1 Supporting Further and Higher Education

Joint Information Systems Committee

Broadband: Strategic Implications for Learning

and Teaching

Stephen Brown & Ted SmithThe Technologies Centre

(a service funded by JISC)

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Joint Information Systems Committee

Content

• What is broadband?

• What are the options available?

• Implications for learning and teaching

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Joint Information Systems Committee

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

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What you can do with it

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Joint Information Systems Committee

Life on and off campus

Download times for MSIE 5.01:

• 56kbits/s modem = 3hr 50 min

• 1Mb/s to the desktop = 13 min

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Joint Information Systems Committee

Content

• What is broadband?

• What are the options available?

• Implications for learning and teaching

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Joint Information Systems Committee

Options: Wireless

• 802.11b (WiFi) 11 Mb/s (shared)

• 802.11g 34 Mb/s (shared)

• 802.11a 54 Mb/s (shared, not licensed in UK yet)

• Supports ubiquitous computing

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2G

2G 3G

Bluetooth WLAN

IrDA

wired

Broadband

Map of Wireless Broadband

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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

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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;

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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

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Options: Cable• Cable modems

– fast (1 Mb/s), cheapish (£25 - £33 a month), now

– limited coverage

–Comparable with BT’s ADSL

• Cable TV/data services–Kingston Interactive TV

–pointer to the future

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Joint Information Systems Committee

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

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Joint Information Systems Committee

Content

• What is broadband?

• What are the options available?

• Implications for learning and teaching

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Joint Information Systems Committee

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.

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Joint Information Systems Committee

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

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Joint Information Systems Committee

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?

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Joint Information Systems Committee

Stephen.Brown@ltsn.ac.uk

Ted.Smith@ltsn.ac.ukwww.techcentre.ac.uk

(a service funded by JISC)