Transcript Slide 1

Prof. Eliut D. Flores Caraballo, Ph.D.
Graduate School of Information Science and Technology
University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
eliut.f [email protected]
1 787 249 4444 Voice / dreliutf lores Skype
 Trinidad & Tobago and its Public Schools System
 The MOE has a goal and a problem
 A systemic solution has been identified
 Stakeholders were consulted
 Needs were identified
 Specific uses have been listed
 Best practices worlwide were researched
 A technical vision was designed
 The project is now in the works…
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Trinidad &
Tobago Facts
Area total: 5,128 sq km
Natural Resources:
Petroleum, natural gas, asphalt
Population: 1,229,953
Languages:
English (official), Caribbean
Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi),
French, Spanish, Chinese
Gained independence from the
UK in 31 August 1962
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 Trinidad and Tobago has adopted important strategies
impacting education
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Vision 2020
National ICT Strategy
eGovernment and GoRTT
Secondary Schools Modernization Program (SEMP)
The Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC)
 The Ministry of Education (MOE) of T&T has
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133 Secondary Public Schools with 5,936 teachers
478 Elementary Public Schools with 7,427 teachers
600 Early Childhood Centers with 1,125 teachers
Over 100,000 Public School Students in total
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 Vision 2020
 “By the year 2020, … All citizens are assured of a sound,
relevant education system tailored to meet the human
resource needs of a modern, progressive, technologically
advancing nation. Optimum use is made of all the
resources of nation”
 Trinidad and Tobago’s National ICT Strategy
 “Focuses on the development of an innovative, creative
and entrepreneurial society that can excel in today’s
knowledge based society and global economy”
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The MOE has a goal and a
problem
The nation’s population is split
over two Islands
The country is small, but the road
and transportation infrastructure
is poor
Many teachers lack advanced,
specialized, and updated training
Many schools need improvements
Internet and WAN connectivity for
the schools is in the planning stage
for deployment in 2009-2010
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 Based on systematic analysis, the MOE decided to use
ICTs to support significant improvements in their
Secondary Public Schools System
 MOE WAN
 Videoconferencing System
 Curriculum modification
 Teachers continued
professional and ICT education
 MOE engaged Dr. Flores to conduct
research leading to the design of the
videoconferencing system
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 Field research was conducted by Dr. Eliut D. Flores
during the month of June, 2008
 Research objective:
 To interview stakeholders of the Secondary Education
Public School System at the MOE senior level and at the
schools
 Methods used:
 Executive in-depth interviews
 Focus groups
 Onsite visits to several MOE facilities and secondary
schools
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 The most salient reasons for wanting to use the
videoconferencing system are:
 The limited road infrastructure of the country makes
any trip a challenging effort
 Difficult to abandon the classroom or Ministry offices to
reach other locations
 Going out implies many hours wasted on the road/ship
 Tobago constituents have an additional challenge due to the
time and money required to find sea or air transport to and
from Trinidad
 Limited availability of teachers in specialized subjects
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 We can summarize all respondent opinions around
three major uses for the videoconferencing system:
 Learning/Teaching
 Specialized lectures by remote teachers
 National and international collaborative learning
 Virtual Field Trips
 Substitute teaching
 Continued Education
 Increase number of teachers in Certification Program
 Virtual Meetings
 Schools supervisors, Legal Counsel, HR, Teachers’ mentors
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 We conducted a thorough literature review of best
practices for building K-12 Videoconferencing systems.
Among them:
 Standards should be adopted for all information and
communication technology purchases
 A broadband Wide Area Network (WAN) is a major
component of the videoconferencing system and it
should be connected to a powerful Network Center
 Budget high-end, high-definition videoconferencing
systems for the schools, integrating document cameras,
whiteboards, and TabletPC computers
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 More Best Practices:
 Develop a multimodal learning-teaching strategy
comprising face-to-face, videoconferencing, and
eLearning modalities
 Presentations can be boring and ineffective whether
delivered in person or over a videoconference. Use
proper planning and high production values to deliver
best results
 The institutional schedule of videoconferencing events
must be coordinated and respected by all members of
the network
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 MOE Wide Area Network
 3MB+ Metro Ethernet to each school
 Routers/Switches optimized to prioritize video traffic
 NOC with redundant bandwidth to the Internet
 Centralized firewall
 Centralized content filtering for Internet access
 Access to several IP Networks
 MOE
 GoRTT
 Universities
 Rest of the world
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 Network Operations Center
 Powerful video server capable of supporting many sites
 High Definition and Standard definition switching
 Point 2 Point
 Point 2 Multipoint
 Webcasting
 Integration with Exchange eMail Server for automated
administration
 Streaming server
 Capable of recording (i.e., encoding) videoconferencing
events, and other video materials, cataloguing them for
later retrieval using metadata for each asset
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 Schools Videoconferencing System
 Dedicated room with proper lighting, temperature and
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sound proofing
High-Definition IP codec
Dual 42” LCD displays (near/far/collaboration)
Two cameras (students/instructor)
Ceiling Microphones
Sound amplifier and speakers
Tablet PC with Collaboration Software
Document camera
CD/DVD Player
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 Detailed technical concept being revised by MOE
 RFP will be issued this summer
 Schools and MOE WAN in progress
 Project adjudication scheduled for the Fall 2009
 System might be divided in stages
 Stage 1 should be operational by January 2010
 Additional stages will follow to complete all secondary
schools and eventually other levels
 Curriculum integration and teacher training will be
coordinated accordingly for seamless integration
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 Videoconferencing is a useful strategy to overcome
limitations and to pursue achievement in Public
Schools
 Careful planning, staffing, support, and
infrastructure of the overall project is required to
harmonize infrastructure, skills and learning
 It is preferable to better equip fewer schools than
to deploy deficient installations to more schools
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Prof. Eliut D. Flores Caraballo, Ph.D.
Graduate School of Information Science and Technology
University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
eliut.f [email protected]
1 787 249 4444 Voice / dreliutf lores Skype