Class Number: ISMF 450, Telecommunications Management

Title: Final Project Due Date: March 3, 1994Class number: ISMF 450, Telecommunications ManagementStudent Name: Daniel R. FruitTitle: The Impact of Telecommunications on DoDDs 2TABLE OF CONTENTSA. Executive Summary p. 3B. Introduction p. 4C. DoDDs Past and Present p. 5D. The DoDDs Teacher p. 8E. The Base Environment p. 10F. DoDDs Telecommunications: Past and Present p. 12G. Distance Education: A Limited Option p. 14H. Effects on Students p. 17I. Impact on Teachers p. 21J. Impact on School Administration p. 24K. Problems, Concerns, Limitations p. 26L. Predictions and Conclusions p. 29M. Bibliography p. 31Appendix I: Interview With Dr. Davies p. 36 Appendix II: Interview With Mike Jones p. 39Appendix III: Interview With Bill Morgan p. 42Appendix IV: Interview With Stan Vergnani p. 45 3A. Executive SummaryThis papers examines the effect that telecommunications will have on the DoDDs system during the coming decade. It begins with a brief analysis of the environment of the DoDD system and the particular circumstances that led to DoDDs initial involvement in telecommunications. Next, it examines the possible impact that telecommunications will have on the particular populations within the system: students, administrators, and teachers. Some of the envisioned impacts include new personnel systems, on-line access to world databases, distance education, and networking.The paper also highlights some of the problems faced in implementing telecommunications systems within the DoDDs system. The paper proposes that the overall impact of telecommunications will be to make the far-flung DoDDs school system "smaller" by bringing together its population. The paper maintains that the effect on the DoDDs system will be important, though not fundamental, and concludes that the forces that made DoDDs a leader in educational telecommunications in the first place will continue to make it a leader in that area.B. Introduction 4The impact of telecommunications in the next decade on the DoDDs (Department of Defense Dependent Schools) system will be noteworthy, well-publicized, and make the relatively isolated schools of the system part of a worldwide educational network. Telecommunications advancements will allow teachers, students, and administrators throughout the system to have more contact with one another and with the United States. Similarly, within each school, the spread of LANs (Large Area Networks) will gradually link classrooms together and bases. WANS (Wide Are Networks) will add more connectivity until, eventually, via the Internet, each classroom will be connected "to the world." Continued cooperation and sponsorship from the military will allow DoDDs access to many "state of the art" systems at little or no cost and will aid in the growth of telecommunications.On the other hand, however, telecommunications will remain peripheral to the main mission of the schools, which is to provide a quality education to military and base dependents. While the military will come to perceive telecommunications as "mission critical," the DoDDs system will continue to view telecommunications as an adjunct, but not essential, part of the system. As a result, the impact of the telecommunications on DoDDs will be less than on the military itself, but relevant, 5 worth considering, and of more importance than that of most schools in the continental United States (CONUS).C. DoDDs, Past and PresentThe worldwide DoDDs system arose out of a desire to improve the quality of life of service members in the hopes that they would perform better in their duties and remain in the service. The "mission" of the DoDDs schools remains one, through educating dependents, of supporting the bases' military missions. At the same time, various legal precedents show that when DoDDs accepts the burden of educating local dependents, the DoDDs system has to offer an education of quality comparable to that of similarly- sized schools in the United States (Fruit, 1992). Moreover, DoDDs has generally succeeded as SAT scores and other measures of success will attest. It must be noted that throughout most of the history of DoDDs, which parallels the Cold War, the military needed incentives to keep the ranks filled, particularly in "hardship areas" such as Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. When American dependents first arrived or were born in Japan in the 1940s, the military had no alternative but to build the English language, DoDDs, schools for them to attend as no local alternatives existed (Oshirto as summarized in Fruit, 1992). With the power of 6 the American dollar, this represented a relatively cheap solution to obtaining higher retention rates.The end of the Cold War means for DoDDs, as well as the military, major budget cuts and base closures. This year, alone, fourteen schools, half of them high schools, in Europe will close permanently (DoDDs memorandum, 1994). This down-sizing includes the shutdown of schools throughout Europe as well as the coincidental closing of schools in the Philippines. This situation has created several years of personnel shuffling, uncertainties, and movement. In many ways, however, the drawdown benefitted DoDDs by shortening lines of communication, shutting down many of the smaller, more isolated schools, and eliminating bases in hard to support countries such as Iceland. In both the military and DoDDs, moreover, a personnel surplus means that the armed forces can afford to discharge a service member who refuses to take an unaccompanied tour, just as DoDDs can afford to "fire" a teacher who refuses to go to an undesirable area. The net effect of the drawdown, then, is to somewhat lessen DoDDs' educational responsibilities (Stremple, 1994).Early retirements related to the military "drawdown," moreover, have had a more subtle effect on the requirements of the system: lessening the number of senior high students. DoDDs always maintained something of a pyramid in terms of student enrollment with fewer of the oldest students at the top and more 7 younger students at the base. The drawdown slimmed the top of the pyramid to the point of near truncation. With the military's policy of