Online Instruction Using a Multimedia Toolset
By
John A. Scigliano and Jacques Levin
A Paper Presented at the Florida Educational Computing Conference
Orlando, Florida
February 16, 1996
Nova Southeastern University
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
INTRODUCTION
Nova Southeastern University has been delivering online courses
to students in their homes using the UNIX environment since 1983.
The students meet in groups in real time using the Electronic
Classroom (ECR) designed specifically to be used by students
from their homes. Communication between students and teachers
has been limited to ASCII text until the advent of the
World-Wide Web and several multimedia tools that are now
making it possible for teachers in the online world to use audio,
graphics, and video in their courses. The client/server computing
paradigm has also made it possible to modularize various
aspects of the environment and share resources across the
institution and even to servers in students work or home
environments. This paper discusses several projects that the
faculty and doctoral students at Nova are developing. These
projects are part of an overall reengineering effort to
bring the online learning environment in touch with student
and faculty needs for computing and educational tools. We call
this reengineering effort the Multimedia ECR Project (MMECR).
In an effort to enhance the online learning environment, a set
of tools is being developed by the faculty and students. This
is manifested in projects that are a part of the overall
reengineering effort but also in several doctoral dissertations.
Projects will be discussed that have engaged students in classroom
experiences with multipoint graphics, video and audio using
regular phone lines from the students' homes. The design issues
surrounding these developments are also presented. The projects
are focused mainly on adding multimedia capabilities to the current
tools where possible, but for the most part, new tools are being
developed from scratch.
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The current learning environment will be described along with
the overall approach used in reengineering the tools used
in the teaching/learning process. The criteria used to manage
the projects are also presented. The objectives of this paper
are as follows:
o Provide an overview of the current online learning
environment
o Describe the current efforts at reengineering the
online learning environment
o Present a model of the reengineered environment
o To describe the client/server paradigm used in the
reengineering effort
o Describe several projects that are underway in the
reengineering effort
o Provide an overview of "next steps" in the
reengineering effort
o Describe the design issues that have surfaced
o Project the longer-term future of the online
environment.
It is important to understand the history of the online
environment at NSU to appreciate the extent to which improvements
have been made. To that effect, we provide an overview of
the early stages of its development.
OVERVIEW OF THE CURRENT ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
When the academic online environment was established at the
then Nova University in 1983, it was enough just to make a
connection through a 300 baud modem and a terminal. The IBM
PC had only been on the market about six months at that time
and computer-base learning through telecommunications was
in its infancy. Students at Nova used an 8 bit CP/M machine
called a Zorba and the MITE terminal emulation program.
The Zorba had two 5 1/4 " disk drives and 64k RAM.
The tools that we used then were basically electronic mail,
text editors and a lot of uploading and downloading of
ASCII text at 300 Bps using an acoustical coupler. We
considered all this state-of-the-art back in those days.
Gradually the environment developed with modem speed
doubling every 2-3 years and the personal computer gaining
in RAM, processor speed and disk capacity at an even greater
rate.
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During the middle to the late 1980s, Nova's academic
computing staff and its faculty mounted a design program
to create a set of tools for the online environment that
resulted in the electronic classroom (ECR) the electronic
student and teacher ES/ET (expert system for tracking
student assignments) and EL (an electronic library interface)
that enabled students to place orders for journal articles
microfiche, and computer searches through DIALOG. During
this time, we added computer conferencing software, computer
simulation programs, statistical analysis packages, and a
host of other tools to make student and faculty work online
more effective. All of the tools were still ASCII based
with no graphics or audio.
The early pace of development was slow and there were
very few shrinkwrap solutions being provided by software
vendors. The early 1990s brought the Internet and this
made it possible for the online environment to reach
out to other locations around the world, mainly to
for accessing other libraries and databases. File
transfer and electronic mail to other systems became
a reality then, and several new search tools were added
including gophers, WAIS and Archie. Still, the delivery
was based totally on plain ASCII text. As the Internet
grew in functionality, it became possible for both
students and faculty to get useful information for their
courses. Many university libraries began to put interfaces
to their library collections and gophers held more and
more relevant content.
Within the past two year the pace of technological change
has increased and with it expectations of students have grown to
have the online environment match the multimedia environment
that they have on their desktops at home. The World Wide
Web, and its vast potential for carrying educational
multimedia, has great promise for meeting the demand of
consumers for educational programming that includes graphics,
audio, video and as well as text. The early work on
the WWW involved the use of HTML with graphics files
(gif, jpeg, bmp, etc.).
