Technology Applications: Tele-Education

By Dr. Fred Moavenzadeh

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

ABSTRACT

　　Several newly industrialized countries especially in South East and East Asia (such as South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand) have had a very rapid economic growth over the past three or four decades. This growth has initially been due to increased utilization of human and natural resources. However, many of them at present have reached the point that input factors can no longer be increased significantly; unit prices have risen to a point that output can no longer be competitively priced: and domestic market due to WTO and other international pressures can no longer be considered a safe haven. Many have realized that in sgroupsto continue their economic growth they need to increase factor productivity and move to high value added economic activities. Both require a new strategy to human resource development.

Many of these countries over the past few decades have substantially increased their educational capacity at all levels; Malaysia for example has added almost one university per year over the past three decades. These have increased the literacy rate and produced the manpower needed for industrialization and the development of infrastructure. The institutions of higher education have provided a large number of rather well trained engineers and scientists who have staffed production facilities as well as industrial needs of the country. What is lacking however, are institutions of higher learning that trains individuals for research and development, especially in the competitive fields of biotechnology, information technology, advanced materials, and nano technology. To develop such institutions not only requires time and resources but more importantly requires knowledge and experience that has been gained by developed countries in the west. To access this know how and knowledge many countries are relying on information technology and distance education as a means to develop higher education institutions that are research driven, intellectually elitist and place substantial emphasis on quality rather than quantity of trained individuals.

MIT is currently involved in a few such relationships. One is with Malaysia University of Science and Technology that is being established in Kuala Lumpur with MIT's support and assistance. This University is primarily relying on transfer of educational material from MIT to Malaysia via distance education and attempts to enhance the quality of the faculty and the educational system by placing cooperating faculty members in the two Universities in touch with each other electronically. This presentation will describe the details of this collaboration, and the enabling role of IT in it.

INTRODUCTION
The economy of Malaysia and the Southeast Asian region is growing again at a very respectable rate; however, there are increasing strains within it. As the Region grows rapidly, more and more demands are placed on human resources. Conservative estimates now indicate that the region will experience a gap of approximately 50,000 engineers and managers in the next decade.

Regional emphasis is being shifted toward human resource development (a better educated and more satisfied workforce) as a critical element of its economic development. True self-sufficiency, however, will require an expansion of the region's science and technology resources, especially its highly trained technical manpower, and an ability to assure the continuity of these resourcessintosthe future.

While the region has a solid academic sector, it does not have a strong enough infrastructure or tradition of research in universities. It is, therefore, not yet able to meet either government or industrial needs for R&D, nor is it fully capable of educating the next generation of scientists and engineers to remedy this in the future. The region continues to sponsor foreign educational experiences for thousands of its citizens; but while these individuals most often return to play key roles in the economy, they do not necessarily contribute to an expansion of the human resource development infrastructure to serve the future of the region. Strengthening and expanding science, technology, and management, as well as higher education is, therefore, one of the most urgent action items for growth.

Decisive actions need to be taken now to build the region's self-sufficiency for the new century in terms of enhancing the region's indigenous R&D and educational capabilities. The Region recognizes that engagement in the international R&D community is an important next step in its development.

The region's universities are in an ambitious development mode. Billions of dollars have been set aside for the physical infrastructure of new universities. Industry appears willing to substantially fund the development of new programs to meet their particular manpower needs. As these physical investments are being made, there is a growing recognition of the need for a similar investment in what one might call the "software of education" - new curriculum, faculty development, and investment in research capacity. At this juncture in the developments of the region, many consider such investments as being even more essential than new buildings. The confluence of the need for new educational curricula, as well as for an expansion of the region's research and development base argues strongly for a dramatic program which can achieve both goals over a five-to ten year period.

MIT has had recent agreements with several nations of the region to expedite the growth of their R&D capacity. In this paper we will review the arrangements that have been made with Malaysia.

What is Needed

Facing the problems identified above, the Seventh National Plan of Malaysia provides a broad blueprint for helping address the human development side of the nation. There is a high degree of consensus and commitment about providing greater and higher quality educational opportunities for the people of the region.

