Elearning - February/March 2008 - (Page 32) nextgenerationwebconferencing through the Internet and engage the individual student. You have to arm instructors with multiple high-energy approaches. If a technique works in a traditional classroom, it will work in a virtual classroom — you just have to figure out how to do it.” Gartland contends that Web conferencing as a teaching tool is a radically different experience for the instructor. “Companies radically underestimate what has to be done to get a traditional classroom instructor to be successful. Radio personalities know you can’t have any dead air. Instructors have to be specifically trained for the studio environment. They must know how to use the technology.” BETTER VIDEO High-definition (HD) video is taking the television world by storm. Better video will also increase the popularity of Web conferencing. However, analysts believe that mid-market organizations will not soon have the financial wherewithal to purchase expensive boardroom video conferencing systems. They still seek an affordable, multipurpose solution that allows individuals outside of their network to interact on a more personal level, share PC desktop materials, and efficiently conduct hands-on training. Another possibility is archiving a Web conference, which is not often done today. “You need both the real-time connection and non-real-time connection,” Lambert asserts. “By recording a Web conference, you also have the ability to produce asynchronous collaboration and to able to mark it up and reuse parts of it. The future is a platform for building a knowledge network and a community within an organization.” MOBILE TECHNOLOGY As in the example cited in the first paragraph of this article, Web conferencing holds the promise of becoming more mobile. “More mobile platforms are getting stronger Internet access — beyond phones, ultra-mobile PCs and other mobile Internet devices,” says Oovoo’s Schwartz. “I foresee a smaller version of what laptops are today, which people will travel with. There is clear indication from vendors even this year you will be able to receive pretty amazing quality.” iLinc’s Gartland concurs. “Web conferencing through mobile devices is a possibility in the future. Today, even iPhone screens aren’t big enough to make it much more than a cool gimmick. But why couldn’t a phone have the capability to project an image eight inches away onto a wall? That’s exciting to me. So I think mobile technology will be another explosion in Web conferencing space. If that ever happens, people will be able to learn anytime, anywhere.” ‘There’s an exciting convergence in some of the Web 2.0 applications with Web conferencing.’ —A.G. Lambert, Saba “We’ve dramatically increased the quality of free video over the Web,” says iLinc’s Gartland. “We’ve done some mock-ups of increased clarity of image and with the 16by-9 image ratio on Web conferencing software. More bandwidth is becoming available every day, and the technology to compress the data is taking up less bandwidth. I’m eagerly awaiting the day that high-definition video becomes available.” Adds Philippe Schwartz, CEO of Oovoo: “Video today is very good, even with a simple Webcam. But this whole area is evolving toward more and better quality. The hardware and Internet lines are getting better, plus more high-quality video is being integrated into laptops and personal computers. There’s a very bright future for e-learning-enabled communication.” ADDING WEB 2.0 Combining Web conferencing with the 32 February/March 2008 Elearning! advantages of Web 2.0 systems is also on the near horizon. “There’s an exciting convergence in some of the Web 2.0 applications with Web conferencing to enrich knowledge within organizations,” says Saba’s Lambert. “It is capable of becoming a way to connect people — not just for Web conferencing — and to build networks of knowledge and relationships.” Not only is hosting Internet conferencing application becoming less costly, but so also are the cost of standard PC servers and widely available high-speed Internet connectivity. Delivering CPU-intensive applications such as high-quality desktop sharing, multi-party voice and video conferencing is already available to most every organization, and at all levels. There has already been a notable movement away from managed services to self-hosted applications.
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