Techlearning blog

Have you participated in an interactive videoconference? Traditional, "room-based" videoconferencing has involved either H.320 (ISDN) or H.323 (IP) connections to room-based equipment that generally is fixed in place after installation. Portable units on carts (like the Polycom Mobile Responder) have been available for some time, but tend to be less common in U.S. K-12 schools than fixed-room codecs.

Videoconferencing offers great potential for students and teachers to collaborate and interact with each other. In Oklahoma where I live, however, it seems most videoconference equipment in K-12 schools is used for dual-credit courses offered by community college instructors for high school students or high school language classes offered by a teacher in another district. Some school districts, like Howe Public Schools in southeastern Oklahoma, engage students in a wide variety of collaborative videoconference projects and virtual field trips, but districts like Howe tend to be the exception rather than the rule.

There are many reasons why virtual field trips and classroom collaborations via videoconferencing remain relatively rare activities in U.S. classrooms. One significant reason is high stakes testing: Many teachers as well as administrators perceive any type of project-based learning to be distracting "fluff" which distracts from the didactic test-preparation which students must engage in constantly prior to state-mandated examinations in the Spring. Politics and perceptions of school accountability requirements aside, however, another reason for low participation in collaborative videoconferencing has been the difficulty in scheduling these connections (even though H.323 connections can involve zero additional costs, unlike H.320 connections in the past) and the disruptive challenge of a teacher having to take his/her class to a separate classroom where videoconferencing equipment has been installed. Workshops like the "Jazzing Up Your Curriculum with Videoconferencing Workshop" series (which involves Texas and New York classrooms) definitely help teachers learn how to creatively and effectively integrate videoconferencing technologies into their teaching activities. The use of portable videoconference equipment and the availability of dedicated instructional technology support staff to assist with collaborative videoconferences also helps tremendously, but "traditional" H.323 videoconferencing seems to remain a technology application that most teachers do not utilize with their students on a regular basis.

The advent of desktop videoconferencing programs like iChat and Skype offer a glimpse into the future, and upgrades in wireless cell phone technologies suggest that a future is rapidly arriving where interactive videoconferencing will be easier, more flexible, and more ubiquitously available than ever before. Skype is best known as a VOIP or "voice over internet protocol" technology, which permits people to talk with each other over high speed Internet connections. Skype also permits desktop videoconferencing, however, as long as each user has a functional webcam connected to their computer. Skype even supports videoconferencing between people using different computer platforms, so Mac users can videoconference with Windows XP users. That type of cross-platform videoconferencing was only possible with iChat for Macintosh users if the Windows-user had purchased a commercial version of Trillian software (Trillian Pro.) Now that functionality is free with Skype.

Sadly some school districts are in a reactionary habit of banning any potentially disruptive technology or software program, like cell phones, iPods, or Skype. In the case of Skype, district IT personnel may be concerned about bandwidth issues, security issues (especially direct file transfers) and the educational benefit of using desktop videoconferencing software with students. The availability of relatively affordable security appliances like the Bluesocket controller can permit school district network administrators to assign different network roles and rights to teachers and students, however, permitting teachers to use Skype when logged onto the network but disallowing student use.

While these debates over network access and utilization will continue, the improvement of videoconferencing technologies also marches on. 3G (or third generation) mobile phone techologies are already permitting cell phone users in parts of Europe and east Asia to videoconference with others using their cell phones. Tandberg is one company that is already selling videoconferencing MCUs (bridges) in the European market which permit cell phone users to videoconference collaboratively with other users in traditional H.323 videoconferencing rooms. In this case, the latest generation MCU functions as a 3G gateway, so the cell phone user can conference into a traditional H.323 videoconference with others and is treated just like another "endpoint" in a multi-point videooconference connection.

This is an extremely exciting and compelling vision for videoconferencing, and the imminent upgrade of many United States cell phone networks to 3G capability means a scenario like the following will likely be possible within a year. A classroom of students in the United States connects to a videoconference MCU maintained by the school district, a regional education center, or a university affiliated with the school. The class either connects with traditional room-based videoconferencing equipment in a fixed room or on a portable cart, or if H.323 equipment is not available the teacher uses a webcam and classroom computer to connect to the bridge through a network appliance solution like Tandberg's Movi or Marratech. A U.S. college student studying abroad in Europe uses her cell phone to synchronously videoconference back to the classroom in the United States, just using the available 3G cellular network located in her area and her video-capable cell phone. The K-12 students ask questions and the college student answers them, and is able to take the students on an immediate "virtual tour" of the outdoor cafe and nearby cathedral in the city from which she is connecting / calling.

This future is not a pipe dream, it is literally around the corner. Technologies continue to advance at a blindingly fast pace, but our abilities to understand and leverage their potential to engage students and facilitate the learning process often lag behind. If you haven't tried using desktop videoconferencing software programs like iChat or Skype, give them a try! They are free, and both have security features which allow you to restrict connections only to people you specifically authorize as "buddies" who can see when you are online and request a connection to your computer.

The future of collaborative videoconferencing is brighter than ever! Our challenge as educators is to utilize these capabilities effectively to engage students in the learning process and cultivate the 21st century literacy skills the students will need to thrive in the dynamic decades ahead.