Last Wednesday afternoon, just before the early close for Thanksgiving, I VCed with Craig in Alaska, and Janet & Rachel in New Zealand to experiment with desktop VC.
Rachel beat me to it, with a great write up of our little experiment. I totally agree with her, that the big issue is accessibility with VC. How can we make this accessible to more students & classes?! Take a moment to read Rachel’s review!
If you’re not subscribed to the comments on my blog, then you’re missing out on this invitation from Craig in Alaska in reply to my post on The Shake Up in the VC Market:
You can have good quality VTC with a desktop/laptop computer, high quality web cam and an echo cancelling “speakerphone” today.
I don’t suggest one type of VTC equipment (computer with cam and mic) over the other (VTC appliance). I do believe there is a place for high quality PTZ cameras coupled with appliance codecs and good quality echo cancelling speakers and microphones. Groups attending a video conference merit this type of quality.
Well trained individuals can use a high quality web cam ($100,) an echo cancelling speaker/mic ($200) and their laptop ($???) with “video shim” software (ie. CamTwist or WebcamMax) to make quite a sophisticated presenter station. Couple that with a video service provider (for the bridging) and voilla, “inexpensive” high quality desktop units.
For anyone who is interested, I’ll host a video conference to demonstrate. This will be a hybrid web and H.323 video conference.
In the same conference we can/will have H.323 and desktop/laptop devices (bring your choice). I will provide the connection, bridge and URL. You bring your H.323 endpoint, or your webcam and headset. Meeting will be held the week of November 23, 2009. Lets “Negotiate a Time and Date” here: http://www.doodle.com/3pxntg7smk8rs435 😉
Rachel, we’d love to have you in too. Are these times too early?
There are people who will like the desktop/laptop solution for an individual. Some folks will want the same hardware as an inexpensive group solution. And then there are those who will value the higher cost appliance/group system with the PTZ camera(s).
Let’s get together and discuss this. 🙂
Are you following all the interesting developments in the videoconferencing market? Here’s an interesting review and analysis of the changes coming down the pike. I highly recommend that you take some time to read it. Here are a few snippets to convince you to read further:
The future of videoconferencing is the software-based codec running on general purpose (albeit high end… for now) general purpose processors connected to a low-cost, high quality HD camera via a USB 3.0 connection. The $20,000+ plastic-camera-on-the-TV-set-on-the-desert-cart dedicated videoconferencing appliance is a business model with the lifespan of an alcoholic fruit fly chain smoking unfiltered camels. The singularity approaches.
[imagine that]…all of the sudden you can purchase a fully functional standards-based HD videoconferencing end-point at every Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart in the world…..
This is great news for schools, as I’ve been looking for the H323 (standards based) desktop-ish classroom VC setup (for less than $1000) for over a year now. It really bothers me that all these 21st century classrooms are getting installed without videoconferencing! Tricked-out classrooms with no VC! It’s a travesty! But maybe with a Logitech camera and good echo cancellation mic plus great desktop h323 software it’s actually possible! We won’t have VC in every classroom or school until it is much cheaper and readily available. Purchasable by teachers with little instructional grants from various organizations, or easily acquired with existing tech funds.
So, in my opinion, bring those changes on! We need lower cost easier standards based VC to bring all the great existing VC content to more schools!
This morning I took a trip up to Van Buren ISD (which just was awarded a RUS grant – congrats!!). They are hosting the Tandberg Roadshow. (By the way you can see where the Road Show will be next here.)
The audience here is mostly tech coordinators from the surrounding districts. Many of them are expecting to get VC as part of their new RUS grant.
The program began with an introduction to VC by Doug Meyer at CILC. He gave an overview of content providers, collaborations, professional development, and of course the CILC Content Dollar Bank.
Then we headed off to the Pro Football Hall of Fame to learn about their programs and had a nice overview, plus a little history of the Detroit Lions.
