"This guide provides educational planners with an awareness and understanding of communication satellite technology, its current uses, and some of the tentative plans for educational experimentation. The first part introduces the general nature of communication satellites in terms of technological c
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ategories, basic economics, and evolutional processes. A detailed description of International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (INTELSAT) gives an up-to-date picture of an operational communication satellite system. The last part reviews ongoing and proposed experiments that could help revolutionize education over the next two decades. Eight national and international projects are described, in terms of general objectives, scope, cost, software, and evaluation. It is hoped that the satellite experiments will provide answers to many of the questions that communication experts, educators, and engineers have asked about the operational feasibility of using satellites in developed and less-developed countries. But the author also cautions that future success in this field depends not only on satellite technology per se but also the success of program content." (https://eric.ed.gov)
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"Media for instruction can be characterized as big (expensive) or little (inexpensive), but research evidence suggests that whether a student learns more from one medium than another depends at least as much on how the medium is used as on what medium is used. Thus, this report discusses not only ex
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ample programs and their results, but also considerations involved in choices among the different possible media. One conclusion which is reached, however, is that the inexpensive media have often been neglected because of the glamor of the expensive media." (https://files.eric.ed.gov)
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"The results of research on the effectiveness of four alternative instructional media are reviewed: traditional classroom instruction, instructional radio, instructional television, programed instruction, and computer-assisted instruction (CAI). It was concluded that students learn effectively from
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all these media; relatively few studies indicate significant differences between media in effectiveness. Future research should focus on four areas: 1) determine if programed instruction and CAI can be shown to save instructional time over a longer period and with a higher percentage of students; 2) investigate long-term effects of instructional technologies on students' motivations; 3) investigate the long-term effects of the individualization and privacy made possible by some of the technologies; and 4) future investigations should consider more imaginative uses of new technologies instead of using technology to provide a simulation of some traditional method." (http://files.eric.ed.gov)
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"This report is the outcome of an expert mission, undertaken at the request of several Member States in the African region, by Unesco with the co-operation of the International Telecommunication Union and the Economic Commission for Africa. The mission approached its task from the point of view of t
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he economic feasibility of a regional satellite broadcasting system. By studying educational needs and costs, and projections of population and gross national product; believing that the massive use of television would be necessary to solve the problems of education and information dissemination in the region; having estimated the costs of the various components of a system for television distribution by satellite - the mission evolved a model of a system which met the criteria it established. The report describes that model and mentions a number of variations to it and a possible phased implementation. As the mission itself points out, the report is not to be construed as a recommendation for an African satellite system, but assesses the potentialities of this new technology in the African context, and identifies some possible options worth detailed investigation." (Foreword)
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