THERE IS intense activity at the Audio Visual Centre in University College Dublin where an "interactive" classroom is currently under construction.
When it's finished it will look very like an ordinary classroom. However, it will differ in three significant ways: it will have powerful lighting, it will contain TV cameras and it will house no students.
The tutor will "teach" to the TV camera and the students - who could be at home, in a public library or in a learning centre anywhere in the country - will be able to watch the lesson on TV and communicate directly with the tutor, using a choice of links ranging from telephone to e-mail.
By harnessing technology, the Audio Visual Centre is trying to take the "distance" out of distance learning, to bring courses to students rather than the other way round.
The second aim is to use technology to offer third-level courses to as wide an audience as possible. This is already working successfully with a health and safety training course which the centre pioneered three years ago. Since its inception, 650 people around the country have participated in the course, taught "live" from Dublin.
"The beauty of an interactive classroom as opposed to a studio is that it is more cost-effective and it can be set up in any institution," says the centre's director, Michael Foley. "We are developing a blueprint which could be copied by other interested parties who could then use their local cable systems to deliver courses to students in their areas.
"We see ourselves as a national resource, and our aim is to develop media and technology-based services which will provide access to education and training courses, using flexible, open and distance learning techniques," Foley continues.
ONE OF THE major factors inhibiting greater participation in higher education is the lack of places. Yet through technology we have the potential to make every living room in Ireland a classroom, every school a local tutorial centre and every public library a local resource centre.
"This can be achieved by the judicious use of media such as TV, radio, cable and satellite and technology such as telephones, video conferencing, the Internet, academic networks and multimedia resources.
The perceived advantage of inter-active distance learning, compared to traditional correspondence-based distance learning, is that students have much closer contact with their chosen college.
"Distance-education students are often described as `lonely learners' who essentially work alone and miss out on the campus experience," Foley says. "By providing them with the `human input' we believe that their learning experience will be richer and potentially more effective."
As part of UCD, Foley says, the centre is better placed than a commercial broadcasting company to provide education and training courses.
"We have access to a broad range of academic expertise and to the educational professionals," he says, "and we have married this with broadcasting skills and the possibilities of telematics" - the transmission of computerised information.
"The development of a suitable support infrastructure to make the technology viable on a national scale is the next step. It will demand a partnership between the educational institutions and the broadcasting and telecommunications sector.
"This will be no easy task, but - as technology does provide some solutions to our present educational problems - it is worth actively pursuing."
Pre-empting a question about technology replacing teachers, Foley says: "Technology does not have to be seen as a threat to jobs in this sector. Teachers will not be replaced by technology, but what some of them do will have to change.
"The convergence of video, computer and communications technologies is happening now in business and entertainment. If we in the education sector do not respond to this opportunity, we may lose out to the international challenge coming from major institutions and corporations. Such a challenge will have serious cultural and qualitative implications for education in Ireland."
