A Virtual Canyon of =?iso-8859-1?Q?Collaborations=8A?=
Kam Matray (kmatray@nps.navy.mil)
Wed, 19 Mar 1997 18:03:30 -0800
Just imagine=8A 57 agencies coming to the table to build a collective
vision. Just imagine=8A 57 CEOs, CIOs, CFOs, BOEs-- for that matter, just
imagine 57 agendas--hidden and otherwise. Just imagine what this
primordial alphabet soup of collaborators could, can, and has made
possible=8A
The Virtual Canyon Project is one of a suite of twelve grants that was
secured by this group to begin making the vision of a regional
infrastructure model for science education a reality. Actually starting
with a 3-county $1.8 million infrastructure grant from the California
Research and Education Network (CalREN) funded by Pacific Telesis, we were
able to hone our definition of infrastructure to move beyond connectivity.
Our collaborative definition (ahhh... the c-word emerges) demands that
infrastructure must also embrace access, content, and relevant application.
We proceeded to seek funding to support each of these component parts.
Enter the National Science Foundation and its critical funding for the
relevant application piece: development of a prototype for an interactive,
online science exploration, research, and publishing environment. Virtual
Canyon utilizes the incredibly rich and diverse bioresources of the
Monterey Bay Canyon (deeper by far than the Grand Canyon!) and the many
marine and oceanographic research agencies in the area (more per capita
than anywhere in the United States we are told.) For this particular
component, our collaborators include the new university at the largest
military installation in the United States to be closed under the Base
Realignment and Closure Act-California State University at Monterey Bay
(CSUMB). They provide for the evalation function. We also count around
our table the following:
--instructional design, Learning in Motion;
--content and curriculum, the Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA);
--science research liaison, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)=
;
--student design teams and testbeds, Monterey Peninsula Unified School
District (MPUSD) and the Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD);
--programming and hardware support, HDT and Silicon Graphics (SGI); and
--pedagogical research, the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC).
Upon completion of the prototypic site in September 1997, students in
grades K-12 will work on real-life projects where they select and
manipulate online tools to explore the Monterey Canyon, access video
footage from MBARI's remotely operated vehicle (ROV), conduct research
projects in a virtual canyon and virtual research lab, and post the methods
and findings of their research in a gallery on the web for other students
to review and utilize in subsequent research. Postings might take the form
of a research paper, drawing, poetry, story, song or=8A This reiterative
process depends upon the real world of science research and the real world
of human questioning and curiosity.
There are many roles that Virtual Canyon demands of its collaborators--
from resource brokering to leverage buy-out of brain trusts. Bottomline,
no one agency or institution could begin to make real the construct. It
simply could not happen.
There is a caveat here- collaboration is not on Letterman's list of ten
easy pieces (stop smiling out there=8A) And this is where our info-ren
conversations will become interesting.
As far as our URL-it is not yet available. Stay tuned for news at eleven.
Kam Matray, Principal Investigator
NSF Virtual Canyon Project
Monterey Bay Technology Education Center
Monterey Peninsula Unified School District
Box 1031 * 700 Pacific Street
Monterey, California 93942-1031
voice 408.899.9414 fax 408.899.3224
kmatray@nps.navy.mil
kmatray@monterey.k12.ca.us