Webcasting

The Center for Rural Development has developed new ways of using video conferencing in education. One of the most recent developments is to incorporate video conferencing into web based systems. A web based system using streaming video is now reaching the education sector. Teachers and presenters can sit in their own office or in a nearby studio and present a 'live' lecture in front of a camera attached to a web server. Using a simple switching device and several cameras, the presenter can provide remote participants with graphics and other visual aids as well as alternative views of the local classroom, lecture room, etc.

These images and sound are subsequently 'web cast' - sent via the Internet to anyone who wishes to take part. Alongside the video images and sound is a MS PowerPoint presentation or other graphical sequence transmitted in a .gif file format. Synchronizing software enables the graphic images and presentation materials to reach the viewers at the same time the presenter verbally cues them.

Beneath the tutor's video images is a text messaging box where students and participants can offer comments, ask questions, and receive responses from the presenter in real time. Research has shown that remote students are more likely to participate in such a discussion when they are 'anonymous'

Video conferencing has been used within higher education for over a decade and within the world of business for a while longer. The technology enables people to see and hear each other by using a combination of computer and communication technologies. Users can communicate at a distance, share the same computer-based workspaces and visually collaborate.