ISDN: Linking the Information Highway to the Classroom

By John Fox, Karen Loutsch, and Michelle O'Brien

~ magine giving your students an opportunity to attend a video conference with the Children's Television Workshop to see how they make Sesame Street--

without leaving your classroom. Picture the excitement of having a teleconference with Dr. Robert Ballard at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to find out how he discovered the Titanic.

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a new and exciting technology that will revolutionize edu- cation and allow you to integrate classroom curriculum in ways you never imagined before. Time magazine's cover story on April 12, 1993, labeled "The Info High- way" reviewed advances in telecommunications and highlighted the impact these changes will have on soci- ety. This article provides the background for many of these changes and focuses on their application in educa- tion.

What is ISDN? Simply put, ISDN is a 100 percent digital telecom-

munications system. With the current telephone system, users must acquire a separate telephone line for each

application such as a telephone, fax, computer modem, or cable television. ISDN provides these services through a single network which controls all of the devices the user connects to it.

Current telephone systems are based on the analog design, where sound is converted into a set of varying electrical voltages and transmitted over a communica- tions line. Digital signaling can transfer as much as 15 times the amount of information as present telephone wires. ISDN creates opportunities for transferring infor- mation in ways that have never been possible before.

What can ISDN do in the Classroom?

Educators around the country are looking at ISDN's possibilities for improving both the quality of public education and access to educational resources. ISDN's capabilities have the potential to affect many areas of education, ranging from curriculum develop- ment to teacher in-service. It could impact schools in two ways: as a resource for teaching and as a tool to contribute to the development of teaching skills. ISDN customers have access to a flexible communications sys- tem which offers the following capabilities:

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Voice Messaging & Caller

ID

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ISDN Network

Telephone

Video Conferencing

Customer ISDN ~ Interface

Computer

Voice Messaging & Caller

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ISDN's Capability and Applications Information Systems Share printers and databases. Remote file access and records transfer. E-Mail and Fax. Low-cost school district connectivity.

Video Conferencing Remote guest lectures. In-service training for teachers.

Public relations use with administration, staff, and community.

Desktop Computer Conferencing Mult imedia support for distance education. Home based education. Share voice and data simultaneously.

Voice Conferencing Administrative scheduling. Project management. Resource coordination.

Voice Mail and Caller ID School schedule messages. Personal messages. Security in tracking nuisance calls or threats.

�9 ISDN and information systems, such as com- puters and fax machines, can be combined to establish inexpensive networks over a large geo- graphic area and to access information five to ten times faster than current modems. For exam- ple, information downloaded from an on-line service such as NASA SpaceLink for educators, which takes 20 seconds, would only take a frac- tion of a second using ISDN. A fax sent over an analog line may take two minutes, while the fax sent through ISDN takes just seconds. Equip- ment requirements vary greatly based on tele- communications and computer equipment avail- able at the school.

�9 Video conferencing brought over 9,000 teach- ers and administrators together in Dallas, Texas, for a one-day inservice training on dealing with AIDS. Administrators were unable to locate a single conference center that could have accom- modated all of the participants and there were not enough experts to go to all the schools. Video conferencing can also be used in remote or rural areas to affordably bring in guest lectur- ers or to conduct classes in subject areas which are unavailable within the region.

Video conferencing systems offer two or more dis- tant sites the ability to talk with one another, share graphics, and see both live and pre-recorded video. The systems require installation of a video camera, video monitor, audio microphone, and a piece of digitizing equipment called a codec (compressor-decompressor).

�9 Desktop computer conferencing through ISDN could allow a teacher with a severely disabled student to use ISDN's desktop conferencing capability to deliver the lessons to the student at home while still teaching the class in school. With the addition of ISDN's voice and/or video conferencing capabilities, the student could inter- act with the teacher and students as a distant member of the class. Desktop conferencing sys- tems allow two or more distant sites to interac- tively work together on the same program or provide computer graphics in support of a guest lecture. Equipment requirements vary greatly based on the telecommunications services avail- able and the use of existing computer equipment at the school.

