Julian Samora Research InstituteMichigan State University • 112 Paolucci Building

East Lansing, MI 48824-1110Phone (517) 432-1317 • Fax (517) 432-2221

Home Page: www.jsri.msu.edu

Viable Global Networked Learningby Armando A. Arias, Jr., Ph.D.

California State University, Monterey Bay

Occasional Paper No. 23January 1997

Occasional Paper No. 23Latino Studies Series

Viable Global Networked Learningby Armando A. Arias, Jr., Ph.D.

Founding Director of BESTNET,Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Planning, Instruction, and Assessment,

California State University, Monterey Bay

Occasional Paper No. 23January 1997

Overview

This article discusses one of the most innovative “paradigms” for looking at computer mediated/networkedteaching, learning and research known as BESTNET (Binational English and Spanish Telecommunications Net-work). BESTNET is functionally defined as an international community of universities and institutions linked bycommon educational goals and processes computers and telecommunications. BESTNET is conceptually designedas a “virtual” integrated educational system, designed for learning and teaching across geographic spaces, i.e. fromone campus to another (nationally/globally).

About the Author: Armando A. Arias, Jr.

Armando Arias is the Associate Vice President for Academic Planning, Instruction, and Assessment, as well as a tenuredprofessor and Dean of the Center of Social and Behavioral Sciences, at California State University, Monterey Bay. Heearned his Ph.D. in Sociology, with emphasis in Communication, at the University of California at San Diego, La Jolla;he also earned his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees there. Dr. Arias is the founding director of Binational English andSpanish Telecommunications Network (BESTNET), an international consortium that promotes the use of worldwideelectronic communication tools to enhance teaching, learning, scholarship, research, and community service.

The Julian Samora Research Institute is committed to the generation, transmission, and applicationof knowledge to serve the needs of Latino communities in the Midwest. To this end, it has organized a num-ber of publication initiatives to facilitate the timely dissemination of current research and information rel-evant to Latinos.

* Research Reports: JSRI’s flagship publications for scholars who want a quality publication with more detail than usu-ally allowed in mainstream journals. These are edited and reviewed in-house. Research Reports are selected for theirsignificant contribution to the knowledge base of Latinos.

* Working Papers: for scholars who want to share their preliminary findings and obtain feedback from others in Latinostudies. Some editing provided by JSRI.

* Statistical Briefs/CIFRAS: for the Institute’s dissemination of “facts and figures” on Latino issues and conditions. Alsodesigned to address policy questions and to highlight important topics.

* Occasional Papers: for the dissemination of speeches and papers of value to the Latino community which are not nec-essarily based on a research project. Examples include historical accounts of people or events, “oral histories,” moti-vational talks, poetry, speeches, and related presentations.

Viable Global Networked Learning

Table of Contents

Overview ......................................................................................................................................1

Design of a Global Virtual Culture of Innovation ..................................................................1

Growing Need for Multimedia Computer Global Network Communications ......................3

Related Developments with Translation Technologies ............................................................4

Adaptive Infrastructure..............................................................................................................6

Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................7

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................8

i

JSRI Occasional Papers: for the dissemination of speeches and papers of value to the Latino communitywhich are not necessarily based on a research project. Examples include historical accounts of people orevents, “oral histories,” motivational talks, poetry, speeches, and related presentations.

Overview

BESTNET was established in the early 1980’s,as an effort to link universities on both sides of theU.S.-Mexico border through microwave, satellite andcable television technologies. In the late 1980’sBESTNET focused primarily on the development ofasynchronous computer mediated learning and teach-ing in an internationally networked virtual environ-ment. For the past six years (1990’s) BESTNET hasstrengthened its binational ties and continued its“high tech” focus through the development of activeor vibrant model technology which is assisting in thecreation of an on-line binational university settingthat is “borderless” (albeit, seamless to the user).Today, this type of design and linkage for curriculum,learning, teaching, research and performing collabo-rative scholarly work is called a “global virtual uni-versity.”

The design center for BESTNET is the vibrantglobal model based on METIS software. While thebinational (U.S.-Mexico) design of BESTNET con-tinues to flourish, new technologies are being contin-ually assimilated into this highly adaptive project.Specifically, as we are able to combine the interestsof a multitude of globally located campuses. We arealso working towards a virtual project for higher edu-cation. Our operating, developmental premise hasalways been to redefine faculty, staff and studentroles towards this purpose.

