Joint Information Systems Committee 1 Supporting Further and Higher Education Broadband: Strategic Implications for Learning and Teaching Stephen Brown & Ted Smith The Technologies Centre (a service funded by JISC)

Joint Information Systems Committee 2 Supporting Further and Higher Education Content What is broadband? What are the options available? Implications for learning and teaching

Joint Information Systems Committee 3 Supporting Further and Higher Education What is broadband? Evolving Not <128kbits/s (i.e. ISDN2) Probably defined as >144kbits/s (to home) Not a technology – Wireless, ADSL, Mobile telephony, Cable, Satellite are the carriers – Broadband to home also includes IDTV

Joint Information Systems Committee 4 Supporting Further and Higher Education What you can do with it

Joint Information Systems Committee 5 Supporting Further and Higher Education Life on and off campus Download times for MSIE 5.01: 56kbits/s modem = 3hr 50 min 1Mb/s to the desktop = 13 min

Joint Information Systems Committee 6 Supporting Further and Higher Education Content What is broadband? What are the options available? Implications for learning and teaching

Joint Information Systems Committee 7 Supporting Further and Higher Education Options: Wireless b (WiFi)11 Mb/s (shared) g34 Mb/s (shared) a54 Mb/s (shared, not licensed in UK yet ) Supports ubiquitous computing

Joint Information Systems Committee 8 Supporting Further and Higher Education Map of Wireless Broadband

Joint Information Systems Committee 9 Supporting Further and Higher Education Options: ADSL Good urban coverage now Always on Very reliable – no file transfer errors, dropped lines, etc Tariff independent of usage Downloads of the average-size file very fast BT wholesale line rental for consumer connections £14.75 a month from April 2002 BTOpenworld, £29.99 / month - Home500 downstream speed of 512 kbit/s. – BUT 2 Mb/s required to watch MPEG-2 videos at full rate

Joint Information Systems Committee 10 Supporting Further and Higher Education Options: Mobile now GSM – here now, too slow (24kbit/s max) GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) – 170 kbit/s - initial service offerings are mostly at the 28 kbit/s level which is too slow – BT Cellnet, Orange, Vodaphone now – One2One (T Mobile) soon – £35 / month for 10 MB; £60 / month for 50 MB;

Joint Information Systems Committee 11 Supporting Further and Higher Education Options: Mobile future EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) – Fast (384 kbit/s) but no UK service operator plans 3GSM – High Mobility: 144 kbit/s for rural outdoor high-speed mobile use. – Full Mobility: 384 kbit/s for pedestrian or slow-moving users in urban outdoor environments. – Limited Mobility: 2 Mbit/s with low mobility in stationary indoor and short-range outdoor environments. – Expensive – Open standard Manx now (first in Europe) – UK 2003 earliest

Joint Information Systems Committee 12 Supporting Further and Higher Education Options: Cable Cable modems – fast (1 Mb/s), cheapish (£25 - £33 a month), now – limited coverage – Comparable with BTs ADSL Cable TV/data services – Kingston Interactive TV – pointer to the future

Joint Information Systems Committee 13 Supporting Further and Higher Education Options: Satellite Internet – one-way/two-way – fast (1 to 2 Mb/s down), here now Data download speeds are impressive in theory, but depend crucially on the loading of the network – Upload speeds via a satellite link depend on what one pays – cost proportional to bandwidth - 64 to 256 kbit/s are typical – One-way transmission services Espresso: 40 LEAs Video, multimedia,news, Internet, teacher support materials

Joint Information Systems Committee 14 Supporting Further and Higher Education Content What is broadband? What are the options available? Implications for learning and teaching

Joint Information Systems Committee 15 Supporting Further and Higher Education Effect of Broadband? From research in the USA and Europe, broadband internet access seems to change the way users live their lives. For example, broadband customers tend to spend twice as long online, Internet use at home becomes a daily event, for all the family, while watching videos online, downloading music or listening to live radio has become far more popular. Using the PC brings to the home a multi-media experience.

Joint Information Systems Committee 16 Supporting Further and Higher Education Strategic Implications Broadband access to home is here but circa £30 / month and not 100% coverage Reduces the distinction between the home and campus. Interactivity from home via ADSL / cable modem better than via SKY (at present) Wireless broadband on horizon but probably very expensive

Joint Information Systems Committee 17 Supporting Further and Higher Education Strategic Implications Widening access to learning is an important goal. Easier as broadband services spread, and interfaces become more intuitive and consistent with those used in other parts of daily life (VCRs, games consoles, mobile phones). UK-based broadband educational TV channels may appear, e.g. a Basic Skills Channel – even though people have been talking about this for 20 years with no real movement Video on demand via JANET?

Joint Information Systems Committee 18 Supporting Further and Higher Education (a service funded by JISC)