| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
TOWARDS ESTABLISHING
A GLOBAL/LATIN AMERICAN (ELECTRONIC) UNIVERSITY
Paper contribution to a book
"QUALITY, TECHNOLOGY AND GLOBALIZATION
IN
LATINAMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION"
by
Regional Center for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean
Centro Regional para la Educacion Superior en America Latina y el Caribe
(CRESALC)
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)
Caracas, Venezuela
January 22, 1992
Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D.
President, Global University in the U.S.A. (GU/USA)
A Divisional Activity of GLOSAS/USA Association
(GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.)
43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A.
Tel: 718-939-0928; EIES: 492
WU Telex: 386131 (GIS USA), WU EASYLINK: 62756570
SprintMail: TUTSUMI/GU.USA/ASSOCIATES.TNET
Internet: utsumi@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu
Armando Villarroel, Ph.D.
Director, Consortium-Network of Distance Education (CREAD)
--Investigador Principal, Proyecto OEA-CREAD-OUI--
Box 932, RD-3, Port Matilda, PA 16870
Tel: 814-692-4435; Fax: 814-865-5878
SprintMail: AVILLARROEL/GU.USA/ASSOCIATES.TNET
Internet: axv4@psuvm.psu.edu
ABSTRACT
This paper describes the construction of an infrastructure for global (electronic) education and peace gaming with particular emphasis on the environmental issues and sustainable development in Third World countries. The gaming is intended to train would-be decision makers in policy analysis, crisis management, conflict resolution, and negotiation techniques for win-win cooperation.
Environmental issues are industrial and energy issues; and are, therefore, global economic and political issues which must be faced in all of their complexity. It is imperative that we develop an authentic sense of global citizenship and harmonious cooperation with the global village.
In the belief that global education is key to this end, a worldwide educational network, the Global (electronic) University (GU) Consortium, was formed with a global educational and non-profit telecommunications network. GU can facilitate existing distance education enterprises by developing a cooperative and worldwide infrastructure and by bringing the powers and resources of telecommunications to ordinary citizens around the world. The quality of education for those unable to attend conventional universities in disadvantaged countries will be greatly increased.
Experience shows that the expertise necessary to participate in peace games does not exist in many parts of the world. To help educate future participants of globally-cooperative environment peace games on the scale of Pentagon's war game, and to promote the cause of peace by enhancing educational course exchanges and joint research, the GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation (GLOSAS) Project is joining efforts with many counterparts around the world to create a Global University consortium so that we can meet the challenge of global issues both today and in the twenty-first century.
Over the past two decades, GLOSAS played a major role in helping the U.S. data communication networks extend to other countries, particularly to Japan. GLOSAS also helped the deregulation of Japanese telecommunication policies for the use of electronic mail and computer conferencing, which led to the de-monopolization of Japanese telecommunication industry. Many other countries have followed suit. GLOSAS also conducted many "Global Lecture Hall" (GLH) (TM) teleconferences which used several inexpensive media in parallel to facilitate interactions amongst participants. The demonstrations encompassed more than two dozen universities linked together, from the East Coast of the North America to Japan, the Republic of Korea, Saipan and Guam, from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Caracas, Venezuela, to Brisbane, Australia, to Western and Eastern Europe, and Mediterranean countries. GLOSAS is now working on the deregulation of INTELSAT policy for the use of receive-only antennas at Japanese schools.
This paper also provides a brief account of the steps taken over the past two decades which have led to the development of the Global University (TM), so that we can have participants in our global environment peace gaming (TM).
TOWARDS ESTABLISHING
A GLOBAL/LATIN AMERICAN ELECTRONIC UNIVERSITY
by
Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D.
President, Global University in the U.S.A. (GU/USA)
Armando Villarroel, Ph.D.
Director, Consortium-Network of Distance Education (CREAD)
--Investigador Principal, Proyecto OEA-CREAD-OUI--
I. INTRODUCTION
The urgency to understand the economic, social and environmental issues that are being faced in different regions of the planet, and the need for the peoples of the world to learn to communicate and to cooperate, has never been more pressing. Economic, ecological and political issues today are global that must be faced in all of their complexity. It is therefore imperative to develop an authentic sense of planetary citizenship and harmonious cooperation to confront planetary issues that endanger the life of our species, and life with which our species is in symbiotic relationship, with wisdom, understanding the diversity of the world cultures on our finite, closed planet.
This task is too large for government regulation, aid agencies or development banks alone. Restoration of the environment must engage all citizens of the globe, yet sustainable development is ultimately a local activity. People, not governments, do development and preserve the environment or destroy it. A political system that secures effective citizen participation in decision is required. Global education and knowledge is a pre-requisite for human survival on Earth. Each country has its own role to play. Sound educational initiatives of global scope and cooperative in nature, are of the utmost importance for societies to properly confront the problems they face. It is a vital necessity to facilitate communication for the clarification of issues through global study.
To support the struggle for the preservation of our ecological heritage, a worldwide educational network, the Global (electronic) University (GU) consortium, was formed as a permanent organization of international education exchange via various telecommunication media. One initial step of which would be the establishment of a Global/Latin American (electronic) University (GLAU), supported by the recently created Latin American Network for the Development of Distance Education (REDLAED) and by the Consortium- Network of Distance Education (CREAD).
II. BACKGROUND AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
A. Origin of GLOSAS Project and Global Peace Gaming
In 1972, the GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation (GLOSAS) Project on Energy, Resources, and Environment (ERE) System for global peace gaming, was initiated (Utsumi 1977; Utsumi and DeVita 1982; Rossman and Utsumi 1986; Utsumi et al. 1986). With computer simulations and a combination of advanced telecommunication channels, such gaming will enable experts and laymen in many countries to collaborate in discovering new solutions for world crises.
