Computer Conferencing for Classroom Support

[6155GUASTELL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Forwarded MESSAGE from tom abeles                           15-OCT-94 18:37

Joint Seminars in Virtual Space

Sagacity Learning Universe
3704 11th Ave South
Minneapolis, MN 55407

phn 612 823 3154
fax:612 825 6865
e-mail: tabeles@xxxxxxx

contact: Dr. Tom P. Abeles

The Program

Joint Seminars uses  conferencing software  on the internet to allow
groups to gather for a variety of opportunities from private meetings  to
classroom and seminar experiences where  virtual space and asynchronous
communications allow for optimizing opportunities.


 In the education arena, Joint  Seminars serves two special needs:

1) Faculty members on a particular campus who would like to bring in guest
speakers  for seminars and discussions, but do not have the budget to
build such a program, and

2) Faculty who have colleagues on other campuses and who would like to
have a  conferencing format where all students from different programs can
meet to discuss similar topics and to share faculty, guest, and
intellectual resources.

Joint Seminars uses the Caucus  conferencing software operated on Meta Net
to allow true asynchronous conferencing in virtual space.  Each conference
 has the full ability to break topics into separate discussions or threads
with all text from previous  discussions preserved for true asynchronous
delivery. Material may be uploaded and downloaded into each subtopic.

Each conference has its own private library  where text materials for that
discussion can be uploaded. Guest lecturers can upload materials and then
use the conference space for discussions. Several guests can be  available
online during the same period, so multiple and parallel discussions can be
carried out .

The conferences can have private conferences attached. This allows faculty
and guest lecturers to discuss  areas of mutual interest separately from
the main conferences. Additionally,  Sagacity/Meta  Net have numerous
professional public conferences which are available to all participants in
Joint Seminars.  These include:

Chautauqua which brings  authors and other professionals to the public
space,

Sustainability which is operated by members of Sigma Xi  for professionals
interested in social, economic and environmental issues in sustainable
worlds,

OD94 for organizational development specialists. It is a conference which
is renewed annually with past discussions archived for historical
information

Chaos, a conference for professionals in the applications of Chaos  Theory
 primarily in the business, humanities and social science arenas

Netresults, a public space conference run by professionals in the
government, independently from their organizations and designed to explore
the reinventing paradigm

The system hosts  gopher*, ftp and web sites and has a lynx web searcher
available. The system is supported by experts with over 15 years of
experience in  computer mediated communication.

Operation

Programs can be put together "over night".  A faculty  member or group of
faculty, on the same or different campuses, decide  that they would like to
bring their students  and/or colleges  together  in a format where
distance, time and budget constraints can be mitigated by use of
asynchronous conferencing.  The time blocks can be arranged and the space
set up to accommodate individual needs, including training, manuals and
technical support. Preconferencing logins for setups and testing and post
conference drag outs are arranged as appropriate.

Costs

The seminars are priced on a fixed fee bases  independent of the amount of
time a participant  is in the conferencing system.  Connect charges are
the responsibility of the patrons. The system supports full access via
telnet, Sprintnet and direct dial.  The pricing includes manuals and
on-line support. Fees for honoraria can be included in the pricing.  The
cost is usually that of a graduate or professional text book and  can be
collected through our on-line bookstore, keeping the participation outside
of the  traditional institutional bureaucracy.

*Additional information about the host system can be obtained by
sending a gopher to <tmn.com>.