Interactive Distance Teaching in the Caribbean |
The University of the West Indies (UWI) is one of only two surviving regional universities. The other is the University of the South Pacific. The UWI was first established in 1948 in Jamaica as the University College of the West Indies (UCWI) with a special relationship with the University of London. A second campus was opened in Trinidad in 1960. UCWI became the fully-fledged University of the West Indies (UWI) in 1962, and a third campus in Barbados was established in 1963.
The UWI is currently supported by 14 English-speaking Caribbean countries, stretching in an arc from Belize on the Central American mainland, across to Jamaica and the Bahamas Islands, through the chain of islands that delineates the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean—from the British Virgin Islands at the northern tip of the chain, to Barbados in the southeast, on to Trinidad and Tobago just off the Venezuelan coast.
The countries are small and many of them are densely populated although the absolute sizes of the populations are small. The total population of the region is only about 5.6 million.
In the non-campus countries, the UWI maintains Extra Mural Centres, which are the focal points for liaison and feedback between the University, Governments, and the communities at large.
The challenge to the University has been how best to serve the needs of the widely scattered countries with depressed economies. The UWI began experimenting with telecommunications in 1978 as one possible way of meeting the region's demands for education. During the period up to December 1985 the main support funding and technical assistance was provided by the Science and Technology Bureau of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The experiments began with Project Satellite in 1978 which lasted for two months. Project Satellite linked the Mona campus in Jamaica and the Cave Hill campus in Barbados via two NASA satellites in the Applications Technology Series: ATS-6 for outgoing full-motion video from Jamaica and ATS-3 for return audio. The Extra Mural Centre in St. Lucia joined in for the final two weeks. Programs included discussions on rural medical care, agricultural research, family life education in schools, other educational programs, and University administration.
An audio conference was held to demonstrate teleconferencing over extremely large distances: the Mona and Cave Hill campuses held exchanges with PEACESAT sites in Souva in Fiji; Niue, Rarotonga in the Cook Islands; Honolulu in Hawaii; Tarawa, Kiribati; Wellington in New Zealand; and Santa Cruz, in California, USA. The link between the ATS-1 satellite used across the Pacific and ATS-3 used by the UWI was via Denver, Colorado.
Following the success of Project Satellite, a three-year feasibility study was undertaken again with funding from USAID. The Caribbean Regional Communication Study (CARCOST), as it was called, was to determine whether and how interactive distance teaching and teleconferencing could contribute to education and public service in the Caribbean.
The major recommendation of the CARCOST report was for a pilot project to establish the telecommunications network, emphasizing that successful use of teleconferencing techniques for educational purposes in the Caribbean must depend heavily on the simultaneous development of other aspects of educational technology such as the use of print, audio-visual, and other media. An interactive rather than a broadcast system was favoured because of the clearly expressed wish of potential participants, particularly in the more isolated populations, to communicate in real time.
The University of the West Indies Distance Teaching Experiment, UWIDITE, is the outcome of these two precursors. It links the three campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and the Extra Mural Centres in Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent, via a leased telecommunications network, which is used for interactive distance teaching and other types of teleconferencing. Eventually all the contributing countries will be included in the network.
The first three years of the experiment (May 1982–December 1985) were largely funded by a grant from USAID, which provided US $600,000 over a three-year period for salaries and other support. USAID also provided the audio equipment for five teleconferencing rooms; about US $220,000 for the communication costs; and funds for technical assistance and training. Since January 1986, the UWI has been supporting UWIDITE, with additional funding for specific programs provided through regional and international organizations.
Jamai ca and Trinidad are linked by INTELSAT satellite, while the Eastern Caribbean countries—Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad—are linked by microwave, UHF, and tropospheric scatter. The network has an active bridge in St. Lucia. Each UWIDITE Centre is linked to the commercial international gateway of the country by leased four-wire telephone lines.
In Jamaica four additional sites have been established in a collaborative project with Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada (which operates a similar network), with funding provided by the Canadian International Development Agency. The sites in Montego Bay on the northwest coast, Mandeville in the centre, Port Antonio on the northeast coast, and a site at the Mona campus in Kingston on the south coast, are linked by microwave radio. This network can stand on its own or be linked in with the larger Caribbean network.
The centres are equipped with microphones and speakers for audio conferencing, slow-scan television for the transmission of still images, and telewriters or electronic blackboards. UWIDITE is in the process of developing a computer network.
UWIDITE has successfully mounted distance teaching programs for community aides, technicians, teachers, nurses, university undergraduates, and professionals of various disciplines including nurses and doctors. Some of the persons participating in the programs would not have received this training otherwise. Comparison of results of students pursuing the Certificate in Education offered on UWIDITE with those of the same program offered on campus is favourable.
It has also been a valuable administrative tool in several ways, including patient care. The Vice Chancellor and the Registrar of the UWI hold regular weekly teleconferences with counterparts across the three campuses.
UWIDITE's success can be measured by the number and variety of programs; the increasing number of programs being developed in direct response to requests from governments or organizations in the countries on the network; the number of participants; the extent of usage during term time; and the keenness of the other countries to join the system.
The experiment has had its share of disappointments and frustrations but it has been a very worthwhile experience, and those involved with UWIDITE can share pride in having introduced a very powerful technique to the education system of the Caribbean. It has
Note
* a private daily newspaper in Jamaica