Collaborative Technologies in International Distance Education

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Collaborative Technologies in International
Distance Education
UW Center for Collaborative Technologies

• Richard Anderson, Ruth Anderson, Natalie Linnell,
  Fred Videon
• Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
  University of Washington, Seattle, USA
• anderson, rea, linnell, fred_at_cs.washington.edu
• Mansoor Pervaiz, Umar Saif
• Department of Computer Science, Lahore University
  of Management Science, Lahore, Pakistan
• umar, mpervaiz_at_lums.edu.pk

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Outline

• Project Overview Goals Challenges
• Technology Employed
• ConferenceXP
• Classroom Presenter
• Findings and Lessons Learned

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Seattle Pakistan, Spring 2008

• Masters Level Computer Science Class
• University of Washington
• Lahore University of Management Science
• Microsoft
• Class Topic
• Computing for the Developing world

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The Goal

• Achieve an interactive class
• across distance and culture

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Challenges/Benefits

• Challenges
• Network bandwidth and latency to LUMS
• Important not to degrade experience for UW
  Microsoft students
• Time zone
• Benefits
• Engaged faculty member present at LUMS
• International perspective of high value

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ConferenceXP

• Platform for real-time collaboration
• High quality, low latency multipoint conferencing
  
• Targeted for standard PC and high quality network
• Works with commodity cameras and audio equipment
• Built-in collaboration tools including
  presentation, whiteboard , screen sharing, video
  playback, chat

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Overview of ConferenceXP

• Began at Microsoft Research in 2001
• Numerous successful deployments for distance
  learning, 2003-present
• UW Center for Collaborative Technology
  established July 2007 to continue project
• Shared Source License
• Free download for Research Educational use

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Classroom Presenter

• TabletPC-Based Distributed Presentation System
• Instructor navigation and annotation on local and
  remote displays
• Open Source License
• Students contributed to class using digital ink
• Students installed software on their
  laptops/tablets
• Instructor reviewed/displayed/annotated/discussed
  student work
• Promotes active learning

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Student Submissions Workflow 1
Students
Instructor
Public Display
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Student Submissions Workflow 2
Students
Instructor
Public Display
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Student Submissions Workflow 3
Students
Instructor
Public Display
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Student Submissions Workflow 4
Students
Instructor
Public Display
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Distributed Classroom 2 Sites
ConferenceXP
Video cameras
Video cameras
PMP VENUE
Audio
Audio
Video Displays
Video Displays
Speakers
Speakers
UW
Microsoft
Archiver
Student Tablets
Student Tablets
CP Instructor
CP Display
CP Display
Classroom Presenter
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3-Way Architecture
Microsoft
LUMS
CP
CP
High BW Venue
Low BW Venue
Archiver
UW
CP Server
CP
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Classroom Activities
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Project Results

• High connectivity 9 out of 10 classes
• One lecture originated from Pakistan
• Only failure was on the UW-Microsoft Link (which
  also brought down UW-Pakistan)
• Some early audio issues
• Participation of students from Pakistan
• Student activities were a positive factor
• Audio latency a negative factor
• Multiple rounds of audio communication

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Key Lessons for Deployment

• Participants at all sites must have incentive
• Instructor must make an effort to create
  multisite interaction
• Active participants at remote site help
• Audio is very important, and hardest to get right
• Time zones and scheduling are major issues

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Acknowledgements

• Major support provided by Microsoft Research
  External Research and Programs
• Jay Beavers, Jane Prey, Randy Hinrichs, Chris
  Moffatt, Jaime Puente, Lolan Song, Sailesh
  Chutanai, Tom Healy Jason Van Eaton, Tony Hey,
  Harry Shum, Paul Oka, Steve Wolfman, Ken
  Yasuhara, Ruth Anderson, Craig Prince, Valentin
  Razmov, Natalie Linnell, Krista Davis, Jonathon
  Su, Sara Su, Peter Davis, Tammy VanDeGrift, Joe
  Tront, Alon Halevy, Gaetano Borriello, Ed
  Lazowska, Hal Perkins, Susan Eggers, David
  Notkin, Andrew Whitaker, Richard Anderson, Rod
  Prieto, Oliver Chung, Crystal Hoyer, Beth Simon,
  Joe Tront, Eitan Feinberg, Julia Schwarz, Jim
  Fridley, Tom Hinkley, Ning Li, Jing Li, Luo Jie,
  Jiangfeng Chen, Melody Kadenko, Julie Svendsen,
  Shannon Gilmore, Umar Saif, Mansoor Pervaiz, Jim
  Vanides

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Resources Contacts
Richard Anderson, Ruth Anderson, Natalie Linnell,
Fred Videon Department of Computer Science and
Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle,
USA anderson, rea, linnell, fred_at_cs.washington.e
du Mansoor Pervaiz, Umar Saif Department of
Computer Science, Lahore University of Management
Science, Lahore, Pakistan umar,
mpervaiz_at_lums.edu.pk
UW Center for Collaborative Technologies
cct_at_cs.washington.edu, http//cct.cs.washington.ed
u