Dear Colleagues,
A group of colleagues from the University of Sheffield, the
University of Wales, and Humboldt University in Berlin have come
together to form a new organization called EuroPsych, the structure
and mission of which is outlined below.
We hope to encourage collaboration between all organizations across
Europe having an interest in the broad area encompassed by the
EuroPsych project. In particular we aim to donate facilities to those
organizations not online, and to extend use of our WWW server to
those already online in order to ensure the broadest possible
dissemination of information, research data and debate, especially
through the creation of new newsletters, journals, databases and
other electronic resources. We would also aim to promote pan-European
co-operation through synchronous and asynchronous teleconferencing in
English and other European languages, as needed.
If you would like to co-operate with us in this exciting venture
please contact Ian Pitchford <I.Pitchford at Sheffield.ac.uk>.
We look forward to working with you.
Cordially,
Ian Pitchford
Co-ordinator, EuroPsych WWW server.
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EUROPSYCH
The European Confederation
of Organizations for Research and Practice in
Health, Behaviour, Cognition, and Education
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EuroPsych does not require adherence to any particular
philosophy or viewpoint, but exists to promote cordial
and wide ranging debate and investigation of issues
in health, behaviour, cognition and education from
a broad multi-disciplinary perspective.
EuroPsych will be a loose confederation of co-operating
individuals and organizations.
Membership of EuroPsych organization is open to professional
societies, educational institutions and charities. There will
be no individual membership category.
The basic aims of the organization are:
o To enhance by any means the individual's capacity to
*communicate* knowledge, ideas, and experience in the
fields of health (particularly mental health), behaviour,
cognition, and education (particularly continuing and distance
education as influenced by the internet).
o To enhance the individual's capacity to *contribute* to
knowledge, ideas and experience in the fields of health,
behaviour, cognition, and education.
The offical publication of EuroPsych will be known as
_The EuroPsych Journal_ and this will be available
in a variety of electronic and hardcopy formats.
The activities of the organization will be divided into:
o Core Functions [ The Content ]
o Support Functions [ The Process or The Medium ]
--------------
Core Divisions
--------------
1. Education Division
---------------------
To explore the potential of all educational methods, especially
those applicable to distance education over the Internet, and to
produce courses ranging from introductory seminars, to full
degrees [graduate and postgraduate] and continuing education for
professionals.
Suggested Collaborators:
o The Open University's Knowledge Media Institute
o The European Open University Network
o European Association of Distance Teaching Universities
o JANUS: Joint Academic Network Using Satellites
2. Research Division
--------------------
To explore all areas of research incorporated within the
EuroPsych structure as outlined above, and to encourage and
promote new pan-European collaborative ventures.
Suggested Collaborators:
o BioMedNet
o As many research institutes and organizations as is
feasible
Suggested New Project:
o International Thesis Database
3. Practice Division
--------------------
To explore all areas of practice covered by the EuroPsych
as described above.
4. Organizational Division
--------------------------
To collaborate with professional organizations and charities
in projects such as creating new online resources. Help to get all
of these organizations online with their own WWW homepages will
be free of charge.
Membership of the first three divisions is open to all of those
who meet credentialing criteria specified by the forum co-
ordinators. Membership of all divisions shall be
multidisciplinary.
5. Telemedicine Division
------------------------
This division would establish new telemedicine projects, support
existing projects by sharing resources, and explore new ideas
in the delivery of mental health care.
Suggested Collaborator:
o Sunkyo Kwon, Humboldt University, Berlin.
-----------------
Support Divisions
-----------------
1. Multimedia Division
----------------------
This division would extend to all branches of the organization
the technical support for creating multimedia courseware, and WWW
documents, together with graphical support, software, online
advice and so forth. This would be manned by professionals who
would be able ensure high quality standards are maintained.
Suggested Collaborator:
o The Institute of Educational Technology
2. Publishing Division
----------------------
This division would set standards and provide technical support
and software for journals, newsletters, hypertextbooks,
and distance education course materials.
Suggested Collaborators:
o Oxford University Press
o Cambridge University Press
o Johns Hopkins University Publishing
o Blackwells Scientific Publishing
o Professor Stevan Harnad - Psycoloquy
3. Internet Support Division
----------------------------
This division would be responsible for supplying, developing and
maintaining all of the basic tools to be used by forums and
individual members.
o Conferencing tools [synchronous and asynchronous]
o Ftp archives [collective and individual]
o Databases
o WWW Interface
o The _EuroPsych Basic Internet Toolkit_.