early retirement and separation incentives, more parents exit their children from the system at a younger age. Yokota Air Force Base's two 600 student elementary schools, for example, feed a single, similarly-sized high school. Within that high school, 40% attend the seventh grade while only 40 or so are seniors.The ending of the Cold War, then, offers DoDDs new challenges and a changed role. The system will have lesser responsibilities and younger age groups to deal with. At the same time its budget shrinks, DoDDs will have a harder time building and updating present facilities as the American dollar continues to erode in value against local foreign currencies, and this will form the background for DoDDs interests in telecommunications D. The DoDDs TeachersThe DoDDs system has existed somewhat in isolation from those in the United States, and this had an effect on the system's teachers and administrators (Fruit, 1992). Partly, this results from the sheer distances involved both between the schools in the DoDDs system and between the system and school systems in the United States. 8Relative lack of contact between teachers, even within the system, also contributes to this isolation. As an Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) teacher, I participated in a school system in which each salary advancement depended on accumulating 14 hours of coursework, either from the school district, usually free, or an accredited college. The top of the salary chart ended at 126 hours, and many teachers reached it. The typical DoDDs' school year features 2 days of in-servicing and fewer in more remote areas. Even if each in-service day resulted in the accumulation of a credit, to move up even a single step, on the LAUSD chart, would require a DoDDs teacher seven years. In reality, however, DoDDs salary schedule, necessarily, depends far more on years teaching, seniority, than on units earned. This means that DoDDs teacher have far less contact with other educators than teachers in CONUS. Further, the salary advancement scheme rewards longevity and seniority, rather than the kind of course work that would encourage interaction and communication between educators. The lack of "new blood" to the DoDDs system also contributes to its isolation. The average age of DoDDs teachers is close to fifty. The consolidation of DoDDs personnel actually increased the average age because the displaced personnel moved into positions normally filled by hiring new teachers from CONUS.Those fewer new teachers hired in the United States, moreover, 9 signed "terminal" contracts, stipulating that DoDDs owes them no obligations beyond their second year, meaning that in a layoff situation, the youngest teachers would usually be first to leave.In general, then, DoDDs possesses many teachers near the end of their tenure, many of whom spent nearly their entire careers withDoDDs. Appropriately enough, DoDDs last year allocated 25% of its two days of in-services (a half day) in the Far East to a session on how to prepare for retirement.Thus telecommunication potentially offers DoDDs teachers new opportunities to end this traditional isolation and to have more contact with other educators and new experiences. On the other hand, the age factor and the long isolation itself, lessen the probability that educators will take advantage of these emerging opportunities.E. The Base EnvironmentMilitary bases offer a unique environment for telecommunications in terms of equipment and attitudes. First, the military allows the schools access to the local E-Mail host and to Milnet. The latter system accesses databases throughout the military and, via the Internet, the whole world (Krout, 1994). The military can allow the schools to do this because the military system has to have enough capacity to handle wartime, 10 emergency telecommunications. This translates to plenty of excess capacity during non-wartime situations. Further, each base must connect to each other base and be relatively communications "self-sufficient" to meet, again, these wartime needs. At this point in time, moreover, the military perceives an advantage in selling the "peace-time" capabilities of their systems in order to keep their budgets from being cut, and the DoDDs schools offer a convenient, nearby, always-needy charity on whom to bestow electronic generosity. The military environment is unique in another way also in that, particularly at air force bases, its personnel work in a highly technical environment. As the military relies more and more on machines as a cheaper substitute for manpower, it naturally enlists more members interested in the military as a means of obtaining an education revolving around technology. This means DoDDs students generally have parents who have familiarity with and enthusiasm about computers, modems, and technology in general.The base environment, then, offers DoDDs a number of advantages as a telecommunications environment. First, plenty of equipment already resides there, and the military has good political reasons for allowing its use. Second, parents will likely favor the use of telecommunications, both by students and the school, in support of their children's education. 11F. DoDDs Telecommunications: Past and PresentDoDDs became one of the pioneers in telecommunications and education. The nearness of the schools to massive communications facilities and the distances involved helped. Back in 1986, Bill Morgan established the first DoDDs telecommunications course, using a 300 baud system, based at the University of Michigan's Confer system (Morgan, 1994). Morgan credits the very distances between the schools with DoDDs decision to invest in on-line, two way communications rather than the one-way, television based alternative systems favored by many other school districts in CONUS (Morgan, 1994).In the early 1990s, schools started using LANs (local area networks) and Novell Netware to link school computers (Verganani,1994). In 1992, the district installed an administrative system that would link together superintendents, principals, assistant principals, and supervisors throughout the world to the system's headquarters in Washington D.C. The present system, being