1. Goals:
2. Purposes:
3. Objectives:
4. Proposed Procedures:
5. Anticipated Outcome:
6. Possible Demonstration Projects:
7. Feasibility Study:
8. Benefits to Society:
9. Sustainability:
10. Anticipated Major Risks:
11. Evaluation:
12. Proposed Partners:
13. Mini-Workshop in Manila:

13.1 Goals and Objectives:
13.2 Purposes:
13.3 Telepresence Demonstration:
13.4 Expected Outcome:
13.5 Role of American Parties:

The Global University System in the Philippines will be a subset of the GUS. This system in the Philippines will support GUS development and activities by establishing partnerships and distance learning demonstration projects in cooperation with the US counterparts. The consortium will explore technical capabilities and options, as well as match educational needs and resources, for the delivery of affordable, needs based distance learning in the Philippines and between the Philippines and the US, thus realizing global collaboration and partnership to ensure students’ learnability.

1. Goals:

The goal of the Global University System in the Philippines is to spearhead the linkage of existing distance education and telehealth networks to establish equal access to education and healthcare in the Philippines and between the Philippines and the US.
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2. Purposes:

The purpose of the Global University System in the Philippines is to collaborate with people of the Philippines in the identification and assessment of their needs for education, professional development, technical training, and health care, and to identify how technology can be used to create a knowledge sharing network to meet those needs. The Global University System in the Philippines will promote sustained international cooperation, capacity building, and an inter cultural foundation for the education and health care through the electronic sharing and exchange of information.

To accomplish this vision the Global University System in the Philippines will build upon progress that has already been made in order to:

• Promote accessible, affordable global distance education,
  
• Increase understanding of diverse cultural values and needs,
  
• Emphasize values of sustainability, equity and global peace.

This project will establish partnerships between educational institutions in Montana, Hawaii, and the Philippines in the first phase of this project and with others in ASEAN countries later. Distance learning and telemedicine opportunities will be made available to people living in the Pacific islands including Guam and American Samoa, and in the Philippines.
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3. Objectives:

Objective 1: Improve sustained connectivity between and among governmental, educational, health care institutions and non-profit organizations within the Philippines.

Objective 2: Promote the identification and/or creation of appropriate educational content, based upon the real and perceived needs and cultural values of the learners and participants.

Objective 3: Promote "best practices" in the distance delivery and exchange of knowledge and information through pilot projects, formal evaluation and scientific investigation.

Objective 4: Promote private sector involvement in the development and sustainability of the increased connectivity through the establishment of private-public partnerships.

Objective 5: Promote opportunities for sustainable economic development and entrepreneurship.
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4. Proposed Procedures:

• Conduct a technical feasibility study for linkages between North America, Hawaii, and the Philippines,
  
• Establish needs and resources for pilot distance learning projects in the Philippines,
  
• Conduct a planning conference in Japan for further planning and proposal development with other ASEAN countries.

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5. Anticipated Outcome:

• Technical feasibility study,
  
• Needs assessment,
  
• Pilot demonstration projects.

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6. Possible Demonstration Projects:

• Dissemination of the Emergency Medical Services for Children program in the Philippines,
  
• Information/Communication Technology training for educators and healthcare providers,
  
• Graduate and professional development programs for nurses.

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7. Feasibility Study:

The proposed activities will establish feasibility studies in order to determine the lowest cost effective method to promote the use of advanced broadband Internet for the benefits of societies in the Philippines. The advantages for exploring wireless broadband Internet infrastructure for the delivery of distance learning is that it involves (i) fewer regulatory issues, (ii) less initial investment, and (iii) less ongoing operating costs. Distance Learning (DL) and telemedicine can thus provide (i) more flexibility, (ii) more enhanced content and (iii) greater accessibility. Items to be considered for feasibility study are:

Infrastructure to possibly include:

1. satellite earth station,
   
2. microwave network,
   
3. fixed wireless broadband Internet,
   
4. Internet routers and servers,
   
5. system engineers, etc.

Content Development:

1. instructors,
   
2. programmers,
   
3. teacher trainers,
   
4. facilitators,
   
5. healthcare and instructional technology specialists, etc.

Administrators:

1. accountants,
   
2. financiers,
   
3. supervisors,
   
4. librarians,
   
5. fund seekers, etc.