What MIT and Malaysia agreed was a commitment to promoting quality higher science and technology education and providing the methodologies for its implementation. This "software development" and its associated investment need to be substantial insgroupsto assure the success of the programs in Malaysia that ensue. It, therefore, must be backed by adequate human and financial resources to make the dramatic growth in university-building more than a successful real estate venture.

Many present university engineering education programs are of the quality and standards that produce engineers who could meet the current production needs of industry. Industry demand is so intense that anyone with a degree is assured of a job; but many individuals lack the science, engineering and managerial education and skills needed to keep pace with the growing need for R&D and technology development, and management capabilities that will assure the region and Malaysia a place in the growing global economy. Industry demands have and continue to shift from quantity of talent to quality of talent, and Malaysia must be ready to deliver such quality in the educational process.

MIT and Malaysia agreed that there is a need to educate 1,000 "MIT-like" graduates per year within the next decade. Although numerous smaller programs of collaboration exist between Malaysia universities and a number of foreign universities, including several of great prominence, and some of these programs have achieved significant ratings; however, the potential to increase the number of technically skilled Malaysians to meet the foreseen demand is rather limited and they do not specifically aim to develop Malaysia's self-sufficiency in responding to the educational demands of the 21st Century.

What, therefore is needed is a bold, highly innovative educational approach that instills in its students and faculty a style of thinking that is conducive to R&D, innovation and entrepreneurship. To do so, Malaysia sought the support and participation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to assist it in the development of the Malaysia University of Science and Technology (MUST).

MUST

MUST's primary purpose is to enhance the Nation's capacity to produce a highly educated cadre of R&D - oriented engineers in fields consistent with Malaysia's future needs as outlined in Vision 2020 and the Second Industrial Master Plan. Graduates of MUST will constitute a core of highly trained experts who will posses world-class capabilities in research and development.

MUST will link high-quality educational programs to research efforts in key fields of interest to Malaysia and the Region. The research will be coordinated with the requirements of the industries who will be involved in developing the technological areas identified by the government as essential to Malaysia's and the region's high technology future. MUST will serve as the locus for innovation directed through the coordinated efforts of industry, government, and academia.

More importantly, perhaps, is the fact that MUST graduates will become the teachers of future generations of young men and women of the region. Expertise developed at MUST will enhance the entire system of higher education, as well as provide an expanding pool of expertise in advanced science and technology. For this reason, the establishment of MUST is an important practical step toward the Nation's and region's goal of raising the number of young people holding advanced academic degrees by three- or four' fold in the near future. MUST will train the educators of the future.

The MUST concept has been developed to synergize the energies of the private sector, the human-resource consideration of the Malaysian government, and academic research and education. It has recruited leaders in high technology research and education form the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to assist in its establishment. The new university will benefit from MIT's extensive expertise in orienting students toward entrepreneurship and technological innovation. Collaborative research and education between the two universities will ensure a high level of quality. Such a linkage will help MUST faculty and associates access the kind of international networks capable of addressing the growing needs of the region.

MIT faculty and graduates have extensive experience in translating research findingssintosnew business formation. A recent study of the national economic impact of a research university reported that in 1994, alone, firms founded by MIT graduates, generated billion in world sales. If these companies were an independent nation, such revenues would make it the 24th largest economy in the world. Through joint research and educational programs with MIT, MUST faculty and students will gain not just the knowledge, but also the orientation necessary to identify industrially applicable research. Also through joint programs, MUST will gain the critical mass necessary to quickly become a powerful force, propelling the Malaysian economysintosan internationally competitive position in advanced technologies.

MIT-MUST Collaboration

In collaboration with MIT faculty, MUST is developing a research agenda, and an academic program that will serve both the government and industry in areas consistent with Malaysia's stated objectives for the next ten years. Joint projects will involve industry representatives in the conceptualization and carrying out of research in the academic setting. In this way, industry will be involved from the outset in the activities of the university and in the training of its students. MIT faculty advisers will help faculty, students, and industry collaborators to organize these projects.