upgraded almost continuously, relies on two distinct systems. An E-Mail system links, primarily, computer science teachers to other schools using LotusNotes (Vergnani, 1994). School administrators communicate with one another via cc Mail (Davies, 1994). Individual teachers, 12 however, at present, do not have connections to either system even if they have computers in their room. Further, only about 50% of teachers at an average school have computers in their classrooms with a higher percentage in the elementary schools.As pioneers, naturally DoDDs experienced some problems. Inadequate or tardy training meant that, often, the hardware and software arrived before the knowledge. Unclear standards and protocols meant that, at times, the same message might arrive from three different sources (Davies, 1994). Still, DoDDs considers itself as a driving force, not a follower so in the field much so that Mike Jones, our school computer coordinator, suggested to me that my title might be reversed to "The Impact ofDoDDs on Telecommunications."G. Distance Education: A Limited OptionGiven this background, a sound consideration of the probable effect of telecommunications can be made. The effects would center on the three primary groups effected: students, educators, and administrators.It's important to note that the DoDDs school's main mission, educating students, will not be much effected by telecommunications. At most, telecommunications will be something of an adjunct or enhancement to classroom instruction, not a replacement. 13In this area, the impact of telecommunications on DoDDs and on the University of Maryland will markedly differ. The proverbial soldier stationed at Camp Red Cloud who needs one class to graduate that is not offered locally can make a strong case that Maryland ought to offer that course. If he makes too strong a case and asks for a re-assignment, however, the military will answer that he has a commitment and must stay, course or no course. The dependent, however, cannot end up in the same situation. The DoD (Department of Defense) simply doesn't need to send dependents to areas that it cannot support in a manner that will put a student into a classroom with a qualified teacher. TheDoD has a number of means of keeping dependents out of unsupportable areas. In some cases, such as bases in Korea, the DoD simply forbids accompanied tours. In other areas, such as Singapore and probably some areas in Europe, the military will find it cheaper to pay to send students to local, private international schools that have facilities that equal those of DoDDs schools. At the smallest bases, a student can simply be put into a small class, and a teacher scheduled to teach many classes("multiple preps"). For providing basic education, which would includes all junior high and elementary students, then, telecommunications does not represent an option. 14This leaves the situation of an upper level high school student who wishes to take a high level class not offered locally who wishes to employ telecommunications to take that course. First, it must remembered the tiny numbers being considered. Last year, Yokota, a school of six hundred, only had four students enrolled in such classes, and this year, it has none (Vergnani, 1994). Second, DoDDs secondary teachers must qualify to teach in two different areas, unlike teachers in CONUS, decreasing the possibility that student needs will not be met. Third, and perhaps most importantly, it can be argued that DoDDs' obligation to offer a quality education doesn't necessarily extend to including every class needed for every student. Many CONUS high schools don't offer the kind of courses being discussed, and, unlike the soldier at Red Cloud, it can be questioned as to what effect not taking one of these courses, such as "Advanced Calculus," will have on a student's future or even on his or her college admittance.I think an illustration will exemplify this situation. Two years ago, I taught a class of 8th grade talented and gifted English in which I had a student whom I shall can Jenny. Now, out of Jenny's atypically large class of 32, all but three have since returned to CONUS, most of their parents having retired. Of the remaining three, one doesn't have the capabilities to take the courses in question. Jenny and the other student, whom I'll call 15Mark, both took "Advanced Calculus" via modem. Mark didn't sign up for any other distance education classes. Jenny, however, wanted to take more advanced computer classes, not offered at Yokota. Her mother, a school teacher, used this as a reason for requesting a transfer to Okinawa, which offered more advanced classes. Her letter to DoDDs ended with the promise, "If you don't transfer me, so my daughter can take these courses, I'll quit." DoDDs responded: "Then quit." In DoDDs view, its commitment to educating this teacher's daughter did not extend to these type of courses.Telecommunications, then, to DoDDs offers more an enhancement than a required program, a means of extending classroom learning, and not of replacing the basic educational relationship of student, teacher, and classroom. Bill Morgan, the principal of the DoDDs Distance Education High School (quoted by Vergnani, 1994) is himself quoted as saying "nothing beats one on one." H. Impact on StudentsAs in the acquisition of computers, the telecommunications programs within DoDDs will continue to grow essentially a program at a time, often haphazardly. Again, these programs will offer an enrichment, not a replacement, of the basic curriculum. 