Distance Learning over ATM/SONET: The Distance Learning Environment Demonstration

A new movement in learning and communicating is underway. High bandwidth data link services are being installed throughout the country in support of evolving learning and communication needs. Early adopters are pushing the infrastructure and networks to bring high quality interactive services to the desktop. “New applications such as distance learning and interactive Internet capabilities are capturing the hearts and minds of decision-makers. A growing number of businesses and institutions are facing the challenge of finding smart, affordable network solutions” [1]. Most distance learning multimedia programs remain instructor-led mediated events. The infrastructure technology is expensive to install and most applications, especially distance learning applications, do not exploit student-centric applications. Distance learning systems integrators are quick to offer high cost instructor-centric solutions, however, the educational community is slowly moving toward low cost self-directed education-on-demand. Studies, such as the Distance Learning Environment Demonstration (DLED), offer a base study solution for legacy Ethernet local area networks (LANs), school-centric courseware management, and student-centric courses. Using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) PC-based hardware and software, computer-based training (CBT) courseware was either re-purposed or developed new in support of the study. Students logged into a centralized server via asynchronous transfer mode/synchronous optical network (ATM/SONET) to take different interactive multimedia courses. Individual student information was tracked and stored on the server and accessible only by the administration. The centralized courseware simplified the task of software maintenance and gave instructors and administrators direct control of the courses. The performance metrics indicated that low cost high performance COTS hardware and software can be used to develop high fidelity multimedia interactive courseware distributed over a wide area network (WAN). This study would suggest that distance learning over a high bandwidth ATM/SONET WAN was a viable solution for a remote student population.