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8. Benefits to Society:

This activity is a community development approach, firstly with non-profit organizations and secondly with for-profit organizations, thus all applicable groups are inclusive. This activity is to be a model replicable to other localities and regions, as leading the use of the advanced Internet in various sectors of societies. The higher educational institution selected in the locality will have the broadband Internet satellite earth-station, and will become the major Internet Service Provider (ISP) to the local community of non-profit organizations. The higher education institution will then provide teacher training to secondary and elementary schools, and also act as facilitators and technical supporters to other non-profit organizations.
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9. Sustainability:

This activity will be sustained by a regional and local coalition member of the Global University System. For-profit commercial industrial organizations will be invited into the local community gradually in the second (or later) phase of this pilot project in such a way that they will undertake a major portion of financial burden of this venture -- particularly subsidizing the Internet access fee of K-12 and secondary schools in the Philippines.
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10. Anticipated Major Risks:

1. Government regulations on the establishment of broadband Internet infrastructure:

We plan to mitigate this risk as focusing and emphasizing on humanitarian purposes of distance learning and telemedicine, with implementation of the broadband Internet in non-profit organizations in the first phase, e.g., higher, secondary and elementary educational institutions, hospitals, libraries, local governmental agencies, etc.

2. Disintegration of local coalition:

We plan to mitigate this risk as providing the members of coalition with flexible, open, and equal information, collaboration and standings.

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11. Evaluation:

Outcomes of this project will be measured in two ways:

1. Results of the mini-workshop in Manila for ongoing fund raising and proposal development;

and

2. Measurements of pilot project activities:

Internet usage rates, growth rates of web sites, course wares, outreach students, number of occurrences of telemedicine events, etc. Acceptance of this venture by local community members, increase of outreach students with distance learning methodology, acceptance of telemedicine by local community, etc.

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12. Proposed Partners:

• Asian Development Bank (The Philippines)
  
• Critical Illness and Trauma Foundation (USA)
  
• Global University System (Finland)
  
• GLOSAS/USA (USA)
  
• Burns Telecommunications Center, Montana State University – Bozeman (USA)
  
• Foundation for Support of the United Nations (USA, The Philippines and Japan)
  
• Houston Community College System (USA)
  
• Institute of International Education (USA)
  
• Kagawa Junior College (Japan)
  
• Maui High Performance Computing Center(MHPCC) (USA)
  
• Montana State University/Bozeman (USA)
  
• National Institute of Multimedia Education/Space Collaboration System (Japan)
  
• Pacific Disaster Center (USA)
  
• South East Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) (The Philippines)
  
• St. Luke College of Medicine (The Philippines)
  
• Texas A&M University (USA)
  
• Tripler Army Medical Center (AMC)/Center of Excellence in Disaster Management &
  Humanitarian Assistance (USA)
  
• Tripler Army Medical Center (AMC)/Information Systems Support, Inc. (USA)
  
• University of California/Los Angeles/School of Public Health/International Distance
  Learning (USA)
  
• University of Guam (USA)
  
• University of Hawaii/Curriculum Research & Development Group (USA)
  
• University of Hawaii/PEACESAT (USA)
  
• University of Hawaii/Maui Research and Technology Center (USA)
  
• University of Hawaii/Maui Community College (USA)
  
• University of Michigan (USA)
  
• University of the Philippines/Open University (UPOU) (The Philippines)
  
• University of Tennessee/Knoxville (USA)
  
• University of Washington (USA)
  
• World Health Organization (The Philippines)

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13. Mini-Workshop in Manila:

A mini-workshop will be held at the St. Luke College of Medicine and at the University of the Philippines/Open University (UPOU) from October 29th to 31st, 2000 to collectively brainstorm on the formalization and solidification of the above mentioned pilot project on international distance learning between the Philippines and the U.S..

