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Wisconsin Educational Telephone Network: how to run educational teleconferencing successfully
Author(s) -
Reid Fraser J M,
Champness Brian G
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
british journal of educational technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.79
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1467-8535
pISSN - 0007-1013
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8535.1983.tb00452.x
Subject(s) - service (business) , teleconference , videoconferencing , integrated services digital network , distance education , telecommunications , public relations , telephone line , state (computer science) , sociology , computer science , telephone network , business , marketing , pedagogy , political science , algorithm
For a decade and a half the residents of the state of Wisconsin have had access to a distance education service that has few rivals in the world. Centred on the capital Madison, the University of Wisconsin's Educational Telephone Network (ETN) links together over 200 classrooms across the state on what is virtually a huge ‘party line’, enabling students to listen to a lecture or panel discussion, ask questions and exchange ideas with other students hundreds of miles distant. There can be little doubt that the service has been highly successful, as the growth in the network and its facilities clearly testifies. This paper summarizes documentary data concerning the network, and attempts to identify the chief reasons for its success by examining network services, operation, administrative organization, and performance in meeting the needs of the individuals and organizations that use it. From this analysis four reasons for ETN's success are identified: (1) the network forms an integral part of the University of Wisconsin‐Extension's state‐wide teaching responsibilities and services, (2) the service meets the needs of a single, well‐defined audience sector, (3) regional organization of the telephone network has enabled ETN to benefit from large‐scale operations, and (4) programme support services may compensate for differences between telephone and face‐to‐face conferencing.