Interactive Shared Educational Environment (ISEE): Design, Architecture, and User Interface
Xiangming Mu and Gary Marchionini
School of Information and Library Science Interaction Design Laboratory, UNC-CH
[mux, march]@ils.unc.edu
Abstract
The Interactive Shared Educational Environment (ISEE) is an advanced real-time multimedia application that supports highly interactive collaboration and distance learning activities within a heterogeneous network context. The ISEE not only takes full advantage of fast LAN campus networks or Internet2 wide area networks by providing peer-to-peer multicast support, but it also can be used in the less advanced settings of home users. Media (e.g., digital video) are integrated into a desktop style interface in the ISEE. The ISEE allows users to interact with live multicasts , a shared web browser, shared video/audio with thumbnails for quick navigation, and text chat. Collaborative work is supported via a shared time line across the multiple ISEE tools. For example, each comment in the chat text panel is associated with a timestamp, which indicates at which point during the video viewing (i.e., in what context) the comment was made. Clicking that timestamp by another user will jump that user’s video player to the same timestamp. One challenge for a collaborative distance learning (CDL) system is to support a high degree of interaction between users and the video player due to the delays associated with re-buffering the video. With pre-buffering and a novel collaboration protocol, ISEE not only supports dynamic user-media interactions in real time, but also guarantees synchronization across participants. The system interface and architecture are discussed.
1. Introduction
Collaborative distance learning (CDL) applications are the result of many years of advances in computer network and computer technology. The number of Internet hosts has grown from 4 in 1969 to more than hundreds of millions today. The connection speed for the US backbone has grown from 50 kbps to several GBps [1]. Personal computers are powerful enough to easily process high quality multimedia information like real-time videos. Multimedia information (e.g. images, graphics, and videos) is widely produced and can be easily accessed through the fast growing Internet. Using multimedia, especially video, to help distance learning is the main characteristic of current CDL systems.
Collaborative distance learning is a process that allows participants (e.g. students) to join in and form a learning group to exchange comments or multimedia information (e.g. images). During the learning process, a mediator (e.g. instructor) can join and guide the learning. Or it can be a process for several students to get together to overview the previous classes (videos) and to prepare for an examination. If guided under a mediator to watch a video, this type of learning is often referred as Distributed Tutored Video Instruction (DTVI) or Tutored Video Instruction (TVI). Studies [2-5] have indicated that the DTVI or TVI students outperform students who attended the live lectures in the traditional classroom and students who watched the live streaming lecture individually, in both the situations with or without tutors (mediators). The success of DTVI or TVI is attributed to the collaboration when the students watch the video.
Collaboratively watching a video means a group of students share the same video at the same time. Physically the students can stay together or in distributed locations. The advantage of distributed collaborative learning is obvious: it increases the flexibility and scalability. Students located hundreds or thousands miles away do not have to travel a long distance to “form a group” and the number of attending students can be much more than a traditional classroom’s occupation. The system we will discuss in this paper belongs to this category.
The video being watched in CDL system can be synchronized or non-synchronized. One characteristic for synchronized video watching is the so-called “what I see is what you see”. In most synchronized CDL systems, every student in a study group shares one copy of the video clip. Student can not control the video playback (pause, restart, etc.) unless he/she gets the control token based on various rules of floor control [13]. With the token, the student can pause the video at a time and incur a discussion. All other group members’ video players are also paused at the same time due to the synchronizing token mechanism. On the contrary, Non-synchronized CDL systems allow students watching and controlling their video independently without interrupting other group members’ watching.
