Advanced Interactive (Canada) Inc. (AiCi)

AiCi is a for-profit Canadian company, incorporated under the laws of the Province of British Columbia, Canada having an office at 1177 West Hastings St., Suite 2101, Vancouver BC, V6E 2K3. The company is the wholly owned subsidiary of Advanced Interactive Inc. (Aii) and has been in business since 1997. AiCi has been actively involved in research and development of new technologies to support products, services and applications in the area of computer and television convergence. The company has 7 permanent employees, and supplements these resources with highly qualified contract employees as the need arises. AiCi has significant Intellectual Property (patents, know-how, etc) in the area of transmission of data files embedded in television signals (in the vertical blanking interval (VBI) and Full Frame), in transmitting/receiving digital frames, and high quality multi-channel audio. AiCi will be employing some of these proprietary technologies in the SchoolWeb Project.

AiCi is acting as the overall Lead Contractor, hardware/software developer and Project Manager. The work is being carried out in British Columbia, Canada but the results will be exported to other Provinces across Canada, and later to other countries around the world.

Open Learning Agency (OLA)

The Open Learning Agency is a BC crown corporation, with its main office in Vancouver at 4355 Mathissi Place, Burnaby, BC V5G 4S8. This location is close to the BCIT campus, and on the grounds of a BC Discovery Park.

OLA operates with 5 major divisions:

• Open school
• Open College
• Open University (note these attributes are the same as a University)
• Work Place Training Skills
• Knowledge Network {Educational Television Broadcasting}

In the field of education in BC, OLA has responsibility for:

• the design and delivery of tele-education at the K-12, College and University level; locally, nationally and internationally
• the operation of an Educational Television Network, and LI>the provision of workplace transition services and corporate training

Through its first 4 divisions, OLA's role in SchoolWeb will be to advise the Consortium and carry out methods to improve our Educational offering through technological improvements (software for fast Internet information, courseware, remedial training programs, retraining programs, etc.) at different levels of education. The operations group of Open School will assist the Consortium to amass the right software at the Headend, and to prepare special resources for presentation to schools. (e.g. digitized video and streaming multimedia)

The Open School's Courses and Resources program (OSCAR) features an already well-established suite of electronic resources for teachers, including a 'graduation package' of grade 11 and 12 courses developed to IMS XML/SGML standards. These electronic resources may be revised for use within the SchoolWeb Project.

Through its Teaching and Learning in an Instructional Technology Environment (TLITE) the OLA's Open School and Open University, in partnership with SFU's Faculty of Education, offers teacher professional development resources in the application of educational technology in the classroom.

As per its mandate, OLA's Open School continues to develop and redevelop K-12 curriculum and delivery mechanisms for tele-learning purposes. It is one of Canada's major providers of such resources and currently supports some 75,000 K-12 course registrations.

OLA's further role will be to provide the facilities and services of the Knowledge Network, including equipment and staff space at the program Headend, use of OLA's Interactive Robotic Studio 3 and use of the KNOW Network Master Control facilities. The transmission of digital data will be monitored continuously 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. OLA operates with a budget of about CN$ 66 Million annually, and has about 700 employees.

Ministry of Education, PLNet Division

PLNet is a unique part of the Ministry of Education in the BC Government, charged with the responsibility of increasing the connectivity to schools throughout the Province over the next 4 years. The primary goal is to provide an "education intranet" designed to deliver learning programs and enable organizations to effectively and efficiently communicate, and exchange information. The network will contribute to an increase in the range of educational courses available throughout BC and in small and remote schools. It will also extend programs to students not traditionally served by post secondary institutions, increase student and teacher access to learning resources, and increase student and worker access to career information. PLNet provides centralized management of their network, as well as consultative support services to its customers. PLNet looks to employ all technologies that can assist in meeting its goals in a cost-effective manner.

The BC Government pledged an investment of CN$120,000,000 over 6 years for the PLNet program, which is well underway.

The primary role of PLNet in SchoolWeb will be to assist the consortium to provide a suitable, main connection to BCNet and CA*net3 from our Headend, to provide a suitable return channel from schools, and to maintain these connections. PLNet is eminently qualified to carry out these functions.

School Districts and Schools

School Districts are responsible to the public for the delivery of education in their area. The use and deployment of innovative technology tools that enhance the educational offering, is an important part of that delivery. School Districts are constantly searching for the most comprehensive and cost effective ways to improve and expand their education services.

A primary goal of all School Districts is to provide an environment in which lifelong learning will be enhanced through the use of superior technology; especially where the technology can provide a service that is difficult and costly to obtain by other means. It is with this theme in mind that School Districts are anxious to participate in the SchoolWeb project. Some School Districts are more advanced than others, but generally most have developed a technology plan around the school as the basic unit, with committees of teachers and administrators working together to plan the best educational offering possible within available funds.

AIC has been pleased with the response from a number of School Districts who are very interested in the use of this technology as a major problem solver for their particular circumstances. In return for our help, they have pledged to work closely with us to provide a high level of interaction and feedback, and to work diligently to test the system and its services to the fullest extent. Our preliminary discussions would suggest that many other School Districts would like to join the project if funds for their participation could be found.

Other Possible Participants

AIC has had discussions with officials from TVOntario and other Network providers, and we received significant expressions of interest from several sources. It is quite possible that if this program were to be increased, AIC could expand the Project to include several other networks in various parts of Canada.