LSU-Shreveport serves a commuting student body in the third most populous area of the state. This proposal seeks to initiate a significant step toward the University' s future in the support of distributed education--computer mediated collaboration over the Internet. The convergence of several technologies for supporting real-time collaboration over LAN and the Internet makes it possible to take this step now as part of a campus-wide plan. This proposal seeks to set up a cluster of multi-user NT servers which will host simultaneous two-way video conferences and video play-back services by which remote students will be able to collaborate with on-campus students and faculty. The creation of the Campus Collaboration Network will influence the development of instruction across the campus and it will grow out of the teaching laboratories established by the Computer Science Department. While campus LAN connections will permit students to access a server or participate in a computer-based laboratory from appropriately configured computers anywhere on campus, the initial focus of the project will be the linking of two physically distanced rooms so that large section hands-on instruction can be accomplished. Lecturers will employ electronic white boards and other multimedia technology which will not only be transmitted to student computers but will be captured by the video servers for later review. Whatever can be done on campus can also be extended to remote locations with the same technology and the Internet. Local high school students or community college students will be able to take computer science courses from their school libraries with students being live participants in the class. With the adoption of commercial collaboration hardware and software standards and the growing employment of this technology around the state and the nation, students and faculty will be in position to collaborate in real time with others around the world, thereby enriching their educational experiences.