Central to the development of MUST is the creation of a comprehensive, target research agenda. The research and academic programs at MUST will be consistent with Vision 2020 and the Industrial Master Plan 1996-2005 of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. These fallsintosseveral of the Industrial Cluster groups envisioned in the plan, particularly the internationally linked and policy-driven clusters. The MIT/MUST Collaborative Program can make the greatest contribution in seven areas of research:

· Biotechnology
· Information Technology
· Infrastructure (Transportation and Logistics, Construction, and Telecommunications)
· Material Science and Engineering
· Systems Design and Operation
· Manufacturing
· Energy and Environment

These research areas are fundamental to reaching the objectives of the "Manufacturing ++" concept that is key to the Second Industrial Master Plan. First, they will advance the research and development and design capabilities of Malaysian engineers. Furthermore, education in management and entrepreneurial skills for high-tech engineers will enable them to more fully integrate manufacturing operations throughout the value chain another target of the Plan.

MUST is currently a reality. MUST currently has 52 enrolled graduate students and 20 faculty members. This first year MUST is offering three graduate programs: one in Biotechnology, one in Information Technology and one in Transport and Logistics. Two additional programs will be offered next year, Material Science and Engineering and Systems Design and Operations.

MIT's Role

During the formative stages (first five years) MIT will assist MUST in four broad areas:

1) Establishment of academic programs, at the Master of Science and Ph.D. levels:
Academic programs at the Master and Ph.D. level will be initiated in selected areas consistent with national goals and resources. Malaysian and MIT faculty members will collaborate in teaching and establishing requirements for these advanced degrees. MUST academic programs will attract the most talented students in selected fields, and educate them with an orientation toward research and development. Other Malaysian R&D institutions will collaborate with MUST in establishing course requirements, recruiting students, sharing facilities and gathering degrees.

2) Development of a research agenda, with the participation and support of government and the private sector:

The research agenda at MUST is being determined by a tripartite collaboration between the university, government, and the private sector. Research will address issues of significance to the nation's economic future, as estimated by these groups. Through mutual research initiatives with MIT faculty, and through a relationship with MIT's Industrial Liaison Program, MUST students and faculty will be exposed to world-class techniques, methods, and approaches to problem-solving in a wide range of engineering and manufacturing applications.

3) Institutional development, in terms of organization, administration, and finance:

MIT has helped MUST to develop the organizational, administrative, and financial organizations that will enable the new university to adapt flexibly, quickly, and accurately to the changing educational and research needs of the developing Malaysian economy. It is essential to structure MUST so that all relevant interests are represented, while academic freedom to innovate is also maintained. In addition, MIT will help MUST instill in its students and faculty the desire and ability to maintain the highest quality of standards.

4) Partnership programs with government and industry:

Partnerships with industry and government has long been a prominent characteristic of MIT education. Through internships and collaborative research modeled on MIT experience, MUST students will integrate an R&D orientationsintostheir educations from the start. One of the initial phases of MUST will include executive seminars designed to demonstrate the latest technological developments relevant to Malaysian business interests, and to encourage involvement in MUST research. Each MUST field of education and research will include on it visiting committee prominent business leaders who will evaluate how effectively MUST programs are addressing their needs.

An organization based on the tripartite collaboration between industry, government, and the university will enable researchers from all three sectors to learn intimately the needs and potentialities or each other. This is not possible in the classic relationship between universities and industry, in which ideas must be translated tortuously, if ever, to the entrepreneurial sector. MUST organizers envision a system in which industry representatives can articular their needs, university investigators can target their work, and government can move to support new enterprises in a timely, cooperative manner.

The inputs of industry and governmentsintosthe academic programs of MUST will be assured by a system of visiting committees. Each academic program m will have a visiting committee composed of distinguished representative of industry, government, and academia. These committees will be appointed by the MUST Board of Trustees to assure the relevance of academic activities to national needs.