In a paper that we presented at the FETC in 1995 (Scigliano,
Levin, and Horne, 1995), we described the way in which
HTML-based projects were used to empower students. The purpose
of that paper was to describe our experiences at using the
Internet and the (HTML) Hypertext Markup Language to create an
interactive teaching environment. In that paper, we presented
requirements for making the learning environment productive. The
requirements consisted of nine criteria used in the design of
an interactive teaching environment on the Internet.
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Those criteria are:
1. Preparation of instructional materials
2. Mechanism for monitoring student progress: student
projects
3. Rules and conventions that help raise the teacher's
level of awareness of student progress
4. Amount of support for learning: replication-assisted
5. Level of communication: posting class questions and
answers sent via electronic mail (e-mail)
6. Timeliness of class involvement
7. Assessment of student readiness for class
participation: posting new ideas
8. Real-time interactive class sessions: the
electronic classroom (ECR)
9. Evaluation of student assignments: the electronic
student/teacher (ES/ET)
In that paper the system we described was designed to do
several things. First, it was designed to serve as a mechanism
for improving communication between faculty and students.
Second, the system empowered students by giving them command
over the structure and content of what they present to the
outside world over the Internet. Third, the hypertext system
is designed to introduce the student to the Internet in a
focused, purposeful way, in the context of a wide range of
courses in different fields. Fourth, the system was designed
to provide a forum for sharing ideas and for synergy.
The Web-based hypertext system that we use in our classes at
NSU now enables one student's project to become a training
opportunity for other students and even for people outside
the immediate course environment. The total of all class
projects form a body of knowledge about the subject that can
serve as a national resource. The significant thing about this
is that many students for the first time get an opportunity
to take charge of their learning environment and hopefully
begin to harness a vast array of information resources and to
share these with others.
The foundation of the learning environment that we developed
rests on five pillars: the online interactive teaching
environment on a local server within NSU that serves as the
teacher/student interface, the Internet, a set of tools for
navigating and viewing, an array of existing structures such
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as gophers or Web pages, and a markup language that facilitates
user interaction with the Web.
CURRENT EFFORTS AT REENGINEERING THE ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
The focus of the previous paper was on the value of using
hypertext to navigate to information resources on the Web.
The hypertext features of HTML enable students to
link Internet information into their projects and term papers.
Term papers and student projects in this context are living
documents that are wired with hypertext buttons. We feel that
the hypertext component is necessary but not sufficient to
produce the most effective learning environment possible.
This presentation describes the ways in which the School of
Computer and Information Sciences of Nova along with the
central academic computing staff are reengineering the
client/server computing learning environment and the set of
tools that are emerging to support online instruction on
the World Wide Web. The reengineering effort involves both
the faculty and the students in projects to extend the
reach of the environment to include not only multimedia
products but to enhance the interactions that can take place
between teachers and students and between the students
themselves in an online environment.
The reengineering effort this past year has produced major
changes in the system of online education. These changes have
involved increasing the bandwidth of network access to students'
homes, providing access to all students regardless of location
through the AT&T IAS service, migrating all academic users to
SUN SPARC servers, raising disk quotas to accommodate increased
use of image files, developing a single point of entry to all
academic servers, and transforming the legacy text-based and
terminal emulation-based "green screen" tools to a multimedia,
client/server, browser-based, integrated environment.
A MODEL OF THE REENGINEERED ENVIRONMENT
With the advent of the World Wide Web, the online learning
environment has grown in capability as well as complexity.
In order to show the various interactions and the relationships
between them we've developed a model consisting of three
modes of work pitted against a progression of tools from
text to multimedia graphics, audio, and video. The modes
range from stand alone construction work, to asynchronous
interaction, to synchronous or real-time interaction.
Figure 1 displays the three modes and the various online
activities that occur within them.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 1 The Modes of the Online Learning Environment
(Adapted from the project under development by K. Cahalan)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MODE 1: Individual development (STAND ALONE)
Web page development, CGI scripts, and frames
Authoring & delivery of self-instructional materials
Offline authoring of multimedia presentations
Literature search / research
MODE 2: Non-real-time or ASYNCHRONOUS
Assignment posting & submission (with graphics support)
Monitoring and tracking student progress
Assignment and course grading
Multimedia electronic mail (MIME)
Multimedia bulletin board
Collaborative group projects (Lotus Notes)
MODE 3: Real-time or SYNCHRONOUS
Multimedia electronic classroom/conferencing
Multimedia electronic study groups
Multimedia interactive counseling/tutoring
-----------------------------------------------------------------
These modes reflect the ways in which work is done in the online
environment. The projects under development attempt to facilitate
the work by either adapting current tools, building entirely new
ones, or testing the feasibility of shrinkwrap products. Figure 2
presents another section of the model developed to highlight
the interrelationships between modes and the tool dimensions. The
individual cells contain examples of the tools themselves. The
overall collection of tools in the various cells is the MMECR
toolset and Figures 1 and 2 together form the MMECR Model.
