TeleLearning
Web Enhanced Audio-Graphics
Multipoint, Multimode, Real Time, 
Distance Education that Works!

TeleLearning Project
LSMSA - Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts 
P.O. Box 989
715 College Avenue
Natchitoches, Louisiana 71458
318-357-3255

Audio-Graphics | Web Enhancements | Problems

TeleLearning involves setting up an audio teleconference with as many as 20 remote sites and employing a computer to add text and graphic capabilities. (more)

For the last 12 years, LSMSA's award winning audio-graphic delivery system has put a qualified instructor in real time contact with high school students throughout the state. No other delivery system does a better job of duplicating the interactive environment of the traditional classroom. 

The photo above illustrates the kind of images (and text) that can be brought up on each student's screen. Click on the image to see an instructional sequence. The sidebar explains how to participate in a teleconference.  It involves nothing more than turning on the equipment and placing a long distance call. 

TeleLearning provides a way to hire a qualified instructor to teach courses that only 3 to 6 students at a particular high school may want (or need) to take.  By combining students from 5 or 6 high schools, a class size sufficient to justify hiring an instructor can be created. 

TeleLearning is an alternative to school consolidation and bussing.  It brings the remote teacher into personal contact with the student at their neighborhood school.  Most alternative distance learning options, such as correspondence study and videotape, are impersonal.  They do not allow conversations between teacher and student.
 

TeleLearning n 1. An effective way, economically and educationally, to deliver highly interactive instruction or training over distance. 2. An innovative program funded by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to create equal access to specific curricular offerings. 3. An interactive, real-time, audio graphic, computer-based delivery system used by Louisiana high schools.

Based on Bell Labs Electronic Blackboard (circa 1970), the basic equipment currently used to deliver this needed instruction is ancient.  It inacludes a 386 computer with a hard drive, a large low resolution [CGA] monitor, a graphics tablet,  an OpTel  modem, and proprietary software. 

The system enables interaction through voice, text, and  pictures.   The instructor (or the student) can present a slide show, use a pointer to highlight or mark particular items of the screen, and overwrite text.  The system delivers simultaneous voice, text, and graphics over a single phone line to multiple remote sites.  Multisite teleconferencing is made possible through a telephone bridge located in the TeleLearning office at the Louisiana School. 

TeleLearning provides much the same learning environment as an ordinary classroom.  It is very easy for a classroom teacher to adapt to this form of teaching.  The technology provides a way to point to,  mark,  highlight, or circle items on the screen.  This can be done by  both teacher and student. A teacher can send students their picture but AG provides no real time visual contact.  About the only thing missing that an instructor might want is eye contact  with the student.

What makes TeleLearning work is its simplicity and high level of interactivity.  Graphic content for a lesson is sent on a diskette and autoloaded into the correct directory on the local computer's hard drive. It can then be accessed on remote demand.  Graphics are normally in sequence and accessed with a simple <next> command. 

AG TeleLearning - the advantages

1. allows teachers to teach the way they do in the classroom
2. preferred by teacher's and students over any DL alternative
3. provides the essential tools of teaching: voice, print, pictures
4. uses existing level of connectivity available at remote rural schools.
5. allows a 2-way conversation between up to 20 classes 
6. high interactivity establishes a personal connection
7. simple, foolproof technology: short learning curve to proficiency
8. as effective as any of the more costly alternatives

AG can duplicate sophisticated electronic slide presentations

The graphic or background image on the screen can be marked up in real time from any terminal.  The instructor can draw or type over the image on the screen.  The capabilities of the current TeleLearning system can duplicate  sophisticated electronic slide presentation.  About the only thing the current AG system cannot easily access are animations and video-clips.

	Web Enhancements   Asynchronous Alternatives	.
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Web enhancements

TeleLearning involves synchronous two way communication in three modes:  voice, text, and graphics.  In the past supplementary materials were delivered by mail or fax.  In 1999, this delivery system was enhanced by the addition of a web delivery capability. 

