Invited Speakers

Professor Paul Bacsich

Dr Paul Bacsich is Professor of Telematics at Sheffield Hallam University, Head of Division of Computing & Networks, and Special Advisor on e-learning to the PVC. He leads research into e-learning systems issues (cost-benefits, systems selection, standards, change management and advanced implementations) via the Telematics in Education Research Group.

He has completed a Phase 1 study for JISC on the "Hidden Costs of Networked Learning" and is running Phase 2 of this, as well as a sister study "Real Costs of IT (in universities)". Members of his research team run the National Learning Network Evaluation (FEDA-funded) and the Teaching and Learning Technology Round Table project (JISC-funded), which adapts work from the US TLTGroup to the UK. His own technical work is mainly on satellite technologies (GENESIS under TEN-TELECOM), Digital Interactive Television and DVD (the "Upgrade" project under EU Objective 4) and wireless technology for LAN and rural networks.

He completed in Autumn 2000 a study for the HEFCE UK e-University Planning Team on "e-tools for the e-University" with a survey and analysis of over 40 vendor responses.

He is a member of several JISC Committees (JISC Committee on Networking, JISC Committee on Authentication and Security, and the SuperJANET Advisory Panel), a former member of the National Advisory Group on Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning (Task Group on Technology), an international evaluator of the Canadian Telelearning Network, and a member of an Australian advisory agency on e-content.

Formerly he was Assistant Director of the Knowledge Media Institute at the Open University and Project Director of several large European projects including JANUS - Joint Academic Network Using Satellites.

He runs the FLISH conference "Flexible Learning on the Information SuperHighway" every two years - in 1999 the theme was "The Business Case for Online Learning - and is on the Permanent Organising Committee of Online Education and on the Conference Organising Committee of ALT-C.

He has given invited presentations in many countries of the world, most recently in Israel,the US, Australia, Belgium, and Canada, on "Re-engineering the campus", "Costs of network learning", "Business Models for e-learning" and "Tools for e-learning".

Selection of Web-based e-Tools for Global e-Universities

(Paul's invited presentation on 2 May)

This presentation proposes a radically different approach to procurement of Web-based e-tools for large e-learning operations, in particular for global e-universities. The approach is different in terms of both process and criteria and is much closer to business modelling and planning processes than to "classical" adversarial IT procurements.

In process terms, the aspiration is, within the constraints of the tendering process, to have a dialogue between customer and suppliers so that their respective business/financial models converge to "best value".

In criterion terms, the aspiration is to escape from the prison of "feature wars" (often with over 100 criteria of marginal relevance to the business models), replacing these by much broader criteria. Examples of these are: architectural approach, life-cycle costs, scalability, and future-proofness in both technical and pedagogic terms.

The new approach is illustrated with reference to recent work for the UK e-University planning team.

Dr. Peter Scott

Peter Scott is the Head of the Centre for New Media in the Knowledge Media Institute of the Open University. Current research interests range widely across knowledge and media research. Three key threads at the moment are: telepresence; streaming media systems; and agent research. He has a BA (1983) and PhD (1987) in Psychology. 

Before joining the Open University in 1995, Dr Scott lectured in Psychology and Cognitive Science at the University of Sheffield in the UK for 9 years.  He has a textbook in each of these subjects.  He has managed over 15 major grants, and has over 40 research publications.

Dr Scott is on the board of the company Corous.Com, a wholly owned subsidiary of Open University World Wide Ltd., specializing in the development of corporate education and training portals.  He has acted as an internet consultant to a range of multinational corporations.  He is also the managing director of WebSymposia Ltd, an internet multimedia webcasting company. 

Selected links to Peter Scott's personal research

Telepresence research:

        http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/stadium/

Heath Service Research:

        http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/aec/

Student Support Systems:

        http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/studentAdvisor/

Agent research:

        http://kmi.open.ac.uk/planet/

Corporate University Systems:

        http://www.corous.com/

Websymposia Ltd:

        http://www.websymposia.com/

Investing in Knowledge Media Systems

(Peter's invited presentation on 3 May)

Western higher education is faced with significant new threats and opportunities, which seem likely to radically change its nature in the early years of this new millennium. A crisis of access, cost & flexibility in conventional campus higher education has been accompanied by the recent emergence of a dozen mega-universities, many dozens of macro-universities and hundreds of mini-universities.  I will focus on the approach of one mega-university the United Kingdom Open University (UKOU).

With respect to the evolution of online lifelong-learning the Open University is investing in the development of Knowledge Media systems which combine knowledge management technologies with both knowledge systems and new media systems.  I will take a number of working examples from the UKOU's Knowledge Media Institute to illustrate this trend.  One prominent example, which I will discuss is our experience with the KMi Stadium, an experiment in large scale telepresence environments and support tools.  The Stadium merges high quality broadcast audio and video with multi-party text chat and facilitation.

Finally, I will discuss our ongoing virtual corporate university demonstrator as an example of how the values of openness, quality and support can help us to merge micro and macro education into a mega university future.