University of Calgary joins High-Speed Network Project

-- Lisa Willemse, Training and Communication, Netera Alliance

The Health Telematics Unit, Faculty of Medicine and the Learning Commons at the University of Calgary have joined a $3.4 million test bed project to make Canada's high-tech network infrastructure more accessible and useful for educators and students.

The project, called BELLE (Broadband Enabled Lifelong Learning Environment) involves eleven post-secondary institutions across Canada, who are working to digitize, classify and make available new kinds of multimedia learning materials to broader audiences.

"BELLE will take advantage of Canada's world-class national broadband Internet to take on-line learning materials to a new level of maturity," says Douglas MacLeod, Director of Projects at Netera Alliance. "It is an in-depth investigation that will digitize a range of educational multimedia, make it available through workstations connected to a high-speed network, and evaluate the benefits and barriers to learning."

The project is designed to provide quality, peer-reviewed learning materials - video, still images, 3D models, virtual environments - by connecting repositories of materials to standardized client workstations at different educational institutions.

The participating institutions include: The Banff Centre for the Arts, McGill Faculty of Medicine, Northern Alberta Institute for Technology, Seneca@York, Sheridan College, The University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, University of Calgary Learning Commons, University of Calgary Medicine, University of Lethbridge, and the Vancouver Film School.

"There are many hidden glitches and problems that have prevented the seamless on-line delivery of multimedia materials," MacLeod explains. "Through BELLE, we plan to work through the wrinkles to create a test bed that meets the needs of educators and adult learners, and realizes some of the promises of very high-speed networks."

The BELLE project is led by Netera Alliance, a not-for-profit corporation whose primary role is to develop and manage the advanced Internet in Alberta. It is supported by a $1.7 million grant from CANARIE's Learning Program and matching funding by participating institutions.




Role of Participants Sites

Banff Centre for the Arts

Through the BELLE project, the Banff Centre for the Arts will digitize its extensive archives of visual, video and multimedia artwork, and make them available through the BELLE broadband portal.
Contact: Ben West, Director (Acting), Creative Electronic Environment
Phone: (403) 762-6601
ben_west@banffcentre.ca

McGill

McGill's Faculty of Medicine will be involved in the BELLE project in two ways. First, McGill will share its digitized undergraduate curriculum, and create links among the basic sciences and clinical practice using multimedia technology. Secondly, McGill will use a Client Learning Environment to connect with the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine to collaboratively share digitized images, clinical guidelines and consultations through Internet Protocol videoconferencing and videoserving.
Contact: David Fleiszer, Director, Molson Informatics Project
Phone:(514) 937-6011 ext 4346
fleiszer@med.mcgill.ca or
Nancy Posel, Molson Informatics Project
Phone: (514) 398-2077
nposel@med.mcgill.ca

Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)

The Client Learning Environment installed at this site will assist in the development of an institute-wide curriculum management system, based on a database which links educational multimedia materials to various learning outcomes. These will include standard text references, three-dimensional interactive models, streamed media instruction, student collaborative activities and more. These will be available to educators through the BELLE portal.
Contact: Bill Fricker
Technology Integration & Innovations Marketing Consultant
Phone: (780) 471-7862

Seneca@York

Using a Client Learning Environment and a Content Repurposing Facility, Seneca's School of Communication Arts will embark on a project to merge actors in one location with a virtual set created in another location to create real-time virtual performances. This innovative work will be shared with students and educators at other BELLE sites via the broadband network.
Contact: Jed DeCory, Chair, School of Communication Arts
Phone: (416) 491-5050 ext 3401 (3402)
jed.decory@senecac.on.ca

Sheridan College

Sheridan College will install a Content Repurposing Centre in its new SCAET facility (Sheridan Centre for Animation and Emerging Technologies). Working with researchers and educators at this facility, Sheridan will test new ideas in digital media that focus on turning the potential of convergent technologies into practical applications and products.
Contact: Andrew Paskauskas, Senior Research Officer, Office of Research Development
Phone: (905) 845-9430 ext 8114 or
Walter Winchell, Senior Research Associate, Office of Research Development
Phone: (905) 815-4091
walt.winchell@sheridanc.on.ca