16Typically, each program starts with a proposal, either from a teacher or from the government, the equipment is shipped, and the program implemented, often with little lead time and not much training. As a result, the melange of programs offered will continue to have a distinctly "ad hoc" quality and not effect all students or all students to an equal degree.First, the schools will continue to offer some distance education courses. The course offering should continue at about their present level with courses offerings in advanced subjects such as AP Pascal, Pascal, Calculus, AP German, and Scientific Research Seminar (Morgan, 1994). Greater access capabilities should approximately counteract the attrition of older students. Again, while essential, perhaps, to Maryland's program, DoDDs only offers these courses as needed. Students at Yokota High School, for example, last year could take "Arab-Israeli Conflict," "Advanced Calculus," and "Pascal," all via modem. During the past year, however, two teachers at Yokota took Pascal, themselves, via modem. As a result, one of them now teaches the Pascal course, eliminating that distance education course. To most students, a more important telecommunications development will involve the use of telecommunications for research. The first small steps began this year with linking of all the computers in one computer lab to one computer that acts 17 as an E-Mail host for each school. Eventually, each classroom, which has a computer, will then link to the LAN. This would approximate the kind of steps being taken in CONUS (Bassett, 1992) by Nycenet, CSUNET, and Big Sky Telegraph. Students in programming classes, computer literacy classes, and the computer club already have some access to this. In the not-distant future,DoDDs students from any classroom will be able, via computer and modem to do research that, through the Internet, could connect with anywhere from their school library to the Library of Congress.Using modems, also, students could contact other students around the world. Students, for example, could write to E-Mail "pen pals" at other bases or somewhere else in the world. This had been advocated as a means of allowing students to have "real audiences" other than their teachers. Students involved in such exchanges with other students were found to enjoy writing more, show more care in their writing, and learn more about other cultures (Mulligan and Gore, 1992). Different software tutorials and support programs exist (Mulligan and Gore, 1992) including FrEd Mail bulletin board, a free educational E-mail service, that would teach students how to use these services. Currently DoDDs participates in Learning Circles and Kids Net, educational network schemes. 18Different programs, also, will target particular students, including those who hardly fit the "Geek" stereotype of the computer user. Students having problems in algebra and considered"at risk," for example, can be enrolled in Yokota's "Learning Logic" which links an entire lab of computers using new, programmed instruction (PI) math software. This doesn't markedly differ from programs offered several years ago by Apple Computer and others, except that the program initiators in the United States will offer continuing software upgrades. As the course progresses, these upgrades will be shipped, via telecommunications media, transparently to the users (Radeck, 1994).Currently, DoDDs anticipates expanding its capabilities in a qualitative sense and adding new features such as CD-ROM, compressed video and response pads (Morgan 1994). These will enhance usability and encourage student use.The local bases may also become donors for new military telecommunications technologies. Seoul Korea's Yongsan Army Base, for example, loaned its videoconferencing hardware to Seoul American High School so students could use it to participate in teleconferences with other schools (Vergnani, 1994). Several other schools in the United States have also experimented with teleconferencing (Bassett, 1992). New features of the telecommunications systems, moreover, will make the system more 19 readily usable by students. Present plans call for graphics, a greater real-time capability, and CD-ROM support (Morgan, 1994). Other possibilities exist such as students E-Mailing their homework and systems that students could dial to have their homework assignments forwarded. Students, having taken a mandatory course in computer literacy, will be well prepared to take advantage of these opportunities and familiar with the concepts of telecommunication.I. Impact on TeachersSeveral possibilities occur regarding the possible impact of telecommunications on teachers. In-servicing and peer interaction, potentially of great interest to DoDDs teachers, does not seem to be much of a priority within the DoDDs system. The several people I interviewed locally all raised their eyebrows when I mentioned in-servicing as a possible use for telcommunications as though this had never occurred to them although it is being researched (Morgan, 1994). Teachers will be able to take courses, via modem, with professors in the States. At present, DoDDs offers a modest two courses, in Pascal and AP Pascal, not of much interest considering that most local bases offer these courses, but plans to expand these offerings in the future (Morgan 1994). In the Pacific, the time lag will 20 continue to be something of a problem, unless "real enough time" equals a day later. In CONUS, a number of networks and bulletin boards already exist dedicated to teachers and their interests (Compuserve, 1993), so this offers a potential area of interest to educators. Use of WANs and LANs, moreover, could end much of the educational isolation of DoDDs teachers. Telecommunications could also simplify procedures for grading, attendance, and parent contact. Teachers, linked to the office, could download their attendance figures much faster and more easily than having students transport them. Programs exist allowing uploading of grades to school computers, eliminating a lot of tedious scantron work. These grades could be conveniently kept in a central school database, allowing needed orderly access and eliminating the need for the school to retain physical copies of grade books. Finally, a central, on-line database would let teachers' quickly locate a student's phone number or address for quicker parent contact and even automatically dial that number. DoDDs schools presently have the software and hardware capability to do all of this right now (Jones, 1994), but the telecommunications capacities do not yet exist.An immediate impact of telecommunications on all personnel, happening this month, involves the transfer of personnel records to Washington. Previously, each base maintained its own personnel officers and records. Now, all these records have been shipped