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Figure 2. Client/Network Matrix for Reengineering the Multimedia
Toolset
|------------|-----------------|---------------|-------------------|
| NETWORK->| STAND ALONE | ASYNCHRONOUS | SYNCHRONOUS |
| | |-----------------|---------------|---------|---------|
| V CLIENT | | |pt-to-pt | multi-pt|
|============|=================|===============|===================|
| Text | text editors | ES/ET | talk |ECR text |
| | | E-mail | irc | |
| | | lynx BB | | |
|------------|-----------------|---------------|---------|---------|
| Hypertext | HTML editors | HTML |HTML form|ECR |
| | | |EL |shell |
| | | |Lynx |mode |
|------------|-----------------|---------------|---------|---------|
| | | MIME |Browsers | |
| Multimedia | | CGI (eaton) |Lotus- |white |
| | Adobe Acrobat | GUI (cahalan) |Notes |board |
| GRAPHICS | Powerpoint | and Frames |Proshare |bridged |
| | |(mtsh, pearson)|VRML | |
|------------|-----------------|---------------|---------|---------|
| Multimedia | audio tapes | Internet- |Internet | audio |
| | CD-ROM | radio & |phone | bridge |
| AUDIO | | Viewers |Realaudio|(gunter) |
|------------|-----------------|---------------|---------|---------|
| Multimedia | video tapes | Java | DTVC |Sharevisn|
| | CD-ROM | applets & | ISDN | POTS |
| VIDEO | | Viewers | townsend|(simpson)|
|------------|-----------------|---------------|---------|---------|
| | | | | |
Each of the cells will be discussed briefly in an attempt to
illustrate the range of possible solutions to the current
problems of a text-based system. For example, in the "stand alone"
column, work is generally accomplished offline using word
processors and editors, presentation systems such as Adobe
Acrobat and PowerPoint, or through CD-ROM development systems.
Work in the stand alone dimension is accomplished by both
students and teachers.
The "asynchronous" dimension is the most common form of online
work today in distance learning programs. In this network
dimension teachers and students are not working at the same
time online. This work is done in "non real-time". Generally,
the teacher constructs something online and the student will
later interact with the product of this work. Today on the
World Wide Web many opportunities exist for asynchronous
work including web pages that use a wide range of tools to
make the student experience much richer. These tools include
HTML, CGI scripts, VRML, Java scripts, and frames.
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Fewer practical examples of tools or work can be found in the
"synchronous" dimension. This is not because the tools are
any less rich, but because of the constraints imposed by
the "real-time" nature of the interaction in this dimension.
These constraints include limited bandwidth both at the
campus location and to the students' home, restricted
multimedia capabilities of the students' workstation, and
the limitations imposed by having both students and teachers
together at the same time. This involves problems in scheduling
especially because of the multiple time zones in global
distance learning programs. In addition, the demands on a
teacher are greater in the form of the time to prepare for
these activities and the time to deliver them. Several of the
projects in MMECR are working to produce products in this
dimension. One basic reason for this is because of the
limitations of the text based legacy electronic classroom that
has been used at Nova for ten years. Even the text-based
electronic classroom places demands on students and teachers
so a great deal of the design focus in MMECR is to make
the existing and new "read-time" tools easier to use in
preparing to deliver a session and easier to use while
deliverying the session. The client/server computing paradigm
was our choice to address all three of the network dimensions.
THE CLIENT/SERVER PARADIGM
We set out to develop a multimedia version of ecr (electronic
classroom) that would handle groups of students (up to 58 in the
text-based ecr). Our initial design assumption was that the
existing ecr shell could be adapted to handle multimedia.
We soon found out that this may not be the best approach for
solving such a complex problem. Just pumping up the text-based
ecr to handle graphics was itself a huge task. The objective
was not only to get the ecr software to handle graphics but also
to multipoint the classroom in the same way as the text based
system. This approach quickly hit a wall because of the limited
bandwidth available to the students' homes (POTS -- Plain Old
Telephone Service).