�9 Video conferencing is used in New York state to inexpensively conduct joint classes between 14 small rural schools. This technology allows

Cost Estimates of ISDN Applications * Voice Conferencing Requires 1 ISDN line . . $20/month Voice conferencing capability . . . . . . . $15/month

Desktop Conferencing with Video 2 ISDN lines . . . . . $40/month AT-PC or Macintosh Computer . . . . . . . . $2,100 Video interface package . . . . . $4,000-10,000 ISDN interface equipment (NT1) . . . . . . $300

Voice Call Management At least 1 ISDN line required . . . . . . . $20/month Software . . . . . . . . . $395

Computer/ISDN interface . . $500

Desktop Conferencing without Video 1 ISDN line . . . . . $20/month

AT-PC or Macintosh Computer . . . . . . . $2,100

Desktop interface package $3,500

ISDN interface equipment (NT1) . . . . . $300

Video and Graphics Conferencing System 2 ISDN lines (minimum) $40/month

Commercial conferencing system . . . . . $18,000-60,000

ISDN interface . . . . . $1,000

Average ISDN Costs Installation Charge . . . $93-440

Monthly charge per ISDN line . . . . . . $14-45

Hourly line useage fees

�9 Local, $5

�9 Within the regional service area but outside the local area, $14

�9 Within the country (coast to coast), $25

�9 International calls (varies), $138

*These figures were obtained from US West, AT&T, NYNEX, Compression Labs Inc., and MacWorld magazine.

OCTOBER 1993 TECH TRENDS 19

Figure 1. Current and Projected ISDN Service Areas

users to talk with several distant parties. Prior to ISDN, every party in a conference required a separate telephone line. Thus a five-party confer- ence required five telephone lines. Only one phone line is required to initiate the conferenc- ing process when using ISDN. The call is then handled through a digital switchboard which makes connections to other parties in the confer- ence. A telephone, a standard ISDN interface, and an ISDN telephone line are the only equip- ment requirements for establishing voice con- ferences.

�9 Voice messaging and Caller ID services were used in a school in Greenbrier, Tennessee to increase the homework completion rate from 62 percent to 99 percent within a two-year period. The new voice messaging system offered by Advance Voice Technologies is already in use by more than 250 school systems nationwide. The system comes with five applications: class- room information that provides specific home- work assignments, a bulletin board for general school information, and a notification system that contacts parents of absentee children, makes emergency announcements, and provides general notification. Voice messaging and Caller ID requirements are minimal since the phone company provides the service via an ISDN tele- phone line from their digital switchboard.

Is the Cost Justified? ISDN offers some revolutionary capabilities but at

what cost? The cost estimates included in this article are based on a limited survey of the current cost of equip- ment and services from various sources. This data, gath- ered last spring, is not all-encompassing; prices and ser- vices vary from manufacturer to manufacturer as well as among the regional telephone companies.

When will it be available? The first national ISDN call was made in Novem-

ber of 1992, connecting 22 sites nationwide, from Res- ton, Virginia to Los Angeles, California. Regional ISDN is becoming widely available around the country now. By 1994, ISDN will be available in approximately sixty percent of the United States. Figure 1 shows the current and projected ISDN availability within the conti- nental United States. ISDN implementation schedules

vary greatly. Regional telephone compa- nies have more information on ISDN availability in specific service areas.

Summary ISDN is not a panacea for education

or telecommunications. Like many resources, its effectiveness is a function of intelligent design and planning. ISDN is only one of many telecommunications systems available. In cases where there is a need to communicate with dozens of sites, ISDN is probably not the optimal choice because of the cost of additional connections. If there is a need for a flexi- ble system that calls for a minimal sup- port staff and does not require a large ini-

tial investment, ISDN is worth examining.

Today's society challenges educators on a personal and professional level. Educators are dealing with increasing class sizes, discipline problems, limited fund- ing and cultural diversity. Rural schools face exceptional challenges in helping their students prepare for a rapidly changing world. ISDN is a tool which can help teachers overcome these challenges by providing them with addi- tional resources such as teacher training, educational research, and instructions for students.

Bibliography Bell Atlantic, 1992. lntelliLinQ:ISDN data primer.

Kessler, G.C., 1990.1SDN. McGraw-Hill.

NYNEX, (Date unlisted). ISDN applications mar- keting plan. (Available from Mr. R. Ray, NYNEX Mar- keting Group, 335 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017).

Office of Technology Assessment, 1989. Linking for learning: A new course for education (Report #89- 775-P). Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.

Poole, L., February 1992. Digital data on demand. MacWorld, pp. 224-227.

Roden, M.S., 1988. Digital communication system design. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Smallheiser, K.A. November 16, 1992. National ISDN, promise becomes a reality. Fortune.

Stallings, W. 1989. ISDN an introduction. New York: MacMillan.

Wallace, B. November 16, 1992. ISDN steals the spotlight as TRIP'92 gets under way. Network WorM, p.1.

Wilson, C. July 1992. Distance learning is more than an extracurricular activity. Telephony, 223 (2) S 12.

Winther, M. October 26, 1992. Pricing strategies shape up. Telephony, 223 �9

John Fox, Karen Loutsch, and Michelle O'Brien are graduate students in the Instructional Technology program at Utah State University in Logan.

20 TECH TRENDS OCTOBER 1993