Jamaica
News - Real Estate - General
Source: Jamaica Gleaner, February 25, 2007
Cable companies support
UCC distance education
The University College of the Caribbean (UCC),
through its Office of Distance Education and Global Learning (DEGL), says it has
partnered with Jamaica Amalgamated Cable System (JACS) and Cornwall
Communications cable companies in St. Catherine and St. James, respectively, to
deliver the content of its distance education business administration degree
programmes to UCC-registered students in the distance programme, beginning next
March.
UCC says for the past two weeks, its DEGL
office has been spearheading a pilot project in St. James and St. Catherine
using JACS and Cornwall Communications cable platform to deliver content to
coincide with end-of-module examinations now in progress.
"So far we are very pleased with the result
of the pilot test project", reports Everton Pryce, the UCC's director of
distance education. "The aim is to see to what extent we are able to
deliver high-quality content to our valued students in two specific rural
locations, in the first instance via regular cable technology, to compensate for
those prospective students in the distance in some areas of Jamaica who face
signal challenges in respect of wireless technology," Pryce explained.
Pilot programme
UCC launched its revolutionary distance-education
pilot programme in November 2006 using wireless digital satellite cable
technology. Faced with increased demand, it saw the need shortly
thereafter, to broaden the technology platform for content delivery. Since
then it has been exploring the capacity for adopting a hybrid approach to
open-learning delivery utilising the Internet, regular cable and wireless
technology.
"We are patiently building the best
possible mix of technology for servicing our students in the distance who have
shown a remarkable capacity for endurance in face of technical glitches and who
equally testify that our offering of open distance learning is both
revolutionary and highly relevant," Pryce stated. "What we are
learning is that there is no one methodology to open distance learning."
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