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The daemon that drives the text based ecr was not going
to be up to the task of handling graphics, let alone audio
or video. Another approach would be necessary.
The client/server computing paradigm was emerging at the same
time we were wrestling with the problem of leaping to multimedia.
Client/server is a way of thinking about distributing workload
among various computing resources (Bochenski, 1994; Vaskevitch,
1995; Khanna, 1995). In client/server, the user does not
make a connection in the usual "asynchronous" way that
we've been used to in the traditional online paradigm used
over the past fifteen years. In the client/server world, the
definition of what is real-time changes. Instead of having
students join a "class" in the real world four wall classroom,
in client/server computing, the student and teacher may never
be simultaneously "connected" online at the same time. When
the problem of making "connections" between students and
teachers is defined in client/server terms, a host of new
ways of doing business emerge.
The World Wide Web is an excellent example of client/server
computing (Pfaffenberger, 1995). One would never think of
"logging" into a web page and viewing it in conjunction with
another user. Some would say that this is one of the drawbacks
of the Web; the lack of interactivity. This is changing fast
with new tools such as Java. On the upside, the server that contains
the web page of interest is available around the clock and we can
access it at any time of the day or night. The "connection" is made
to the server only for the time that the file that contains the
HTML file is being transferred to be displayed on our PC screen.
Once the file is completely transferred, the connection is no
longer maintained. How can we as educators, use the
client/server model to redefine what we mean by "real-time".
In the same way that client/server computing distributes
resources across many clients and servers, the concept of
using software that is modular or available when a task
must be performed is an example that fits that paradigm.
We began to think of using a set of tools for solving
online learning problems rather than relying on one piece
of "bloatware" as we had in the early electronic classroom.
The tools could consist of small pieces of code or software
that could be physically stored on different servers rather
than in one mega utility. These small, dedicated servers
are called application servers and they fulfill a specific
expectation or task. One server is now handling the text-based
ecr for those education tasks that demand it, another server
is handling mail, another is a web server, and new servers
will be coming online to handle specific applications such
as audio conferencing and video conferencing. The toolset
approach has given us a new sense of freedom to distribute
the learning environment across many platforms and software
tools.
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THE REENGINEERING PROJECTS (MMECR)
In this section, the authors attempt to describe the ongoing
effort of a task force consisting of faculty and students
engaged in the reengineering of an online distance learning
environment. The set of projects underway include adding a
Graphical User Interface to the text-based ECR, prototyping
a multipoint videoconferening system using Plain Old
Telephone Service (POTS), designing a voice/data multipoint
enhancement for ECR using POTS and PC based servers, developing
a set of interactive multimedia CGI scripts for the online
environment, using ISDN to deliver video instruction to the
home, and several projects using graphics for instructional
uses on the World Wide Web. Each of these projects is
described briefly below.
To launch these projects, a set of requirements was developed
for the overall set of projects. These requirements are the
foundation of what has been labeled the Multimedia Electronic
Classroom Project. The design team consists of about 15
students and faculty. A list of student participants in the
design process is included in the Appendix.
The projects are attempting to solve problems that have
are reflected in the weaknesses of a text-based "green screen"
environment. This work over time will result in numerous
products that support online educational work in three
modes: synchronous, asynchronous, and stand-alone. Figure 2
displays the various elements in each of these modes. A brief
summary of the Requirements Document for the real-time component
of the MMECR project is provided in Exhibit A.
Numerous other features are being added to the MMECR
including an extensive set of controls for the student. The
student controls extend the set of features in the current
text-based ECR by adding multimedia features as well. One of
the most useful features of the current system is for the
instructor to give control of the classroom window to the
teacher. This feature will be present in the reengineered
ECR but will include multimedia features. An extensive set
of online help features for the student is also included.
To begin this section we present the criteria that have been
adopted in order to manage the set of projects in the
reengineering effort. The projects were organized using
ten criteria:
Criterion 1: Identify Resources:
We knew that one of the biggest challenges would be to identify
the necessary resources to complete an operation of this scope
in a university environment. We found that the resources were
readily available in the form of doctoral student who were
in need of challenging projects to complete the dissertation
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requirement. In the School of Computer and Information Sciences
at NSU, Ph.D. students are required to address significant
problems related to their work and tie it to their program
concentration. The high volume of work required presented both
students and professors with an exciting challenge. The successful
completion of each phase of the project would enhance the very
environment within which the students work to obtain the degree.
