneuver the camera in the room.  Even though she knew just a few of the dozens of functions the Control Panel Pad could perform, she was able to display a live video of the room on either of the two TV’s.  She could also use Picture-in-Picture showing two locations at the same time on one screen.  Another superb feature which the Control Panel Pad could perform was directly link any of the other remote sites around the state who were online.  But Mrs. Kinzey didn’t know how to program that function for the live sessions.

The Control Panel Pad also gave Mrs. Kinzey the ability to control the volume control on each TV, as well as mute the voices on either end.  The interesting part of this technological experience was observing what happened when a participant from around the state spoke; the camera automatically shifted and displayed that person (group) on one of the two TV’s.  Then when the lecturer began to answer the participant’s question, the TV display automatically refocused back on the home-base speaker.  In other works, the main camera followed whoever spoke, since it was voice-activated.

Muting the TV which displayed your own room was a safety feature.  For if you had someone in your group who spoke during the live session on, say, on an unrelated subject, the entire state would be able to hear and see you – since the connections are voice activated.

Since not everyone in the hospital is able to attend the "live" educational sessions, Mrs. Kinzey records each presentation/seminar on a VCR cassette for later viewing.  She also allows these videos to be checked out for up to three days.

Currently, 39 hospital/clinics and 5 universities from around the state participate in these live sessions.  The following table relates the Education Topics which have been presented live via the UAMS distance education program at my local hospital in this past year alone (1999).  Many of these topics were specifically created for the citizens in the community, and not just those employed in the health care industry:

Over 40 additional topics not listed above were also presented in 1999 on the UAMS distance education network, including Advanced Cardiac Life Support, BICAP/CPAP Respiratory Therapy, Effective Conflict Resolution in ER, Mammography, and Radiation Protection Practices.

1.  Why was technology chosen as the integer for educational purposes?  To provide rural communities with the latest data, information, and research in regards to health-care issues.  Bigger hospitals and clinics in the larger cities have more capital resources and experienced personnel to provide on-going education for their own staff. But rural communities are by-and-large isolated without ongoing educational resources to draw upon.  Consequently, technology provides the avenue for health care specialist in rural areas to stay "on the cutting edge."

2.  What was the educational goal for integrating technology into the learning process?  The primary educational goal for this distance education program was to provide awareness and training for rural communities regarding the latest technological advances in medicine.  A correlating goal for this program was to provide the latest information regarding technological breakthroughs and support for the general public.

3.  How was technology being used (its role) in the application?  The distance education program which was presented on the day of my interview was Diabetes Diagnosis, and the presenter was a physician by the name of David Boren.  Even with T1 phone line access, the video quality was still far less than desirable.  The video frames advanced quite slowly – sometimes freezing for several seconds.  Even so, the T1 phone lines, dual TV’s, computer, video camera, and voice-activated microphone were still bringing vital knowledge and interaction into communities which need the service the most.

4.  Who were the target audience?  As mentioned earlier, the primary target audience for this program were people in the health-care occupation serving outlying (rural) cities and towns.  The secondary audience were members of the communities themselves.

5.  How effective was this integration?  The most success for this distance education program came from interested people who participated from the broad community at large.  These were people who either suffered from a medical problem, or had a suffering family member.  This group showed a great bit of excitement toward the topics presented, and asked a lot of questions from the presenter.

The least effective group in this distance education program were the doctors and other medical specialists.  Their lives were so busy and demanding, they found it very difficult to schedule their day around stipulated live sessions.

6.  What improvements could/should be implemented into the program?  What changes are being planned as technology advances?  These two questions are probably the most important questions of all to consider.  The two main problems encountered in this distance education program appeared to be:

	Poor video quality in the presentations
	The restricted time-frame and busy life of the medical professionals

Even though there seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm from the local hospital’s coordinator for this distance education program, there didn’t seem to be very much active participation from the main target audience – the health care professionals.  That seemed sad since so much time, effort, and money and been expended to provide this unique service.  And yet there also appeared to be legitimate reasons why this program wasn’t as successful as it could be.  Complacency was certainly one of the problems.

Cable already is offering a "near broadcast" medium for real-time, two-way audio/video communication.  That means that the video delivery portion is much smoother and clearer when using this technology.  However, no plans were being made nor considered at this time for integrating cable with the program.  Added to this, in a couple of years satellite will be offering an amazing service for real-time, two-way digital A/V communication between distant parties.  And yet, no plans were being considered for implementing and upgrading their equipment once that technology became available either.

The coordinator for the distance education program at the local hospital has a degree in Health and Wellness.  Technology was "not" her interest nor area of expertise.  It appears that this Distance Education program could greatly be benefited by hiring a technological consultant, helping the hospital prepare to implement needed upgrades to the equipment and communication access as soon as they become available and affordable.

Regarding the busy life of the professionals, a solution to this problem was also not being directly considered.  Active professionals of this nature are always on the go, but have a strong desire for continuing education.  However, it is extremely difficult for them to set aside a specific time each week during the day to attend a live session given by the distance education program.  This group is more likely to speed-read the latest technological advances and issues in print, versus sitting down and listening to the slower format of lectures.

Recommendations.  There are some very high-class online sites which offer doctors and medical specialists continuing education courses.  These can be completed on the medical professionals own time, as they are able to work into their day or week.  One of these sites is found at http://www.vlh.com/, the Virtual Lecture Hall.  At the Virtual Lecture Hall physicians can participate in interactive, evidence-based CME courses; receive AMA Category 1 and AAFP prescribed CME credit; keep track of all their credits with VLH online transcript service, and; Post questions to the faculty about their CME programs.

Since UAMS is already providing hundreds of hours of distant education available to the medical professionals, it wouldn’t be that much of a added feature to offer these same services online.  In this way physicians and medical specialists could access the site whenever they are able to, and have a much clearer video format to view with as well.

Another site that I’ve been very impressed with is PaleoChat (http://www.pitt.edu/~mattf/PaleoChat.html).  This site offers a place online where professional can personally interact with each other, asking questions and providing valuable input regarding their own experience.  A unique feature to this site is the daily and weekly activities section, which shows the average number of participants online discussing certain topics at what time of day and what day of the week.

Again, this would be a fairly easy service to offer medical professionals.  By providing a distinctive online ChatRoom which includes live interaction from the top experts in several fields, physicians in rural areas would be able to interact in a way which is of specific interest to them.

Conclusion.  The distance education course being offered by UAMS through our local hospital is a very impressive technology which is being used for educational purposes.  However, it is already behind the times in regards to meeting the needed objectives of medical professionals.  This busy group has to be provided a better way to obtain CME credit as well as interact live with other professionals in their field.  And that’s where an Educational Technology leader can step in and develop an answer to their dilemma.  For this reason, ET leaders need to be always thinking and planning ahead to meet the changing needs of individuals pursuing the goal of higher knowledge.

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Copyright©1999 Mark S. Barnett
Last Revised May 25, 2001
Email:  mbarn@msbarnett.com