Grad students learn via satellite
By Melanie Branded
Staff Reporter
A woman’s voice shatters the
silence of a small television studio
in the Agricultural Communications
building.
Five middle-age female students,
seated before microphones at two
tables, listen intently to the woman
calling the makeshift classroom
from Kimball to discuss a class
project. They occasionally scribble
notes and look at the television
screen that shows the Kimball
woman’s picture and name.
A television camera is focused
on the instructor. She sits at a
wooden desk on the colorful, yet
modestly decorated set. The instruc
tor appears onscreen for a lew sec
onds, followed by the Kimball
woman’s picture again.
When the woman finishes speak
ing, the instructor announces that
two women cal ling from Center wi 11
summarize the day’s lecture.
This is Consumer and Family
Sciences 906, the fifth graduate
level course in the College of Hu
man Resources and Family Sciences
to be offered via satellite on
NEB*SAT, the state’s educational
satellite.
The course began last fall as part
of an interdepartmental master’s
degree program offered by the col
lege.
Joan Laughlin, associate dean
in the College of Human Resources
and Family Sciences, said the pro
gram was proposed about five years
ago. The college wanted to expand
the program throughout the state
because it already used closed-cir
cuit television to teach some under
graduate courses in Omaha, she
said.
As many as 115 students have
taken satellite courses, she said.
Currently, 48 graduate students are
working on master’s degrees, while
others take courses to meet teacher
certificate renewal requirements or
personal goals, she said.
Laughlin said about 20 viewing
sites across the state downlink the
course. Cooperative Extension of
fices, junior colleges and other lo
cations around the state serve as
sites.
Students and instructors can in
teract with each other via two-way
video and audio connections, site
said. However, some sites only have
one-way video.
Raedene Combs, who teaches
Consumer and Family Economics
906, said offering graduate courses
via satellite changed the way she
taught a class.
“Everything has to be planned
“They make an
educational
experience possible for
students who might
not have had one
otherwise. ”
RAEDENE COMBS
Consumer and Family Economics
teacher
ahead of time,” she said. “It takes
time to send things out.”
Although Combs often commu
nicates with students via e-mail or
after class, she said she missed in
teracting with them in person.
“You don’t really get to know
them as well,” she said. “We talk a
lot, except we don’t get to see each
other.”
Graduate students also learn how
to use the Internet to access univer
sity libraries. Once students find
research articles they want to use,
Laughlin said, they contact a li
brary assistant via e-mail. After find
ing the article, the librarian sends a
copy of it to the student by fax
machine or mail.
March
Continued from Page 1
Farrakhan urged the men to go home
and join black organizations, take hold
of political power, unite against rac
ism and cleanse black communities of
crime, drugs and violence. The leader
said white supremacy was the root of
America’s suffering.
The march had become controver
sial to people of all races. However,
Shanks said most men did not march
to Washington to support Farrakhan’s
words, but rather to create a positive
unity among the black community
everywhere.
“I heard no racist comments. I heard
no ‘get whitey’jokes. I heard no nega
tive commentary at all, from no one,”
Shanks said. “He (Farrakhan) is only
one person. I came looking for mil
lions. It was not one man who brought
me here.”
Young men dressed in jeans,
sweatshirts and jackets dominated the
crowd, which stretched for 12 blocks
on the Mall. They were joined by civil
rights veterans Jesse Jackson and Rosa
Parks. Stevie Wonder sang and Maya
Angelou read a poem urging the crowd
to do right by itself and “save your
race.”
“It was clear that the marchers came
from every walk of life,” Shanks said.
“I saw women and whites moving
throughout the crowd unabated. I saw
several different kinds of clearly iden
tifiable religious sects, including the
Nation of Islam and Christians.”
Melvin X, who coordinated the
Nebraska group, said it would be the
men’s challenge to bring the spirit
back to their cities.
“The unity must take place within
each community where the men travel
from,” the Omaha minister said. “That
unifying force should enable all of us
to move forward out of a ditch of life
that has been caused by racism.
“We will have to challenge the
community to see our view in order
for that community to grow and thrive,”
he said. “Ifwe hangon to the old mind,
while then we surely will stay divided.”
The Associated Press contributed to this
report.
Page
Continued from Page 1
would have direct responsibility.
Categories two and three would
include faculty and class home pages,
she said, where the university would
loosen its control and make the indi
viduals responsible.
The university would not be re
sponsible for further links, she said.
An approved group or individual
directly linked to the UNL home page
must sign a contract, Allison said.
The university then has the right to
cut the link if it leads to objectionable
material that violates the contract.
Because the university has that
power, she said, it has to make sure it
does not cross the line to violate aca
demic freedom and free speech.
“There’s a fine line between aca
demic freedom and projecting an im
age of the university that the univer
sity would like to have projected,”
Fagan said.
“We don’t want to stifle any cre
ativity or the ability of a faculty mem
ber to use a home page like he or she
would use a classroom.”
If the university asks for the mate
rial to be removed or if it cuts the link,
Allison said, the group or individual
can appeal to an advisory board.
So far, UNL hasn’t had any prob
lems, Allison said, but it may run into
some as the home page’s popularity
grows.
Several classes, faculty members
and the Daily Nebraskan have home
pages linked to the UNL home page,
she said, and the home pages are used
as recruiting tools for prospective stu-'
dents.
Fagan said the renovated home page
would be more attractive, and it will
have more web addresses and a spe
cial link for prospective students on
the front menu.
“It’s both exciting and kind of
spooky,” she said. “It’s brand new
technology and no one knows where
it’s going and what its final form will
be.
“If there even is a final form.”
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Combs said the satellite courses
served a purpose for graduate stu
dents in Nebraska.
“They make an educational ex
perience possible for students who
might not have had one otherwise,”
she said.
“They bring together students
from across the state with similar
interests.”
For many of these graduate stu
dents, this is the only way they can
get a master’s degree. Distance pre
vents them from driving to campus
to take courses.
Carol Eilers, a high school fam
ily sciences teacher from Spencer,
receives the course through a com
puter modem in her living room.
She occasionally drives to O’Neill
to participate in group projects or
discussions.
Eilers said she preferred taking
the graduate courses via satellite
than in a classroom.
“This is the next best thing,” she
said.
Judy Malone, a cabinet consult
ant from Palisade, said she hoped
the master’s degree program would
allow her to pursue other jobs in the
future.
“Perhaps an opportunity will
come along that I am more quali
fied for,” she said.
Court suspends
Washington’s
trial schedule
From Staff Reports
Attorneys were given 45 days from
Monday to take testimony from wit
nesses in the Aug. 2 shooting of a
Lincoln man in which NU receiver
Riley Washington is charged.
In a brief hearing Monday,
Lancaster County District Judge Ber
nard McGinn granted defense attor
neys t ime to gather evidence in prepa
ration for Washington’s second-de
gree attempted murder trial.
Washington was ordered to stand
trial on the charges that stem from the
late-night shooting of Jermaine Cole
at a convenience store at 27th and W
streets. The junior wingback from
Chula Vista, Calif., has maintained
his innocence.
His trial originally was scheduled
for the Oct. 23 jury term. However,
many trials are set for the same jury
term.
Washington pleaded not guilty to
the charges. Nebraska coach Tom
Osborne said last month that be be
lieved Washington was innocent.
Washington spent 13 days in jail.
He was released Aug. 22 after posting
$ 10,000 bond. He soon began practic
ing with the team, but he didn’t suit up
for the Cornhuskers until the Sept. 23
game against the University of Pa
cific.
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