Applications Development for Education:
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VOL. 8, No. 1, 27-33
This paper describes the introduction of the educational applications of satellites in Canada. It includes an overview of the field trials, a discussion of the role of the Department of Communications (DOC) Co-ordinators, and comments on a number of issues and considerations taken into account during the experimental period. The author was a key player in the field trials and bases the paper on his knowledge, as a primary source, of the process of the transfer of technology. He notes that the success of the adoption of satellite applications by educators was influenced, in large measure, by the field trial process, the role of the DOC Co-ordinators, federal provincial partnerships, and the willingness of the educational community to innovate.
Le présent article décrit l'introduction au Canada des applications pédagogiques des communications par satellite. Il présente un survol des essais en milieu réel, se penche sur le rôle des coordonnateurs et coordonnatrices du Ministère des Communications et commente certaines questions et problématiques reliées à la période expérimentale. L'auteur a joué un rôle clé lors des essais en service et est donc en mesure de présenter un témoignage de première main sur le processus de transfert des techniques. Il souligne que le succès de l'adoption de ces applications dans le milieu enseignant a été dans une large mesure tributaire du processus d'essais en milieu réel, du rôle des coordonnateurs et coordonnatrices du ministère, du partenariat fédéral-provincial, et du désir d'innover manifesté par la communauté éducative.
Editor's Note:
This article is the second in a trilogy on the applications of Canada's communications satellites for distance education.
It has often been said that Canada has too much geography. Indeed, Canada is now the largest country in the world in terms of area. The sheer size of Canada compounded by topography, demography, and climate pose major communications challenges.
To elaborate, most Canadians live in a relatively narrow corridor of the country. This area along the southern border is well developed, with urban centres, schools, colleges, and universities. However, approximately 80% of the land mass and only 20% of the population are found north of this corridor. Further north, population centres become smaller and more remote. In the high arctic, many of the villages are truly isolated geographically. No roads, telephone poles, telegraph wires or microwave towers link these communities. Sparse population, great distances, mountains, permafrost, and barren-lands render installation of terrestrial communications facilities economically impractical, if not physically impossible.
As Doris Jelly points out in her article, "Canada in Space," by the mid 1960's, there was a growing understanding that satellites could address many of "the needs of a large, sparsely populated country." The Department of Communications (DOC) was created in 1969 and in 1976, the Communications Technology Satellite, Hermes, was launched to conduct a variety of experiments in the areas of tele-education, tele-health, teleconferencing, community communications, and direct-to-home broadcasting. To encourage service providers, including educators, to explore the potential benefits of satellites, DOC offered free access to its Hermes Satellite, a policy that continued with the Anik B Satellite.
The introduction of sophisticated high technology to the non-tech-nologist requires time and patience on both sides. In general, the technologist and non-technologist do not communicate, no matter how much they talk. An interpreter is usually required to translate technical concepts into applications ideas and to relate social needs to systems design. During the Hermes and Anik B experiments, the role of interpreter was fulfilled by DOC specialists called co-ordinators. These were usually people with sound technical backgrounds who also possessed an interest and some experience in the non-technical disciplines. In almost all cases, the participating organizations, that is, service providers, also nominated a co-ordinator to facilitate the technology transfer process.
Throughout the field trials, the free and abundant two-way flow of information was essential. The co-ordinators facilitated this activity, and frequent face-to-face meetings and audioconferences were held between DOC officials and members of the participating organization. Occasionally, large group meetings were convened by DOC with all participants presenting formal progress reports. The formal and informal discussions that took place at these meetings greatly enhanced the information exchange among all parties involved. In addition, DOC provided participants with substantial documentation, including technical reports with specifications for the earth stations and satellites to be used, descriptive material on systems design, summary records of important meetings, and correspondence.
DOC also used a procedural document called an experiment plan as a major aid to assist participants to understand the technology of satellite communications. This plan was a pro forma series of questions that each participating organization was required to complete before approval was given to conduct the trial. This comprehensive document was designed to lead the participants through a systematic process on how to design and conduct a satellite communications project. In essence, the document served as a management training tool that focused most DOC and participant discussions. When finalized, it became the baseline document for conducting the experiment.