Lance Ford was the next guest speaker and he told us the story of the Howell videoconference story beginning with a foreign language class. Their courses are supported by Moodle and Rosetta Stone in addition to the live videoconferencing. Fun quote: “those standards are weighing on teachers like a wet blanket on a hot August afternoon.” His examples included content providers, Mote Marine, Great Barrier Reef, as well as collaborations – book clubs with Canada, DNA experiments, connections to Norway, etc. Students creating a field trip (the KC3 program) is another major part of their programs. Lance showed a video clip of students onsite at a local museum dressed in costume teaching about the westward expansion. Lance’s superintendent asks him to have a matching dollar for every dollar the district spends. They call it “leveraging” dollars. Lance uses grants to match other grants to get even more funds for technologies.
Next we heard from Stephanie about the grant program Tandberg will help you (for free) write grants to get videoconferencing. Finally we got a tour of the truck with all the equipment. I had some good time networking with the tech coordinators as well, many of whose districts are members of our REMC. Great morning & very informative!
The saga/conversation/thinking continues…..
This morning I downloaded Mirial, a 30 day trial version, (recommended on a comment yesterday) and got excited about the possibilities of getting VC in our “21st century classrooms” around the county. We have several teachers with “tricked out classrooms” who also love VC but want it in their classroom. I haven’t tested too much yet, but so far:
I’m seriously thinking of getting a classroom to try this out for a year….
Then this afternoon, in a collaborations workshop for Tech Camp, I had a teacher who has Skype and has connected to Mexico. But she says “this is way better” pointing to our VSX7000 set up. She doesn’t have access in her building, but plans to bus the kids here to participate in VCs!!!
So there’s another perspective to compare to yesterday’s.
Bottom line as a VC coordinator for my schools, I need to be able to have a variety of solutions to meet their needs!
Today I got an email from a teacher in local school that doesn’t have VC (H323) equipment in his school. The teacher explained why he plans to use Skype instead:
I received my classroom upgrade and I have a [laptop] and [interactive whiteboard] which does allow me to utilize Skype for videoconferencing. I will likely go that route this year because there are some opportunities from sites like Skype in Schools and Skype An Author. [Tech name deleted] is so swamped in our district just trying to do tech support, it makes it hard for teachers to set up special projects that require extra hook-ups and equipment.
Now, how can I pull this teacher into doing all the programs we offer? I thought of Polycom PVX, but he has a Mac. I’ve played with XMeeting for the Mac, but I think it might be too annoying and unreliable. If I could get low cost software on that computer that is connected to the [interactive whiteboard], we could be up & running for all the other content available via H323 as well as the Skype content.
Intriguingly, a superintendent asked me for this a year ago – see my VC in every classroom post.
Videoconferencing as a way to enrich the curriculum will never be mainstream until teachers can innovate and implement easily on their own like they do with Web 2.0 tools. It has to be super easy and not require much, if any, tech support. Teachers ask, “Does it have to be formal and complicated?” It’s a good question and we have to keep working towards making it way easier.
We need something very low cost that has no peripherals and extras, no complicated and unreliable H.239, etc. and can be installed on the computer that is hooked to the interactive whiteboard. Who will make it????
What do you think? Am I off base here? Please comment!
One of the conundrums of my videoconferencing life is how to make calls work with weird dialing. Since 60% of my calls are with schools across the country (off my network with various dialing policies of their own), I run into these a lot. Please, please, please vendors, when will it work like a phone?!
Yesterday I received additional training on TMS from SKC. We spent pretty much two hours trying to figure out how to make TMS in conjunction with my Tandberg MPS 800 dial conferences on other MCUs that are off my network. Since the results are obscure and undocumented, I thought it would be helpful to share. This was tested with TMS J12.2 and the MPS J4.5.
Create a Participant Template. Enter the MCU IP as normal. In the DTMF box, enter the extension this way:
,,,numbers#
Create a Participant Template. Enter the MCU IP as normal. In the DTMF box, enter the extension this way:
,,,,,number,,number,,number,,#
(Apparently the numbers come too fast for the MGC. The commas slow it down.)
