GSAMS

GSAMS -- Connecting Educational Institutions

In its relatively short life, the Georgia Statewide Academic and Medical System (GSAMS) has helped nurses in South Georgia improve their skills to upgrade rural health care, enabled high schools in Cartersville and Calhoun to share classes in Latin, linked language classes in Habersham County and Hawkinsville to conduct conversations in Spanish and French, provided a series of 10 enrichment classes for high school students by an outstanding professor at Georgia Southern University (GSU), and allowed Valdosta State University (VSU) to train tutors for low-literate adults. These are only a few educational accomplishments of the distance learning portion of GSAMS.

With compressed signals transmitted over telephone lines, the GSAMS network enables learners in as many as eight separate locations in Georgia to see and talk with each other. The system allows any site in the network to originate a program or receive a program from another site. There are now 187 distance learning locations. An additional 70 sites form the "telemedicine" part of the system, in which patients in rural health care facilities can tap the resources of urban medical complexes and medical professionals can be linked with their urban counterparts.

On The University of Georgia campus, there are three GSAMS sites -- one at the College of Education in Aderhold Hall, another at the College of Pharmacy, and one at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. The Georgia Center's "Room H" houses additional equipment beyond that found in the basic distance learning site, to allow instructors to use the latest in graphics and other technologies.

The Georgia Center also houses the Academic Programming Office of GSAMS, which serves as a central communications point to promote and facilitate programs over the distance learning network. Robert C. Hart, director of the office, was formerly the director of the Center for Educational Technology in UGA's College of Education and headed one of the pilot projects which led to GSAMS.

The number of programs presented over GSAMS is increasing at a more and more rapid pace each month. There are programs in every category -- university to university, technical school to technical school, university or technical school to high school, high school to high school and university/college/technical school to K-12 schools.

Zoo Atlanta Presents Variety of Programs

Zoo Atlanta's GSAMS site is one of the most prolific and popular originators of programming for K-12 students. A full-time program coordinator, Kelly Clark Thomas, works with a team of teachers who meet each month to focus on curriculum development in a specific distance-learning subject area. From September through December, 1994, Zoo Atlanta presented more than 50 different programs. Numerous GSAMS locations from the Chatham Youth Development Center in Savannah to high schools in Rome and Rockdale County participated in these interactive programs -- an average of 65 viewings per month. The subjects included "I Wonder Why," a description of the scientific method; a debate among high school students on "The Endangered Species Act: Pass or Fail"; "Classification," which allowed students to take an active role in developing ways to classify themselves, plants, and animals; and "Rain Forest Animals: A Look at Biodiversity."

Thomas reports that one of the most interesting programs was presented by Michael Williamson, the coordinator of WhaleNet, a conservation organization that tracks whales throughout the world. With WhaleNet's computer program and photographs of each whale's tail flukes, students can pick an individual whale and follow its travels through the oceans. Thousands of whales have been identified and studied by this method.

Future Zoo Atlanta offerings will follow a particular theme each month. Among those in the works are programs on gorilla behavior and "backyard habitats" for birds and squirrels.

Programs and Classes for Secondary Schools

There is no lack of courses for high school students, as Georgia's public schools form collaborative efforts with one another and with colleges and universities throughout the state. More courses are being planned as institutions and instructors become familiar with the distance learning technology.

In the fall of 1994 GSU history professor James Woods presented a series of 10 programs for high school students, sharing his expertise in the Colonial to pre-Civil War period. Some titles in this popular series included "The Grand Convention and the Struggle to Ratify the Constitution"; "Whites in the Old South: Planters, Plain Folk and Politicians"; and "Blacks in the Old South: Forging a Culture Under Oppression." GSU plans more programs for high schools, including English literature enrichment programs.

Piedmont College, GSU, and VSU have pioneered the presentation of post-secondary options over GSAMS. In these classes, high school students receive college credit for courses they complete successfully. Piedmont College offers "English 101" to Habersham Central High School in Mount Airy, GSU has taught college algebra and political science courses to several high schools, and VSU has offered political science and economics. This spring, VSU will teach "History 200 -- U.S. History" to students at Lowndes County High School, Fitzgerald High School, and Bainbridge High School.

Debate teams from several high schools around the state have conducted practice debates using GSAMS. In the future, four of the schools hope to hold a round-robin, formal debate on the network as part of scheduled competition.

Technical Schools Offer Variety of Programs

Georgia's technical institutes are also participating in the GSAMS network and are among the leaders in encouraging the use of this innovative technology. The first user group for site coordinators resulted from a suggestion from North Georgia Tech. Its site coordinator facilitates the group.

Altamaha Technical Institute in Jesup cooperated with two hospitals in its region to train practical nurses using ADAM software, which allows an intense study of human anatomy. Students first view an outside layer of the skin and then "peel" the layers to reveal muscles, tendons and so on down to the bone.

Heart of Georgia Technical Institute in Dublin trains students at Dodge County High School in Eastman in aircraft structural technology, in a cooperative effort with private industry. Numerous programs have originated from Heart of Georgia.

Athens Tech and Savannah Tech are pioneering GSAMS credit courses for technical schools with a course in micro-economics.

Other technical schools are pioneering multi-media technology or joining with local industries to plan classes that prepare students to enter the workforce.

New Sites Begin To Plan Programs

GSAMS sites that have recently received their equipment are eager to begin originating and receiving programs. Gainesville College has formed a distance learning task force consisting of key faculty members and staff.

The college offered "Political Science 101 -- American National Government" to Forsyth Central High School during Winter Quarter and for Spring Quarter plans to offer "Speech 108 -- Fundamentals of Speech Communication."

In February, a "GSAMS Training and Programming Conference" was held at the Georgia Center, the first opportunity for site coordinators and others involved in using the system to come together to share ideas and experiences. As a result of the workshops and meetings, many new efforts were begun. As cooperation and collaboration among sites increases, the future of this educational resource appears bright for Georgia's learners at all levels.

For more information about GSAMS, contact Robert C. Hart, director, GSAMS Academic Programming Office, Suite 298, Georgia Center for Continuing Education, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-3603, 706-542-7757, FAX: 706-542-7752. Hart's e-mail address is hartb@gactr.uga.edu.

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