This would be available to all new members
and all forums and would consist of
* Tutorials
* Access to online tutor
* Reccomended software kit, perhaps containing:
+HTMLasst for writing WWW documents
+CUSEEME videoconferencing software
+Winzip compression utility
+Multimedia shareware
+Paint Shop Pro for manipulating images
The chief aim of the Internet Support Division would be to ensure
that the standard of technical competence amongst members
so that we aren't continually faced with minor but irritating
problems in the use of basic systems. A EuroPsych Internet
Proficiency Course could be established which would issue a
certificate of competence.
There is a natural overlap between these divisions, but there
is also much specific work that needs to be allocated to the
divisions as described.
Suggested Collaborator:
o The Institute of Educational Technology
The Institute already runs a three-month online course called
_Teaching and Learning Online_ which includes: how to use
computer conferencing, electronic mail, online databases and
global networking for open and distance learning.
This course is quite expensive, but there are substantial
reductions for group bookings, and we could negotiate special
rates for our staff and members.
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--------------------------------
Graphical Outline of the Project
--------------------------------
----------------------
MULTIDISCPLINARY INPUT
----------------------
-------- --------
Academic Practice
-------- --------
Psychology Psychiatry
Neuroscience Neurology
Biology Medicine
Computer Science Teaching
Linguistics Nursing
Philosophy Social Work
Anthropology Clinical Psychology
| |
| |
| ------------------------- |
| | | |
| | EUROPSYCH | |
-----> | | <-----
| |
-------------------------
--------------------| |-----------------
Support Core
Divisions Divisions
--------------------- -----------------
1. Multimedia 1. Education
2. Publishing 2. Research
3. Internet Tools 3. Practice
4. Organizational
5. Telemedicine
------------------------------------------------------------------
Regional Divisions
|
------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | |
EuroPsych LatinPsych AsiaPsych AfroPsych
Various regional divisions are being established by local
enthusiasts. These will provide
o A link to the global virtual community.
o Local administrators and support
o Foreign language resources [mailing lists, databases,
newsletters etc]
o Negotiators for grants from regional bodies
All regional branches should apply for computing facilities and
financial support which would be available to the organization
as a whole.
All regional branches should be registered charities and have
Boards of trustees made up of distinguished and responsible
individuals.
Suggested Collaborators:
o Professor Cesar Piccinini - RedePsi, Brazil
o Dr Hector Biaggi - LatinPsych, Florida, USA
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APPENDICES
----------
1. European Open Univeristy Network
JANUS: Joint Academic Network Using Satellites
European Association of Distance Education Universities
2. The Institute of Educational Technology
3. Open University, Knowledge Media Institute
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APPENDIX 1
----------
The European Open University Network
-------------------------------------
o EuroStudyCentres
o European Association of Distance Teaching Universities
o JANUS: Joint Academic Network Using Satellites
o JANUS User's Assocaiation
What is a EuroStudyCentre?
--------------------------
EuroStudyCentres can be identified on three levels: basic, standard
and advanced. See the centre pages of this brochure for the
description of functions, equipment and activities.
On each level a particular learning technology in relation to
specific types of courses and training facilities is available. Also
on each level the tutor skills are defined in relation to the
functions of the centre and in particular with respect to the use of
technology.
It is foreseen that by upgrading its capabilities, EuroStudyCentres
can develop from the basic level to the more advanced levels.
The networking of EuroStudyCentres is a vital element in the
concept.
Firstly human networking: these networks consist of management,
tutors and students in a transnational context contributing to
course delivery with potential for course development.
EuroStudyCentres will also be linked by forms of telematic networks
from normal telephone/fax lines for basic centres to more
sophistciated systems (eg. JANUS) for advanced centres.
EuroStudyCentres are based on existing local/regional study centres
of EADTU members however the network is open for other organisations
or institutions with learning resources or training centres which
offer similar products and services to related target groups.
The JANUS Project [APPENDIX 1, LINE 409]
-----------------
JANUS is a research and development project within the EC DELTA
programme for developing the use of telematics for flexible and
distance learning.