to 21 the United States and the personnel officers eliminated. School administrators have been given the power to make most personnel decisions, including "cutting orders," but given their own school workload, the implication is obvious: DoDDs plans to handle serious personnel issues via telecommunications. One possible scenario involves each school having a dedicated computer, perhaps in the employee lounge (Davies, 1994). Instead of calling their personnel officer to ask, say, how many hours they need to complete the next salary increase, they'll dial up Washington, hook into the database containing all their records, and make an SQL "query."For the teacher, then, the impact of telecommunications will be two part. First, some of the most tedious, paper intensive activities may be eliminated. Second, increased communications will end some of the traditional isolation of DoDDs teachers. J. Impact on School AdministrationTelecommunications may have the biggest impact on school administration. In the past, DoDDs school officials enjoyed a certain amount of local autonomy because the fastest that a directive could reach them was at the "speed of mail." Now, even though administrators have more responsibility, as de facto 22 personnel officers, they will also have more supervision from their superiors due to telecommunications.It may well fall on the administration to write guidelines for system use. The moral character of some students doesn't necessarily match their computer proficiency, and PC-based systems are notoriously easy to wreck or tamper with compared to UNIX systems or mainframes. The importance of clear guidelines was amply demonstrated by the University of Wisconsin students who sent some fake messages indicating that a school chancellor had been fired.There will need to be "levels of control" and appropriate punishments meted out to those who cannot obey the rules. It will fall upon the administration, with assistance from computer teachers, to write, or approve these rules and follow through if they are violated by students or teachers.In other ways, telecommunications could reduce administrative workloads. Administrators, like teachers, will benefit from a system tied together by telecommunications. A new student's entire records, for example, generally hand-carried today, could be uploaded from his or her previous school. As personnel records become more like databases, it will become easier to do teacher evaluations. Further, DoDDs administrators will continue to benefit from increased abilities to contact colleagues and superiors. 23K. Problems, Concerns, and LimitationsThere are, however, limits and constraints to DoDDs usage of telecommunications equipment. Existing phone lines, will continue to constitute a physically limiting factor. Some rooms, such as my own, share a phone, and teachers need these lines for the regular classroom business such as calling parents. Some classrooms in the elementary schools do not even have a phone. For visual telecommunications, a further question arises as to whether the analog telephone lines can handle the access rates necessary to transmit the visual images needed for some applications. Several potential technologies exist, such as ISDN and ADSL (Vizard, 1993), that could handle these transmission rates, and the local military could even extend its digital switch (Tinkham, 1994) to the schools. Any of these solutions would, however, require money from either the military or DoDDs, and some insiders think (Jones, 1994) that DoDDs will not want to cover costs for applications viewed as less than essential.Another problem concerns the lack of computers. No matter how many computers DoDDs acquires, this doesn't often translate to one machine per student, or even a machine per teacher, in a classroom. Sharing may seem perfectly logical to adults but 24 explaining the concept to a group of excited twelve-year-olds who all want to "call the library" remains a challenge. The limits of military generosity form another potentially limiting factor to the use of telecommunications. A new commander could easily come to a base, decry educational "fraud, waste, and abuse," and demand the system return to the base communication facility. DoDDs could do nothing about this.The attitudes of teachers and administrators towards the new technologies could limit their spread also, and the NEA has concluded "educational employees are essential to the success of any telecommunications project." (NEA, 1993). Some teachers, despite having had computers at Yokota High School for seven years, remain obstinately computer illiterate. In Los Angeles, where LAUSD mandated that each credential renewal required two hours of computers class work, this opposition swiftly wore away.In the DoDDs system, however, with older teachers close to retirement, some computers will sit idling in classrooms or warehouses, waiting until a particular teacher signs his or her papers and passes on. It must be noted that the possibilities for waste, fraud, and abuse will be exploited and, probably, a cause for limiting use of the system. The first time a teacher in Japan dials his friend in Germany, or a student dials up an obscene bulletin board service, the local or area administration may decide to set 25 up some kind of an accounting system for calls or a rationing system for telecommunications use. This will punish those teachers who use the system the most-even if that usage benefits students.Learning these systems, also, will continue to pose a challenge for teachers and administrators. Partly this will result from resistance and partly because of the rapid changes in the technology. At present, computer teachers need to field numerous computer-related questions as well as teaching their own classes, and new telecommunications technologies will simply add to this workload. DoDDs, moreover, will sometimes worsen the problem by buying new software and shipping it almost without advance notice. Yokota's principal for example, expects to start using a new administrative E-Mail system next month without having had a moment of training on its use (Davies, 1994).Finally, DoDDs must deal with the immense distances between