In addition to the video, other media or communication “channels” can also be added to build a rich, multiple dimensions collaborative learning environment. Image the following scenario:
Two UNC students, Mike in Mexico City and John in Asheville, are taking a class Multimedia Communication via distance education. Dr. Hughes, the instructor, lectures online and incorporates a variety of audiovisual materials supporting her lectures. John and Mike are required to watch a video clip: Senses and Sensitivity during the class. From their respective homes they start their CDL system and connect to the Internet. Immediately they see a live video from Dr. Hughes and they can also hear the live lecture. Dr. Hughes completes the lecture part of class and opens the discussion phase. Mike asks a question in the chat room of the CDL system:“ I am very interested in the structure of the human ear, where can I find additional information?”. Dr. Hughes sees the message from Mike in her chat room window. “I will give you a website”. After Dr. Hughes types this message in the chat room, she opens the shared browser and input the URL. Immediately, Mike’s and John’s browser are also redirected to the same URL as Dr. Hughes’. John also joins the discussion and sends a message to the chat room: “ Here is a picture about the ear structure, http://www.bioanim.com/CellTissueHumanBody3/uhoMorf1lgws.html ”. Mike sees the URL in the chat room and double clicks on it to load the picture into his browser. After a while, Mike recalls an example about antennae in the previous part of the video that is related to the current content . He drags his video slider control back to that point and plays the clip. Then Mike sends a message to the chat panel: “look at this example, how can the antenna (ear) of the mouse send the messages to their brain?” By looking at the time-stamp following by the sender’s name, Dr. Hughes realizes that Mike is talking about something early in the video. Clicking on the timestamp on the chat room text, the video player of Dr. Hughes immediately jumps back to the exact same timestamp as Mike’s. After browsing the example, Dr. Hughes says : “it works this way..” . Finally, when the class is finished, Mike, John and Dr. Hughes each save the annotations in the chat panel for later reference along with their personal notes.
In this scenario, communication components like the video player, chat panel, and shared browser are used combined to achieve an effective collaborative learning environment. Each component contains one or more communication channels: the video player provides visual and audio channels for both pre-recorded video and real-time live streaming; the chat panel enables text communication; and the browser builds a hypertext communication channel across participants.
One of the challenges for CDLs is to provide a service to enable students to interactively browse video content while maintaining a state of synchronization in order to collaborate with others. For example, a student can “pause” the video to take notes, to ask a question or just go get a cup of coffee. When the student “resumes” the video after a while, he/she can “synchronize” his/her video with other group members at will. The synchronization part of the service is achieved in most collaborative CDL and Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) systems by sharing one copy of the video playback among all the participants (students). And the collaboration is achieved via the floor control mechanism. On one hand, students will be reluctant to control (i.e. pause) the video playback if they know all the other team members’ video player will also be affected. On the other hand, some students may dominate floor control. The Interactive Shared Educational Environment (ISEE) is an advanced real-time multimedia distance learning system that allows students not only control the playback of the video without affecting others, but also can synchronize with the group at any point.
Another challenge for collaborative distance learning is how to effectively integrate multiple information channels into an efficient system. In the ISEE, a real-time video streaming channel, a shared browser channel, a pre-cached video channel, and a shared chat room channel are provided and integrated in a desktop style user interface (Fig.1). Highly interactive collaboration and distance learning activities within a heterogeneous network context are supported. Information is shared across these various information channels in the format of message objects. With the novel concept of “smart alignment”, these shared message objects allow students do “alignment” across channels. For example, double clicks on the URL presented in the shared chat room can align the shared browser and update it to the same URL.
This paper is organized as follows: first, related research for CDL systems is reviewed. Next, the user interface as well as the various visual components in ISEE are introduced. Then a list of design requirements and the system architecture are described. Finally, innovative features of ISEE are presented and results from informal testing are discussed.
2. Related Work
In terms of application domains, the current state of distance learning (CDL) applications can be grossly classified into four categories: general tools, educational tools, commercial tools, and research tools.