Criterion 2: Specify the design requirements
Using a client/server methodology, the system will be
designed with three components:
a) The client will bring to the student the sense of
learning in a Virtual Education environment,
b) The server will become the educators' forum from where
they will dispense the education to the students, right
at home,
c) the network will be the bridge which brings 'live' the
educator's knowledge to the home of the student.
Criterion 3: Match the resources to the design requirements
As we have seen, the resources are highly competent doctoral
students. These students have developed competencies into a
variety of computer science areas. Now our challenge is to match
the resources to each component that will make the overall project.
Criterion 4: Develop a Workable Framework
We knew that our next challenge was to develop an effective
framework for managing a set of complex projects of this nature.
Therefore, one of the first problems that had to be solve was
How to break a very complex project into sub-projects or
dissertations, that will become the foundation upon which the
entire reengineering effort was built, and how to keep each
dissertation in line with the overall effort. The framework
was based on numerous sessions between teachers and students
some held online and others face-to-face. In addition, a
continuing series of brainstorming sessions is underway in
the School of Computer and Information Sciences that have
set the overall vision and framework for the projects.
Several methodologies are being used that include Joint
Application Design (JAD), charrette, Nominal Group Techniques,
and sessions in the campus electronic collaboration lab.
The scope of the project involves a migration from text to
full featured online multimedia.
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Criterion 6: Analyze the Lessons of the Past
Every successful project is built upon a preliminary study
or pilot that can provide deep insight into the problems and
barriers faced in previous efforts. Michael Simpson, one of
our key researchers, had completed such a preliminary study by
investigating ten universities that are engaged in distance
learning. The results of the study showed the importance
of three dimensions:
a) management (control)
b) courseware (learner control)
c) technology (systems and networks)
We have tried to accommodate each of these dimensions in our
description of the modes of online learning and the client/ server
matrix presented in Figures 1 and 2 above.
Criterion 7: Apply Total Quality Management (TQM) to the
Reengineering Effort.
The TQM paradigm is based on teams. In order for teams
to be effective they must be focused on results that
are achievable. Each team focuses on a process that fits
into the larger enterprise model or organizational workflow.
The self-managed teams are able to accomplish far more
than if their work was constantly monitored or closely
managed. Criteria 5, 6, and 7 describe the management
approach, learning outcomes, and the sense of realism that
is necessary to make the learning environment exciting and
interesting to students.
Criterion 8: Implement a Management Approach to Projects.
The management of a complex project in a university environment
is so important that it became the focus of the first dissertation
associated with this project. The work is being completed by Dale
Perrin. The MMECR project was seen by Dale Perrin as an ideal
environment for the application of a strategy for distributed
project management. The project staff consists of faculty and
students that are geographically dispersed and currently part of
a university environment of computers and networks. Team
interaction about project activities helps project team members
to imagine ways to improve interaction with the current NSU
electronic classroom system. In the long-term, this ongoing
collaboration must foster the design, development and
implementation of a complete on-line multimedia academic
environment. Specifically, team members need procedures,
processes, and methods to determine project status, assess
performance, report progress, and implement changes. Perrin's
project provides these functions and promotes cooperation and
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empowerment among the project team members and helps intergrate
the sub-projects.
Criterion 9: Improve Learning Outcomes:
The significance of learning outcomes proved to be an essential
criterion, and became the second dissertation associated with
this project. Mark Eaton is working on a project using CGI
scripts to drive computer-assisted instruction in a Web
environment. His work is aimed at producing a product that
will assist educators with implementing tutorials that have
built-in learner control mechanisms using World Wide Web
tools. The products will include features such as text density
control, navigation features, and online advisement. The
results will be judged based on learning achievement, user
satisfaction, and user skills proficiency.
Another project aims at raising productivity through the
addition of audio to ECR. Michael Gunter is working on this tool
that is attempting to add voice to the current electronic classroom.
His constraints are again the requirement to do this over low
bandwidth lines. His effort should raise the productivity of
online work and he expects this to be an order of magnitude
improvement. The issues he is wrestling with are the bandwidth
dimension, the absence of a real-time data bridge, and effective
multimedia compression and multiplexing techniques for the diverse
platforms used by students. There are numerous implementations of
voice point-to-point connectivity, in such applications as
"internet phone" but the multipoint aspect is slow to develop
in an online environment. Michael's prototype involves setting
up a server at his home to serve as the multipoint engine and
is designed to work with many diverse client-side computers.
His system adjusts compression algorithms to the type of computer
processor and modem speed that accesses the server.
Criterion 10: Create a Sense of Reality and Excitement:
The third key factor is represented by the sense of excitement
or realism brought to the environment by the technology. The
addition of multimedia is a key factor in adding this dimension.