The supplemental materials delivered electronically will include a FAQ (answers to frequently asked questions), a proctor's guide, a glossary, and a syllabus.  In addition, the Internet will provide a new channel for asynchronous communication.  This opens up additional opportunities for peer to peer communication and teaching.  Students may be able to post assignments to the Web and some reports can be made available for viewing, critique, and discussion. 
 

Audio-Graphics Synchronous 2-way communication in 3 modes:  (multisite) voice        (audio) text          (data) graphics (pictures)

Internet  [asynchronous] FAQ [question/answer] Glossary Proctor's Guide EG1EG2 Syllabus Example Discussion Groups EG Off-line Activities     EG

	Defining Audio-Graphics   Awards for Outstanding Dist-Ed	.
.	.	.

A viable and effective alternative to the traditional classroom
A cost-effective alternative to school consolidation and bussing

TeleLearning Project Outreach makes a difference in the schools of our state. TeleLearning's audio graphic delivery does an excellent job of putting a qualified instructor in real-time contact with students throughout the state. 

TeleLearning can be as effective as a good classroom teacher. A great teacher interacting with a remote class is certainly better than a poor teacher in a face-to-face classroom.

In TeleLearning, students and teachers are in constant two-way voice and electronic contact. The interactive nature of our delivery makes it a viable and effective alternative.

Audio-Graphics
What is audio-graphics? Audio-graphics is a computer-based, telephone interfaced distance education delivery system. Each participating school site has a computer, large screen monitor, a Voice-Too modem, an audio convener with microphones, and a electronic pen pad. Teachers work at the TeleLearning Center in Natchitoches preparing course materials which, in large part, are loaded onto the computers. A conference telephone call is made, connecting students at multiple school sites with the teacher, creating a "virtual" classroom. Students, regardless of location, may communicate with the teacher and their fellow "classmates" at any time during the class. The teacher can involve each and every student in the activities of the class using voice and electronic communication.

Awards
TeleLearning Project Outreach received the 1991 International Teleconferencing Association award for "Outstanding Audio Graphic/Computer Application." According to the review panel, this was the only education program to be recognized by the awards committee. 

Largest program of its kind
Louisiana's TeleLearning Project Outreach is still the largest program of its kind in the nation and continues to serve as a model for distance education programs. In 1992 an invitation was accepted to attend a national audio graphics conference at Pennsylvania State University. A letter received following that presentation, "Project Outreach - Louisiana Style," stated that attendee evaluations and responses were exceedingly positive. A similar presentation was made in Washington, D.C, where an actual class was conducted by connecting three Louisiana high schools to the conference site. 
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	Problems and Possible Solutions   Distance Education	.
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Problem areas and limitations
Most of the evaluations of the TeleLearning project have been very positive.  The reported problems are typically unrelated to the mode of delivery.  For example, since scheduling is not standardized across school districts, it is often difficult to deliver more than 40 minutes of "live" instruction per clock hour to all students. Some will arrive late and others depart early in accordance to local customs. Any form of synchronous communication among groups that are on different schedules and calendars will share this problem. 

One way the TeleLearning instructor has dealt with the scheduling problem is to provide off-line activities which are supported by the local proctor.  This year, those schools with Internet access can access the supplemental asynchronous assignments, projects, and activities on the Web.

If the proctor, or person responsible for maintaining the local site, does not report equipment problems, repairs may be delayed.  Evaluators are sometimes more sensitive to bad audio quality than those taking the class.  Poor reception can be improved to a point.  It cannot be improved beyond what the engineers have deemed to be satisfactory telephone voice quality (about 4,000 hertz). 