BESTNET was created with the assistance of thefounder of ARPANET a direct precursor to the Inter-net (even before the Internet was popularized) as ascholar’s collaborative network, with the explicitcharge of exploring alternative approaches to thestructures, substance, and processes which have tra-ditionally defined the scholarly work of institutionsof higher education. We have continually demon-strated courage in tackling difficult, but essential,issues of “technological renewal.” We are committedto developing educational programs which are espe-cially responsive to both regional and global needs,student-centered, interdisciplinary in scope, and tech-nologically innovative in nature.

The tremendous success of the BESTNET para-digm is that we are not only “renewing,” we are also“brandnewing” an ambitious global and virtual edu-cational model that will yield improved educationaloutcomes (in both low- and high-tech) settings,within the financial resources of most academic insti-tutions. We have especially developed positive out-comes in Africa, Latin America, the United Statesand Europe. Because we barter and share collectivelyour on line resources, we avoid the exchange offunds, academic credits and the multitude of bureau-cracies that are associated with traditional institu-tional exchanges. In short, we create a virtuallearning environment for the “world” evolving stu-dent to experience like never before. While other pro-jects are undergoing transformation from theIndustrial Age to the Information Age, BESTNET issuccessfully aligning to the global needs of theCyber-Age, by design.

Design of a Global Virtual Cultureof Innovation

BESTNET has greatly impacted postsecondaryeducation, especially along the U.S.-Mexico border(Arias & Bellman, 1992; 1994; and 1995). It has pro-vided new opportunities to reach students currentlyunder-represented in the fields of science, engineer-ing, computer information, teledramatic arts, thesocial and behavioral sciences, and technology, andhas enhanced career opportunities by providingaccess to new technologies, virtual learning experi-ences, and academic disciplines (Arias & Bellman,1995). The U.S.-Mexico project was initially fundedby three separate grants (for nearly $1 million) fromone of the most innovative divisions of the U.S.Department of Education or FIPSE (Fund for theImprovement of Post Secondary Education). BEST-NET subsequently received over $2 million in sev-eral additional grants from the Digital EquipmentCorporation, as well as the Western Behavioral Sci-ences Institute to improve the technical, learning,teaching and research capabilities of the network.“BESTNETers” possess a shared commitment toeffectively assisting all students, particularly histori-cally under-educated and low-income populations, todevelop the technological capacity to apply a broadrange of knowledge and skills acquired from multiple

1

Viable Global Networked Learningby Armando A. Arias, Jr., Ph.D.

sources to the resolution of complex, real-life prob-lems; whether it be solving drip irrigation in North-ern Africa or learning calculus in a bilingual mode.As an “institution” BESTNET supports technologi-cal actions aimed at redesigning educational environ-ments for the purposes of improving education. Wehave “designed-in” viability, we apply on line tech-nological global usage’s, where others have remainedon the “desk-top,” we are taking notions educatorsdream about, and, actually implementing them —globally.

BESTNET has quickly expanded to include anumber of universities in the Southwest borderregion in concert with several technological institutesand universities in Mexico. Over the past 13 years,we have organized a number of globally arrangedcampus and off-campus learning centers to delivercourses using the BESTNET network as global test-bed groups to evaluate and continually improve itstechnical and pedagogical features (Arias, 1992). Theproject now involves over 7,000 culturally and lin-guistically diverse groups of students from over adozen institutions in the United States, Mexico andother globally specific regions (Arias & Metes,1993). In the course of its development, BESTNEThas been able to enhance various features of net-worked learning.

There are numerous publications, monographs,articles, corporate technical reports, manuals, andbooks in several languages throughout the worldwhich describe how “BESTNETers” have continu-ally experimented with the art of teaching and learn-ing while they are geographically separated from oneanother. These publications have shown that distanceand distributed computer mediated technologygreatly augments regular classroom instruction aswell as distance for off-campus and distributed edu-cation. It provides individualized attention to studentneeds and requirements that can not be obtainedusing traditional methods of teaching. It supports aSocratic method of instruction, whereby students aremuch more actively involved in the learning processrather than being passive recipients, and theanonymity of the technology promotes discussionthat otherwise would be inhibited (Arias & Bellman,1993; Truxal, 1991).