The core of the JANUS project is to set up a pan-European private
data communications network using VSAT satellite technology between
tertiary education establisments, linked into existing terrestrial
networks. A VSAT is a small satellite dish allowing two-way data
communications.
One other important aim of the JANUS Project is the promotion of the
concept of a European Open University Network (EOUN). This idea is
being actively pursued by the European Association of Distance
Teaching Universities EADTU - one of the partners of the JANUS
project.
Within the EOUN concept is the development of ESC. These will act as
service centres where students have acces to higher-level courses
offered at a distance by universities throughout Europe. Each of
these EOUN will be linked via telematic-based networks for which the
JANUS VSAT network could be an important component.
The JANUS software developments
-------------------------------
Underpinning all these developments and ideas is the JANUS project;
which is also testing, evaluating and developing new software user
interfaces for accessing databases, using electronic mail and
computer conferencing for aiding learning via telematic-systems.
The Trials
----------
The JANUS project is also carrying out a series of trials on
telematic-based joint materials development, teaching via computer
conferencing and acces to databases. If succesfull these trials will
be used as demonstrators and form the initial core services on the
JANUS network.
A unique feature of the JANUS Project is that it aims to bring
together all the key players in an institution which are needed to
promote and develop the use of telematics for flexible and distance
learning. The key players include:- senior management who are the
policy and decision makers and the key holders of funds; the
computer network managers who have an understanding of network
capacity and can do cost comparisons; the senior academics an the
educational technologists who act as the interface between the needs
of the learner and the availability of the appropriate technology.
Other iportant players include the course manager, the study centre
manager, the course tutor and the course developer.
All these developments in the JANUS project are leading to the
promotion and wide spread adoption of using telematics for flexible
and distance learning across the whole of Europe.
JANUS User Association [APPENDIX 1, LINE 467]
----------------------
What is the JANUS User Association?
A great deal of interest is being shown by many organisations across
Europe, in the potential of using communication technologies or
telematic systems to assist and enhance learning experiences within
education and training. However, many organisations are in need of
knowledge and know-how to help them make decisions as to what
technology, teaching and learning styles are appropriate for their
particular context.
The aim of the JANUS User Association is to create a "community of
interest" across Europe, in order to disseminate knowledge and
know-how in using telematics for education and training.
The Association has evolved from the JANUS Project which is one of a
number of research and development projects funded by the European
Commission DELTA Programme for telematics in education and training.
A major spin-off of the JANUS Project is the body of expertise,
knowledge and know-how which has been acquired.
The project has also found from market research that there is a good
deal of interest in utilising telematics systems amongst education
and training organisations, but many need to have more information
and assistance before they can make decisions. The JANUS User
Association aims to cater for the needs of these organisations.
Founder Members
---------------
* European Association of Distance Teaching Universities
* Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
* Integrated Information Systems, Athens, Greece
* CET, Portugal Telecom, Aveiro, Portugal
* Lahti Research and Training Centre, Helsinki University,
The Purpose of the Association
------------------------------
* to disseminate knowledge and know-how on the use of telematics
amongst organisations in the education and training sector
* to create a "community of interest" of organisations who wish to
know more about using telematic systems in education and training
* to assist members in developing a policy and implementation
strategies towards the use of telematics within their organisation
* to develop members' knowledge of the educational, regulatory and
cost issues surrounding the use of telematic networks in education
and training
Membership
----------
Membership is open to organisations (not individuals) who have an
interest in using telematics for education and training. Membership
will be restricted to one site address, but multi-site organisations
may take out separate memberships for each site.Membership fee 295
ECU per year
Facilities Offered for Membership fee
-------------------------------------
* A paper-based newsletter six times per year
* A mailbox facility on the FirstClass electronic mail and
conferencing system, linked to the Internet, with free
communication software and access across Europe. This will
enable members of the Association to communicate with the
Secretariat and with each other.