the schools of the system. In many ways, these distances encouraged the growth of telecommunications in DoDDs in the first place, but they can also pose problems when communicating within the system. As an example, a group of Korean teachers and students recently participated in a seminar with teachers in Germany, using telecommunications, equipment, in real time. To do so, however, required the Korean-based participants to actually 26 sleep in the school in order to contact their colleagues during the German schools' working hours.Telecommunications, then offers many opportunities, but must overcome many obstacles and limitations within the DoDDs system.L. Speculation and ConclusionsOverall, then, the impact of Telecommunications will be important to DoDDs but not "mission vital" as it is to Maryland or the military. DoDDs world is already shrinking due to lessening commitments, and telecommunications will draw its remaining elements closer together and link them to the world, at some level. The particular atmosphere of the bases will usually contribute support and equipment to the schools. With this access to the world will come new problems such as security, training, and limitations of the medium itself. Through it all, DoDDs will be poised, uniquely, to impact telecommunications, at least within the field of education, as much as telecommunications impacts DoDDs. 27M. BibliographyBassett, Edward W. "New Technologies for Video Conferencing." Electronic Learning, May/June 1992, p. 20.Biesada. "Paving the Digital Superhighway." Unixworld, December 1993, pp. 58-61.Coburn, Janet. "Bill Burall, 1993 National Teacher of the Year, Uses E-Mail to Help Students Explore Society's Most Difficult Problems." Technology and Learning, December 1993, pp. 2-13."Compuserve: Education Forums" in CompuServe Introductory Membership, 1994, p. 26.Davies, Dr. Ed, Yokota High School Principal. Interviewed February 2, 1994. See Appendix I.DoDDs Memorandum, "General Notice of Reduction in Force," February 3, 1994. 28Farrow, Rick. "Keeping the World Out of Your Networks." UnixWorld, December 1993, pp. 56-57."Funding for Telecommunications." Electronic Learning, March1992, p. 20.Fruit, Daniel R. "The Effect of Social Environment on DoDDsPacific Schools: Or the Little Company Town With the C-130s."Unpublished paper written for School Administration, Troy State University, 1992. Copies available, in three parts, at [email protected].Gore, Kay and Patricia Alba Mulligan. "DISKcovery: Communications- Education's Missing Link?" Language Arts, Vol. 69, No. 5 (September 1992), pp. 379-384.Huber, Peter. Desktop Schools. Forbes, Vol. 147, June 10, 1991, p. 114.Jones, Mike, Yokota complex computer coordinator. InterviewedFebruary 9, 1994. See Appendix II.Kraut, Homer. "Lecture Notes," as recorded by Daniel R. Fruit, January 18, 1994. 29Littman, Jonathon. "Commerce on the Internet: The Digital Gold Rush." UnixWorld, December 1993, pp. 42-48.Milk, Jeremy L. "3 U of Wisconsin Students Face Punishment for Bogus E-Mail Messages." The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 20, 1993, p. A 25.Morgan, Bill, DoDDs Pacific's Distance Education Principal. Interviewed, via E-Mail, February 6, 1994. See Appendix III."NEA Special Report on Educational Telecommunications" as quoted in Electronic Learning , January 1993, p. 9.Notess, Greg R. "E-Mail Lists as Databases." Database, April1993, pp. 106-108.November, Alan and David Thornburg. "Telecom: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." Electronic Learning, Vol 12. No. 7, April 1993, pp. 16-17.O'Malley, Christopher. "E-Mail Unplugged By Wireless WANS." Byte, Vol. 19, No. 11 (November 1993), p. 28. 30Oehring, Sandra. "Windows on America." Instructor, Vol. 102, No. 4 (November 1992), p. 60.Oshirto, Yoshinobu. Historical Development of the Defense Schools With Emphasis on Japan, Far-East- Pacific Area, 1946-1973. Unpublished Dissertation in Curriculum Development andSupervision (Doctor of Education). Logan Utah: Utah State University, 1973. Summarized and quoted in Fruit.Poole, Gary Andrew. "It's Crunch Time in Cyberspace." UnixWorld, December 1993, pp. 52-55.Radeck, Herman as quoted by Angela Gettinger and Deticia Rucker. "New Year Brings Additions to Yokota High School, NewCourses, Teachers, Software." The Panther Press, Vol. XX, No. 4 (February 1, 1994), p. 1.Ruiu, Dragos. "ATM at Your Service." Data Communications, November 1993, pp. 85-88. 31Stremple, Dr. quoted in OEA S'Pacific, February 1994, p. 1.Tinkham, Ssgt. as quoted by Fruit in "Base Tour of Yokota Multi-Function Switch Notes." February 3, 1994.Vergnani, Stan, Yokota High School computer teacher. InterviewedFebruary 7, 1994. See Appendix IV.Vizard, Frank. "Building the Information Superhighway." Popular Mechanics, January 1994, pp. 29-33. 32Appendix IInterview with Dr. Davies, Principal of Yokota High School, February 5, 1994.Fruit: You recently returned from several weeks of training, regarding DoDDs and the use of telecommunications?Davies: Five days on telecoms. One workshop dealt with personnel matters which could be accomplished using E- Mail. The other was using the network support system for a new program we're implementing entitled "Learning Logic." Fruit: What was that program again?Davies: Learning Logic. It uses math computers that are networked. Our E-Mail connection will automatically update the software used in the course as it develops.Fruit: The personnel offices for the DoDDs system, then, will be located in the U.S. and accessed via E-Mail?Davies: Basically matters that can be handled locally will be handled here. Other methods that need to be referred to Washington can then be E-Mailed.Fruit: Now, the administration has used an E-Mail network for quite some time. What are some advantages and disadvantages of this system?Davies: We've only had the system for about a year. The advantages are two. 1) It's much quicker, and 2) it gives us superior accesss. The disadvantage is that it can be abused. Sometimes, several copies of the same memo sometimes come from different sources. When people have a system, they're going to use it, sometimes to the point of information overload.Fruit: You mentioned that every teacher would, eventually, be using the E-Mail system? Do you see a day when all of the teachers will be using E- Mail, say, for personnel? 