Thanks to the efforts of Oliver Dillard, Girma Kebede, Pamela Jude, and Graduate Student Danyell Butler, the Urban Affairs and New Nontraditional Programs unit of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System is well on the way to bringing e-learning and e-conferencing capabilities to eight sites across the state. Four sites are slated to be functioning by April, with the final four coming online by September. These sites will be installed in addition to the six sites currently in operation on the campus of Alabama A&M University (AAMU). Also, by April the e-learning and e-conferencing system will be taking advantage of Internet II, with broadband width appropriate for video and audio functions.
What exactly will this mean to Extension in Alabama? By spacing these sites in Extension offices across the state (Mobile, Dothan, Montgomery, Birmingham, Anniston, Huntsville, and Florence) and in a community center in Livingston, Extension personnel will be able to cut down on travel time and expenses by just going to the nearest site in order to attend conferences and in-service training sessions. This reduction in cost will help Extension personnel to stay current without over-taxing the System's funds. Persons who are unable to travel to the nearest site will be able to fully participate in the audio portion of the conference or learning session by just using their telephone!
During the installation phase, Dillard and his staff will travel to each site, install the system, and train a local operator on the specific set-up for that site. Once in operation, the sites will be able to function independently or be run remotely from the AAMU campus. Each site will be equipped with an automatic, voice-activated picture function, so that whenever a participant is speaking in any of the sites, the video portion of the session will switch to that person. All in all, this system will help Extension employees to participate in e-learning and e-conferencing from around the world!
Another convenience afforded to Extension employees from this system will be the ability to access up to 100 hours of archived video and audio e-learning and e-conferencing sessions stored on a server in each location. These files can be accessed even from computers set up at home! And the true limit is not at the 100-hour level, older files will be further archived onto compact disks, thus becoming available for an indefinite period of time. So, if you miss out on an e-learning session due to any circumstances, you'll be able to sit in your office or even at home and just pull up that e-learning session at your convenience.