Michael Simpson is designing a low frame rate video system for
use in distance education. The goal of his effort is to design
a video based system for using "existing telephone lines".
Most multipoint video today uses the higher bandwidth ISDN or
switched 56 technology. His system is based upon emerging low
cost video and compression technology. Designs will be presented
for three separate facilities and interconnecting networks: a
system for the University, a student and a support system. The
support facility will be used for the generation of courseware
and the evaluation of candidate products. He is investigating
the following: the types of end-user equipment used for video,
connectivity issues, compression technology, video servers,
- 14 -
and video standards. This project will result in the design
of a low cost video based distance education system for the
University.
In an effort to instill the realism that is now only possible
through higher bandwidth connectivity, Romana Townsend is building
a prototype ISDN system that will have full motion video an
interface with the complete set of tools now under development.
Mona is wrestling with the barriers to bringing ISDN to distance
education in the way NSU does it: to the student's home. There is
a lack of availability of ISDN nationwide, a lack of
interoperability among the various products from difference
software vendors, a lack of software that emulates a classroom
environment, and the high cost of installation including monthly
connect charges. Although several universities are using ISDN
(Appalachian State University, Cal Poly, and Curtin University) but
none of these go directly to the student's home.
Another project is focused on developing a Graphics wrapper
for the text based ecr. The title of this project is Building
the Electronic Classroom Graphical User Interface and it
is being conducted by Kathy Cahalan. The goal of her
dissertation is to provide a solution to the problems that
students and teachers face in the using the text based
electronic classroom that has been used at NSU for the past
ten years. The graphical interface front-end is attempting
to overcome several of the problems that are associated with
the text-based electronic classroom. Ms. Cahalan listed
these problems as follows:
1. The use of the ECR is time-consuming, due to the slowness
of typing, the need to frequently correct typing mistakes and
spelling errors, and time used up in determining how to
produce a desired result. This results in an inefficient use
of expensive online time, which costs the student money,
decreases the time that can be spent actively learning, and
reduces satisfaction with the educational product.
2. The ECR requires the use of a long list of cryptic commands
for operation, and therefore it demands training, practice,
memorization, and/or reference to a list of commands during
use. This can increase anxiety, slow down the communication
process, and distract both teacher and student from the
subject matter.
3. Some facilities of the ECR (e.g., the DELPHI mode, a
mechanism for student feedback) are rarely used because they
are not visible features of the application. Other features
of the ECR are not used because of the sheer number of
commands, the need for practice, and the perceived risk of
using all these commands in a live classroom situation.
For example, since the teacher's version of the ECR has
more than twice as many commands as the student's version,
there is potential for the student to become disoriented
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and lock up the ECR if the teacher makes use of the
ability to yield control of the ECR to the student.
4. There are several other benefits provided by a "live"
classroom experience that the current ECR does not provide
that include the ability for the students to break out into
subgroups, use of graphics visual aids, and a sub-window
for marking the current status of the agenda.
Why the big interest in multimedia in the online environment?
Multimedia is a natural evolution of the online environment
to support the work of faculty and students in a manner similar
to what they now have available in the desktop environment
or even that is coming to their television screens through
cable. As Richey said in his book about Sun's Java language,
"People will soon tire of the static home pages of the Web,
demanding what they can get through TV and interactive
multimedia". (Ritchey, 1995, p. 56)
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Faculty and students develop research reports and term papers
using word processing and desktop publishing software,
use object-oriented tools in linking compound documents in
spreadsheets and database management systems, prepare talks
using presentation graphics programs, and with Windows, Mac
OS, or Motif complete their work with the help of a graphical
user interface that makes work easier and more consistent.
The MMECR project will bring these features to the online
world in a seamless set of tools.
NEXT STEPS IN THE REENGINEERING EFFORT
The reengineering effort is adaptable and is constantly
changing as new technologies come on the scene. The focus is
still on the World Wide Web and its networking and document
delivery features. However, with the advent of browsers
such as Netscape, Hot Java and numerous other vendor products,
we are constantly revising the scope and function of the set
of tools. The new features are potentially useful that they
cannot be ignored. For example, within the past year, Netscape
has added Adobe's Acrobat, SunMicrosystem's Java language,
and Collabra's groupware to its Netscape Navigator 2.0
version that is still in beta. This has made Netscape
Navigator a resource that cannot be ignored. The Virtual
Reality Modeling Language burst on the scene a few short
months ago and already hundreds of WWW sites are up and
running with demonstrations and examples of how this tool
can be applied to education. It can't be ignored either.