33Davies: Well, I can see this kind of system in some central location. Teachers could then use E-Mail for this. It's not certain how this would be set up. Teachers could also use this for other purposes. A group of teachers working on a science project, for example, could E-Mail the details to one another.Fruit: What opportunities will there be for teachers to become more "telecommunications literate"?Davies: Eventually, there will be training when everything is "up to speed." Right now, we've got so much going in telecommunications and computers that it's hard to keep up. I haven't been in- serviced on the system they're installing right now [the new Novell set-up].Fruit: So it's pretty much left up to you to teach yourself?Davies: Well, we always have the computer teachers to ask for help. Then, I have been given some brief sessions. Eventually, the training will be there.Fruit: What other impacts do you think telecommunications will have on Yokota High School or the other DoDDs schools?Davies: The DoDDs world would will be much smaller. There are a number of things that I can envision. Teachers will be able, in their classrooms, to access a student database to find a students' phone number. They will, from their classrooms, be able to complete their grades and just "send them" to the school computer. This is not far off. This is soon. There will be, of course, problems, especially regarding security. So the systems will have different levels of access.Fruit: That's going to require that teachers all have computers. 34Davies: We're pretty close to that now. Foreign language, math, social science, and English are all getting or already have computers. That's on top of the labs. By the end of this year, we'll have 400 computers at Yokota High School.Fruit: That's about 1/2 a computer per student.Davies: More. We only have 664 students. Now, there will be problems, especially with security, but I think that telecommunications will change the teaching environment at Yokota.Fruit: Thank you for your help.Davies: You're welcome. 35Appendix II.Interview with Mike Jones, Yokota Complex Computer Coordinator, February 05, 1994Fruit: How does telecommunications impact your job, as a computer coordinator?Jones: Most of our messaging is done by telecommunications. Response time, that used to be equal to that of the mail service, is now a couple of hours. I can access all of the coordinators at once. The educational "world" is a lot smaller.Fruit: What about contacting Washington?Jones: The response time, then, is usually a working day later, due to time differences.Fruit: What system does Yokota use, and why?Jones: Yokota uses CC Mail, the same system used in Desert Storm. Fruit: That's the system the kids will be using in the labs?Jones: No, the CC Mail system is more attuned to sending messages and receiving them. The labs are going to use Lotus Notes, which can accommodate several users, on-line, simultaneously. Both of these systems were purchased by DoDDs at higher level than the Pacific Region, and they're good programs.Fruit: When did computer educators first get involved with telecommunications?Jones: DoDDs started offering courses using telecommunications in 1983. This is our second year for CC Mail.Fruit: What other impacts do you see, either for students, teachers, or administrators?Jones: Well, I see several impacts. First, remote communications can be handled on a world basis, which 36 is appropriate for a world-wide system like DoDDs. Second, the system draws everybody closer; you can conference on a daily basis. Fruit: What about things like teleconferencing and on- line in-services?Jones: Probably the video is not going to happen; it's too expensive and probably not an option for that reason. I can see teachers taking courses using the system.Fruit: What other impacts do you think telecommunications will have on DoDDs?Jones: Telecommunications will keep us current. Fruit (interrupting): Do you think there will be something like an on-line system for personnel?Jones: Well, the technical capability is already present. Now that Washington has all of its personnel records in one place, these could be scanned into a database that employees and administrators could access as needed. A lot of personnel type questions could then become on-line database inquiries. I think that's the way we're going.Fruit: What about the impact on personnel? DoDDs does have a lot of older teachers.Jones: I think, for that kind of system, new people will get used to it. It will also be an advantage to personnel that have access to computer systems and knowledge of them. As for older teachers, I think they will learn to adapt.Fruit: Any other comments about "the impact of telecommunications on the DoDDs system"Jones: I think you have it backwards in your title. DoDDs has been one of the moving forces in this area, the pioneers. We've been involved for ten years, and other schools are now looking at what we've done. Jones(cont.): We've been forced to get involved as a means of maintaining a quality education with the distances involved and our budgeting restraints. This is how DoDDs can offer something like an AP Calculus class that couldn't be offered in other way and our personnel can keep contact all over the world. So I think we've impacted 37 telecommunications just as telecommunications continues to impact us.Fruit: Thank you. You've been very helpful. 