Blending streaming multimedia and communication technology in advanced web-based education
Download 71.08 Kb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- InterLabs Hardware Set-Up
- - Dual PIII processors (2.4 MHz each)
- Digital PC Video Camera (for videoconferencing)
Paper 202-1456 BLENDING STREAMING MULTIMEDIA and COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY in advanced WEB-BASED EDUCATIOn V. Uskov* Abstract The InterLabs Research Institute (IRI) at Bradley University (BU), Peoria, IL, USA, is hosting the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) grant # 0196015 [1] on design and development of advanced online educational materials for Web-based education (WBE) in Information Technology, Computer Science and Computer Information Systems areas. This paper briefly describes main IRI’s achievements in design and development of innovative online courseware, provides details on IRI’s solutions for applications of innovative streaming multimedia and World Wide Web (Web)-based communications technology in the developed by IRI original InterLabs Web-lecturing system, and contains summaries of faculty and student feedback on applications of innovative technologies for Web-based teaching and learning.Key Words: Advanced Web-based education, streaming multimedia technology, Web-based communication technology, faculty and student feedback. 1. Introduction Bradley University (BU). Founded by Mrs. Lydia Moss Bradley in 1897, Bradley University [2] is a private, independent university offering undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs in the liberal and fine arts, the sciences, business administration, communications, education, engineering, and the health sciences. With about 330 full-time faculty, 5,000 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate students, Bradley offers excellent teaching, and the opportunities and choices of a larger university (with over 90 degree programs in 5 colleges plus a graduate school) and the quality, personal attention, and challenge of a small private college. BU has 5 colleges, specifically: 1) College of Education and Health Sciences (EHS), 2) College of Engineering and Technology (ENG), 3) College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS), 4) Foster College of Business Administration (BUS), and 5) Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts (CFP). * Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, Bradley University, Peoria, Il 61625, U.S.A.; email: uskov@bradley.edu (paper no. 202-1456) WBE at BU. Bradley University was one of first U.S. universities that, back in mid-1990s, provided their students with access to the Internet from university dorms in order to involve students into advanced technology-based education. As a continuation of this outstanding initiative, these days all Bradley students who reside on campus (about 50% of Bradley students live in dorms and additionally about 20% in fraternity houses) have access to Internet-2 from their rooms. BU is a corporate user of the BlackBoard [3] learning management system (LMS) from 2000. Tables 1 and 2 represent some available statistics on utilization of the BlackBoard LMS at BU between Fall 2000 and Fall 2003 semesters. Table 1. Number of Online Courses Taught at BU in 2000-2003 (per college and per semester)
Table 2.
WBE at BU: Fall-2002 and Spring-2003 Statistics
Based on these obvious achievements in advanced WBE, Bradley faculty continue to perform active research on applications of innovative Web-based teaching and learning that are based on advanced streaming multimedia (SMM) and Web-based communication (WBC) technologies. 2. Utilization of SMM and WBC Technologies: Comparative Analysis
100 U.S. Colleges and Universities Between September 2002 and October 2003, the IRI [4] faculty and students performed research on multimedia and communication technologies, and learning management systems that are actively used by various U.S. universities and colleges. The educational web sites with free access and/or free demo versions of online courses of the following educational institutions have been investigated and analyzed: Amherst College, Bard College, Barnard College, Bates College, Boston University, Bowdoin College, Bradley University, Brandeis University, Brown University, Bryn Mawr College, Bucknell University, California Institute Of Technology, Carleton College, Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, Claremont McKenna College, Colby College, Colgate University, College of Holy Cross, College of William and Mary, Colorado College, Colorado School of Mines, Cornell University, Columbia University, Connecticut College, Dartmouth College, Davidson College, Duke University, Emory University, Furman University, George Washington University, Georgetown University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Grinnell College, Hampshire College, Harvard University, Harvey Mudd College, Haverford College, Illinois Central College, Johns Hopkins University, Kenyon College, Lehigh University, Middlebury College, Midstate College, Mount Hollyoke College, New York University, Northwestern University, Oberlin College, Occidental College, Pennsylvania State University, Pomona College, Princeton University, Reed College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rice University, Scripps College, Smith College, St.Mary's College of Maryland, Stanford University, SUNY Binghamton University, Swarthmore College, Syracuse University, Trinity College, Trinity University, Tufts University, Tulane University, University Of California at Berkley, University Of California - Davis, University of California - Irvin, University of California - Las Angeles, University of California -San Diego, University of California - Santa Barbara, University of Chicago, University of Florida, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, University of Maryland, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, University of North Carolina, University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, University of Richmond, University of Rochester, University of Southern California, University of Texas - Dallas, University of Virginia, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Vanderbilt University, Vassar College, Wake Forest University, Washington and Lee University, Washington University in St.Louis, Wellesley College, Wesleyan University, Wheaton College, Whitman College, Williams College, Yale University, and Yeshiva University. Brief results of performed research are presented in Table 3.
