: NWCC enters new QTE cease tom ue

the functions normally
associated
classroom teaching. The
signal will be carried by
B.C. Telephone’s ex-

isting network of lines:

and cables to the rernote
“electronic classrooms’’
of the branch centres.
Students in the centres
will be able to respond to
the instructor and ask
questions through the
use of ‘‘convenors’’, and
their voices will be heard
in other centres as well as
the instruction studio.
The system will turn the
entire college region into
one vast ethereal
classroom, and students
separated by great
distances will be given
new opportunities for in-
teraction.

Hartig said that the
element of personal con-
tact between teachers
and. students will be of

- critical importance, and
for that reason the

system has been designed ©

so that instruction can
‘originate from any one
of the college’s centres.
Faculty members will be
able to travel to outly-

ing centres and meet

their students without in-
terrupting instructional
programs.
The initial course of-
ferings through the
teleconferencing system
will be - economics,
English literature and
composition, psychol-
ogy, sociology, and early
childhood education.
Hartig indicated that the
success levels of these
courses will be assessed
at the end of the first
semester, taking into ac-

count enrolment
numbers and recommen-
dations from both

students and teachers.
All the courses except
English will be available
as evening classes with
one three-hour instruc-
tion session per week;
English will be a morn-
-ing class with two ses-
sions per week totalling
three hours. Hartig

stated that variety will be

emphasized in the *pro-
gram materials, which
will include prepared
audio cassettes and video
tapes. The remaining
format will consist of
15-20 minute lectures in-
‘terspersed with question-
and-answer sessions and
open - discussion
seminars.

Hartig said research
has proven that students
in teleconference courses
do at least as well
academically and often
better than students in
_the traditional classroom
format, but he added
that programs must be
designed in an interesting
and varied manner that
incorporates - strong
visual components
through use of videotape
and slide materials. With
the exception of
‘sociology, which is a
course package obtained

with

from TV Ontario, all
courses are designed by
the instructors with sup-
port from the college’s

media production crew.

The technical staff in-
cludes Dave Bennett,

who has done extensive -

work with the National
Film Board, and Hartig
himself, a former CBC
producer who recently
came back to Canada
from South Africa where
he administered the
establishment of another
teleconference system.
Hartig appears confi-
dent of success for the
system’s initial semester,
and he said that accep-
tance of the new method

by pupils and teachers
will open up an entire
spectrum of educational
possibilities. He pointed
to the vast resource
which the telephone
system represents, using
as an example the
unlimited potential for

‘live guest lecturers

available from around
the world by means of
telecommunications con-
nections. He speculated
that course offerings will
be expanded to include
business and vocational
curriculum and that
technical capabilities of
the system could be
augmented to deliver live

continued on pagé 23

Teleconferencing

Psychology professor Larry Olckerson will begin teaching night courses in September
from this soundproof broadcast booth at Northwest Community College. The psychology
courses and four other university transfer subjects will go out to NWCC’'s regional
centers through the college's newly completed audio teleconferencing network.

STARTING

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