2.1 General Tools:
A generic video player is implemented in such tools to support direct video playback. Video clips can be downloaded via the network or distributed through CD, or DVD. A number of such tools are available. Representative products include Microsoft Windows Media Player (www.microsoft.com), RealOne Player from RealNetworks(www.real.com), and Quicktime from Apple Computer Inc. (www.apple.com). The main advantage of these tools is that they are easy to use and provide control over basic functions such as pause, play, stop, and jumping backwards or forwards. The disadvantage for such applications under the CDL context is there is no support for communication and collaboration, for example, no video conferencing, chat, shared browsing or shared whiteboard are implemented in these generic tools.
2.2 Educational Tools:
There are many production-level systems for using video in distance education. Notably, Stanford-online (http://stanford-online.edu) [6] provides online access to pre-recorded video of live courses. This technology is often referred to as on-demand streaming. Using this tool, the content of the video can be played by distance students via Internet connection. A synchronized slide displayer is also provided. Slides or screenshots of the scripts on the blackboard are synchronously displayed with the class video. Choice of video qualities is available for different network connection speeds. Other services such as digiscript (http://library.digiscript.com/) provide similar services for conferences and professional meetings. The advantages for such tools are ease of use ( no extra installation except a network connection), choice of connection speeds, and multiple information channels (visual, audio, and images). The disadvantage is problems for scalability (the total bandwidth on the server is limited), long delays for each reposition of the video playback (it takes time to re-buffer), and no collaboration services (real-time chat-room, shared browser, or shared whiteboard) are supported.
2.3 Commercial Tools:
There are many commercial tools in the market that can be used for the purpose of CDL [7-8]. In terms of the media transmission technology, these tools can be roughly classified into two sub-categories: one that only supports one-way steaming, the other that supports two-way or multiple way communication.
Representative products for one-way streaming includes RealONE Player (www.real.com), QuickTime (www.apple.com), Microsoft Media Player, Netshow and Vxtreme (www.microsoft.com). In the context of CDL, the one-way steaming can be utilized to broadcast either real-time lectures, or on-demand video streaming. The advantages for this kind of tools are their scalability and flexibility. A great number of users can receive the streaming lecture simultaneously with no restriction on the connection number. The disadvantages are no supports for two-way communication, and no collaboration among group members.
On the market, there are various video conferencing and Internet meeting software, including: Intel video Phone(www.intel.com), White Pine’s CU-SEEME(www.cuseeme.com),Meeting Point, and Microsoft’s NetMeeting (www.microsoft.com) which supports real-time two-way or multiple way communication. As they are not specifically designed for CDL, the majority of the tools in this sub-category do not provide specific supports for collaboration and information sharing across students. For example, functions like integration of multiple information channels are not supported in most systems. Furthermore, scalability and adaptability are two main challenges. Limitations include: how to choose a videoconference system to adapt to various network connection speeds to support a large number of students to join in from distributed locations; how to allow students take full control of their video player, as well as synchronizing with other students and allowing students to save the logs or annotations for later use.
2.4 Research Tools:
A number of tools or prototypes are available as part of larger research and development efforts. Some of the tools are MBONE tools such as vi (www-nrg.ee.lb1.gov/vic) and wb (www-nrg.ee.lb1.gov/wb), IRI [9] ,IRI-h[10], and virtual classroom systems [11]. Multicast is widely used in the design of the research tools. Multicast dramatically reduces the bandwidth consumption in the Internet, especially for high quality real time applications like the multimedia distance learning systems. Compared with multiple Unicast transmissions, the network latencies can also be highly reduced by adopting Multicast. The disadvantage for research tools is that more works are needed to make the tools and prototype more robust , more stable, and more usable.
2.5 Interactive Shared Educational Environment (ISEE)
Although we can find various advantages in the applications discussed above and each of them offer a solution toward distance learning with video, the following functions are rarely covered, let alone integrated:
1. Provide students a system that supports multiple views of the video in the CDL context; allow students to preview the video or related annotation before a CDL class; allow students to view the video and make annotations in real-time; and allow students to overview videos and make annotations on videos from previous CDL classes.