MIT faculty has extensive experience in supporting industry goals. MIT education, upon which MUST education is being modeled, has proven tremendously successful in producing entrepreneurial leadership in technology. Through MUST, Malaysian private sector partners gain the linkages to research and development that have supported entrepreneurship among MIT associates in the US.

MUST's Unique Features

MUST is shaped by four characteristics, which taken together, make it a unique institution, tailored to the goals of Malaysia. First, it is research-driven. The objective of education will be to produce graduates oriented toward the orientation of ideas, rather than toward the management of technologies designed elsewhere.

Second, the focus of education at MUST is at the graduate level. Starting with a Master's program, the faculty will develop a doctoral program designed to perpetuate high-level education in Malaysia, and would eventually initiate an under-graduate program that will prepare high-school graduates for graduate studies.

Third, MSUT attracts the intellectually elite students not only of Malaysia, but of other Southeast Asian nations as well. The structures and objective of MUST are unique to the region, and its success will ensure Malaysian technological leadership in the region.

Fourth, MUST will be a private organization, flexible, quickly adaptable to technological needs. It will be open to research grants, contracts, and scholarship support from government and international agencies. The capacity to respond rapidly to requirements for innovation will be a key to the success of the university, and of the high-tech Malaysia economy it is designed to support.

A private structure will ensure that the university is not a long-term burden on government, but will depend on the participation of many groups. It is consistent with the government's goal of privatization, and with recent legislation enabling the establishment of private universities. Most importantly, MUST will be responsive to industry and government as their mutual needs evolve. Insgroupsto ensure the success of this complex interaction, leadership in the form of financial support from the national government is needed.

The Role of IT

MUST, during its formative stage relies heavily on MIT for its academic programs. MIT has agreed to provide course content, reading assignments, homework and typical exams. The corresponding faculty member at MUST will use the material for his or her teaching. The core of this transfer is MIT's newly developed STELLAR systems.

The STELLAR system used by MIT and MUST is a simple coursework management system developed by Academic Media Production Services at MIT. This system provides course administrators and instructors with a simple, hierarchical means of organizing course-related content and selectively exposing it to students. The system also allows the storage of a minimal amount of metadata (in this case, information about the documents and course), supports a "discussion" feature to allow interaction between students and TAs, announcements, and the viewing of information in a "calendar" framework. With the exception of one or two discrete 3rd party components, the system is written using Java Servlets (server-side java components) and stores its data in an Oracle database. While STELLAR's functions are currently very limited compared to other course management solutions, the system is slated for significant expansions in coming years.

Conceptually speaking, STELLAR provides a simple way for non-technical individuals to create and maintain simple course websites, based around a common theme. Without being concerned about the technical details of creating HTML pages or managing folders on a computer, a user can quickly upload documents or descriptive text within a topic hierarchy of their choosing. Because the system is web-based and uses only the most generic web standards, it can be accessed from any computer with a browser and internet.
User Categories

STELLAR sites can be accessed by different types of users, such as faculty, students, etc. In recognition of the different needs of the users, the STELLAR system provides each of these sets of with different interfaces. To accomplish this, the STELLAR system classifies userssintosa fixed set of groups: Administrators, Professors, TAs, Students, "Learners", etc.

Membership of a particular user in these groups provides one with certain privileges. These privileges include the ability to create or modify documents or content within a site, the ability to participate in discussions, etc. At the current time, all rules for such permissions are established by the STELLAR development team and cannot be explicitly inspected or changed by administrators or participants in the course. (For example, students are only allowed to view content, rather than create it). Such permissions are also set across an entire course at a time of the site, and cannot be adjusted on a one-by-one basis.

Stellar Site Structure

A STELLAR site has several different areassintoswhich relevant content can be placed. These include the following:

Course Home. This provides some introductory information about the course, such as course name, instructors, course times and location, etc.

Overview. This provides a hierarchical list of all material that has been uploaded to this course.