B. Establishment of Infrastructure
Over the past two decades, with considerable time, effort and financial resources, GLOSAS played a major role in helping the U.S. data communication networks extend to other countries, particularly to Japan. It helped deregulate Japanese telecommunication policies for the use of electronic mail and computer conferencing through U.S.-Japan public packet-switching lines in and from Japan. This initiative led to the de-monopolization and liberalization of Japanese telecommunication industry. This enabled cost reduction of telecommunications. The European Economic Community (EEC) and Latin American countries have followed suit. Japanese initiatives were a model for the world. The way has thus been paved for the global educational exchange with experiential learning via various telecommunication media in the service of better understanding of global issues.
C. A Series of "Global Lecture Hall" Demonstrations
GLOSAS/USA then conducted many "Global Lecture Hall" (GLH) teleconferences to demonstrate several inexpensive media in parallel to facilitate interactions amongst participants. Participants in several countries communicate and see each other while using methods affordable for Third World countries. Multipoint-to-multipoint multimedia interactive teleconferencing technology which GLOSAS/USA has developed and demonstrated for the past several years uses audio, data, text, computer and slow-scan TV (SSTV) (or freeze frame) teleconferencings, audio-graphic, facsimile, packet-radio and packet-satellite, and full- color, full-motion video teleconferencing (Utsumi and DeMaio 1991). Some of these methods are accessible to nearly everyone.
All panelists are provided with an audio conferencing connection. Their conversations are uplinked to a satellite from a teleconference monitor center so that the conversation as well as panelists' video (slow-scan or full-motion) are downlinked at any other off-site locations with their receive-only antennas. Some of panelists and off- site participants who have a slow-scan television unit can send/receive their freeze-frame image via ordinary telephone lines to the monitor center at low cost which is then uplinked to satellite. Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES) of the New Jersey Institute of Technology is used for on-line, real-time computer conferencing for back-stage coordination to save valuable audio lines and teleconference time. Facsimile communication is also used in parallel to receive questions from off-site participants.
Some of the GLH events were several demonstrations in different countries. The first took place in Japan in 1973 which led to deregulate Japanese telecommunication policies. In 1986, GLOSAS organized one of the largest and perhaps most successful demonstrations, at the "Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution" Conference of the World Future Society in New York in July, 1986, with participation of about 1,500 persons. In 1990 a very ambitious demonstration was organized to help Latin American distance educators, during the XVth World Conference of the International Council of Distance Education (ICDE) in November, 1990, in Caracas, Venezuela, with participation of 1,200 persons from more than fifty countries. In 1991, the World Association of the Use of Satellite for Education (WAUSE) and GLOSAS conducted first joint GLH demonstrations at the occasion of the "Computer Architecture Conference" held at the University of Lecce, in Lecce, Italy, on October 24-26, 1991.
The GLH demonstrations by the GLOSAS Project have been a most effective illustration of the capabilities available in the interactive multimedia environment. Such GLOSAS projects have clearly demonstrated how people can be linked across political and geographic boundaries for joint study, discussion, debate, research, planetary problem-solving, and political action. In so doing, they have also helped foster a participatory spirit and a sense of transnational identity amongst participants. Also these demonstrations have helped GLOSAS discover technical, regulatory, economic and marketing impediments to the creation of a global (electronic) university system. The GLOSAS projects have shown that global educational exchange via international telecommunications is a feasible endeavor. They also helped prepare the way for global peace gaming on the scale of Pentagon's war gaming.
III. GLOBAL (ELECTRONIC) UNIVERSITY (GU)
The above steps towards the establishment of infrastructures of telecommunication networks and policies, the first stage of the GLOSAS Project, made possible the next step: focusing attention on the "substance and content" of global telecommunication and information technologies, i.e., construction of international educational and training course exchange system among countries.
A. Need for Distance Education
Improving and expanding education are essential ingredients of any national development policy. Countries look to the future's well educated generations as the best way to improve their overall social and economic standing. National educational programmes mainly rely on conventional or formal education methods, the sort of methods based for the most part on the traditional classroom contact. However, conventional methods of education are expensive, and may not be suitable for segments of the population, particularly in the Third World countries that have no easy access to conventional schools or which must combine studies and work. For these reasons, distance education is a rapidly expanding field nowadays.
The development of distance education programmes requires a considerable investment on the part of institutions which decide to adopt these educational methods and techniques. In addition to technological and financial resources, institutions must have competent human resources in order to try out feasibility studies, design the pedagogical content of courses, produce printed materials, audiovisual or computer based programmes, establish appropriate tutoring systems, set up the technical and technological infrastructure, seek adequate funding, and so on.
Historical development stage of distance education may be categorized into the following:
FIRST generation: -- Correspondence education by postal service,
SECOND generation: -- Instructional TV (one-way broadcasting),
THIRD generation: -- Second combined with audio line for question-and-answer initially between a student and an instructor, and later with audio teleconferencing among them,
FOURTH generation: -- Third combined with computer conferencing to enable asynchronous and synchronous interactions,
FIFTH generation: -- Global extension of the fourth as our GLH demonstrations,
SIXTH generation: -- Combination of the fifth with globally-cooperative database and simulation models. Participants will be equipped with their own database and simulation model of their country, locality or specialty which will be interconnected each other to act as if a single global model. Visual results of each participant will be shown to others for discussion. This is the ultimate goal of our GLOSAS project.
Education and socio-economic system simulation are the warp and woof in the fabric of projects that GLOSAS/USA is weaving in collaboration with voluntary associates in several states and overseas countries to save the environment while pursuing sustainable development. In Latin America, education and system simulation are two of the many activities needed to save the environment while pursuing industrial development.
B. Global (electronic) Education
Human society now faces urgent problems which require a global restructuring of education at all levels to cope with the planetary issues. Problems of education have reached a global scale. Pressures to consider education on a very large scale, including several countries and regions, come indeed from the nature of economical and social life itself today. Technologies accelerate the process of globalization of knowledge. Following the general trend of globalization of problems and experiences, education has to see all the world as its natural context. An enlarged view of education requires cooperation. There no longer are boundaries in the culture of humanity. The use of technologies for education has to take these new characteristics into account in order to favor and promote global education (De Blasi 1990b).