Create a Participant Template. Enter the MCU IP as normal. In the DTMF box, enter the extension this way:
,,,numbers#
This needs the alias@IP format, however you can’t enter this in the participant template. If you put the alias@IP in the IP field, it strips out the @IP.
So, instead, use the phone book to enter alias@IP.
This solution works for a Tandberg endpoint behind a Border Controller as well.
Your Turn: If you have additional tips for making MCUs dial conferences and extensions on other equipment outside your network, please comment!!
Today I’m pulling another comment out to make it a full post. This one is by Craig Mollerstuen from GCI, Alaska. Craig has been involved in VC for as long as I can remember, champions educational use in Alaska, and has served the NECC sessions with VC support for several years. He commented on my question, “what do you see as the future of VC in schools?” Here’s the full comment:
There are lots of different ways to look at this, from community, technology, equipment, pedagogy and other perspectives.
1) Community: Individuals vs. Groups
Skype isn’t optimized for groups where H.323 systems have been. One can connect a good camera (firewire camcorder) and echo canceling speaker/microphones (Phoenix Duet, etc.). But that have very low usability compared to an integrated appliance with high quality, pan/tilt/zoom cameras and good quality microphones with echo canceling built in. Group ease of use goes to the incumbents.
Individual ease of use goes to Skype (and other desktop solutions.) This is because of the H.323 protocol. It is easy to make a high quality H.323 application (for Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) but the protocol sucks. It dies across firewalls.
Individuals are also looking for low bandwidth and high quality solutions as they are often “on the move.” Such solutions typically use adaptive encoding which H.323 doesn’t (easily) support.
For groups we accept high bandwidth requirements because we want significantly higher resolution (larger rooms) and we can typically afford to put more bandwidth into a limited number of fixed locations.
2) Protocols – Standard vs. Proprietary
In general, schools would do well to use VC equipment that supports open standards. Standards eventually lead to wider adoption, greater choice and lower cost. However it takes FOREVER for standards to develop and often we can’t (or don’t want to) wait.
Because of it’s reliance on proprietary protocols, there has been many fewer devices that support Skype. And it is hard to find a Skype MCU.
3) Point-to-point vs. Multi-point
We need to be able to do both point-to-point and multi-site conferences. Solutions that are only point-to-point don’t provide sufficient flexibility for education.
Multi-point conferencing needs to be easy to use. Today’s audio conferencing is a good model, dial a number, enter a code and you’re in the conference.
4) Pedagogy – Video conferencing vs. Web conferencing.
This isn’t really pedagogy, but I’m using the term to describe the gulf between “on-line” conferencing and “video” conferencing today. We need video conferencing to support some of the really great tools that are available in “on-line”/web conferencing environments (chat, polls, forums, breakout rooms, etc.)
And “on-line” environments need to support better and higher quality audio and video, more video and audio streams and group environments.
So… What is the future of live Conferencing in education?
Long term, I can foresee technology that supports the gamut of teachers and teaching styles, learners and learning styles and content types.
Eventually we will have a conferencing protocol that will replace H.323, SIP, Skype and the rest. It will support multiple audio, text, video and content streams from each endpoint.
We’ll see conference servers that support the new protocol (and that can transcode the old protocols) and support a variety of endpoints (analog, wireless, audio, digital, video, room, desktop, appliance, etc.)
Care will have been given to the user interface, ease of use and to pedagogy. We’ll be able to have multiple PTZ cameras in the classroom, audio mics for teachers and students, content from multiple sources (computers, lab equipment, off-net, etc.) so that we don’t have to limit what we are sharing from the “classroom”. (Develop an open API so that people can develop content widgets.)
Responsible learners will be given the flexibility to choose the streams that they want to view and hear. Learners who need more direction can be given fewer choices and more structure.
And we’ll get all this in a low cost, easy to use, high bandwidth environment with good professional development.
