Project Proposal

Proposal :: Schedule :: Final Report

SUMMARY
The Berglund Center for Internet Studies at Pacific University has received an NWACC proof-of-concept grant to establish IP-based interactive classrooms shared with Wenzhou Medical College (WMC), Wenzhou, China, presenting two classes in the fall semester of 4004. This will test the feasability of sharing classes in real-time between two very different and widely separated educational institutions.

ABOUT WENZHOU MEDICAL COLLEGE
Wenzhou is a very wealthy coastal city with a pronounced international orientation. (For map see: http://www.maps-of-china.com/zhejiang-s-ow.shtml. There are daily flights from Wenzhou to Milan, for example, because of the importance of Wenzhou textiles and leathers to the Italian fashion industry, and twelve daily commuter flights to Shanghai.

WMC is the second oldest medical college in China. It operates twelve hospitals in Zhejiang province, China's richest, where Shanghai is located. The majority of heads of hospitals and major clinics in the province were educated at WMC. WMC has worked with Pacific University for more than a decade. In the past we have exchanged many faculty and students. At present there are three Pacific University graduates teaching English at WMC, who will further facilitate this project.

A Medical degree in China begins at the Undergraduate level. The students involved in this project are the equivalent of Juniors in the American system. They are majors in the English Language Program, which produces teachers of English, and medical staff with an command of English adequate to permit them to study abroad. However, since the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has been folded into the Homeland Security Administration, Chinese students have difficulty in securing visas to study in the U. S. This is particularly true for undergraduates, few of whom have secured visas recently.

Over the summer of 2004 we will prepare our equipment and staff and in the fall semester share two courses with WMC, one in American Literature, one in World History. The Chinese end will be a classroom with an accomplished professor who is fluent in English, and 62 Junior-level English majors, supported by technical staff. The class will be staged in a language laboratory with student workstations with microphones and headsets. Material will be presented in a two-way interactive IP based environment with three camera views at either end switched through two digital projectors.

In addition to the IP-based voice and video system, BBS and web pages will also be utilized. For an earlier stage of this project, see:
http://mcel.pacificu.edu/mcel/barlow/wenzhou/index.html and
http://mcel.pacificu.edu/barlow/courses/2004/spring/h112/index.html

We are now, given this funding to support training and equipment, ready to move to a higher level of interactivity.

We have secured institutional support at the Chinese end, which is enthusiastic about this prospect. Pacific University took the initial steps by sending Dr. Jeffrey Barlow to Wenzhou for three weeks during December 2003-January 2004 where he worked closely with the principles at the Chinese end. We are familiar with the students, the staff, and the current level of technology available at WMC; it is advanced but underuitilized.

At present we are testing a number of environments: "Ivisit", a U.S. product, and "QQ", a Chinese one, but we may well settle on yet another. Tests are proceeding and are promising. iVisit.com http://198.173.255.76/ has been very supportive and we are confident that we will have adequate technical assistance. We are also aware of the possibility of interruptions in service and will provide backup materials for a number of classes. Each school has adequate bandwidth for good IP transmissions of video and sound materials in real time.

INNOVATION
It should be understood that this is not an attempt to stream material from the American end to a passive Chinese audience, but an interactive cooperative class taught with an instructor at either end. The two classes will share a largely common curriculum, but some content will be unique to each partner. For example, the Chinese lack the historical and cultural background necessary to understand key works in American literature. Common works will be read in America and in China, and discussed in concert with American students and an American expert in the materials. The World History course, focussed on Asian-Western interactions, will give Chinese and American students and faculty a unique opportunity to work together, each bringing different values and perspectives to the project.

A proof-of-concept grant would make this a continuing and self-funding program at either end. Pacific University would take up the entire cost of its end of the project, as would WMC, following initial proof-of-concept.

IMPACT

Pacific University will gain valuable experience enabling it to move to similar programs with its many international partners, including institutions in Japan, Ecuador, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Discussions are currently being held as well with an institution in India.
Wenzhou Medical College will develop a substantial program for sharing future courses with other affiliated institutions in China.

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND OUTREACH

Pacific Northwest schools and colleges will have an opportunity to learn from this demonstration project. Many, if not most, of these schools also have foreign partners who may be interested in similar programs. It should be noted that Northwest schools have a unique advantage in real-time communication with China; Late afternoon stateside is the next morning in China; as Chinese work Saturday mornings, this gives us a five day week of shared time.
While we cannot permit other institutions to participate at the initial stage, we will admit faculty or staff to the "classroom" as the equivalent of "auditors" to see the project, serving as a demonstration for additional NWACC schools. For further information please contact barlowj@pacificu.edu.
The application we utilize as our primary environment will gain an important demonstration effect in China.
The large audience of the Berglund Center for Internet Studies will also be familiarized with the nature of the program, and will see professional assessments of its outcomes, further broadening the reach of the project.
We will maintain web pages with BBS, and video-clips of the project on Berglund and MCEL (The Matsushita Center for Electronic Learning at Pacific University) servers for the indefinite future. Current traffic into these servers is more than five million visits per year. The focus is I.T. and Asian Studies.
Regular reports on the project, including links to web pages and interactive BBS, will also be provided by the Berglund Center.
In addition, the Berglund Center will host two meetings for interested educators from NWACC institutions, one prior to the initialization of the project so as to widen understanding of our goals and procedures, one as a wrap-up following the assessment of the project following its completion. Please see below for additional information.
The project will be reported on at conferences in Asian Studies, in Computing and Teaching, and at NWACC events. Dr. Barlow attended 6 such conferences last year, including one in Taiwan and one in China.