* A twice-monthly on-line news update on telematic developments
* Discount rates for attending Workshops, Seminars, Conferences
organised or in conjunction with the association (at least
three will be organised per year)
* Discounts on other facilities that the association has agreed
to provide
* Other discounts which the association has been able to arrange
with other organisations
Address: JANUS User Association PO Box 2960 6401 DL Heerlen The
Netherlands Telephone Enquiries: Peter Bates - Executive Officer Tel
+31 45 762214 Fax +31 45741473
INTERNET Email: JANUS-UA at OPEN.AC.UK
Introduction to EADTU [APPENDIX 1, LINE 552]
---------------------
The European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU)
was established in January 1987: its mission - to promote and
support the creation of a European Network for higher level distance
education leading to the development of the European Open University
based on such a network of existing provision: the EOUN. The
seventeen member institutions embrace open universities, departments
of universities (which teach solely at a distance, or undertake
research on distance education) and consortia of departments of
institutions engaged in distance education. Some 650,000 students
are currently registered with the member institutions of EADTU; and
more than 3,000 academic staff are directly involved in the
development and delivery of courses, through some 875 study centres.
The combined annual budgets of member institutions exceed 1,000
million ECU.
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APPENDIX 2
----------
Institute of Educational Technology
-----------------------------------
Yes, colleagues, we still have some places to offer on the 3-month online
course *Teaching and Learning Online*, which we run from the Institute of
Educational Technology in the Open University (UK) and which starts again on
September 18th.
The aims of the course are to help teachers and trainers:
1 Gain first-hand experience of potential uses and limitations of computer
conferencing, electronic mail, and online databases in open and
distance learning
2 Design online course environments to suit your own open/distance learning
situation and objectives
3 Explore the uses and implications of the wide range of global network
resources available over the Internet
4 Develop your skills as an online conference moderator and tutor.
You will find further details about the course below; but in case
you need yet more information (or want to book a place) please get
your snail-mail address to Pat Phelps (Courses Office, IET), Tel:
01908-654843 (direct line) Fax: 01908-653744 Email:
p.phelps at open.ac.uk
On completing the course you will be given a certificate describing
the course coverage and recording your participation. (We are
currently seeking credit exemption from one module of our
forthcoming MA in Open and Distance Education for those who choose
to complete the course assessment.)
Course activities Will include practice in using electronic mail,
computer conferencing, and online databases (including the huge
database on distance learning run by the International Centre for
Distance Learning at the OU)--guided reading of set texts and case
studies--small group collaborative tasks--plenary 'discussions'
online--and global networking over the InterNet.
What you need
-------------
Access to a personal computer and network or modem to connect with the Open
University.
Ability to spend 10-15 hours per week on the course over its 3-month life
Online tutors: Tony Kaye, Robin Mason, Laury Melton, Paul Bacsich and Derek
Rowntree
Fee: #750 (pounds sterling) per person--or #500 each if two or more people
enrol together from the same organisation. (The course fee includes three
months of tutor-led discussions and activities on FirstClass, unlimited use of
the Internet via the OU's network, as well as copies of the set books and
course readings, the one-day optional induction meeting, and membership of the
TLO Alumni conference after the courses finishes.)
Other Courses
-------------
Colleagues have been asking what other staff development events IET has to
offer this Autumn besides the "Teaching and Learning Online" course. So here
is a list of our workshops (and another course) for the period September to
December 1995:
IET's workshops (and a course) for Autumn 1995
----------------------------------------------
These events are held at Milton Keynes and are open to anyone with a
professional interest in open, distance or flexible learning. Apart from the
Writing workshop and the 4-week course, they are all one-day events.
September
12th-13th Writing materials for ODL (2-day workshop)
13th (to 6th Oct) Distance learning: designing systems and materials (a 4-week
course)
19th How to build quality assurance into your ODL
28th Supporting your learners
October
24th How can we make materials-based learning work?
25th Can they read it? (Reading skills vs readability?)
26th Improving your learning materials
November
8th Planning and producing a course for ODL
9th Getting started with computer networking
23rd Teaching with audio & video in ODL
24th Assessing your learners
December
12th Dealing with copyrights for materials-based learning
13th-14th Writing materials for ODL (2-day workshop)
If you would a brochure giving more etails of these events, please get your
snail mail address to:
Pat Phelps-IET-The Open University-Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
tel: 01908-654843 (direct line) fax: 01908-653744
e-mail: p.phelps at open.ac.uk
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APPENDIX 3
----------
Subject: http://kmi.open.ac.uk/kmi-research-preview.html
Knowledge Media Institute Home Page
KMI Research Preview
--------------------
To give you a feel for the kind of research projects that we hope to
undertake, here is a representative sample, taken from some pending
bids, several of which build on work already in progress:
* Very large virtual classrooms: this project will look at ways
to deliver high-bandwidth `virtual presence' capability to
hundreds or even thousands students on a single course. The
focus is on scalability of tutorial methods and workgroup
activities, given effectively limitless computing and
communications resources.