We all know that technological advances have made global communication an everyday fact of life: but the lives of so many millions of people, particularly in disadvantaged countries, are still untouched by the great educational possibilities that have already been opened up for relatively few (De Blasi 1990a). We are at the threshold of a new age in education and communication but the use of the new tools is so far reserved mainly for the privileged few and is scarcely discussed as a matter of public policy. GLOSAS attempts to provide cooperative, experiential learning opportunities on the widest possible scale and for the purpose of fostering peace and sustainable development (Ljutic and Utsumi 1991).
C. Emerging Global (electronic) University
GLOSAS/USA was established in 1988 as a New York publicly supported, non-profit, educational service organization with the goal of assisting and enhancing the quality and availability of international educational exchange through the use of computer, telecommunication and information technologies. Its membership is international and open to all. It seeks to create a Global (electronic) University (GU) Consortium.
GU is a worldwide educational network and a permanent organization of international education exchange via various telecommunication media. GU is to be a broad collaborative partnership of universities and businesses; of governmental, non-governmental, and community organizations; of students, workers, and individual citizens; working towards an educational and non-profit telecommunications network which will span the globe. It seeks to provide on a global scale all kinds of educational, cultural, information, knowledge, vocational and community activities, rather than being confined only to traditional educational offerings.
The GU's main activity is to achieve a global electronic education across national boundaries, serving and complementing existing distance education institutions with outlets and resources on a global scale, by developing a cooperative and worldwide infrastructure and by bringing the powers and resources of telecommunications to ordinary citizens around the world. This will eventually lead to an international educational and training course exchange system among the countries in the region as well as with the United States.
In essence, GU will provide its participating institutions with technical cooperation and training assistance. The former may involve help in areas such as transfer of experiences or technologies, project or programme preparation, locating and approaching funding agencies. The latter involves assisting institutions in improving the specialist knowledge of those amongst their personnel who are responsible for the institution's distance education programme.
Each country's GU consortium will also facilitate and train its members for the teleconferencing event, and can coordinate, as a gateway, the selection/arrangement of importable/exportable educational telelearning courses internationally and domestically. Sharing for global scale educational excellence can also reduce the need for huge new investments in academic buildings.
The GU will come into existence in three ways: as the technological infrastructure for a delivery system (educational satellite and terrestrial networks); an educational infrastructure to identify educational needs and courses to be offered; and as a financial and promotional organization for giving and receiving funds to and from those who use courses and those who provide them.
D. Benefits
The emerging Global University will distribute education from all the world's best sources to all students who crave knowledge, wherever they are, so as to enlarge and expand the present exchange of courses -- "distance education" which now exists on five continents -- into a worldwide educational system that can provide a specially tailored educational program for each individual, bringing to his or her home an array of resources that can empower individuals and bring new wealth to the Third World also. It has been perceived as a powerful means to utilize telecommunication technology for the dissemination of teaching experiences and ideas, information, production of two-way exchanges between the emitter and the receiver, as well as bridging time and space limitations.
By participating in GU, institutions that currently are limited to one country will be able to extend their services to learning centers and learners in regions where there may be a shortage both of trained faculty and of resources in technical and other fields of study. Quality international education from universities can be provided to students in almost any location who, because of constraints on time, resources, or available options, are to go to other countries to study at regularly scheduled campus-based classes. Students could access some of the world's finest resources with a far greater variety of educational philosophies, courses and instructional styles than they could ever encounter on single campus, regardless of their circumstances, and without having to leave homeland and work place. Yet these experiences can include high levels of interaction and feedback (via electronic conferencing) amongst students and instructors. The quality of education for those unable to attend conventional universities in disadvantaged countries will be greatly enhanced. This is the so-called "the 21st century version of Fulbright exchange program."
The overseas exchange of courses will help promote a global perception amongst young people of the wisdom and experiences of the world's cultures. The GU will engage not only in the export/import of traditional educational services, but will also pursue a transcultural, global-wide initiative to increase human understanding, promote wisdom, virtue and love -- a process needed by established traditions and institutional structures.
E. Coordination
Satellite technology is eminently a global technology: each satellite can cover one third of the earth, and there are more and more satellites in the sky. Satellites have been successfully employed in several countries, which had problems of geographical enlargement of the "scope" of the education. When attempting to use satellites in regions which include several smaller countries, a number of problems arise such as: different languages, cultures and traditions; and also contrasting economic interests and different political, educational and social systems (De Blasi 1990b).
GU intends to enable smooth coordination among participating parties on a global scale. As one of first steps, GLOSAS/USA has recently published a user manual for "Global Lecture Hall" demonstrations which, we hope, will be used regularly -- in the near future for our planned Global (electronic) University once it is established, and subsequently, when our Global Environment Peace Gaming will be conducted (Utsumi and DeMaio 1991).
F. GLOSAS Electronic Discussion Conference and Newsletter
GLOSAS/USA members now have an electronic discussion conference for its members, available from a host computer at the University of Ottawa, Canada. It can be accessed from Bitnet, SprintMail, or any other networks which have been interconnected with Internet. Contents of discussions can be faxed to those with no access to appropriate electronic mail, albeit one-way from the host computer to recipients. This unique feature enables us to reach participants around the world. We can offer this thanks to SprintMail's generous provision of support.
The objective of the conference is to provide a discussion platform cooperation on the development of various GLOSAS projects. Participants also discuss any related subjects, whether it be about the technology, procedure (technique), content or form and whether having inter- cultural, economic or policy implications, as well as instruction and sharing of information. We are all interested in telecommunication and its application to learning, i.e., "global education." The field has grown far too large for any individual to master it all. We can, however, try to master it together.
An electronic newsletter, "GLOSAS NEWS," has also been published about our upcoming projects and developments, thanks to a kind offer of a similar service from McGill University, Canada.
IV. GOALS AND PRINCIPLES OF GLOBAL UNIVERSITY
A. Goals
Recognizing that humankind is faced with a wide range of critical problems (ICIS Forum 1988), the Global University is directing itself to four essential goals:
1. The globalization of educational opportunities to make
possible the highest quality of education for all the
world's learners.