During the Hermes period, from January 1976 to November 1979, thirty-seven experiments, referred to as field trials, were conducted. Eight of these were in tele-education and six others included education as an integral activity. During the Anik B program, which began in December 1978 and concluded in March 1984, thirty-two pilot projects were conducted. Of these, seven were tele-education projects and five incorporated an education component. The following examples illustrate the applications development in different regions of the country.
In British Columbia, educational authorities conducted an eight week Hermes experiment in the late fall of 1977 to explore the feasibility of providing education to residents of communities isolated from urban institutions by distance and mountainous terrain. The remote communities were equipped with video receive and audio conference terminals, and the urban service providing centre had a video transmit, audio conference terminal. One other remote site was allocated a TV receive only terminal. The experiment was successful and was followed by an Anik B pilot project.
The technical system for the pilot project varied from the Hermes experimental system in that more communities were equipped with TV receive only terminals. Audio interaction involving these sites was achieved through terrestrial telephone facilities. The project, which began in October 1979, was successful, and in 1980 the provincial government announced the formation of an educational communications authority, the Knowledge Network of the West. This new agency continued to expand the satellite education activities of the pilot project. The DOC-owned interactive terminals were replaced by community purchased terminals, and additional communities joined the network. In September 1982, when the pilot project concluded, the Knowledge Network transferred to commercial Anik B operations and then moved to Anik C when it became available.
Across the mountains, the Alberta Native Communications Society (ANCS) implemented a two stage Hermes experiment from October 1976 to December 1977, with adult education as a primary focus. Following this lead, the Alberta Communications Authority (ACCESS) conducted an educational pilot project on Anik B from March through May 1980. These trials also included input from ANCS. ACCESS later transferred to commercial Anik C operations.
Further east, in July 1978 TV Ontario (TVO) experimented with teaching/ learning methods that connected four remote communities to the service-providing centre by audio conferencing and video receive. Further experimentation occurred in August when interactive video teleconferencing, which connected the service-providing centre with an underserved region, was used to determine the learning needs of the residents of that region. Results of these two experiments were used to plan and implement educational services.
From January to June 1979, TVO also experimented with direct broadcast by satellite to provide schools in four remote communities with educational television programs. Results of this experiment served as a baseline planning element for the development and implementation of an extensive Anik B pilot project. Through the pilot project, forty-six underserved communities were equipped to receive TV broadcast directly by satellite. Terminals were installed at schools, homes, libraries, cable head-ends, master antenna TV systems, and one was also installed at a low power television repeater transmitter. Direct broadcasting by satellite began in September 1979. The project was deemed a success from the start. When it concluded in September 1982, TVO continued operations by using Anik B on a commercial basis. In January 1983, operations were switched to the new Anik C Satellite. The TVO direct broadcast network continued to grow through the addition of more receive sites in the province and the inclusion of radio programming on video sub-carriers.
People in the north also participated in the field trials. In the late fall of 1978, an eleven week Hermes experiment was conducted by Taqramiut Nipingat Incorporated (TNI), the communications society of the Inuit of arctic Quebec. Nine communities were connected through audio conferencing, using the Hermes Satellite in tandem with Anik A. The experiment incorporated a community development and participation component in that there was considerable skills sharing, cultural exchange, and consensus building on issues of issues of mutual concern. This was followed by two pilot projects on Anik B.
The first project, which ran from October 1980 through March 1981, involved five villages, four of which were equipped with video receive, audio conference terminals; the fifth used a video transmit, audio conference unit. A television production studio was established at the fifth site. Programming was primarily in Inuktitut, the Inuit language, and, again, general education was an integral component. The second project was conducted by the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada from August 1980 to May 1981. Two additional arctic television production studios were established for the project. Both formal "classroom" education and general community education were a focus of this project. The positive results of the two Inuit Anik B projects and the Hermes experiment led to the formation of the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation.
