Global tools for educational organizing and personal learning
Alfred K. Ailamazyan
Sergei M. Abramov
Evgeny D. Patarakin
Abstract
This paper reports on a research project designed to demonstrate how to
bring global telecommunications networks into all levels of a regional
education and to explore what role this technology may play in shaping of
new educational environment. We developed region educational network for
helping all categories of tutors and learners to explore a new
telecommunication media. Probably the most significant result is that
regional network greatly promotes local internal communication and personal
reflection as opposed to mere informational share.
Introduction
The consortium of following participants: Rusian Institute of Regional
Problems, Program Systems Institute, University of Pereslavl presents the
project of regional informational and educational landscape. These
institutions are supported bringing of a new computer technology into the
regional educational system, fostering new kinds of teaching materials and
learning environments. For the last five years, work has been in progress at
Pereslavl-Zalessky on the development of regional telecommunication network,
which is now in routine use in every levels of the regional education from
kindergarten to University.
1. Internet connectivity in Pereslavl-Zalessky
Considerable progress has been made during the last two years in IP
connectivity of Pereslavl-Zalessky. A 28.8kbit/s IP link between
Pereslavl and Moscow and a 64 kbits/s IP satellite link between Pereslavl
and St. Petersburg. There are more than one hundred connected computers in
the town now. Telecommunication laboratory "botik" are now setting up
regional backbone infrastructure connecting major academic and educational
centers in the town. 10 mbit/s optic fiber lines are used wherever available
and 28.8 kbit/s on all other links.
2. Co-operation across regional educational network
Internet connectivity has involved Pereslavl educational system into the
worldwide network of teachers, students and educational administrators.
There are three main new perspectives for regional education and culture:
- to contact with worldwide informational resources;
- to share those own heritage with other world;
- to take a shape as a definite local unity.
We believe that
the last perspective is mostly important. Teachers and students in Pereslavl
actively used global tools to get and put information about each other and
their native town. It is very significant that now about 80 percents of the
"botik" IP-traffic is internal traffic.
3. Personal learning
Pereslavl-Zalessky telecommunication center provides Pereslavl students with
access to international network and its own informational resources. At the
same time that regional resources is growing up similar efforts is continued
to develop personal learning media through the following projects:
-
The Students home-pages
- All students of the University have they own home-page on the University
WWW server. Now they are setting up different virtual community on the base
of joint project, mutual interests, etc.
-
The joint e-mail project
- The joint e-mail project between the students of English at the University
of Pereslavl and students of Russian at Trinity College, Dublin. Students
have an opportunity to see how foreigners perceive their country, they can
compare their own perception of their home city with that of their foreign
friends.
-
Psychological projects
- Psychological projects "Lets play with your constructs!" and "Let
deceive your psychologist" within the framework of Psychological Web Site,
where students played role of researchers, studying their own mental
categories and mental categories of another people, evaluated the changes of
their own mind during educational activity
- Ecological and
Cross-cultural projects
- The special ecological focus of the regional education has determined the
subject matter of telecommunication cooperation with students from Japan.
The participants discussed the various ecological problems that their
respective countries are faced with.
-
Cross-cultural projects are presented to the world to heighten understanding
between people and countries. For example - Takeda-san Story Project. He
spent five years of his life at war and then four years as a prisoner of war
in Siberia. His experience at war left an indelible mark on the rest of his
life.
Conclusion
Now we are setting up in a WWW space virtual model of the lifelong
educational chain. This virtual model will help us to clear all parts and
links of educational system to the tutors, students and their parents. We
believe that main goal of the informational highway is to bring to students
new technology of thinking. As Vannevar Bush wrote: "Presumably man's spirit
should be elevated if he can better review his shady past and analyze more
completely and objectively his present problems.... His excursion may be
more enjoyable if he can reacquire the privilege of forgetting the manifold
things". We believe that new learning environment encourage students to
learn in harmony with another people and the regional resources.
Information about the authors:
Alfred K. Ailamazyan is a member of the Russian Academy of Natural
Sciences, Professor, D.Sc. in engineering, Director of the Rusian Institute
of Regional Problems
Sergei M. Abramov is the director of the Research Center for
Multiprocessor Systems and the head of the Laboratory of program systems for
parallel architectures in the RCMS.
Evgeny D. Patarakin is the Director of Distance Learning Laboratory
University of Pereslavl, Ph.D. in Education.