Global VoicesLocal Classrooms

Video Conferencing the Easy Way

Julian Westerhout- Carleton CollegeJoachim Rennstich - Fordham University

What is Video Conferencing?

Video conferencing technology allows people at two or more locations to see and hear each other at the same time.

Early Attempts - the Picturephone

Publicly unveiled at the 1964 World’s Fair

The Jetsons:Video Conferencing of the future ?

Why Video Conference?

Bring in an outside speaker

Virtual Field Trips

Multi-School Projects

International Projects

Or?

Guest Presenters

Invite colleagues or students from other schools

Invite field experts

About 50% presentation

About 50% questions and answers

Consider inviting a larger audience

Planning is Key

Test and test againBe sure the ethernet ports are open for iChat All academic network ports “should” be, but check beforehand!Do a trial run at least a day before the event

Lights and soundGood lighting helps a lot Remind class to speak up and to face the camera

Tips for Success

Assign readings relevant to conference at least one class in advanceHave students prepare questions for conference; check at least one class in advance

Group work; collaboration Engage quieter students through breakout assignments

Have them give group input as group’s video spokesperson

Have a Plan “B”

Class needs to know what to do/where to go if connection is interrupted, etc.

Supplemental Communications

E-mail, Listserv, chat

Website assignments

In-class writing assignments

Group sessions

Available at Carleton

or...

Polycom

A Mac, Apple iChat AV and AIM

and...

A Firewire Camcorder

Apple iSight Webcam

or...

An Apple iSight Webcam

Why iChat?Essentially free, no specialized setup needed

Better standards than Polycom

H.264 vs H.263: better quality at lower bandwidth

Flexible Hardware

Can be used with most modern Macs and a wide assortment of cameras

Easy to use interface for video and audio

Multi-party video and audio chats possible

Getting Started with iChat

Can do cross-platform with AIM and Windows

Not such a great experience

Mac to Mac easiest and best experience

Fast connections better

Fast hardware better

But it will work on slower units

Get a dedicated AIM account

www.aim.com

Get a new AIM screen name

www.aim.com

Open iChat

by clicking on its Dock icon

Add your “Buddy”by clicking on the + and then

selecting New Person

Initiate a chatby clicking on the camera(or phone for audio) icon

Accept a chat invitationby clicking on Accept in the

window that pops up

Make the video full screen

You can mute/pause

iChat Enhancements

iChatUSBCam$10 software add-on that allows use of USB webcams with iChat

iGlassesTerrific $8 software add-on that allows control over video setting on iSight

Conference RecorderA $15 software add-on that allows you to record your audio chats and save them to your Mac. Best used with fast hardware.

These are all available at http://www.ecamm.com/mac/

SightSpeedhttp://www.sightspeed.com/

Multi-platform

USB, Firewire Web Cam or iSight

Free & Subscription versions

Multiple Users

Works over many firewalls

Not very smooth

Video Conference Links

iChat: http://www.apple.com/ichat

AIM: http://aim.com

Polycom: http://polycom.com

SightSpeed: http://www.sightspeed.com