Shared teaching with multimedia-enhanced video-conferencing

Abstract

Video-conferencing was used to share a short series of lectures between several universities. A high bandwidth network (155Mbit/s) permitted near broadcast TV quality video to be combined with fully mixed, high-quality audio. The lectures were supported by visual aids made available using Microsoft NetMeeting to provide multipoint, shared applications. NetMeeting is shown to be a stable and effective platform for distributing multimedia material at a much higher resolution than is possible using the video signals common in most video-conference lectures, although care must be taken when constructing animated material.