|
Issue
No. 11, Spring 2007
Satellites
in Distance Education
For
this special issue on the role satellites play in
education, satellite providers and their clients have
been asked to describe what they have been doing in
education and training sectors that make effective
use of satellites, and why.
It is not surprising that the response to our call
for contributions came in from almost all regions
of the world. In this issue, readers will find reports
and commentary from some of the world’s largest
players in these fields, such as India and China,
and from the smaller and more focused operations as
in Mexico, Kyrgyzstan and Greece. The Journal has
also received permission to draw on the experience
of the United States Distance Learning Association
(USDLA) and the thoughtful research of the Joint Information
Systems Committee (JISC) in the United Kingdom.
For
those who haven’t been paying attention, the
capabilities of satellites to deliver educational
services has moved by quantum leaps. What one will
notice first is that the same devolution that occurred
in computers and wireless communication has occurred
in satellites and satellite communication.
Just
as computers went through a steady downsizing from
standalone mainframes to laptops and embedded devices
that can be activated indoors and out, and as the
terminals of wireless networks have evolved from the
clumsiness of car phones to handhelds in pockets and
purses, satellite devices are doing the same thing.
Satellite communication has evolved to a stage where
user access is no longer limited to those who can
afford giant earth stations, expensive production
studios and control rooms.
Satellites now operate more like commodity services
with individual customers communicating directly via
space platforms, when and wherever the need arises.
Earth terminals are smaller and less expensive, yet
more robust and easier to use. Like terrestrial networks,
greater intelligence lies within the earth to space
networks and the spacecraft come with digital processing
capabilities, spot beams for targeting customers,
offering a host of scalable, on-demand services.
 Children
in Thailand learning their daily lessons while using
the capabilities of IPSTAR through the Schoolnet project.
Distance
education and training was an early satellite application.
The reason is that space-based platforms are a logical
way to bring access to users where telecommunication
infrastructures are not yet in place, not just for
the disenfranchised among developing nations but for
the underserved who reside and work within homes,
schools and businesses in the most advanced countries
of the world. As with the rapid evolution of wireless
and computing services, the public will be increasingly
surprised and delighted that satellite technologies
can be applied to the types of communications they
need on a daily basis, and that the service costs
are comparable to those of terrestrial providers.
Satellite communications today is no longer a niche
service, nor is it just a backup service used only
when other services are down and there’s nothing
else available. Satellite networks are integrated
into the basic infrastructure of modern communication,
and as such have become indispensable for the conduct
of commerce, for the delivery of education, information
and entertainment, and for anything else that is conveyed
via narrowband or broadband networks.
The Journal is itself an illustration of the power
and effectiveness of distance education. Appreciation
must be given to my able assistants Jose
Lainez and Ruhi
Khan who worked so conscientiously to bring this
content online for all to read and to learn from.
Don
M. Flournoy, Professor and Director
Institute for Telecommunications Studies
Editor, Online Journal of Space Communication
Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701
740-593-4866 (tel) 740-593-9184 (fax)
|