In the BESTNET virtual learning environment,computer mediated communications promote globalstudent-to-student interaction and collaborativework. Computer naive students learn with equalfacility more sophisticated technology. As a conse-quence of having this experience and familiarity withnew technologies, many students who traditionallyare not recruited into the science and mathematicsfields have switched their majors.

B E S T N E T has a large experienced globallyassembled faculty, expert technical staff, and highlyengaged students that concurrently designs improve-ments in the network in concert with the courses andlearning experiences being offered and continuallyunder development. In the process of this develop-ment a number of faculty, students and expert techni-cal personnel express a strong interest in designing afully integrated multimedia network, especially inscience, engineering, humanities, computer sciences,teledramatic arts and technology, as well as the socialand behavioral sciences. We are now experimentingin such a manner so as to reach far beyond the origi-nal project (as described above) and design a multi-media network over the Internet that can be generallyaccessed. Our educational goal is that on line globallearners will not simply take art, humanities, science,or education courses; learners will be activelyinvolved in the design and implementation of theseareas, experiencing them as “on line learners of vir-tual practice” as well as traditional and developingtheory, to achieve this educational goal, the BEST-NET educational structure is multidisciplinary andbased in a global virtual community of scholars.Hence, the residential programs of participatingmember institutions are an integral part of the virtualeducational program; especially as virtual courses areteam-taught between entirely different institutions orsystems. Again, the purpose of BESTNET is that on-line global learners will be self-reliant, directlyinvolved in active virtual learning, reflecting con-sciously on what they are doing, and learning the skillof on line collaboration throughout life. As shown inall of BESTNET’s virtual educational activities, thepurpose is not simply to teach about, but to employthe best (most technologically and pedagogicallysound) practices of learning and teaching in a contin-uously developing virtual scholarly environment.

2

The computer supported collaborative work(CSCW) component of BESTNET is experimentingwith recently developed software to permit both realtime and asynchronous use of white board and mod-eling tools over BESTNET (as it operates as a “pri-vatized” scholar’s network, encapsulated, whiletraveling through the Internet). “BESTNETers” areworking closely with METIS systems and ASK Com-puter Groups as our corporate partners in developingthese technological capabilities. BESTNET, METISand ASK have and are currently designing softwareas a global model engine with capabilities to build,introduce and use active-models employing a varietyof symbolic languages specific to the range of scien-tific disciplines. Again, we are also experimentingwith white boards developed by Digital EquipmentCorporation and Hewlett Packard, which permitmulti-user manipulation of networked terminals anduses combinations of voice, video and text files. Weare also working, as a collaborative corporate partnerin this project, with MCI to fully develop and expandthe ability of each multimedia technology to be deliv-ered globally, over the Internet and, in the case of realtime compressed video, in adjacent channels.

Growing Need for Multimedia ComputerGlobal Network Communications

B E S T N E T scholars and students have beenquite successful at utilizing computer conferencing asa text based system. We understand that it is limitedin terms of graphics, visual and aural augmentation tobasic lecture and text materials. However, studentslearn through multisensory, multidimensional learn-ing experiences, especially in the sciences where lab-oratory work is crucial to learning (McLellan, 1993).The ability to communicate visually and orally withstudents engaging one another in a global virtualenvironment, greatly enhances the classroomteacher’s capabilities. Advances in using video andaudio computer files to augmented interact with textin multimedia mail have been successfully used byBESTNET faculty and corporate trainers (David &Moore, 1992). Although these advances are signifi-cant, there is currently no multimedia computermediated conferencing capability whereby globalservers can be accessed for shared multi-media files,and structured multi-media data bases. The availabil-ity of recent advances in compressed video usingISDN lines provides new opportunities for real timedesk-top video conferencing, which we will juxta-

pose as an adjacent technology to the Internet multi-media communications.

The sharing of multimedia work and modelingtools have become integral across disciplines. Thedevelopment, introduction and use of computer sup-ported active models is a paradigm shift in humanteaching, learning and assessment in computer sup-ported collaborative work. The use of such modelshas greatly impacted both the global engineering andscientific communities, and are critical to understandcomplex systems across disciplines (Hammer,1996).These vibrant models are object-oriented and value-set driven. Objects belong to many class hierarchiesand participate in many concurrent processes. Themulti-level, multi-dimensional, dynamic behavior ofreal-world objects has become an integral part ofthese disciplines, and consequently is a crucial com-ponent in most discipline curricula. The incorpora-tion of such tools is essential to BESTNET as itcontinuously renews itself as a viable global net-worked learning environment.