University of Alberta

The University of Alberta is a key partner in BELLE and will contribute to the project in three ways. First, the Academic Technologies for Learning (ATL) department will lend managerial expertise in the evaluation of the project It is also playing a leadership role in an associated project aimed at defining classification standards for educational objects. Finally, the University of Alberta will make digital video clips illustrating methods of teaching with technology in the classroom available to educators through a searchable database via the BELLE portal.
Contact: Terry Anderson, Professor and Co-director, Academic Technologies for Learning
Phone: (780) 492-0023 or
Stanley Varnhagen, Evaluation Researcher, Academic Technologies for Learning
Phone: (780) 492-3641

University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia has a twofold interest in the BELLE project. The university's primary goal is to enhance the creative process of producing learning materials through the formation of a database of digital learning objects. An existing document repository, currently housed in ITServices, will be augmented by a large quantity of materials produced by Distance Education and other campus departments, and made available through the BELLE portal. Secondly, the university will be involved in BELLE's videoconferencing trials to investigate and solve potential network problems, and to address barriers that currently prevent its extended use in the academic environment.
Contact: Jim Tom, Director of Networks ITServices
Phone: (604) 822-2054
jim.tom@ubc.ca

University of Calgary, Learning Commons

The Learning Commons is another organization closely involved with the management of the BELLE project. Through a variety of associated projects, the Learning Commons aims to define methods to classify and apply standards to on-line learning, and to develop new methods for reviewing, gathering, describing and digitizing objects and educational models for university-level courses. Additionally, the Client Learning Environments have been prototyped in the Learning Commons, which also provides the home for the BELLE server farm.
Contact: Tim Buell, Co-Director, Peer Review of Instructional Technology Innovation, University of Calgary Learning Commons
Phone: (403) 220-3493

University of Calgary, Faculty of Medicine

Within the Health Telematics Unit, Faculty of Medicine, the BELLE Client Learning Environment will be made available to physicians, residents, medical students, departments and multidisciplinary research groups, who will share digitized images, case discussions, clinical practice guidelines and research with each other and with McGill Faculty of Medicine. The same groups will also link clinicians, specialists and researchers to share expertise and clinical /research work or methodologies, and assess and implement technologies such as videoconferencing, videostreaming, shared databases and interoperability devices.
Contact: Penny Jennett, Professor, Faculty of Medicine; Head, Health Telematics Unit
Phone: (403) 220-6845
jennett@ucalgary.ca

University of Lethbridge

The University of Lethbridge's involvement with BELLE involves two aspects: the first is the use of a Content Repurposing Facility to digitize the university's extensive collections of electron micro-scopy; create a digital tour of ancient Ephesus using photographs, maps and text; and repurpose the GIS (Geographical Imaging System) learning objects to support learning in a variety of fields. These projects will then be brought on-line and made available to educators and students through the BELLE Client Learning Environment.
Contact: Trevor Woods, Director, Curriculum Redevelopment Centre
Phone: (403) 329-2465

Vancouver Film School

The Vancouver Film School will take advantage of a Client Learning Environment and a Content Repurposing Facility to digitize, describe and catalogue its extensive collection of student film projects, which will then be made available to other BELLE institutions via advanced networks.
Contact: Marty Hasselbach, Director of Operations
Phone: (604) 685-8001 ext 121
marty@vfs.com

For more information about the BELLE project, visit www.netera.ca/belle
For more information about the Health Telematics Unit, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary, visit www.ucalgary.ca/md/TELEHEALTH


Interested in finding out more? Contact:
Penny Jennett
Professor, Faculty of Medicine; Head, Health Telematics Unit, University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine
Phone: (403) 220-6845
jennett@ucalgary.ca

Tim Buell
Co-Director, Peer Review of Instructional Technology Innovation, University of Calgary Learning Commons
Phone: (403) 220-3493

Mary Anne Moser
Netera Communications Manager
Phone: (403) 949-3306
moser@netera.ca

Lisa Willemse
BELLE Communications and Training
Phone: (403) 220-2593
lawillem@netera.ca

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