2. Support of research and development, including such
projects as:
a. globally networked "think tanks" for examining
philosophical assumptions, creating new models of
educational exchange, and collaborating on problems
of global concern;
b. research on new technologies that will improve the
quality of educational endeavors; and
c. global coordination of research results and the
accomplishments of educators around the world.
3. Use of global scale tools such as peace gaming and global
village meetings so as to explore new alternatives for a
world-order capable of addressing the problems and
opportunities of an interdependent globe.
4. Globalization of employment opportunities to enhance the
job flexibility and lifestyles of all the world's
workers.
The goal of GU is to empower under-served people of Third World
countries by giving them access to the educational excellence of many
countries via various telecommunication media.
B. Observations
Projects of Global University will be based on following general observations;
1. "Collaborative Learning": "Learnability" and "retainability" increases when students can collaborate easily with instructors and other students. As the globe shrinks with inexpensive transportation and with ever increasing multinational trade and commerce, we are required to find a way for young people throughout the world to learn together in order to know and understand each other's culture and values.
2. "Experiential Learning": Knowledge is gained with action to become wisdom. In addition to traditional face-to- face or one-way satellite video lectures or seminars, we emphasize practical, hands-on learning, together with instructors, colleagues and professionals. Students and trainees will converse daily via various telecommunication media while they engage in their work in their countries. This will foster comradeship amongst participants.
3. "Objective Learning": Our projects are to construct an ever-lasting infrastructure system jointly. Participants will then have a feeling of accomplishment for the betterment of humankind.
4. "Autonomous Learning": It is certainly most desirable if students/trainees can go abroad to study in a desired country for a period of time, say, a half year, one year or more. However, this requires them to leave their daily work place. There are also budgetary constrains -- not many people can have such a privilege. We therefore attempt as much as possible to utilize advanced computer, information and telecommunications technologies to overcome remoteness and inevitable time differences among countries. This will enable students/trainees to promote their autonomous learning at their desired location and time.
C. Principles
The emerging Global University has a determination to preserve true academic freedom and cultural variety (Utsumi et al. 1990). The shape of GU should also not be determined solely by business, engineering, and technological efforts and concerns. Therefore considerable time is being given to discussion of a global educational philosophy. It is hoped that a great deal of freedom can be maintained in the balance between government, corporate, university and voluntary agency structures, so that no one will dominate.
The purposes, principles, values, and methods of global education are the topic of a working group appointed by GU/USA. This is because, as distance education grows more common, its philosophy will affect the well-being of people and countries everywhere. To explore essential principles, ideas, and philosophies of global education, GU expects to complete a draft of a "Universal Charter of Global (electronic) Education" that will become the policy of GU. The charter will speak of the world's needs and of what education can do to help the people of the world fulfill their needs, individually and jointly. We hope that individuals, schools and other associations will participate in the development and final editing of this charter and that those involved in global distance education will adopt this charter as a basis for their own activities. GU/USA will submit the charter to UNESCO for possible adoption when the working group completes its task. The working group welcomes correspondence with anyone in the world, especially from outside the United States and from cultures other than European- American.
V. ELECTRONIC DELIVERY SYSTEM
In order to create an environment conducive to global peace gaming and information exchange there is a need of communications systems that secure effective participation in decisions affecting all. GLOSAS has therefore been advocating policy changes resulting in less costly and more accessible communications for the purpose of study and discussion of common concerns. Towards these ends, GLOSAS has requested public officials to make changes in telecommunications policies -- for text- oriented, electronic mail and computer conferencing as mentioned above, and now for video teleconference with the use of receive-only antennas for educational purposes. GLOSAS ultimately seeks to form cooperative alliances and consortia whose collective weight could be used to lower the costs of communications as well as effect significant changes in policy.
GU seeks to provide at nominal cost a "technology package" for participating colleges, universities, community associations, and local governments to use for accessing educational resources via various telecommunication media. For example, a joint effort of GUs in various countries/regions to lease international telecommunications lines and/or satellite transponders will make it possible for members of GU to obtain discounted telecommunications costs. Perhaps fees from member institutions can be justified by negotiated reduced costs in transmission. Full-motion video lines via satellite are very expensive, especially across oceans. Consortia in any country can thus unite their strengths so that international information and educational exchange can readily become attainable. Some other examples are:
A. Computer Conferencing Systems
Electronic mail or computer conferencing can become the basis of communication amongst students and instructors on a global basis. In contrast to electronic mail, EIES provides interactive dialogue amongst participants independent of time and space constraints. Their dialogue can be retrieved at any time from almost anywhere on the world. Thereby, all participants, however far apart they may be, "congregate as in a room." Or it can be considered as a "shared file cabinet" for them to use as they participate in various projects. EIES has been used to offer education to Singapore, Scandinavia, and middle eastern countries with teachers in Japan, Venezuela, and elsewhere around the globe.
B. Packet-Radio and -Satellite Systems
The Big Sky Project in the State of Montana uses packet-radio for transmission of audio, text and animated color graphics in a 50 miles range. The packet-satellite technique, developed at the University of North Texas, can connect personal computers linked together in Texas, Florida, Hawaii, American and Western Samoa, and Tonga via NASA's Applied Technology Satellite (ATS) free of charge. The foot-print of the satellite covers all North, Central and South America, and many Pacific islands to Marshall Islands. The linkage enables retrieval of library catalogue at the University of Hawaii.
C. Slow-Scan TV (SSTV) Conference Systems
A slow-scan (or freeze-frame) TV (SSTV) unit can be used for real- time demonstrations and for other joint research in various fields. Such connections with SSTV can be an effective supplement to distance education with electronic mail or computer conferencing, the so-called "Virtual Classroom" or "Global Classroom." A similar unit is now at the University of Puerto Rico which has been used daily for distance education with New York University. Distance education, using the new information technology, doesn't have to be full-motion video (Urbanowicz 1991).
D. Full-Color, Full-Motion Video Teleconference Systems
A recent report counted fifty-four educational programming networks using satellite video at the end of 1990 in North America alone. Twelve years earlier, there were only nine. Many are preparing to extend their services globally (Nevins and Urbanowicz 1991; Ljutic 1989).