Computer communications networks are rapidlyextending to most areas of the world (Grenler &Metes, 1992). These involve a combination of net-works ranging from public, academic, governmentaland military data packet switching systems to FIDOstore and forward micro based networks. Scientistsand other scholars, both within and outside of acade-mia, internationally communicate with colleagues toboth network with each other and to conduct com-puter communications supported collaborative workor as we say in BESTNET they “work together whilethey are apart”. Such projects range from the sharingof information to actual coordination of researchefforts establishing virtual laboratories. The use ofelectronic mail and computer mediated conferencingis an accepted delivery system for various academicprograms in post-secondary and continuing educa-tion at universities in the United States, Canada,Latin America, Europe and Asia. Most recently therehave been several networking projects advocated forAfrica, Eastern Europe and Russia.

Opportunities for international and interculturalcommunication over these networks are rapidlyexpanding. It is estimated that thousands of new net-works are being added to the Internet each day, andthe number of Internet users is now in the millions.The only limitations to effective international andintercultural communication are human and not tech-

3

nological (Ringle, 1992). Many users are unable toread and write in other languages, and so are restrictedin their ability to communicate across cultures. Othersmay have conversational skills in another language,but cannot effectively write in it. Often they partici-pate in discussions by reading in the other language,and writing in their first language. However, theseinteractions are often stifled and restricted.

The choice of language is not only a technical con-sideration, but also a political act. For example, one ofour collaborators or NEUROPELAB in A r c h a m p s ,France, has for the past five years been conducting amajor health related computer communications projectcalled JITO L (Just in Time Open Learning). The projectinvolves health researchers and physicians from severalEuropean countries conjointly researching and monitor-ing diabetes patients. The participants debated aboutwhich language to use in their on-line discussions. T h e yfinally decided on English because it was second lan-guage to all of them, and that consequently no onewould have a language advantage over the other. Hence,English was selected as a political compromise.

Other participants in this experiment include fac-ulty and their respective students who are conductingresearch into environmental and hazardous wasteissues along the United States and Mexico border.Through BESTNET we established a distributedcomputer mediated conferencing network with sev-eral of these institutions on both sides of the border.Most of the discussions have been conducted in sep-arate English and Spanish language computer confer-ences, requiring a few bilingual and biliterateparticipants to act as interpreter/translators. With theenactment of NAFTA (North American Free TradeAgreement) there is now a major emphasis on col-laborative efforts to deal with environmental andhealth issues along the U.S.-Mexico border. Wherepreviously many of the computer conferences wereprimarily instructional augments to courses in eachuniversity, there are now serious discussions aboutthe need for effective communication (especiallyintercultural) in collaborative teaching, learning andresearch projects, and policy debates. (CaliforniaState University co-sponsored a trinational confer-ence focused on just this issue in November 1996.) Itis vital that as many participants as possible developreading and writing literacy skills if these on-line orcomputer communications cross/trans-border discus-sions are to be fully effective.

Related Developments withTranslation Technologies

We are presently working on the development ofinfrastructural capabilities in the Internet to supportglobal multilingual and intercultural communica-tions. We are experimenting with mechanisms fortranslating and distributing text files and electronicmessages specific to science and mathematical disci-plines in English, Spanish and French sent over theInternet. In addition to providing an infrastructure fortext based translations, we are also experimentingwith database development relevant to cultural analy-sis to assist in resolving intercultural misunderstand-ings due to different culture based assumptions andconnotated meanings attributed to different terms.

Our work involves the collaboration of faculty,students and staff from several international universi-ties, research institutes and private sector corpora-tions who share a concern that effective interculturalcommunications within and between disciplinesnecessitates the development of a translation and cul-tural interpretation capacity over the Internet. Partic-ipating academic institutions include California StateUniversities at Monterey Bay, Los Angeles, SanDiego, and, Dominguez Hills, the University of Cal-ifornia at Irvine and Texas A&M University in theUnited States, and the Instituto Tecnologico inTijuana (ITT), Instituto Tecnologico in Mexicali(ITM), the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF) inTijuana and the Centro de Ensenansa Tecnica y Supe-rior in Tijuana, Baja California. In addition, theRAND Corporation is participating through two of itsCenters, the Institute for Education and Training, andthe Center for Information Revolution Study. InEurope Neuropelab, an education research organiza-tion, is assisting in the development of French lan-guage translation and will involve participatingEuropean universities in the project, including theUniversity of Geneva and the University of Paris.Our corporate partners in this project include ED&Da division of AT&T Global Systems, MCI Communi-cations, NCR and METIS/International.

