Advancing Asynchronous Distance Education Using High - Speed Networks

The Center for Telecommunications at Stanford University (4) in partnership with the Stanford Center for Professional Development (6) has designed and deployed an experimental system for delivery of Stanford courses in multimedia format to distance learners using the internet as well as two experimental, ATM based, high-speed network testbeds. This configuration is designed to prototype the emerging broadband communications infrastructure in the United States and elsewhere. The courses are stored on servers and made available to distance learners on-demand. The user interface is implemented on the World Wide Web. Issues of systems integration, educational effectiveness, and economics are under study as part of the project, called ADEPT (Asynchronous Distance Education ProjecT). The project is funded by the Sloan Foundation (5). In this paper, ADEPT is described along with its experience to date.1