Backstory
The SciTech BBS creation on March 1993 and forced termination on July 1, 1999 was a longitudinal experiment with agile design. Every aspect of the project involved pedagogical and technological understanding with recurring reflection and modifications where necessary. Since the project was sustained largely by voluteerism and donations, there was no leeway for failures in the system. It is noteworthy that although the political climate of the educational institution was unsupportive of our innovative application of BBS for online learning, the SciTech BBS continued to function flawlessly for six years. The following listings are extracts from documents published on a web formatted CD-ROM from 1998.
Primary objectives
- A value-added electronic extension to the classroom to serve the students and instructors; also known as blended-learning.
- Provide a stable, cross-platform, cost-effective telecommunications, open 24 hours a day, all year for students, instructors, staff, and global community.
- Cyber-autonomy for students and educators of Mount Royal College.
Goals
- Paperless electronic communications.
- Global collaboration.
- Electronic information that is transparent to the technology.
- Freedom of access to information.
- Freedom of expression to create in cyberspace.
- Anticipate student needs through the understanding of affordable educational technology.
- Multidimensional solution to the multidimensional problems of innovative computing technology in education.
Cost to ENDUSERS
- Free lifetime membership
Limitations
- The electronic telecommunications only simulates the gregarious nature of humans.
- Due to extremely limited funds, all decisions with regards to the SciTech ISP and classroom interaction must continue to provide positive results with seamless integration of the technology with the educational eviron.
Accomplishments
- 1993 – First to run a full compliment of Internet / BBS / ISP services on one microcomputer in Mount Royal College.
- 1994-06-15 – Presented at NECC ’94, Boston.
- 1997-02 – Launched student web page self-management.
Seed Projects arising from the SciTech BBS
- Launch of the Indecol Webserver on November 25, 1997, employing a Microsoft BackOffice Server.
- Innovative Distance Delivery Techniques for Educational Technology.
- Distance Delivery of Testing through LXR-TEST Professional Scoring Edition site license, donated by the Department of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Sciences. Also used by the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems and the Department of Political Science.
- Multimedia development and distribution using digital video, and sounds (e.g., Trout sampling).
- Beta tester for Galacticomm Inc.
- Geographic Information System software development.
- Provided antivirus software at extremely low educational pricing for students and staff with support via SciTech ISP.
Presentations
NECC ’94
NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL COMPUTING CONFERENCE
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
JUNE 13-15, 1994
Recreating the Revolution
Telecommunications Showcase – Devoted to demonstrations and interactive sessions showcasing current state-of-the-art educational telecommunications. Presentations and hands-on activities will occur throughout the conference.
Wednesday, June 15, 1994 8:30-9:30 AM Room 210
BBS’ Teacher Empowerment, Student Enrichment, Community Extension, and Administrative Revenues
Presenters: Steve Swettenham and Dennis Leask, Mount Royal College
We will spend a few minutes outlining the uses of a Bulletin Board System (BBS) both on the Information Expressway of Education and as a scenic, affordable alternative to the potential for Superhighway gridlock. We will then encourage attendees, with step by-step-instructions, to explore how easy it is to set up their own BBS using ProComm software in the Host mode for PC’s or 1ST BBS software for the MAC on the available workstations. In addition, we will have examples of the best BBS software available for examination (i.e., 1St BBS [Mac], Second Sight [MAC], Major BBS [PC], Roboboard [PC], PCBoard [PC], Syncronet [PC]).
We will be presenting a continuous PhotoCD session, subject to availability of equipment, outlining our operational Educational Environmental BBS at Mount Royal College, and will be available to answer questions concerning the advantages of BBSs.
PDF [39KB] NECC ’94 Proposal by Steve Swettenham and Dennis Leask
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Ingham, D. (1994). Recreating the revolution. Proceedings of the Annual National Educational Computing Conference (15th, Boston, Massachusetts, June 13-15, 1994). International Society for Technology in Education, 1787 Agate St. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED396665
Lilavois, J. (1994). NECC 1994 Conference proceedings [CD-ROM]. Techware Corporation.
Miscellaneous:
- PDF [34KB] Preliminary ideas outline for NECC ’94 presentation
- PDF [78KB] How to create a HostBBS with Procomm software
CAMPUS
PDF [310KB] SCITECH Internet Service Provider by Dennis Leask, 1996-05-29
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PDF [53KB] Scitech BBS presentation by Dennis Leask (1996)
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PDF [12KB] Brief on Activation Dates for Services and Courseware by Dennis Leask (1997)
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PDF [726KB] Environmental Technology Industrial Ecology by Dennis Leask (1998-05-07)
Integration of SciTech BBS and academic program
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In the News
- Science course info always accessible on the web. MRC News, February 19, 1998. Page 7
- BBS offers information. MRC News, February 5, 1996. Page 3
- Testing software offers multi-media exams. MRC News Brief, October 23, 1995. Vol 4, No.10.
- The Science and Technology BBS . . . MRC News Brief, October 10, 1995. Vol. 4, No. 8
- Science and Tech eyes the Internet. MRC News, December 5, 1994. Vol. 11, No. 3; ISSN 0825-8600
- Teaching Technology saves money. MRC News Brief, October 17, 1994. Vol. 3, No. 6
- Classes now trying E-mail. by Paul Coates, The Journal (MRC campus paper), December 8, 1993. Page 5
- COLLEGE GOES HOME. Calgary Herald, Thursday, October 14, 1993. C3
- College ET students phone Sloan. MRC News Brief, September 27, 1993. Vol. 2, No. 5
