A cooperative program to develop a state-of-the-art distance learning exchange between
the Department of Meteorology at San Jose State University and the Earth Systems
Science & Policy Institute at California State University Monterey Bay was initiated in
the Fall of 1997. The goals of this experimental program were to 1) take advantage of
resources of mutual interest rather than duplicating them; 2) utilize existing and new
technologies to enhance educational effectiveness; 3) Go beyond simple, web-based
instruction and talking-head technology. After investigating several integrated
conferencing and PC-based delivery systems, the technology was considered either not
cost effective or too closely aligned with the talking-head model. Also, the systems were
not suited to the delivery of computer intensive coursework in the atmospheric sciences;
topics such as radar meteorology, mesoscale modeling, and visualization generally
require UNIX-based workstations. Consequently, an integrated delivery system was
abandoned in lieu of a system built piecemeal from independent technology. The core of
the system is Silicon Graphics Incorporated workstations (Indys or O2s) running the
InPerson conferencing software. This software allows for multicast video and audio,
shared whiteboard, and a shared file system for data file transfer. On top of the SGI
software, the classrooms and instructor are video and audio conferenced through the
California State University 3CNET network. The result is that the instructor and students
can see and communicate with each other regardless of location. The synchronous
conferencing system is supplemented by a chroma-key camera that allows the instructor
to teach on top of the output from the computer terminal in the same way a broadcaster
can stand in front of a weather map on television. Large televisions or projectors located
in front of the classrooms display the instructor and the contents of the instructors screen.
While still in the experimental stage, the system has been successfully demonstrated on a
wide area network in a mock instruction environment where students created a
visualization using VIS5D. A major advantage of this distance learning delivery system
is the ability to teach curricula that requires the use of UNIX-based workstations.