Chapter 4: ISDN Puts Video To Work

Distance Learning

Distance learning comes in many forms. Each takes advantage of high-speed digital connections to bring interactive combinations of voice, data, image and video to the challenge of helping people learn. Some dramatic examples of this process are unfolding rapidly throughout the northeast and the nation:

At New York City's School of Visual Arts, computer-graphics expert David Biedny recently conducted an interactive, hands-on course in Adobe Photoshop and other programs for students in the school's advanced computer graphics program.

What made the occasion significant was that Biedny taught the course from a studio 3,000 miles away in San Francisco. The dialed cross-country ISDN connections carried voice and video connections as well as interactive computer links between the two locations.

"I think the students and I were all amazed at how successful it was," said the artist. "We used ISDN lines for remote control of a Macintosh in New York using Timbuktu, and for video links carrying me to the class and the class to me." As part of the session, students took control of the Mac, and the renowned videographer critiqued their work as they presented it.

"Teleteaching offers enormous potential, but also puts enormous demands on the teacher," says Biedny. "Boring teachers can still put kids to sleep, despite being surrounded by technology. A good teacher, on the other hand, can use technology to reach students like never before. The key is bandwidth, and lots of it. ISDN is a good start."

At Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, an ISDN-linked PictureTel 4000 video system has begun to open new worlds for students and faculty alike at MIT's Center for Advanced Engineering Study.

"We use video in many, many ways," says Dr. Shaoul Ezekiel, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Director of the Center. "We use it for video exchanges with outstanding individuals from all over the world, as well as for lectures and courses given by experts in many disciplines. We also originate our own classes for other schools, participate in professional conferences, and hold joint meetings with a wide range of research groups in many other locations."

Professor Ezekiel notes that video meetings are frequently held with groups in Japan, Singapore and even China, as well as throughout Europe. The PictureTel system operates through either two B channels in a single ISDN BRI line, or six B channels in three dialed ISDN lines. Because the system adheres to the H.320 video standard, connections with virtually any other video system are possible and practical.

At New York University in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, video is only part of the school's innovative and ground-breaking 16-credit "teleprogram" in Information Technology. The program lets advanced students in systems analysis and management - all of whom have full-time jobs - participate in the course at any time of the day or night from the convenience of their own home or office. The curriculum makes heavy use of both live-action and animated video segments to add interest, as well as explain and enhance difficult conceptions.

"Too often, we think of distance learning as someone lecturing for two hours on TV," said Dr. Richard Vigilante, director of NYU's Information Technologies Institute. "But that's not the case. We do use some lectures, of course, but in our self-paced program lectures, experiments, animation and other video sequences are all on-demand - that is, they can be called up and viewed at any time, and replayed as often as needed."

The program also makes heavy use of interactive problem solving using Lotus Notes, and gives students direct interactive access to Excelerator, a powerful computer-aided software engineering (CASE) program.

"CASE gives computer engineers the same benefits that CAD (computer-aided design) offers architects," says Dr. Vigilante, "for it helps automate the analysis and design of even the most complex structures." The 128Kbps speeds of ISDN let students access the centrally stored program from their own PCs, just as if they were physically on-campus in a computer lab, he adds.

"Using a program like that through a modem would be almost impossible," Dr. Vigilante notes. "It would simply take too long to be of any use." The teleprogram uses two Dell Pentium servers equipped with Netware and DigiBoard ISDN bridges. Students use 486 or Pentium machines with SoundBlaster audio systems and DigiBoard ISDN cards that integrate both terminal adapter and NT1 equipment on a single PC circuit board.

At Beacon Learning Inc. in Boston, an ISDN-based Intel ProShare video system adds new capabilities to the firm's computer-based training solutions, says David O'Connell, director of sales and marketing. Beacon incorporates video help connections into their client's customized training, which means that anyone taking a course at a remote site can simply press a PC function key for immediate assistance. The PC automatically dials and establishes a video connection with a knowledgeable administrator who appears on-screen to offer face-to-face help and guidance.

The firm is also building customized programs of video "classroom" training through the ISDN video links. In effect, students will be able to "attend class," carry on discussions and interactively solve problems through their PCs using the ProShare desktop video connections.