A variety of filtered versions of the contents listed in "Overview", including the following

Readings
Lecture Notes
Videos
Assignments
Solutions
Other
Calendar.
Announcements. This provides an area for official communication between course administrators and students.
Discussions. An area for informal communication among course participants.
List of class
Class List
Staff List
Help files
Stellar Help references
Class Related help references (uploaded by class staff)
Search tool

Course Home
This area of the course provides the students or visitors with general information regarding the course. It is designed for presentation not only to course participants but to guests as well. Information provided within the course homepage includes information on course
Name/Number
Instructors
Time
Location
Announcements
Content areas: Overview and Related Views

The "Overview" area holds course documents and text uploaded by course administrators/faculty. As noted above, system also provides a number of additional areas that display specific types of contents, such as links to course lectures, course readings, assignments etc. All of this content is displayed in a hierarchical form, in which the viewed documents are located in topics and subtopics.

Student Interface
When a student or other non-administrative user accesses the overview and related page, they will see content (text and links to documents), organized hierarchically sintostopics and subtopics. Document links give a description of the content. Beneath each piece of content, the system provides information such as the date associated with the document, and the classification of the document content according to a built-in set of categories:
Video
(Class) help
Lecture notes
Readings
Assignment
Assignment solution
Others
For information to the user and browser, the system also describes the application that created the document (e.g. MS Word, MS Powerpoint, webpage, etc.) By clicking on links, the student can download and view the document (just as in standard web usage).
Administrative Interface
Administrative users (including faculty) can modify the contents of this page through a series of simple commands. This functionality allows an administrator to easily place links to other content on a webpage.

There a couple of basic ways of doing this:

Creating Topics. Creating a topic (or subtopic) on a webpage allows a webpage to be organized hierarchically, with topics and subtopics.

Uploading Documents. Within any point of the hierarchical structure of a webpage, an administrator can upload files such as word documents, power points, spreadsheets, etc. to the STELLAR server, along with a description of the document and several other pieces of information.

When uploading documents, a faculty member can indicate whether the document is to be made available to students, or is only for viewing by faculty, whether it should be placed on the calendar, and to classify itsintosone of the topics. The user can also request that the document only be viewed after a certain date.

Uploading Text. Instead of placing a link to a document within a webpage, an administrator can upload small pieces of text that will be shown directly to a user (in other words, the user will not have to click on a link to read the text.). STELLAR treats text annotations as just another form of document, permitting general rules for documents to apply to such annotations as well (for example, the ability to hide the annotation to users, etc.)

Changingsgroupsof content. STELLAR provides an administrator with a means of rearranging items within a page.

Deleting Content. Previously uploaded content (such as documents, text, topics, etc.) can be deleted if it becomes outdated or if the administrator no longer wishes to offer access to such documents to students and other users.

Subsidiary Views

While the "overview" provides a general interface to introducing, modifying and viewing course content, the content held within the site can be viewed through several more specialized interfaces. Each of these interfaces allows viewing subsets of the documents of a particular type - still organized according to topics and subtopics. Specialized interfaces include:

All Materials (includes Readings, Lecture Notes, Other)
Readings
Lecture Notes
Videos
Other
All Homeworks (includes both Assignments and Solutions)
Homework Assignments
Homework Solutions.
Calendar.

Most of these items show documents or text based on their "document content" classification. An exception to this rule is the Calendar View, which shows all items for which calendar posting is not requested. The calendar region of the site is designed to display course documents and text according to assigned date. This can, for example, provide a convenient means of showing information on a course calendar, or a means of providing course documents according to a fixed schedule.

Announcements

The announcements area provides an easy means for official communication from faculty/administrator to students. Announcements are simple text messages that can be viewed by students on this page, or on the course home page. Administrators can use the "announcements" page to view earlier announcements or to post new announcements. Announcements can be posted to only appear after a certain date.

Discussions

While announcements are designed to facilitate official communication from faculty/administrator to students, discussions are designed to allow for easy informal communication between students, TAs and faculty.

Faculty and administrators can set up any number of "forums" within the general discussion area. Each of these forums is typically intended to capture discussions pertaining to a particular subject. Students can then go to a particular discussion forum to post and read messages on a particular topic.

