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Voice 719.636.2040 · Fax 719.528.5869 ·Wireless Web http://wireless.oldcolo.com | ||
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The Teacher's Course has been completed and is no longer needed in service and has been discontinued. . .Teachers Math/Science CourseAs part of the Wireless for Education test, we felt it was necessary to do part of the ultimate testing with real teachers teaching real students on multiple workstations within participating K-12 schools, using the most bandwidth intensive multi-media technical tools. This is in addition, of course, to the technical data thruput measurements of the wireless links from POPs to the school's servers, which are best accomplished with the special routers we have built and installed. In order to do this, since the 4 selected schools, while being recently equipped with modern Windows for Workgroup and MacIntosh lan-connected workstations, had little experience in using the Internet for 'distance learning' we arranged for at least 3 regular classroom math and/or science teachers at each school, plus the technical person who operates the networks and supports the teachers and classes, to take a 48 hour, 3 credit hour (University of Colorado at Colorado Springs - UCCS) in graduate level of math and science, entirely by distance learning techniques, from Dr. George Johnston, physicist from MIT. Dr. Johnston, and Dave Hughes, PI of this Project, have collaborated in the past in delivering interactive classes for high school students in the Math and Physics of Chaos, over UUCP and Fidonet networks to remote and small schools in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Thus members of the NSF team are experienced in what it takes to teach substantive courses remotely. This course is aimed entirely at teachers who, by going online at least twice a week, individually, at either workstations provided by their school, or from their homes with their personal computers, modems and software, are able not only to learn the technical methods of interactive communications, but also to do so in the context of real math curriculum of value to their professional knowledge. With the anticipated increased bandwidth afforded by the wireless links over plain phone modem access, we installed low cost, but typical hardware and software that could exercise that bandwidth, as well as provide a model for the schools of the technical tools the schools could equipment all of their workstations with - beyond the built-in tools of telnet, ftp, e-mail, and installed Web Browsers. These included Connectix cameras, CuSeeMe for video conferencing and 'white board' sessions with Dr. Johnston and each other, hand graphical scanners, freehand graphical tablets, sound microphone and speaker systems, and associated software. Progressively the teachers are moving from simple-dial up, ascii email on commercial Internet provider systems, through maillisting, attached mime-compliant file transmission, reception, capture, conversion to standard formats such as Jpeg and GIF, to entering an Online Classroom, using Netscape 2.0 as the interface, but also entering by telnet an online NT Server 'BBS' where the 'class' of teachers can meet and discuss their topics collectively, as well as place and view graphical binary files containing math formulas and symbols, drawings, as well as scanned in or photographically generated files which can only be handled as binaries. If your web browser is capable of executing a 'telnet' session (using telnet.exe on your system) or if you can independently telnet, you can enter the top level of this Online Course on the Wildcat BBS software running under NT, on this server. You will not be able to participate in all levels of the Course, but you may get an idea of how this coupling of a BBS, with Web access, is being used to support both the dialogue as well as data level of distance learning of subjects which cannot be handled simply by ASCII based e-mail or conferencing (BBS or newsgroup format). Either 'telnet wireless.oldcolo.com' and login/register on the BBS, or if in a Web browser, where you have set the option (usually, as in Netscape, under Preferences, where you name the executable such as 'telnet.exe' - which is not part of Netscape, but is part of most SLIP/PPP or workstation TCP/IP packages), whereupon you can click on the icon below - which attempt to execute, on your system, telnet://wireless.oldcolo.com NOTE: If your attempt to telnet via a brower 'exits' immediately and does not deliver you the BBS login prompt, try doing just an Internet 'telnet' command outside the browser. And system with 'telnet.exe' can usually be commanded from either a MSDOS prompt (telnet wireless.oldcolo.com) or from a Telnet icon in the networking program group.
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