The National Technological University (NTU) -- see below -- recently commenced the use of digital compressed video technology that is equivalent to existing consumer analog video. Basically, compressed video is the process of converting the analog signal to digital and then reducing the number of bits requires to reconstruct the video. This technology enables the transmission more than 15 satellite courses simultaneously via a single transponder, thus greatly reducing the satellite usage costs and also providing the possibility of quick delivery of course materials which may be recorded onto video-tapes. Other associated features include simultaneous facsimile transmission, addressability of individual receive-only earth station with capability to turn video cassette recorders (VCRs) on and off automatically, and a high-speed data transmission line.
We plan to use all digital satellite transmission techniques as the backbone of global telecommunication networks for the GU. This transmission will be one-way, from the U.S. to overseas counterparts. Return communications (mainly audio, slow-scan TV, facsimile, data and computer conferencing) are to be made through ordinary overseas telephone lines, thus avoiding telecommunications policy restrictions for uplinking to the INTELSAT satellite directly from school premises in the various countries. We can expect a much larger advantage if we lease the satellite transponder.
E. Project DAWN
GLOSAS/USA initiated Project DAWN for the extension of American educational services overseas. This project will make a feasibility study/market survey; experimenting for one year with the extension of American educational services to those countries/regions via inexpensive telecommunication networks. Project members are of two types; (1) providers of educational services, and (2) users or receivers. Together with interested parties, GLOSAS/USA will prepare an application to Project ACCESS of INTELSAT for a free narrow band service (for audio, data, facsimile, slow-scan TV, graphics, etc.).
VI. REGIONAL GLOBAL UNIVERSITIES
Experience shows that the expertise necessary to participate in peace games does not yet exist in many parts of the world. To help educate future participants in peace games, and to promote the cause of peace by enhancing exchanges of education and joint research, GLOSAS/USA is attempting to create Global/Pacific University (GPU) (Utsumi and Clements 1989), Global/Latin American University (GLAU) (Utsumi and Garzon 1991) and Global/European University (GEU) (Utsumi 1991a) consortia. Along with a Global/Indian University (GIU) (Charp 1988), these can become part of a true Global University, consisting of a federation of consortia linked in a cooperative network. These strong network regions are determined partly by geography, cultural history and by the footprints of communication satellites.
The GU, with responsibility for the collaboration of groups in each country and region, may consist of a federation of consortia, each invited to have an authorized, cooperative, and collaborative relationship with the GU/USA, a divisional activity of GLOSAS/USA. Similar consortia are being created in Canada, Japan, Australia, Sri Lanka, Brazil and other countries.
A. Establishment of Global/Latin American University (GLAU)
In spite of the considerable educational efforts that their governments have invested, some countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are still experiencing environmental deterioration, ecosystem destruction and species loss, not so much as the result of excesses brought about by development, as in other parts of the world, but rather due to the mass impact of a rapidly growing and poorly educated population. A GLAU can take full advantage of the potential that telecommunication networking offers for education, information, simulation, exchange of ideas, cooperation and problem solving.
At the present time, few institutions of the region can hardly afford all the required infrastructure and operational elements of a successful distance education programs on their own. Financial and human resources are scarce, so that it is essential for distance education institutions to share whatever resources and experience are available. Furthermore, existing mechanisms for inter-institutional cooperation in the field of distance education are no longer sufficient to respond to all the needs.
In the particular case of Latin America, there has been an obvious inability on the part of its educational systems to promote the necessary conditions for self-sustained development. To confront this situation, Latin American governments have attempted innovative ways to provide education more efficiently and which is more appropriate to the needs of their societies.
Since 1976 distance education has become one of the most important alternatives to conventional education in Latin America. This educational mode has dramatically grown in the whole region. Its adoption has been spearheaded by distance teaching institutions of higher education. In 1979 some Latin American and the Caribbean countries governments, with the support of the Regional Program for Educational Development (PREDE) of the Organization of American States (OAS), commenced the implementation of distance education projects with the purpose of improving and expanding educational opportunities for a growing population of students who could not attend the traditional education system. In that year two full fledged national distance teaching universities were launched in Costa Rica and Venezuela. The application of distance education has been so successful that there are nowadays several educational institutions dedicated entirely to distance education in Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela, and many more offering both classroom-based and distance education programs. Initiatives for the creation of distance education institutions at the national level are currently underway in other countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, and at the local and institutional level one can find distance education projects in almost every country in the region (Utsumi and Garzon 1991).
This dramatic growth is in part a result of educational policies enacted at the national level, and in part an outcome of the execution of the OAS/PREDE Multinational Project for the Development and Application of Distance Educational Systems. The multinational and cooperative nature of this OAS project had another impact among the implementing institutions: the development of an infrastructure and expertise for cooperation, as attested by the creation of the Latin American Network for the Development of Distance Education (REDLAED) in May of 1989, and of the Consortium-Network of Distance Education (CREAD) under the auspices of the Interamerican Organization of Higher Education (IOHE) in 1990 with funds provided from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) (Villarroel 1991).
REDLAED is a regional consortium of educational institutions interested in promoting education through the use of distance learning methods and techniques. REDLAED has decided to give highest priority to four topics: environmental problems, literacy, women's issues, and teachers training. However, REDLAED still lacks the needed telecommunication capability to operate as a network.
CREAD is also a regional consortium which allows for the participation of North American institutions. It basically has the same priorities indicated by REDLAED and has a permanent office in Quebec City, Canada. The telecommunication capability of CREAD will be initiated soon with the establishment of an interamerican electronic network.
As a first step, GLOSAS is now working with REDLAED, CREAD, PREDE, Regional Center for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (CRESALC) of UNESCO, and many other colleagues in the region to create a Global/Latin American (electronic) University (GLAU). This is an initial step towards full implementation of a Global (electronic) University (GU) consortium, so that Latin American institutions can meet the challenge of global issues. GLOSAS/USA is helping to provide their activities with inexpensive international telecommunications. They will become a core of GLAU. Distance educators in several Latin American countries are now also preparing with GLOSAS/USA to receive NTU and other American courses -- see below.