BESTNET researchers are planning to bringtranslation and cultural interpretation infrastructureto the Internet that is targeted to the science and mathdisciplines. This innovation will greatly assist univer-sity recruitment of non-traditional and languageminority students into these fields. For example, in

4

the United States minorities are gravely under-repre-sented in the science fields, and women seldom enterinto the fields requiring mathematical practice. Onthe other hand, in Mexico women are strongly repre-sented in technological and science disciplines. Atthe Instituto Technological in both Tijuana and Mex-icali, our research demonstrates that women com-prise over 50% of students in the engineeringdisciplines (Arias, 1992). BESTNET students inMexico and other international sites, are interactingwith students at United States universities and sec-ondary schools in a number of collaboratively taughtscience and math courses. We have found that thisprovides both student and faculty role models forUnited States under-represented students (Arias &Bellman, 1990).

The development of these technologies for non-classroom based instruction is a growing critical con-cern of most university systems as they restructurethemselves for growth in the context of decliningresources (Ringle, 1992). The ability to have multi-lingual and intercultural educational programs on theInternet will permit the cooperative sharing ofcourses, on a global basis; hence, across campuses,whereby a particular course can be taught on onecampus and delivered throughout a university sys-tem. Likewise, it will permit collaborative instructionbetween faculty at different international institutions,permitting students to have access to specialization’sand expertise that otherwise would not be directlyavailable to them.

Project BESTNET involves the mutual partici-pation of universities and technical institutes in theUnited States, Mexico, France and Switzerland work-ing in collaboration with private sector communica-tions and software corporations. Several pilot coursesusing multimedia collaborative technologies arebeing developed in the mathematical, biological, nat-ural, social and health sciences between internationalinstitutions. Our objective is to identify and meet thespecific translation, cultural, pedagogical and com-munication requirements of different science disci-plines for networked delivery of different types ofcourses and on-line laboratory-research work. We areexperimenting with developing, tailoring and utiliz-ing these technologies in concert with private sectorcollaboration and support.

The need for collaborative intercultural scientificresearch and intercultural collaborative educationalprograms requires not only effective translation ofcomputer text files and messages, but also their inter-pretation according to culturally relevant interactionpractices and discipline specific terminologies. Inter-cultural differences also exist at higher order levels,including policy interpretations, risk assessment andpriorities. Consequently, viable translation mustoperate at several simultaneous levels; terminologi-cal, syntactic, semantic and systemic.

In the next phase of BESTNET we will teachlanguages using computer mediated conferences ineach language that initially will have restrictedvocabularies, and over the course of a specifiedperiod of time add additional vocabulary in concertwith the development of language expertise skills ofthe participants. We are experimenting with thedevelopment of an on-line editor for computer con-ferences that permits only terms that are in therestricted vocabulary, and that permits new items tobe included by the system administrator.

The selection of initial vocabulary is made basedon the interests and academic discipline interests ofconference participants. We are conducting researchto locate primary vocabulary for three different disci-pline areas: (1) mathematics, physics, and engineer-ing (for computer conferences in environmentalissues and hazardous waste disposal), (2) biologicaland health sciences (for computer conferences ininternational public health and primary health care)and (3) social sciences and humanities (for computerconferences in intercultural communications, borderart and literature).

We are experimenting with the design of an on-line editor. Hence, we must work closely with inter-national colleagues in each of our project disciplinesto define the appropriate vocabulary items to use, anddevelop an on-line dictionary for participants toaccess. We have begun with pilot computer confer-ences in each of the above areas and test the viabilityof the initial vocabulary selections using faculty andstudent in BESTNET. After revising the respectivevocabularies we require our students to take the com-puter conferences. We then create separate groups ofparticipants to compare the effects of our program onparticipants who are monolingual and monoliteratewith those who are bilingual but monoliterate.