What all of this means for MMECR is that flexibility and
adaptability will be two of the key measures of its
success. Just as the vendors producing these exciting tools
find that they cannot freeze a design for very long, the
MMECR project will continue to grow and expand its horizons.
PROJECTION OF THE LONGER-TERM FUTURE FOR THE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT
New Languages:
Sun's Java is aimed at being the universal standard for the
transfer of dynamic, executable content over the Web
(Ritchey, 1995, p. 21). For the end user, Java means a
seamless integration of data, networking, and interaction. No
longer will users need to make sure that they have the right
helper file, or application for dealing with a specific
protocol.
Ritchey says that the Java environment provides the means
for distributing dynamic content through applets in hypertext
documents, platform independent stand-alone applications, and
protocol handlers. With this functionality comes the means
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to develop the future of the Internet such as intelligent
agents, interactive 3D worlds, and self-updating
software and multimedia titles.
As we indicated in our paper last year at FETC, the Internet and
the World Wide Web are growing at a rapid rate. Not only are
the number of users and Web sites increasing but the manner in
which things are done are changing in new and exciting ways. These
changes reflect not only the use of multimedia but a heightened
focus on interactive experience on the Web sites. This is made
possible by the explosive use of CGI scripts, Java Scripts, and
the concept of "frames". If we can extrapolate from the amazing
growth of multimedia and interactivity on the Web, the future
holds a great deal of promise for education. In the past year,
we've gone from getting excited about HTML editors and converters
to reaping the benefits of cutting edge developments in
browsers, viewers, and programming scripts.
The cost of access has also fallen at the same time that the
number of access points have increased. Internet providers
have made it possible for most people in the country to
gain affordable access to the Web.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
RELEVANT BOOKS ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB, HTML, AND VRML
Amdur, D. (1995, November). The Scene is Set for Multimedia
on the Web. New Media, 4(11), 42-52.
Ames, A. L., Nadeau, D. R. and Moreland, J. L. (1996).
The VRML Sourcebook. New York: John Wiley.
Andleigh, P. K., and Thakrar, K. (1996). Multimedia Systems
Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Badgett, T. and Sandler, C. (1994). Creating Multimedia on
Your PC. New York: John Wiley.
Busey, A. (1995). Secrets of the MUD Wizards. Indianapolis,
IN: Sams.net Publishing.
Chandler, D. M. (1995). Running a Perfect WEB Site.
Indianapolis, IN: Que Publishing.
December, J. and Ginsburg, M. (1995). HTML and CGI Unleashed.
Indianapolis, IN: Sams Publishing.
Fluckiger, F. (1995). Understanding Networked Multimedia:
Applications and Technology. London: Prentice-Hall.
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Hassinger, S. and Erwin, M. (1995). 60 Minute Guide to VRML.
Foster City, CA: IDG Books.
Heslop, B. and Budnick, L. (1995). HTML Publishing on the
Internet. Chapel Hill, NC: Ventana Press.
Jacobson, L. (1994). Garage Virtual Reality. Indianapolis,
IN: Sams Publishing.
Luther, A. C. (1994). Authoring Interactive Multimedia.
Boston: AP Professional.
Oliver, D., et al. (1993). Tricks of the Graphics Gurus.
Carmel, IN: Sams Publishing.
Orfali, R., Harkey, D., and Edwards, J. (1994). Essential
Client/Server Survival Guide. New York: Van Nostrand
Reinhold.
Ozer, J. (1995). Video Compression for Multimedia. Cambridge,
MA: Academic Press.
Lemay, L. (1996). Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML 3.0
in a Week (2nd Edition). Indianapolis, IN: Sams.net.
Mudry, R. J. (1995). Serving the Web. Scottsdale, AZ:
Coriolis Group.
Pesce, M. (1996). VRML: Browsing and Building Cyberspace.
Indianapolis, IN: New Riders Publishing.
Pfaffenberger, B. (1995). World Wide Web Bible. New York:
MIS Press.
Pfaffenberger, B. (1995). Netscape Navigator: Surfing the
Web and Exploring the Internet. Cambridge, MA:
Academic Press.
Person, R. (1995). Web Publishing with Word for Windows.
Indianapolis, IN: Que Publishing.
Pimentel, K. and Teixeira, K. (1995). Virtual Reality:
Through the New Looking Glass. (2nd Edition),
New York: McGraw-Hill.