VII. PROJECTS FOR GLOBAL UNIVERSITIES
A. Goal, Purpose and Objective
The goal is to contribute to the development of human resources in the Third World countries in the field of distance education through the operation of a network for inter-institutional technical cooperation and assistance for the use of distance education methods. The distance education brings also the need for research and for applying its results to development.
The purpose is to assist in the implementation and initial operation of a regional inter-institutional network dedicated to promote technical horizontal cooperation among distance education institutions in the countries and regions.
Its main objective is to assist distance education and higher education institutions in testing, adopting and institutionalizing innovations in the field of telecommunication networking with the purpose of facilitating the implementation of specialized information systems and promoting the development of distance education processes.
B. Training of Facilitators for Information and Knowledge Management
For smooth operations of "Global Lecture Hall" events and global electronic education, it is a vital necessity to have a capable facilitator at each participating site. Also, effective use of various computer, telecommunication and information technologies has to be made by students of global electronic distance education -- for example, the uses of personal computer, word processor and communication software are minimum requirements to converse with their counterparts via electronic mail and computer conference, and also to retrieve various information databases.
The individual can be regarded not only as an information user, but also as an information and knowledge producer by the use of several media. One of these media is the computer and telecommunication networks. One of the problems facing network users from the Third World is the lack of adequate knowledge to use telecommunication facilities efficiently. Therefore, regional GUs, such as GPU, GLAU and GEU, could offer, in cooperation with Nippon Omni-Management Association (NOMA) in Japan, REDLAED and CREAD in Latin America and WAUSE in Europe, this training possibility around the following topics:
(1) Use of computers as a mean to process information and produce messages to be circulated in networks and to communicate with peers within the framework of interest groups. This can be called the development of a generative grammar of messages;
(2) The use of media production methodologies and the rules to produce and organize contents to be circulated in networks;
(3) The use of existing information services and data banks and the interpretation and utilization of data, information and knowledge (interpretative grammar of messages) (Cartier 1987).
Training activities will be organized around the following axes: the user, the information contents, the technologies and the media and information services. The main objective is to train the user on how to produce contents; how to read, interpret and use the information contents that he receives; how to use information and telecommunication technologies and information services, databases, electronic conferences and forums more effectively for training, research and development purposes.
In the very near future, equipment and facilities at course- receiving-sites, such as corporations and universities, also consist of the satellite dish for receiving transmissions; the satellite master control, which directs receptions and maintains VCRs and monitors; the designated class-rooms and satellite broadcast room, including telephone hook-ups for interactive satellite broadcast or for faculty contact, and the administrative section.
The facilitator will assist corporations, academic institutions, and educational agencies in planning, operating, and distributing media- based continuing education and information update programs for working professionals. The facilitator will also coordinate with a site education council which will provide guidance and backing, look at student needs and qualification, and recommend course offerings and collect information from providers and prospective providers. He/she circulates catalogs, schedules and other printed materials on course offerings to students, managers and supervisors. The site coordinator also takes care of student needs. Videotapes of all classes are maintained for students who miss classes because of job responsibilities or travel. Instruction by videotape usually requires a tutor to lead classes and facilitate learning (Kiester 1991).
GLOSAS/USA will provide distance educators in Third World countries with facilitator training on how to access electronic-mail and computer conferencing, as Utsumi did in the fall of 1990 in Caracas, Venezuela,
-- see below -- and also to access various databases available from the U.S. and how to operate receive-only antenna, etc. They will become the core group of global electronic education activities in their countries.
C. Export of Courses to Overseas
The National Technological University (NTU) in Fort Collins, Colorado, a consortium of engineering departments from about forty leading U.S. universities distributes courses through satellite to domestic buyers of major American corporations, such as AT&T, Boeing, DEC, Kodak, Du Pont, GE, GTE, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, IBM, Motorola, NCR, Pacific Bell, Texas Instruments, and Xerox, etc. Its market is mainly for continuing education of engineers who are assigned to locations where advanced courses are not readily available. By participating in the GU, NTU -- whose present scope of operations is limited to the United States -- will be capable of extending its services to learning centers and individuals around the world. The NTU has already indicated its willingness to work with GLOSAS/USA.
GLOSAS/USA believes that these courses would be useful to companies in various countries for the same reason. Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) in Mexico now receives NTU courses daily. Some video tapes of NTU's courses have already been translated into Japanese (Gomi 1988) and Italian for continuing education of employees.
GLOSAS/USA will conduct multi-client projects on the market survey of educational services available from North America to overseas countries including for employee training of subsidiaries/affiliates of North American organizations. GLOSAS/USA membership is now opened to entitle one to join this multi-client joint project. The results of this survey will be the basis of our business plan and economic and technical feasibility study for extending American courses to target countries on regular basis to create a regional GU, since the footprint of satellites can well cover those regions.
D. Distance Research and Development
Telecommunication facilities do not only allow us to educate people, but also to conduct research and bring people together in discussion groups around teaching, research and development projects.
This project is to explore the possibility of using regional GUs and its telecommunication platform as a means;
(1) to promote education in several fields of knowledge,
(2) to enhance the conduct of research projects by bringing together several scholars in special interest groups (SIGs), and also
(3) to facilitate a working environment for decision-making related to development projects.
These three functions (teaching, research and development) are the basic functions of any university.
A university, of course, is much more than courses. Efforts are being continued in GLOSAS to facilitate international research electronically. The vast amount of electronic collaboration on research projects, from continent to continent, is another evidence of the emergence of the "global electronic university" quite beyond and outside the efforts of all organizations and agencies. The exchange of knowledge among/between countries can make major contributions to world peace, helping to ease frictions, to promote joint research and development and mutual exchange and understanding. An example of such joint effort is our global environment peace gaming simulation, though it will be conducted at a later stage (Utsumi 1991b).
E. Development of Consortiums and Local Chapters
GLOSAS/USA will encourage the development of other consortiums and related organizations and groups of every kind, urging them to pool their resources and energies; to work together on a regional and local basis, as well as nationally and globally; and to form learning centers by local chapters at cities and towns in various countries/regions.