38Appendix III.Interview with Bill Morgan, Distance Education Principal for DoDDs. Completed February 12, 1994, Interviewed Via E-Mail.Fruit: How did DoDDs first get involved in telecommunications?Morgan: I developed the first DoDDs DE course in 1986: Pascal via Telecommunications....most 300 baud, based at the University of Michigan's Confer system.Fruit: In what programs is DoDDs presently involved?Morgan: AP Pascal Pascal AP Calculus AP German Scientific Research SeminarAP Physics (next year) AT & T Learning Circles University of Michigan SimulationsFruit: What is the main objective of DoDDs' distance education program?Morgan: To provide instruction to students who may not be able to get it. I.E. a course in Pascal may not be available at a school...we provide the instruction. Usually works best when we have schools where 2-3 students wish to take a course but a local course isn't available. We put the 2-3 students together in a virtual class and they usually do quite well.Fruit: What extensions might you perceive for the near future or the far future?Morgan: We will continue to develop courses. We are looking at different delivery methods and expanding into more core area. 39Fruit: What are some draw-backs of distance education, or some limiting factors? Morgan: Ability to interact in "real-time." We will be adding audiographic capability in the near future. This should help with that. We are severely hampered by the fact that our students are in several time zones. We have made this limitation into a strength, however. As Stateside schools have relied heavily on one way video and two way audio hook-ups (which afford limited underactivity), we have chosen to base our courses on asynchronous computer conferencing. We are leaders in the use of computer conferencing at the K-12 level.Fruit: Do you think that cut-backs in the military budget will hamper your program?Morgan: On the contrary, as we drawdown, I expect that we will see an increase in demand for distance education.Question: At what time (or ever) will the program be used so that education personnel can enhance their OWN learning?Morgan: We currently offer AP Pascal and Pascal via telecommunications for graduate credit. I hope that distance education will play a major role in staff development activities in the future.Question: I've heard that all the "Major Players" in the distance education field (along with Dr. Bloom) are being sent to a meeting in St. Louis. What possible outcomes do you perceive?Morgan: I'm unaware of this meeting.Fruit: What new technologies might be used in distance education?Morgan: Audiographics, CD-ROM, compressed video, response pads.Fruit: Do you have any other comments on this subject or areas that you feel that I've missed with my questions?Morgan: No I'd appreciate it if you'd send me a copy of your paper when finished. 40Appendix IV.Interview With Stan Verganani, computer teacher, Yokota High School (February 2, 1994)Fruit: The subject of this interview is the impact of telecommunications on the DoDDs system. What are some possible future developments you see?Vergnani: Well, right now, Dodds has its distance education program with a principal, Bill Morgan, and students can take classes via modem. One class that's offered through that program is "Arab- Israeli conflict."Fruit: How do students access this?Vergnani: Well, they log on via modem to the E-Mail host. Suzanne Houston will have an E-Mail mailbox in her room. Then, they send their assignments. The teacher at the other end corrects them and then sends back their next assignments.Fruit: Do you foresee a growth in these sort of offerings?Vergnani: Basically, where there's a need. Sometimes, particularly with the smaller bases, a class cannot be offered for students, such as Calculus and PASCAL. Presently, we don't have any students enrolled, I believe, but Zama has a couple of students who are taking PASCAL right now. I, as well as two other teachers, took PASCAL ourselves, using CC Mail.Fruit: You mean the Zama students taking PASCAL from you, here, interactively?Vergnani: No, they're not. They're still E-Mailing messages, but what you're talking about may the direction towards which we're moving. I know another high school in Korea, I believe it's Seoul, has an "audiographics lab" that's connected to that States where they're actually on line, interactively.Fruit: So you see other schools going towards this?Vergnani: Well, these are our other models. I think other schools will eventually go towards this. I must say that in the last school I taught, in Massachusetts, I had a system something like this. I would dial into the school computer 41 from my home, say I had some scheduling work to do on a Sunday, and I'd sit there in my pajamas, on a Sunday, and spend a couple of hours doing the work. It saved me, and the school, the time and expense of me driving down there to do the work.Fruit: Will there be more interactive opportunities for other students?Vergnani: I think a lot of things will open up once we get onto Internet. Students in science classes will be able to access scientific sources, students doing research. It opens kids up to a whole new world. As modems become cheaper, and students get used to having them, you'll see more students doing things like E-Mailing their assignments instead of turning them in, or dialing the school to find out their homework assignments if they were absent. Fruit: I guess one worry I would have would be students dialing up some game they find in Florida and copying programs at the school's expense.Vergnani: Well, there's always that problem, especially with the bright kids that will be interested in it. There will have to be proper controls.Fruit: Do you see teachers getting E-mail addresses to their rooms?Vergnani: Well, not just yet. Right now, it's the computer science teachers. Right now they're actually pushing Suzanne to get kids to use the system.Fruit: One more question, considering all of the problems in telecommunications, on base repair programmers, I hear spend 80% of their time dealing with it, do you see DoDDs teaching courses in telecommunications?Vergnani: Not, per se. I see that as being a topic in computer science classes, but not a whole class. Setting up networks will continue to be a pretty specialized area. Plus software to get access is getting easier. Suzanne [Houston] can get a kid on line in about 15 minutes because more and more of the set-up is being done by the system.Fruit: Any final thoughts on the subject? 42Vergnani: Well, one thing. Even distance educators agree that face to face is better. So whenever it's possible, that's what will continue to be DoDDs goal for student instruction.Fruit: Well, I thank you for all of your help.Vergnani: Happy to be of assistance.

Class Number: ISMF 450, Telecommunications Management

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