A grounds-wide Tele-Tutoring System


Table of Contents

I. Overview
II. Design Goals
III. Supported Multimedia Applications
IV. Components and Feasibility of Project
V. Summary of Project




I. Overview

Interactive multimedia technology provides the exchange of video, audio, and images in real-time over long distances and makes possible applications such as video-conferencing, tele-teaching, tele-medicine, and distributed collaboration tools. Common to these applications is that they provide the notion of tele-presence, that is, users of the applications can communicate as if they were present at the same location.

The proposed project will bring interactive multimedia technology to the UVA grounds. We propose to develop and test a scalable interactive multimedia application that enables an installation of a grounds-wide tele-tutoring system (gwTTS). gwTTS will support the simultaneous exchange of digital video, digital audio, still images, and annotation of images between groups of people in real-time, using ubiquitous desktop computers and computer networks. gwTTS is intended to support the following applications:

There is no doubt that interactive multimedia applications will have a major impact on teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Currently, the development of interactive multimedia applications is feasible with of-the-shelf hardware; however, the ability to develop and use these applications is still limited to researchers in this area. With this project, the PI attempts to convert his experience in multimedia technology into useful and usable application for the entire university. It is expected that gwTTS will find a high level of acceptance within the university community.



II. Design Goals

The design of gwTTS provides a set of desirable features. Part of the design of gwTTS is a very high degree of interoperability across different computer systems and networks, reflecting the heterogenous equipment pool at UVA. To increase the acceptance within UVA's community with different degrees of computer literacy, ease-of-use is made a central design goal of gwTTS; for example, users can launch gwTTS applications from within widely accepted browsing image of an radar array, that has been annotated by the instructor and/or the student. On the left of Figure 1 we see a control panel for adjusting the quality of the video and audio display.

  • Digital Video Broadcast of Lectures: This application enables a grounds-wide dissemination of a course lecture. The application operates similar to analog video distribution over satellite networks: Instructor and students are located in a traditional classroom setting. Trained staff operates analog audio-visual equipment for recording the lecture. The recording is sent to a gwTTS capable workstation, from where the recorded lecture can be transmitted to any gwTTS capable workstation on grounds.

  • Virtual Classroom: The Virtual Classroom application within gwTTS consists of a tele-teaching application. The instructor of a course and the students reside at different geographical locations, but interact as if they were located in an traditional classroom. Our tool will support a simultaneous exchange of multiple streams of motion video, voice, data, and graphical images. In the `tele-classroom', the instructor employs her/his desktop workstation to write on an electronic whiteboard, or display digitized images of previously digitized transparencies. Students of the Virtual Classroom sit at their desktop terminals, also at different locations, and listen and view the audio/video/image stream from the instructor.

  • Remote Study Groups: The Remote Study Group application enabling groups of student to jointly work on class project using their desktop workstations only. Students could use the remote study group feature of gwTTS to have group meetings while each student is in her/his dormitory room. The Remote Study Group application offers audio-visual communications, joint editing of files , and an electronic whiteboard. Each participant of a remote study session can receive voice and video from other participants of the session. If a participant displays an image on the monitor of his/her workstation, the image will also appear on the monitor of all other participants. Any participant in the collaboration session can annotate the displayed images with drawings and text.



    IV. Components and Feasibility of Project

    Since a complete technical description of the project is not feasible within the given constraints we focus on a brief description of the key features of gwTTS. Below is a list of the software platforms and formats that are necessary for a grounds-wide gwTTS system. Unless otherwise indicated, the software platforms are available to the PI; the PI has extensive experience with all of the software listed here:

    Operating Systems: Irix, AIX, SunOS,

    Windows NT (if equipment available),

    Apple (if equipment available).

    Graphical User Interface (GUI): X, HTML based (Mosaic, Netscape).

    Video compression: H.261, CUSeeMe, nv.

    Audio Digitization: PCM, ADPCM.

    Digital Image Format: GIF, JPEG, TIFF.

    Network Protocols: TCP/IP, UDP/IP, IP Multicast (Mbone).

    Graphical User Interface (GUI): X, HTML based (Mosaic, Netscape).

    Users of gwTTS need not be familiar with the software components that make gwTTS run. The only requirement imposed on the user is that she/he is familiar with browsing software for the World-Wide-Web such as Mosaic or Netscape. In Figure 2 we present two Mosaic-style pages from the user interfaces of gwTTS. The image on the left of Figure 2 depicts the initial screen with which users of gwTTS select one of the applications discussed in Section III. The image on the right depicts the selection screen for the Remote Study Group application. As shown in the image, a user merely must fill in a few entries if she/he wishes to participate in a Remote Study Group session.

    A crucial part of gwTTS is the ability for multicast communications, that is, communications between groups of users. Using recently developed Internet compatible communication software, gwTTS will be build on a multicast paradigm. Since not all systems on the UVA grounds include multicast capable network software, gwTTS will offer to those machines so-called reflectors, that is, systems software that can emulate a multicast communications for a limited number of workstations. The design of appropriate reflector software will be part of the project.

    Since gwTTS should achieve a very high degree of interoperability across a large set of hardware platforms, any hardware and systems software dependencies should be hidden from the user of gwTTS. This requires modifications to the system software. Currently, a key factor for an implementation of gwTTS is the availability of sufficient hardware systems and sufficient manpower to implement and evaluate gwTTS on various platforms.



    Figure 2: Access to gwTTS applications via Mosaics


    V. Summary of Project

    The grounds-wide tele-tutoring system (gwTTS) is an interoperable, scalable, and easy-to-use interactive multimedia application for the University of Virginia to support teaching both inside and outside the classroom on a grounds-wide scale. gwTTS will enhance communications not only between instructors and students; gwTTS explicitly addresses the need for communications between groups of students. Three factors make gwTTS attractive for an immediate application. First, gwTTS does note require specialized hardware but intended to run on commercially available computer equipment. Computer equipment currently in place can upgraded to become gwTTS-capable. Second, gwTTS can be launched from ubiquitous browsing tools for the World-Wide-Web, such as Mosaic and Netscape. Due to familiarity with these tools, even moderately computer-literate users will be able to run gwTTS applications. Third, gwTTS can be extended to include new applications and components of gwTTS can be modified while other applications of gwTTS are executed. Thus, gwTTS can be regarded as a long-term multimedia infrastructure solution for the UVA grounds.

    Return to gwTTS Home Page.