Practical Guidelines for Teaching with Videoconferencing
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The technology of video conferencing has advanced rapidly in recent years. Picture and sound quality of large room-based systems are reasonable and the costs of installing and running them have dropped so that they are now becoming a realistic option for institutions teaching or planning to teach across more than one site.
Introduction
The growth of network technology and in particular the Internet has led to a greater awareness of the potential of conferencing systems for teaching, collaborative work, assessment and student support. Video conferencing is one example of a synchronous conferencing system, that is one that takes place in real time between individuals or groups who are usually separated geographically. Asynchronous conferencing systems, such as bulletin boards, do not require participants to be connected at the same time.
Video conferencing systems can be broadly grouped into three categories:
- room based or ‘studio’ systems designed for use by from perhaps five participants up to a lecture theatre or even a large conference
- roll about systems, designed to enable the system to be portable. Typically these systems are designed for small group use
- desktop based systems designed for individual or small group use