* Corporate knowledge management: Corporations, and their
employees, are learners too. The world of conventional
corporate auditing has been turned on its head by the advent of
"intellectual asset auditing". It's what a company knows that
counts, and this project aims to develop new ways of mining,
assessing, evaluating, and leveraging that knowledge.
* The Mobile Student: many of our students need to study while on
coffee breaks, on the road, on the move, and in unusual places.
This requires us to push the limits of mobile computing and
communications technologies in order to provide a seamless
integration of easy-to-use, easy-to-read, and comfortable
resources for our students. 50 of our most mobile (and
demanding) students would test the latest generation of
courseware which keeps students fully in touch with course
resources and tuition from anywhere in Europe.
* WorldWide BA: we're developing the first complete profile of
courses which can be taken by students from anywhere reachable
via the Internet, and which lead to a Batchelor of Arts degree
recognized by the UK's Open University and more than two
hundred other quality institutions around the globe. This
activity requires the development of new styles of tuition,
course presentation, delivery, and facilities management.
* Spiderman Web HyperCruiser: Internet navigation can be tricky.
This project will develop a `space-eye' view that lets users
visualize the Web in terms of content, topology, access
history, popularity, traffic flow, and a rich mixture of other
user-defined attributes.
* Agents on parade: What do software agents do when left to
themselves? This project will study the behaviour of
unsupervised (but monitored) software agents. How long will it
take the agents to discover how (or whether) to disable our
monitoring? It may not happen, but at least we will learn a lot
about the nature of unsupervised agent behaviour.
* Surfing for blind people: many disabled users have been at a
disadvantage on the Internet. We want to develop a suite of
software tools which provide full Web functionality for a large
range of disabled users including those who are blind.
* Reusable courseware: snippets of text, animation, video
sequences and multimedia documents produced for Course X may be
of great value not only to Course Y, but also (in arbitrary
combinations) to individual life-long learners around the
globe. This project will look at ways to index, store,
retrieve, and configure coherent `knowledge modules' for use by
different learners in different contexts.
* KMI top 40: we want to develop a multimedia authoring
environment that helps school children design and implement
their own community service or entertainment package. These
packages will be released onto the net, and their fate will be
decided by the public. The top package each month will be
awarded a KMI prize and the designers will be offered a KMI
summer internship.
* Multimedia in science: the resources available for laboratory
work in schools are limited. It is recognised that pupils need
to be introduced to new methods of experimental work and
analysis that cannot be achieved through conventional
laboratory provision. The Knowledge Media Institute would
provide (a) an opportunity to experience multimedia emulation's
of laboratory experiments that have been gathered from around
the World, and (b) an environment in which new creative ideas
can be explored with a view to prototyping these ideas on a
collaborative project basis. The outcomes of this collaboration
being returned to the school and, potentially, as an exemplar
product.
* Talking Net Newspaper: new communication facilities offers the
potential of distributing newspapers in alternative media in
more effective and efficient ways. The project would
investigate how a national network could be created to enable
local, regional and national organisations to provide immediate
access to news.
KMI is not only about blue skies research, of course. As you can see
from the summaries above, there as a strong emphasis on the needs of
our current and future student population. KMI will be committed to
a throughput of ideas and developments to course teams at the Open
University. The OU itself is finding that the very nature of
everyone's roles is changing. Academics, editors, designers,
producers, and software developers, are increasingly involved in one
another's work, and the KMI will explore creative ways of
intermingling these evolving roles.
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Copyright IAN PITCHFORD, July, 1995
Not to be reproduced or retransmitted in any form without permission
The names GlobalPsych, InterPsych, EuroPsych, AfroPsych, AsiaPsych,
InterPsych Virtual Campus, and PsychConcepts are registered
trademarks.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ian Pitchford Department of Biomedical Science University of
Sheffield Western Bank SHEFFIELD S10 2TN United Kingdom
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What a piece of work is a man!
how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty!
in form and moving how express and admirable!
in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god!
the beauty of the world!
the paragon of animals!
And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?
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