VIII. SPECIFIC PROJECTS FOR A GLOBAL/LATIN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY (GLAU)
A. GLOSAS/USA's Involvement in Latin American Activities
GLOSAS presented the technical outline of the GLAU at the inaugural conference of REDLAED in May, 1989, in Cordoba, Argentina.
In order to support the efforts of Latin American distance educators, GLOSAS/USA organized a demonstration of large scale interactive satellite teleconference "Global Lecture Hall" with the use of various inexpensive global telecommunication media to show the possibilities of global education on the occasion of the XVth World Conference of the International Council of Distance Education (ICDE) in November, 1990, in Caracas, Venezuela, as mentioned above. GLOSAS also conducted a tutorial on the use of electronic mail at this occasion for distance educators from various countries of the region during a Workshop on Training of Distance Education Trainers, organized by Universidad Nacional Abierta and CRESALC-UNESCO after the conference.
B. Telecommunication Network
The initial phase of this project for GLAU is for the development and implementation of a telecommunication network for organizing and promoting the operation of a GLAU, and for the exchange of scientific and technological information among distance education and higher education institutions throughout the region. This project will strengthen their capability in order to more actively participate in the international scientific community. Particular emphasis is given to the applications of the telecommunication network in the field of distance education, scientific and technological research and development at the national, regional and international levels.
This project will build up its operation for the REDLAED and other Latin American distance educators with following stages:
(1) Electronic mail networking training for the operations of the telecommunication infrastructure for information exchange for distance educators in the region and the development of an electronic forum for scientific and technological debate and some distance education experiences;
(2) Feasibility study of international educational and training course exchange system via telecommunication media among the institutions in the region and with those in North America;
(3) Prototype operation of the network system for distance education projects addressing, at the regional level, issues of global importance, as well as the development of remote access databases.
C. Feasibility Study of Exporting/Importing Satellite Education Courses
The University of Cordoba, Brazilian University Network Distance Education at the Universidade de Brasilia, the University of the West Indies, the National University for Distance Education in Colombia, Empresa Nacional de Computacion e Informatica (ECOM), S.A., in Chile, etc., have shown their interest in importing the NTU courses for continuing engineering education purpose. They are now soliciting cooperations of various professional associations of industries, continuing engineering education and distance education, etc., in their countries. A similar survey to Japanese case will be made in various countries of Latin America and the Caribbean region.
D. Formation of Provisional Committee to Establish GLAU
Thanks to inexpensive telecommunication facilities provided by SprintMail, GLOSAS colleagues in Latin American countries have now formed a provisional committee to establish a Global/Latin American (electronic) University (GLAU) to discuss daily various necessary matters via electronic mail.
A first step towards this end is to prepare a brochure and a basic working document (in paper and electronic form), in English, Spanish and Portuguese, about GLAU, which can be distributed among the academic and scientific community of Latin America and the Caribbean (and also, of course, to some English speakers). Next, we will identify the appropriate population to distribute the documentation and conduct a consultation survey about GLAU along with the feasibility study about the international educational and training course exchange system not only among the regional countries but also between Latin American and the Caribbean countries and North American and European countries.
IX. CONCLUSION
Global education via satellite and other telecommunication media is the way towards the 21st century Age of Knowledge, laying a social infrastructure for global citizenship of the global village. Extending communications through a global network and sharing ideas and educational opportunities with other locations is of paramount interest. The exchange of knowledge among/ between countries can make major contributions to world peace, helping to ease frictions, promoting joint research and development, and mutual exchange and understanding. Developments in global electronic education can transform education at all levels around the world, and can enrich and transform human society.
Global (electronic) University is an evolutionary concept with no global precedent. It can now take shape gradually through parallel steps and many kinds of initiatives in many regions, encouraging a sense of universally shared responsibility, a spirit of participation, and of genuine collaboration, in an enterprise truly global in scope. Global education is a major key to sustainable survival. The world is "shrinking" in the electronic sense and all people and all educational programs are becoming increasingly interconnected and more and more dependent upon one another. With this interconnection, however, there comes the potential for escalating regional conflicts, so the need for global education with global peace gaming has never been greater.
Never has the need been greater to find a way of realizing the wisdom of the Japanese saying: "Onaji Kama no Meshi wo Ku-u" which means "brake bread together," to do so in harmony. This togetherness of the Japanese group system is one of her strengths. In the international scene, Senator Fulbright once said that learning together and working together are the first steps toward world peace.
The time is ripe for global education. Technology is now available. What we need now are people who are eager to face the challenges of our time and to forge ahead toward the 21st century education.
Our work has been supported for years by a combination of ad hoc grants from the Americas Society, AT&T, Colorado Video, Fetzer Foundation, Hughes Communications, INTEC of Japan, Mitsubishi Electric, National Technological University, NEC, NHK, NYNEX, Pacific Telesis, PAN AM Satellites, Private Satellite Network, the Public Service Satellite Consortium, Radio Televizja Beograd, Telespazio, Sony of America, Sprintnet/SprintMail and others.
Considerable interest in the results has been generated as far as the Pacific Rim, Sri Lanka, Latin America, and Europe. All was accomplished on a small budget and relying on cooperation and external support. Perhaps that is the greatest lesson of all (Ljutic and Utsumi 1991).
X. REFERENCES
Cartier, M. (1987). "La Maison d'Edition Electronique," University of Montreal Press, Guerin Editeur, Montreal, Canada.
Charp, S. (1988). "Editorial." T.H.E. Journal, 8 August 1988.
De Blasi, M. (1990a). Support letter for GLOSAS/USA's effort to de- regulate Japanese telecommunication policy, August 10, 1990.
De Blasi, M. (1990b). "World Association for the Use of Satellites in Education." Education in Computing, Vol. 2, No. 3 (September - December), 1990.
ICIS Forum (1988). 18;1a-1b.
Kiester, S. V. (1991). "Learning Centers: The Bay Area Model," IACEE Newsletter, News bulletin of the International Association for Continuing Engineering Education (IACEE), Vol. 3, No. 1, March 1991, pp. 4-5.