Ritchey, T. (1995). Java. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders
Publishing.
Rosch, W. L. (1995). The Winn L. Rosch Multimedia Bible.
Indianapolis, IN: Sams Publishing.
Sattler, M. (1995). Internet TV with CU-See Me. Indianapolis,
IN: Sams Publishing.
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Savola, T. (1995). Using HTML. Indianapolis, IN: Que
Publishing
Smith, D., Boyd, R. and Scott, A. (1995). Virtus VRML Toolkit.
Indianapolis, IN: Hayden Books.
Stanek, W. R. and Purcell, L. (1995). Electronic Publishing
Unleashed. Indianapolis, IN: Sams Publishing.
Summitt, P. M. and Summitt, M. J. (1995). Creating Cool 3D
Web Worlds with VRML. Foster City, CA: IDG Books.
Stout, R. (1996). The World Wide Web: Complete Reference.
Berkeley, CA: Osbourne McGraw-Hill.
Taylor, D. (1995). Creating Cool Web Pages with HTML.
Foster City, CA: IDG Books.
Tittel, E., et al. (1995). Foundations of the World Wide Web:
Programming with HTML and CGI. Foster City, CA:
IDG Books.
RELEVANT BOOKS ON CLIENT/SERVER COMPUTING
Bochenski, B. (1994). Implementing Production-Quality
Client/Server Systems. New York: John Wiley.
Brodie, M. L. and Stonebraker, M. (1995). Migrating Legacy
Systems: Gateways, Interfaces and The Incremental
Approach. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann.
Khanna, R. (1995). Integrating Personal Computers in a
Distributed Client-Server Environment. Englewood Cliffs:
Prentice Hall.
Elbert, B. R. (1994). Client/server computing: architecture,
applications, and distributed systems management.
Boston: Artech House. 352 p.
Graham, I. (1995). Migrating to Object Technology. Worthingham,
England: Addison-Wesley.
Koelmel, R. L. (1995). Implementing Application Solutions in
a Client/Server Environment. New York: John Wiley.
Orfali, R., Harkey, D., and Edwards, J. (1995). The Essential
Client/Server Survival Guide. New York: Van Nostrand
Reinhold.
Vaskevitch, D. (1995). Client/Server Strategies: A Survival Guide
for Corporate Reengineers. San Mateo, CA: IDG Books
- 20 -
EXHIBIT A
REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT FOR THE REAL-TIME COMPONENT OF THE
MULTIMEDIA ECR PROJECT
PURPOSE: This document provides the basic user requirements for a
multimedia electronic classroom that is envisioned to replace
the text based ECR currently in use at NSU.
GOAL: The design goal is to replace the text based ECR with a
multimedia environment that is friendly to use by faculty
and students and accepts text, graphics, video, and sound.
REQUIRED CAPABILITIES
MMECR ENVIRONMENT:
E1. The visual display for the MMECR shall include three
sections or windows: a presentation board (whiteboard),
a student question/response window, and a classroom
status window.
E2. The whiteboard shall be used by the instructor, or student
when given control by the instructor, to display text, graphics,
video, sound and drawings. The capability is required to display
these at the same time (i.e. text and graphics) so the instructor
shall be able to segment the whiteboard for different uses when
required.
E3. The student response window shall be used by students to
enter questions or comments when given control by the instructor.
E4. The classroom status window shall maintain current status of
events in the MMECR. This shall include a list of students
currently on line and status of events student initiate while
on-line.
E5. The NSU server shall be able to support up to ten MMECRs
simultaneously.
E6. The interface for both instructor and students shall be
designed to facilitate interaction with the communications
media (e.g. icons for most often used commands, etc.).
INSTRUCTOR CONTROLS:
IC1. The instructor shall have the ability to control the
learning environment as moderator. This includes giving or
taking control from students, managing the student question
queue, and handling the on-line presentations.
IC2. The instructor shall be able to add text, graphics,
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video, and sound to the whiteboard and shall be able to
use drawing features on the whiteboard.
IC3. The instructor shall be able to prepare multimedia
presentations off-line and then be able to upload them to the
whiteboard during an on-line session.
IC4. The instructor shall be able to record the classroom
session for later play back. Appropriate executable files will
exist to allow any on-line faculty member or student the
ability to play back the session when permission is given by
the instructor.
IC5. The instructor shall have the ability to monitor student
progress during a prepared presentation. For example, when
an instructor is presenting slides, students will indicate they
are finished reviewing the display by a student event.
Through the classroom status window, the instructor will know
when to move on to the next display.