Unlike instructional television which might have 1,000 students in a class, TeleLearning has the same low class size requirement as conventional classroom teaching.  One can teach a class of 100, but the exchange will not be interactive.  Students prefer TeleLearning to instruction on videotape.  They prefer TeleLearning because of the high level of  interaction between student and teacher.  This begins to be lost when the class size is more than 20.  There is apparently no difference between 20 students at 3 sites and 20 students at 20 sites. 

Can TeleLearning be improved?
Any synchronous form of instruction can be enhanced with asynchronous activities.  Now that over 90% of the schools have Internet connectivity, it will be possible to use the Web to provide asynchronous enhancements to the real-time interactive classes.

With an upgrade in the hardware, one can expect some improvement in audio and video quality.  Digital audio can approach CD quality and screen resolution can be doubled. 

The primary limiting factors are line quality and the technological sophistication of the proctors and students.  Just adding Internet activities introduces a new level of complexity that takes some getting used to.  One can be trained to operate the existing audio-graphic equipment in 10 minutes or less.  The basics are included in the sidebar.  Setting up a desktop videoconference or webphone connection or using email are considerably more difficult.

TeleLearning can be improved but one should not expect major instructional improvements or improved test scores as a direct result of improving two way communication between 

TeleLearning can be improved.  Just how much improvement will come from doubling the investment in hardware and software is uncertain.  Without a proportional investment in training and support, expectations should not be set too high. The focus should be on upgrading what is available to the most remote high school rather than probing the limits of what is technologically possible. 

To use expanded technological capabilities requires a substantial investment in training and support.  There should be an equal amount of money set aside for training and support for every dollar invested in new technology.  This is the ratio used by businesses investing in new technology. 

Just creating off-line asynchronous activities to support synchronous instruction takes additional time. Seasoned teachers are not necessarily highly productive at doing this.  For some, exploiting some technological capability may be taking time away from other preparations which may be more educationally significant.

For these and other reasons, expanding investment in technological capabilities may not result in proportional improvement in educational outcomes.  To optimize, it is important to take a total systems approach and focus on the weakest links in the system. 

The old audio-graphic technology allowed the remote teacher to teach with the same techniques used in the traditional classroom and with the same educational results.  There was no "media magic."  Good teachers get good results teaching at a distance when the key communication channels (voice, text, and still pictures) are available to them. 

The old technology needs to be replaced simply because it is no longer manufactured.  The new technology will bring new capabilities.  It also brings new complexities and new demands on the infrastructure. 

The engineers developing the new hardware have often lost sight of the essentials:  First provide simultaneous two-way voice, text, and still pictures over copper wire, then see what other capabilities can be added.  First make using the basic capabilities as simple and fool-proof as possible, then work on the exciting possibilities. 

It is hard to make something simple.  But to the extent that simplicity can be achieved in new technology, the less needs to be set aside for training and support.

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· Location of the TeleLearning Offices

TeleLearning can originate anywhere.  However, most courses originate from the second floor of the Annex,  a brick building next door to the Louisiana School.  (Marked with a + on the map below). The Louisiana School is located on the campus of Northwestern State University on College Avenue in the historic city of Natchitoches, LA.  College Avenue is a continuation of State Road 6 as it enters the west side of town. 

TeleLearning Project LSMSA - Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts P.O. Box 989 715 College Avenue (Annex) Natchitoches, Louisiana 71458 318-357-3255 1-800-256-28541

Visits can be arranged by sending email to Dr. Bett.  An open house called  "TeleLearning Day"  is scheduled at the start of each school year.  In the past, other events are scheduled in southern Louisiana to enable students and proctors to meet their instructor in person.

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Louisiana School
Natchitoches, LA

sbett@mailcity.com

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TeleLearning employees an interactive multi-site delivery system which allows simultaneous 2-way voice, data, and graphic communication over a single telephone line between up to 20 geographically remote locations.

TeleLearning is synchronous or "real-time" instruction analogous to a traditional classroom.

IBL or Internet Based Learning is usually asynchronous and analogous to correspondence study.

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