5

Although there are numerous commerciallyavailable translation software packages for personalcomputers, their applications are very restricted andrequire that users have bilingual facility to deal withthe ambiguities of translations. In addition, thesesoftware are not sensitive to the specific communica-tion requirements of the different scientific disci-plines, and the culturally relevant rules of languageuse and the metacommunicative features of intercul-tural social interaction.

Adaptive Infrastructure

In order to build a translation infrastructure forthe Internet we will develop a network capacity forrouting messages and text files to globally locatedservers that contain translation software for specificlanguages. Different servers (located in diff e r e n tcountries) are being dedicated for translation into andothers from each of the target languages in BEST-NET. This enables us to develop sub-dictionaries fortranslations, syntactic rules, and cultural interpreta-tions relevant to translation requirements in eachdirection.

In order to derive the translation databases rele-vant to each discipline and language group, we areteaching courses in different science and math disci-plines using computer mediated communicationsbetween groups of students in United States, Mexi-can, French and Swiss universities. Faculty at eachinstitution teach on-line classes to colleagues coursesat foreign universities, and act as faculty of record forthe students at their own institutions. Each of thecourses will be taught using computer conferences,electronic mail and transferred text files. The coursesare offered at BESTNET member institutions, aswell as at off campus locations such as participatingcommunity colleges and high schools in culturallydiverse and under-served areas.

Along with these on-line courses several of ourcolleagues are conducting international computermediated conferences dealing with substantive areasof their research, with a focus on environmental andhazardous waste issues. This research entails each ofthe scientific disciplines we are dealing with, and

also concerns major economic, social and policyinterpretations across cultures. Consequently, on lineinternational computer conferences discussions, mes-sages and transferred graphic and text files in thissubstantive area will enable us to develop culturalinterpretation databases relevant to the different sci-entific disciplines.

These files will be translated and will be enteredinto the micro-dictionary databases in the translationprograms we utilize. We will also use METIS soft-ware to arrange translation and cultural rules and mapthe complex interpretation systems with which weare dealing. The use of METIS and similar modelingtools have greatly impacted both the engineering andscientific communities, and are critical to understandcomplex systems. These models are object-orientedand value-set driven. Objects belong to many classhierarchies and participate in many concurrentprocesses. The multi-level, multi-dimensional,dynamic behavior of real-world objects is an integralpart of the translation and interpretation process.METIS will provide both software and engineeringsupport to fully develop this capacity of our transla-tion and cultural interpretation engine.

After developing the first phase conferences inEnglish and Spanish, we will add French languageconferences with colleagues at NEUROPELAB andtheir associated universities in Geneva and Paris. Wewill work with NERUOPELAB to conduct researchinto diabetes and other chronic illnesses with col-leagues in the United States and Mexico by support-ing computer conferences in French, English andSpanish. We will monitor participants from each ofthe respective languages as to their development ofskills in the other two languages, and again considerdifferences between monolingual and monoliterate,bilingual and monoliterate, as well as those who havecapacity with speaking or reading two of the threelanguages. BESTNET has as its objective to providea method for teaching languages using on-line com-puter mediated communications that can later beapplied to other languages. Concomitantly, it sup-ports the needs of faculty and students who have animmediate interest in effective global and intercul-tural communication.

6

Conclusion

The concepts of a “global virtual university sys-tem” and “viable global networked learning” are tak-ing hold throughout the world. The B E S T N E Tparadigm for looking at improving education hasproven to be one of the most advanced. It is built-upon three critical foundations: (1) a variety of use-ful, applicable technologies; (2) the experience anddedication of faculty and institutions who experience,promote and share the common goal of broadeningknowledge; and (3) a sixth sense that the world willbe globally connected, linked across borders, fron-tiers, languages and academic scholarship. Althoughthese are the most critical technological ingredientsfor the future success of global networked learning,we are especially concerned with the impact techno-logical innovations have on the everyday interactionsof educators, as they go about the business of educat-ing for a better life.

BESTNETers are advancing numerous initia-tives for the implementation of the renewal or“brandnewal” process at our member institutions.These include (but are certainly not limited to) ourrethinking of institutional research and assessment,non-traditional approaches to renewal and accredita-tion, and shared leadership and faculty governancestructures that extend beyond the traditional conceptsof faculty roles and rewards.