Ljutic, A. (1989). "Distance Education for a Small Planet," Paper presented at the Pacific-Basin Conference of World Future Studies Federation/"Linking Long-Range Visions to Short-Range Decisions in the Pacific-Basin Networking Community," Nagoya, Japan, November 20-23, 1989.
Ljutic, A. and T. Utsumi (1991). "Glasnost In The Global Village: A Glosas Project." Paper presented at the "GLASNOST AND THE GLOBAL VILLAGE" conference, York University, Toronto, Canada, February 19-22, 1991.
Nevins, C. L. and C. F. Urbanowicz (1991). "Extra-terrestrial Education: Not a Science Fiction at All," Paper presented at the 1991 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C., February 14-19, 1991.
Rossman, P. and T. Utsumi (1986). "Waging peace with globally- interconnected computers." In: Didsbury H. F. Jr. (ed) Challenges and Opportunities: From Now to 2001, Bethesda, MD: World Future Society, pp. 98-107.
Urbanowicz, C. F. (1991). "Information Technology for The Pacific Basin." Paper presented at the 17th Quadrennial Meeting of the Pacific Science Congress and the session entitled "Technologies for Development: Prospects for the 21st Century," Honolulu, Hawaii, 27 May-2 June, 1991.
Utsumi, T. (1977). "Peace game." Simulation, November 1977: p. 135.
Utsumi, T. and J. DeVita (1982). "GLOSAS project." In: Schoemaker S. (ed) Computer Networks and Simulation II, Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Co., pp 279-326.
Utsumi, T., P. O. Mikes, and P. Rossman (1986). "Peace games with open modeling network." In: Schoemaker S. (ed) Computer Networks and Simulation III, Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Co., pp 267-298.
Utsumi, T. and M. Clements (1989). "Proposal for Global/Pacific (electronic) University." Paper presented at the Pacific-Basin Conference of World Future Studies Federation/"Linking Long-Range Visions to Short-Range Decisions in the Pacific-Basin Networking Community," Nagoya, Japan, November 20-23, 1989.
Utsumi, T., P. Rossman, and S. M. Rosen (1990). "The Global Electronic University," In: Moore, M. G. (ed) Contemporary Issues in American Distance Education. Oxford, England: Pergamon Press, pp 96-110.
Utsumi, T. (1991a). "Towards Establishing a Global/European (electronic) University." Paper presented at Biennial Conference: "The Challenge of a New European Architecture: Implications for the European Community's Internal and External Agendas," George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, May 22 - 24, 1991.
Utsumi, T. and D. A. DeMaio (1991). "User Manual of 'GLOBAL LECTURE HALL' for Global (electronic) University and Global Environmental Peace Gaming," Edizioni Fratelli Laterza, Bari, Italy.
Utsumi, T. and A. Garzon (1991). "Global (electronic) University for Global Peace Gaming." In: Crookall D. and Arai K. (eds) Global Interdependence: Simulation and Gaming Perspectives. Proceedings of the Conference of the 22nd Annual International Conference of the International Simulation and Gaming Association (ISAGA), Kyoto, Japan, 15-19 July, 1991. Sprinter-Verlag.
Utsumi, T. (1991b). "Global (electronic) University for Global Environment Peace Gaming with Global Neural Computer Network." Paper presented at the Global Lecture Hall video teleconference on "The Round Table on SATELLITES FOR GLOBAL EDUCATION." Computer Architecture Conference held at the University of Lecce, Lecce, Italy, October 24, 1991.
Villarroel, A. (1991). "CREAD: An Inter-American Program in the Field of Distance Education." A report on the research of the OAS-IOHE-CREAD project which surveyed the state of Inter-American Distance Education and the possibilities of technical reticular cooperation, Scott Weiner Laptop Publishing, State College, Pennsylvania, November, 1991.
AUTHORS BIOGRAPHIES
Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., is Chairman of the GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation in the U.S.A. (GLOSAS/USA) and President of Global (electronic) University in the U.S.A. (GU/USA) which he created in 1988 as a publicly supported, non-profit, educational service organization dealing with the issues of the quality and availability of international educational exchange through the use of computer, telecommunication and information technologies, seeking to create a Global University (GU). He is also President of Global Information Services, a firm which assists businesses in various countries, and especially Japan, to access computer information via global Value Added Networks (VANs). Among his many duties he is a member of the Board of the University of the World in La Jolla, California; Director of the World Association for the Use of Satellites in Education (WAUSE) in Bari, Italy; a board member of the Institute for Educational Studies in Atlanta, Georgia; and an advisor to Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES) of the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is also Technical Director of the GLOSAS/JAPAN, responsible for using advanced computers, telecommunications, systems analysis, and simulation technology to seek solutions to world wide problems. Among his over 150 related scientific papers are many presentations, for example, to the Summer Computer Simulation Conferences which he created and named. He is a member of various scientific and professional groups, such as The Society of Satellite Professionals International, International Association for Learning Laboratories, etc., and is now completing a technical book in the area of his profession.
Armando Villarroel, Ph.D., CREAD Director, is Associate Professor,
Universidad Nacional Abierta in Venezuela, where he has also served as
Academic Vice-Rector; as Coordinator of Special Projects in Distance
Education for the Organization of American States (OAS) and Conference
Manager of the Fifteenth World Conference of the International Council
of Distance Education, held in Caracas, November 4-10, 1990. In 1991 he
is a Senior Researcher for the OAS and the Interamerican Higher
Education Organization's Joint Research Project. A graduate of the
University of Florida (USA) in Sociology, with M.A. and Ph.D. degrees
from Michigan State University, he has also served as Assistant
Professor and Program Director of the Distant Teaching Program at the
Pennsylvania State University. He has been Vice-President of Latin
America of the International Council for Distance Education, and is the
author of articles and books on distance education in both Spanish and
English, including "The Planning of Distance Education Projects,"
Prospects-UNESCO, 1989; "Aspectos Operativos de Universidades a
Distancia"; and "Distance Education in Developing Countries" in a 1991
book celebrating the work of Dr. Borje Holmberg of the FernUniversitat
of Hagen, Germany.
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