STELLAR offers an easy means of "watching" forums. This subscription service causes new postings to a forum to trigger email to subscribed users.

Class and Staff Lists
As a reference, STELLAR provides access to lists of students and staff associated with a class.

For students, the system provides information on Name, Department of Enrollment, year, and STELLAR username.

Staff information includes Email address, office address, phone number and office hours. (While all of those registered as staff in STELLAR are listed, the staff may choose to leave information fields blank).

Help Documents
There are two primary types of help documents in STELLAR: Documents describing STELLAR itself, and documents providing help and information about the course.

STELLAR help is standardized across all courses and includes references to standard STELLAR reference materials. These materials include references for both course instructors and students.

Course help is unique to the course and may be added by course administrators and instructors. Like normal course material, it may be structuredsintostopics, and can include the same types of documents that are found in the general course materials.

Search
STELLAR offers a very simple search tool. The user can type in a phrase, and search the STELLAR course site. It is currently unclear whether this tool is operating correctly.

Customization
In addition to allowing an administrator to place documents within topics of their choosing, STELLAR allows for limited site-wide customization.
Reporting of File Details. The user can change the amount of information shown along with file links.

Enabling of the use of a transfer tool. As described elsewhere in this document, the STELLAR transfer tool can be use to transfer course materials between course instances (such as the MIT side of a course and the MUST side)

Enabling uploads of compound documents. Compound documents can be used to contain many subdocuments. When uploading of compound documents is enabled, the user may use such documents to transparently contain many smaller documents on the site. This allows a user to gain access to (e.g. view) a file within a larger archive, without the need to independently upload each file in the archive.

Enabling students not currently enrolled in the course to see course discussions. When this option is enabled, students who are not enrolled the course can view course discussions. Regardless of the setting of this option, only registered STELLAR users can view discussion or course contents.

Changes in the way that course meeting times are shown. This option can change how meeting times are shown on the course home page - either as a text or large HTML page.

Toggling instructor title between "Instructor" and "Professor".s
Navigation Bar. STELLAR users can customize the "navigation bars" that provide links to STELLAR areas (such as those listing "Videos", "Homework Solutions", "Search", etc.) There are several ways that the Navigation Bars can be customized:

Disabling or enabling links to a given region. For example, if the user wishes to have a "homework" link but does not wish to expose additional detailed links to separate areas for homework assignments and solutions, they can do so.

Changing link behavior. Certain links can be customized to use web pages that are custom-designed by the user (potentially at another website), or to include other types of materials from STELLAR.

Changing the name of a link. This can be used to refine the name of an existing type of link, or to create a novel type of link (for example, directed to external content.)
MIT-MUST Staged Delivery Model

Most courses currently delivered at MUST have close MIT counterparts, developed by an MIT faculty member. To facilitate this process, the STELLAR team has devised a two-tier mechanism for creating course content. Conceptually, this collaboration consists of four phases.

First stage: MIT course creation. In the first stage of course development, the MIT faculty member and assistants create course material in STELLAR. MUST faculty have the necessary privileges to observe this portion of the activity, but cannot change anything.

Second-stage Propagation. When the MIT faculty is sufficiently satisfied with the MIT course design, a STELLAR "Transfer tool" can be used to propagate content over to a separate course instance in STELLAR, used to hold the MUST -specific content. The transfer tool allows for fairly flexible copying of course content from one course to another.

Third-stage: MUST development. In the third stage, MUST faculty are responsible for modifying the material that has been placed by the transfer tool in the MUST-course. In this process, the MUST faculty can both view and change material, but the MIT faculty can only view material - they cannot make changes.

Fourth-stage: Use. Following consensus by MIT and MUST faculty as to the MUST content, the MUST students are allowed to access the MUST course content.

CONCLUSION

The STELLAR system provides a simple course management system. While the system offers limited functionality, it is sufficiently flexible to adequately deliver course content, even when some of the content is located outside of the system. The system also contains a number of underlying features that should allow for provision of a more sophisticated interface with only a modest amount of effort. The system is still in testing phased, and will require some time before full stability is achieved.

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