Further east again, in Atlantic Canada, Memorial University of Newfoundland participated with the telemedecine field trials using the Hermes Satellite. The paper by J. M. Roberts, A. M. House, W. C. McNamarra, and E. M. Keough provides a full report on that important experiment.
The Hermes and Anik B experimental programs provided an eight year long opportunity to design and refine the processes of applications development. In retrospect, a general pattern emerges: introduction of the technology; adaptation of the technology to meet user needs; and absorption of the technology into mainstream activities. Although simply stated, each of these stages was complex and required extensive efforts and refinements to ensure smooth implementation.
During the field trials, the applications development program matured and moved from a "technology push" approach to an "applications pull" mode of operation. This significant achievement demonstrated that the field trial process was a valid approach to technology transfer as well as market development. Educators and other users who undertook the disciplined experience of conducting Hermes experiments and Anik B pilot projects did, in fact, absorb the satellite communications technology and became effective managers of it. Basically, satellite-based communications systems had been transferred from government laboratories to the user public. Further, as Canadians became aware of the potential applications of satellite delivery systems, demands for commercial services emerged.
As the examples illustrate, the field trials were critical to the development of educational applications for satellites. In some cases, they led to the establishment of new educational communications agencies, and, in other cases, new or expanded services delivered by satellite. Further, as the report on the Memorial University experience indicates, the field trials led to the establishment of new services that did not involve satellites for delivery.
The technology, too, improved during the field trials. This included development of earth stations and new terminal designs such as highly transportable television uplinks, low cost television receive only stations, and stabilized platform-mounted terminals. In 1984, the Government of Canada decided to continue to sponsor the applications development process, and established the Satellite Communications Applications Program (SCAP).
In making decisions regarding satellite systems for education in Canada, it was necessary for educators to give due consideration to several important issues. Costs were of primary importance. Because the field trials were available to them at low cost, educators were able to try out the technology and assess its benefits before committing themselves. Consequently, decisions to opt for satellite technology were made with foreknowledge. For large scale applications, the actual commercial satellite costs turned out to be equal to or lower than costs of equivalent terrestrial facilities.
Although the jurisdictional issue in Canada did not create large problems, it nevertheless received thorough consideration by all who participated in the experiments. Because the provinces, not the federal government, are responsible for education, the federal Department of Communications worked in concert with the provinces in the development and utilization of satellite technology for education. The arrangement that was concluded for the trial projects was a partnership, a joint undertaking, that worked well.
Other issues, such as unwillingness to change, fears that jobs would be lost as a consequence of teachers being replaced by technology, threats of teacher strikes, and inter-institutional barriers did arise from time to time. These were quickly resolved as people became familiar with the new technology and understood its promise and its limitations.
Another issue, which may be of greater concern today, revolves around the question of distinctions, mandates, and responsibilities of educational communications agencies that are both broadcasters and communications carriers providing both educational and other types of programming.
In conclusion, as this overview demonstrates, the educational applications development of satellites proved successful for a number of reasons that include: the field trial process, the role of DOC Co-ordinators, the nature of the partnerships between the federal government and the provinces, and, most importantly, the willingness of participants to innovate.
Paglis, I. (Ed.). (1977). Hermes (The Communications Technology Satellite): Its performance and applications (3 vols.).
Royal Society of Canada. Department of Communications. (1981, Oct. 28). Summary record of the Anik B users meeting, Ottawa, Ontario. Ontario: author.
Kerr, W. T., & Blevis, B. C. (1984). Telecommunications services for rural and remote areas. Telematics and Informatics, 1(1), 37–46. Pergamon Press.
Kerr, W. T. (1987). Satellite technology and education. Space Technology, 7(4), 351–353.
Terry Kerr retired from the position of Director of Communications Applications with the federal Department of Communications (DOC) in 1990. During his career, Terry was instrumental in the development of satellite-based tele-education and tele-health systems and played a significant role in the establishment of educational broadcasting and northern aboriginal broadcasting in Canada. In recognition of his contributions to distance education, Terry was named an honorary member of CADE in 1991.