MRC News, February 19, 1998. Page 7

Nine hundred and seventy-eight people can’t be wrong. That’s how many students, instructors, industry, and global community users have current accounts with the SciTech ISP (Internet Service Provider), formerly the SciTech BBS (Bulletin Board System). What began with a conversation over coffee between Dennis Leask and Steve Swettenham on March 4, 1993, has now blossomed into a Web-based system providing a quick and convenient link between students and instructors in the Faculty of Science and Technology.

In its original form, users dialed up to the system via modem but now they’re also able to hook up through the Internet. The newest version of the SciTech ISP includes web BBS. Web browsers can interactively use secured accounts for e-mail, discussion groups, file libraries, and links to course-relevant Web sites. Students can access lecture notes, quizzes and assignments as well as send and receive e-mail messages anytime, anywhere whether from a computer station in the College or even from their homes. Student accounts are free and remain active as long as they want them, so they can continue to communicate with instructors and classmates long after they graduate.

Currently, there is material from eight courses on the SciTech ISP. Leask uses it to provide the latest information relating to his Environmental Technology courses from around the world to his students. While he doesn’t include complete lectures, students are able to link to sites that expand on the material covered in class. “When we talk about the origin of the universe, they can get the ‘Reader’s Digest’ condensed version from me and then get a much more detailed version on the Web from Steven Hawking,” says Leask. It also saves students money. Instead of buying expensive textbooks or reports, they can download the material they need from the BBS. “Technology should reduce the cost of education for the student,” he says. “If it increases the cost then you’re going the wrong way.”
“This is intended as an enhancement to classroom instruction, not a replacement,” Swettenham says. “Instructors can be available to students 24 hours a day, seven days a week via the bulletin board. If students have questions, anytime of the day they can come in and pose those questions or search for information.”

Don’t expect the virtual classroom to make colleges and universities obsolete. “People still want to come to someplace to collaborate with their peers — it’s human nature — the BBS just extends that communication beyond the walls of the College,” says Swettenham. Check out the bulletin board for yourself at http://scitech.mtroyal.ab.ca