Multimedia and Communication Technologies in WBE (based on analysis of publicly open educational Web sites and/or accessible Web-Based courseware of 100 U.S. institutions)
One of the most important conclusions of this research is that the state-of-the-art WBC technologies such as email, bulletin boards, IRC (chat rooms), video- and audio-conferencing are a vital part of modern WBE systems and advanced Web-based teaching and learning processes. The other important conclusion is that utilization of streaming video and audio technologies in education had a 40% growth between 1999 and 2003.
Currently (Fall 2003), the InterLabs system supports :
4. multiple modes of online content delivery (Figure 4) via a) 56K modems, b) DSL and cable modems, and c) CD ROMs; upon request, the InterLabs system can deliver: - PPT slides only; - a combination of audio and synchronized PPT slides; - a combination of audio, video and synchronized PPT slides; 5. combined mode of operation (Figure 5) as the united BlackBoard-InterLabs virtual learning environment; 6. multiple modes of learning such as a) offline (asynchronous) learning, b) online (synchronous) learning, and c) blended learning. 3.2. Technical Characteristics. A list of available tools of the InterLabs systems and their technical specifications is given below. It is necessary to mention here that all used tools are based on free shareware and are available on corresponding web sites. InterLabs Hardware Set-Up:
- Dual PIII processors (866 MHz each),- 108 GB HDD (SCSI RAID),- 1.0 GB MD RAM,- 100BaseTX network card.
- Dual PIII processors (2.4 MHz each),- 296 GB HDD (SCSI RAID),- 2.0 GB RAM,- 1000BaseTX network card.
- SONY HandyCam TRV98 (with both 8mm and digitaltechnologies),- ATI TV Wonder-VE video capture card.
- 3COM Home Connect.InterLabs Software Set-Up:
Audio/Video Conferencing and WhiteBoard Tool:
Streaming Video/Audio and Video/Audio Files:
- 250 kbps for video using MPEG4V3 (also known as ASF) codec by Microsoft Corp. with 15 frames per second, - 320 x 240 pixels of video window size, and - 16-bit color,
- 50 kbps for audio using MP3 compression at 44.1 kHz,
Figure 4. Modes of Web-based content delivery in the InterLabs system 
Figure 5. Interface of the united InterLabs-BlackBoard virtual learning environment.
The introductory CIS102 Computer Information Systems course at Bradley University may serve as an excellent example of the InterLabs-based online course. This academic course is a required course for all freshman students with major in Engineering, Business, Communication, Sciences or Education areas. It is offered every semester (Fall and Spring), and every 3-week Interim Session (January and May) at Bradley. Multiple details of CIS102 course’s 1) main topics, 2) main components (reusable learning objects), 3) evaluation forms to identify student pre-course and post-course skills, 3) detailed results of those surveys, and 4) academic performance of CIS102 online students versus CIS102 traditional students, are given in [11,12]. 2000-2003 multiple surveys of CIS102 students clearly demonstrated that CIS102 online course based on the InterLabs Web-lecturing system truly supports the student-centered paradigm of education [13,14,15,16,17]. “Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught” (Winston Churchill). The main principles of this paradigm are given below; they reflect the idea that each and every student/learner is unique, and, therefore, he or she should have a choice to select learning technologies and processes that are optimal for them. Main principles include: 1) individualism of each student, 2) personal learning technology, 3) personality and curiosity, 4) personal creativity and motivation, 5) individual past experience, 6) friendly and comfortable learning environment, 7) personal limit of perception and learning, 8) personal Limit of acceptance of information, 9) linkage of new knowledge to existing knowledge, and 10) eagerness to learn. A short summary of student feedback on CIS102 online course is given in Table 9.
A Summary of Bradley Students’ Feedback on CIS102 Bradley Academic Online Course
These conclusions motivate faculty and students of the InterLabs Research Institute at Bradley University to continue their active research on applications of SMM and WBC technologies in advanced Web-based education. AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank the Course, Curriculum and Lab Improvement (CCLI) Program of the National Science Foundation that awarded them with the NSF grant # 0196015 to perform research on innovative SMM and WBC technologies, and design and development of the innovative online courseware in Information Technology, Computer Science and Computer Information Systems areas. The authors also would like to thank Dr. Claire Etaugh, Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Jim Miller, Chair, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, Bradley University, for their permanent strong support of authors’ research activities in the advanced Web-Based Education area. References
Biographies
Directory: ATL ATL -> Rsmc miami 2007 Atlantic and eastern North Pacific Hurricane Season Summary ATL -> Atlanta Notes & Facts Sunday race ATL -> Annual Safety and Security Report ATL -> Atlanta Braves ATL -> All 2010 (verified) John Abraham ATL -> Atlantic Coast Conference 2013-2014 Annual Report Download 71.08 Kb. Share with your friends:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
