Since the collaborate session ended early, I popped over and caught the tail end of the NASA session by Greg Pitzer and Scott Anderson from the NASA Digital Learning Network.
From what I could gather, the session focused on the technology necessary to videoconference from remote sites. It was really cool to see the “behind the scenes” of what it takes to make programs like NEEMO and Desert RATS actually happen. I’m sure some of you reading this blog had classes participate in those events.
Some of the satellite VC systems they’ve used are: Immarsat and KU Band satellite and vsat.
They also showed the Tandberg Tactical system which was made for the military but is great for remote vc because it’s designed to be outdoors in sand and weather and anything else that could affect the equipment. Quite expensive though.
Another interesting piece of technology they showed was the NewTek TriCaster – which they said would be good for schools looking to start a local broadcasting / morning news show type program.