Multidisciplinary Applications of Communication Systems in Teleconferencing and Education

This paper describes a laboratory facility and the multidisciplinary research that has been carried out in it relevant to the application of communications technology in such areas as teleconferencing and education. This facility at Carelton University, Ottawa, Canada, provides multichannel multipoint audio and video communications, and information storage and control facilities to simulate a wide variety of uses. The research program, conducted by communication technologists, systems engineers, and social psychologists, is outlined and the results of a number of teleconferencing and educational experiments are presented. The forthcoming communications technology satellite (CTS) Stanford-Carleton Universities Curriculum-Sharing Experiment is described, as are the preparations for a project in the educational applications of communications technology.