In the near term, we need:
- open standards and protocols
- conferencing that adapts to low and high bandwidth environments
- transport that traverses the net as easily as HTTP
- professional quality equipment for content providers, appliances for theatres, classrooms and desktops and software that runs on our computers (fixed and mobile) as endpoints.
- We need academics to study and solve the technology problems
- We need practitioners to study and solve the practice problems
- We need industry to build high quality and low cost solutions
Products like Elluminate, Mirial and Vidyo are good “next steps”. There is still lots and lots of room for improvement and advancement.
Cheers, -Craig-
Last week I received a good chunk of TMS training as I try to get up & running again with scheduling our VCs. I’ve been connecting them on the fly, but 900+ a year is getting too many! Too easy to forget to dial! Now I have to rethink my policies and strategies. You can think with me! 🙂
Chris, the trainer from SKC, suggested that to increase utilization, we must train endusers to think of VC like a phone. You know how to dial your phone, and you know what to do if the call drops. If the endusers know how to dial and redial, they won’t be so afraid of it.
With that in mind, a few questions arise!
Your Turn: What do you think? How do you decide these questions?
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about Skype, and so here I’ll share some of my recent thoughts. I hope that you’ll join the thinking and discussion by commenting below!
I have used Skype for three or four years now. I use it at home to videoconference with family for holidays and special events. At work, I use Skype mainly as a chat tool to keep in touch with my videoconference colleagues – especially those at educational service agencies who have bridges. It’s so handy for troubleshooting when I’m on the phone with my school who is having trouble with a VC, and I can Skype the person hosting the VC on their bridge to brainstorm solutions. Once in a while I use Skype at work for a VC or phone conference, but very rarely.
I have 70 schools with H323 videoconferencing, and we’ve invested a lot of time in creating a support structure and a menu of content to offer our schools. Up until last year, most of my districts were still using T1s as their connection to the Internet, so bandwidth has been (and still is in some cases) very tight and carefully monitored. Several of my districts block Skype due to concerns about the health of the school network. These challenges have mostly kept Skype off the radar in our districts.
One notable exception is a district using Skype to VC with a home-bound student for some daily instruction. There may be additional uses of Skype that I am unaware of.
Just in case you’re not familiar with the difference between H323 videoconferencing and Skype videoconferencing, here’s a quick rundown:
Last week, TelBitConsulting did a review of Skype and asked if H323 videoconferencing is dead:
Well H.323 is not really dead, but, you get the idea, maybe….ah….read on.
Except in the corporate world where high definition is the thing, I believe, now, that the standards-based H.323 videoconferencing market may not reach the masses as I, many years ago, had hoped would happen.
Don’t get me wrong, videoconferencing will still be a mass market (not counting corporate, education, telemedicine where it is doing very well thank you) success, but, the new king of videoconferencing for the masses may be (already is?) the Internet-based free (or very low cost) applications using a computer (laptop, network, cell phone, or desktop) and a web cam (built in or added).
I keep wondering about the future of videoconferencing in schools. I see the value of all the content we’ve built up around H323, but I also see the barriers to schools using VC on a mass level (beyond 30%). Will a tool come along that helps more schools access VC content? Would Skype be that tool?
So next, here’s some of my thoughts on pros & cons:
I certainly plan to keep an eye on what is happening with Skype in schools. An interesting development is the OSU Internet2 team working on a Skype to H323 gateway. If regional service agencies could install a box like this to provide access to H323 content to schools with Skype, more schools could take advantage of the H323 content. I am anxious for this tool to become available to try out.
It’s hard to tell what is next for the videoconferencing world, but it seems that those of us in H323 videoconferencing should keep up on what is happening with Skype in schools as well. To that end, I’ve added a new tab to my blog to keep resources that I find about Skype. I will still spend the majority of my time on H323 videoconferencing, but I want to know what the “Skypers” are up to as well!
What do you think of Skype? Have you used it in your classroom? How would you compare it to H323 videoconferencing? What do you see as the future of VC in schools? Please comment!
