Advanced Teaching Technologies: Brave New World

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Advanced Teaching Technologies: Brave New World

12/28/2006

By Joseph C. Panettieri

The Cisco TelePresence system will likely appeal to university presidents who seek to communicate with remote trustees. The current Cisco products are designed for small group settings, typically 12 people or fewer. By contrast, Polycom’s solution supports up to 36 people and its layout resembles a small, specialized lecture hall.

Technology Rewind: A Timeline

While multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) and 3D learning systems sound futuristic, their roots stretch back nearly 60 years.

1950s. In 1958, President Eisenhower requested funds that ultimately paved the way for ARPANet (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), the precursor to the internet.

1960s. Some pundits argue that computer-based learning was born in 1962, when a young programmer from MIT, Steve Russell, created the first computer game. Dubbed Spacewar, the game was written on a PDP-1, an early minicomputer from Digital Equipment (now part of Hewlett-Packard). Spacewar is similar to Atari’s famed Asteroids game from the 1970s, but instead of shooting asteroids, players in Spacewar took aim at each other’s space ships. The Spacewar project, which took about 200 man-hours to complete, inspired students and professors alike to examine how computers would revolutionize learning on college campuses.

1970s. In the 1970s, early computer adventure games such as Adventure (1973), Zork (1977), and MUD (Multi-User Dungeon, 1978) paved the way for MUVEs, according to the Summary of MUD History.

1980s. MUDs began to make the transition from combat-oriented games into learning systems in 1989, when a game called TinyMUD debuted on Unix systems. TinyMUD, written by Carnegie Mellon University (PA) graduate student Jim Aspnes, focused on virtual problem solving, user cooperation, and social interaction among the MUD visitors.

1990s. By the time the World Wide Web went live in 1993, universities finally had the perfect storm for online learning: Graphical user interfaces on a global web of interconnected PCs. Still, rich visual learning tools take time to get right. Many of the first true videoconferencing systems surfaced in the 1990s, but they were clunky, expensive, and built on proprietary hardware and software. Proprietary systems have since given way to industry-standard offerings.

Today... Modern standards such as voice over IP (VoIP), Gigabit Ethernet, and session initiation protocol (SIP) provide a foundation for fast, reliable, and even mobile learning solutions.

Mobile Telepresence

Meanwhile, HP has its own take on telepresence, known as Mutually-Immersive Mobile Telepresence. HP Labs is designing technology that will give professors, researchers, or administrators the sense that they are truly present in a remote place, such as a boardroom or lecture hall.

The ultimate goal, according to HP Fellow Norm Jouppi, is “to give you the ability to catch the eye of someone in the room, or even whisper an aside to them— without you having to be there at all.”

With this goal in mind, HP Labs has created what it calls a surrogate: a machine that d'es the traveling for you. This robot-like device’s mobility rivals that of a state-of-the-art wheelchair. The system carries sets of cameras and microphones that give a 360-degree audio and video view of its surroundings, while displaying your head on four flat-panel displays.

HP hasn’t disclosed if or when it will release the robot-like device. However, the company has introduced telepresence technology known as the HP Halo Collaboration Studio. HP, much like Cisco and Polycom, is initially targeting Global 2000 companies with the boardroom-like system. Early adopters include PepsiCo, Advanced Micro Devices, and Dream- Works. Longer term, HP also expects major universities to test and possibly deploy the system.

Big Potential, Big Challenges

Sales of telepresence systems are just underway now but are expected to reach $300 million by 2008, according to Gartner IT analysts.

Despite their power, telepresence systems will face their share of challenges. First, there’s the price tag. HP’s Halo Collaboration Studio can cost as much as $425,000, plus operating costs of $18,000 per month per conference room—well beyond the budgets of most universities. Polycom’s RealPresence Experience (RPX) telepresence systems cost as much as $249,000. And Cisco’s highest-end offering checks in at $299,000, plus $40,000 in deployment costs and roughly $3,000 to $3,500 in monthly maintenance costs.

Some universities aren’t intimidated by the hefty price tags and maintenance fees, however. Sources say Harvard, for one, contacted Cisco multiple times about beta testing the company’s telepresence offerings, prior to the Cisco TelePresence launch in October.

Yet, cost isn’t the only hurdle facing telepresence systems. Universities may also need to upgrade their data centers and wiring closets to make telepresence function. A typical, high-quality telepresence session requires anywhere from 2Mbps to about 10Mbps of dedicated bandwidth between locations, Cisco concedes, and some remote locations simply don’t have that type of bandwidth available yet. What’s more, universities will need a modern voice over IP (VoIP) switching infrastructure to make everything work. The final challenge involves the installation: Only about 14 Cisco partners, for instance, are trained to install telepresence solutions (although the company claims more partners are coming online rapidly).

Still, while next-generation learning systems are sometimes cost-prohibitive, it’s a safe bet that telepresence and immersive learning systems will become increasingly affordable as time moves forward. Consider, for instance, trends in the plasma TV market. Over the past two years, plasma TV prices have dropped more than 50 percent, according to multiple research firms. Ultimately, that kind of downward trend will allow telepresence to make the jump from corporate boardrooms to university campuses.

WEBEXTRA :: Harvard’s Chris Dede on technology change in education Click here.

Joseph C. Panettieri is VP of editorial content at Microcast Communications. He blogs daily at www.techiqmag.com.

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Joseph C. Panettieri, "Advanced Teaching Technologies: Brave New World," Campus Technology, 12/28/2006, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=41718

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