Announcements
CCTE: Collaborating in the Global Studio Project
On September 30, 2008, Teachers College Provost and Dean Tom James and Dr. Jun Murai, Vice President of Keio University, Tokyo, Japan, signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a cooperative relationship around the Global Studio Project (see photo 1).
Photo 1: Dr. Jun Murai (left), Vice President of Keio University, Tokyo, Japan, and Teachers College Provost and Dean Tom James signing a Memorandum of Understanding resulting in a three-year collaboration in the Global Studio Project.
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The Global Studio (GS) Project is a digital communication studio autonomously operated with high quality digital audio and video communication facilities. Its global network infrastructure works to create a united space where universities and cultural institutions worldwide can experience one world over the Internet. The project has three goals: to examine the technology and see what features (High Definition, bandwidth, video/audio quality) help students learn; to explore factors that can be added into technology to enhance learning; and to promote joint education and collaboration research in the fields of educational technology, culture, arts, and digital media technology.
The agreement signed by Dr. Murai and Provost James makes Teachers College and CCTE part of an effort with eight other partner institutions and 27 additional academic institutions in 13 countries in South East Asia (via satellite Internet facility) who are actively pursuing research on cutting edge communication, distance learning, synchronous collaboration, video compression, and related issues. In addition to Teachers College, the partner institutions are Keio University (Japan) the University of Cambridge (UK), Stanford University, the National University of Singapore, Yonsei University (Korea), Tsinghua University (China), the Miraikan Science Museum (Japan), and the Japan Society (based in New York).
International involvement in education has been one Teachers College's many contributions to the field, and is central to its history and identity. Similarly, CCTE has a long tradition and involvement in technology and education globally. The GS collaborative project will contribute to CCTE's and Teachers College’s interests to strengthen international networks and prepare global citizens. This collaborative effort will last at least the next three years.
Housed in the Program in Communication, Computing and Technology in Education (CCTE) and directed by CCTE faculty member Dr. Sandra Okita, the project uses two 52-inch high-definition (HD) plasma-screen displays, a high quality digital video transport system developed by Keio University, HD video cameras, HD Polycom interactive systems, and an independent 1GB fiber-optic connection (that can be extended to a 10GB) to transmit high-definition video signals over IP—a breakthrough technology application still under research and development.
As noted by Chuck Kinzer, CCTE Program Coordinator, this project complements other research and development efforts underway in CCTE, and "will provide a research and development bed to examine understanding across diverse groups of people, and insights about distance teaching and learning with populations of all ages." Dr. Okita agrees, stating that she has already linked her Instructional Design class at TC with a similar class in Japan, using the link to allow her students "to examine communication across participants who do not share a common verbal language." She intends also to work with preschoolers during the project period.
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