By the year 2000, we aspire to have partnered inthe founding of the Inter-American College, locatedin National City, Calif. We have a goal of achievingcandidacy status with the Western Association ofSchools and Colleges (WASC). We seek recognitionas a fully accredited virtual learning university forpurposeful renewal/”brandnewal” of education. Wepresently seek the later recognition not only becauseit will validate our work and our learners’ products,but also because it will establish our “ways” of doingbusiness as effective, reliable, and worthy of emula-tion. Too many successful technological innovationsin American higher education have never validatedthrough quality standards of evaluation or accredita-tion. We seek the path that promotes education andlearning through shared, virtual experiences withBESTNET.

American higher education is going through asoul-searching process to position itself for the nextcentury — this occurs at a time when there is need formajor reforms. BESTNET continues to develop in acontext by which member institutions desire and areplanning to change themselves. Even with all the“technological breakthroughs,” it could be said thatBESTNET is just at the frontier of creating a newculture; a “culture of innovation” which serves as aconceptual overlay, which implicitly infuses anexperimental intent into its design for education. Thistheme of innovation is reflected in how we envisiona virtual global learning environment which is“essentially collaborative in its orientation.”Nonetheless, I believe that BESTNET is by manystandards an outstanding example of current“renewal” efforts. Our innovations in the utilizationof shared technology and their impact on learningand teaching, research, and work are demonstratingto our colleagues in the Academy, how a virtual uni-versity can yield improved educational outcomeswithin the financial resources of our member institu-tions. If anything is proof positive, BESTNET isdeveloping an identity where it’s “O.K.” to do thingsdifferently — most especially as we are wholeheart-edly committed to technological renewal.

If interested in more information and details,please contact me at my campus address: CaliforniaState University, Monterey Bay. Or use the e-mail:<armando_arias@internet.monterey.edu>.

7

Bibliography

Arias, Armando and Bellman, Beryl, (1995). “Net-worked Collaborative Research And Teaching”in The Electronic Classro o m, pp. 180-185,Learned Information, Inc.

Arias, Armando and Bellman, Beryl, (1994).“Diverse Networked Learning in a BinationalEnvironment,” (1994), pp. 14-21, E d u c a t o r s ’Tech Exchange.

Arias, Armando and Bellman, Beryl, (1990). “Com-puter-Mediated Classrooms for Culturally andLinguistically Diverse Learners” in Computers inthe Schools, Vol. 7, Nos. 1/2 1990, pp. 227-242,Special Issue on Language Minority Studentsand Computers.

Arias, Armando and Bellman, Beryl, (1993). Peda -gogical and Research Uses of Computer Confer -encing in Successful Cultural Diversity.

Arias, Armando and Metes, George, (1993). “BEST-NET: A Laboratory for Networked Learning” inProceedings of the MacBeth National Confer -ence On Computing in the Liberal Arts.

Arias, A. (1992). “Higher education and borderlandstelecommunications in Texas, California and Ari-zona.” Rio Bravo: A Journal of Research andIssues, Spring.

Champine, George, (1991). MIT Project Athena: AModel for Distributed Campus Computing. Digi-tal Press.

David, W.H. and Moore, M. (1992). The Virtual Cor -poration: Customization & InstantaneousResponse in Manufacturing & Service: Lessonsfrom the World’s Most Advanced Companies.New York: Harper.

Grenler, R. and Metes, G. (1992). Enterprise Net -working: Working Together A p a rt. Bedford,Mass.: Digital Press.

8

9

Hammer, Michael (1996). Beyond Reengineering:How The Pro c e s s - C e n t e red Organization IsChanging Our Work and Our Lives. New York:Harper.

Light, R. and Singer, J. (1990). By Design: PlanningResearch on Higher Education. Harvard Univer-sity Press, Cambridge, Mass.

McLellan, H. (Ed.). (1993). Situated Learning (Spe-cial Issue). Educational Technology, 3.

Ringle, Martin (Ed.), (1992). Computing Strategiesin Liberal Arts Colleges. Addison-Wesley Pub-lishing Co., Reading, Mass..

San Diego State University. (1992) BESTNET: Ahome for International Communities of Interest.San Diego, Calif.

Truxal, John, (1991). The Age of Electronic Mes -sages. MIT Press.