This mini-workshop will explore the possibility of establishing electronic distance education links between Montana State University (MSU) and the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) in Manila through the Burns Telecommunications Center at MSU. When the proposed broadband Internet is established with funds from the Japanese Government, educational and medical courses as well as other educational opportunities will be up-linked from an earth station located on Maui to the broad band Internet network which will cover most of the Pacific Islands and Asian countries. All of these collaborations will be formulated into a formal proposal at the workshop.
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13.1 Goals and Objectives:

The goals and objectives of the mini-workshop are to:

• Promote accessible, affordable global distance education;
  
• Increase understanding of different cultural conditions, values and needs;
  
• Emphasize values of sustainability and equality;
  
• Link enthusiasts with decision-makers and funding resources;
  
• Identify pilot projects that will lead to full scale distance education; and
  
• Discuss standardization of courses, credits, accreditation.

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13.2 Purposes:

The purposes of the mini-workshop are to:

1. Introduce the aforementioned pilot project to Filipino,
   
   
2. Learn from Filipino about,
   
   
   1. current status of distance learning and telemedicine (including the delivery infrastructure),
      
   2. their need in the future, particularly when a broadband Internet will be available,
      
      
3. Present what can be (or will be) available from North America,
   
   
   1. a. via narrow-band Internet and ISDN, etc., i.e., through currently available telecom infrastructure,
      
   2. via broad-band Internet when it is available,
      
      
4. Discuss and plan the theme and program of the larger workshop/conference (as to the follow-up to our Tampere event -- for 3 to 4 or 5 days) to be held in Japan where ASEAN country people will jointly work;
   
   
   1. to formalize the draft of the pilot project proposal,
      
   2. to make the feasibility study, action plan, etc. to realize the project of establishing domestic and international distance learning and telemedicine,
      
      
      1. firstly, via the currently available narrow-band Internet,
         
      2. in the near future, via the proposed global broadband wireless and satellite Internet,
         
         
   3. to configure administrative and business schemes,
      
   4. to construct joint funding proposals,
      
      
5. Plan joint fund raising for the larger workshop/conference in Japan.

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13.3 Telepresence Demonstration:

The telepresence demonstration with echocardiography will be performed at the conference by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. The echocardiograph signal of a patient on a tread mill in Manila will be sent to Michigan for diagnosis, as we have done during our Tampere event in Finland in August, 1999. However, this time, the 3D image of his heart will also be constructed as an upgraded feature. Both will be disseminated to the participants around the world via ISDN and Internet. This is a follow-up to our similar demonstration during our Manaus, Amazon, Brazil event on May 31 to June 2, 2000.

This demonstration is also to open the eyes of decision-makers for the value of broadband Internet so that they will install it in remote/rural areas of developing countries at their earliest possible time.
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13.4 Expected Outcome:

The expected outcome of the mini-workshop are:

• Formation of project/partnership teams
  
• Direction for collaboratively furthering global electronic distance education
  
• Assessment of the technical capacity and infrastructure setup in the Philippines
  
• Needs assessment and content for pilot projects
  
• Enhancement of human and infrastructure capacity (whenever required)
  
• Organization and implementation of distance learning (DL) courses
  
• Assessment of the effectiveness and sustainability of the approach established
  
• Development of a wider program to broaden the utilization of DL to other sector and specialties
  
• Strategy of joint fund raising for the projects of implementing selected DL courses
  
• Outline of the larger workshop
  
• Fund raising strategies for the larger workshop
  
• Conference report for public dissemination

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13.5 Role of American Parties:

American parties have substantial experience to contribute to this project regarding the exchange of educational, vocational, and medical information and knowledge with counterparts in the Philippines and around the Pacific rim countries (and eventually around the world).

American participants will be instrumental in providing experience and demonstrations using broadband Internet access for education and access to information, and it will be critical to include American colleagues in the initial technical and content project design. Hawaii, in particular, will provide a critical technical link for reaching the Asia/Pacific region with a proposed uplinking earth station at the Maui Research and Technology Center. This Center already has 45 Mbps Internet line through the Maui High Performance Computing Center (MHPCC), and will soon be upgraded to 192 Mbps.

This mini-workshop will explore the possibility of establishing electronic distance education links between Montana State University (MSU) and the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) in Manila through the Burns Telecommunications Center at MSU. When the proposed broadband Internet is established, educational and medical courses as well as other educational opportunities will be up-linked from an earth station located on Maui to the broad band Internet network which will cover most of the Pacific Islands and Asian countries. All of these collaborations will be formulated into a formal proposal at the workshop.
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