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Satellite-based delivery of educational content to geographically isolated communities: a service based approach

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Abstract

Enabling learning for members of geographically isolated communities presents benefits in terms of promoting regional development and cost savings for governments and companies. However, notwithstanding recent advances in e-Learning, from both technological and pedagogical perspectives, there are very few, if any, recognised methodologies for user-led design of satellite-based e-learning infrastructures. In this paper, we present a methodology for designing a satellite and wireless based network infrastructure and learning services to support distance learning for such isolated communities. This methodology entails (a) the involvement of community members in the development of targeted learning services from an early stage, and (b) a service-oriented approach to learning solution deployment. Results show, that, while the technological premises of distance learning can be accommodated by hybrid satellite/wireless infrastructures, this has to be complemented with (a) high-quality audio–visual educational material, and (b) the opportunity for community members to interact with other community members either as groups (common-room oriented scenarios) or individuals (home-based scenarios), thus providing an impetus for learner engagement in both formal and informal activities.

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Acknowledgments

Part of this work was carried out under the auspices of the Aeronautics and Space Programme of European Commission, as part of the BASE2 project (Contract no.: 516159).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Systems Computing and Mathematics, Brunel University, Middlesex, UK

    Tacha Serif, Gheorghita Ghinea, Lampros Stergioulas & Sherry Y. Chen

  2. Athens Information Technology, Athens, Greece

    Thanassis Tiropanis & Sofia Tsekeridou

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  1. Tacha Serif
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  2. Gheorghita Ghinea
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  3. Lampros Stergioulas
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  4. Sherry Y. Chen
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  5. Thanassis Tiropanis
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  6. Sofia Tsekeridou
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Correspondence to Gheorghita Ghinea.

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Serif, T., Ghinea, G., Stergioulas, L. et al. Satellite-based delivery of educational content to geographically isolated communities: a service based approach. Pers Ubiquit Comput 13, 229–241 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-007-0185-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-007-0185-9

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