Social Video on TV

Video conferencing has made its way into the halls of education. We have several tools available now that are specifically designed and marketed to education. The top three vendors include Wimba, Elluminate, and Adobe Connect. All three offer features and tools specific to the needs of educators.

So why use video conferencing in an educational setting? There are several scenarios where it makes sound pedagogical sense:

• When there are students at a distance who would benefit from interacting synchronously with a teacher or classmates
• When travel is too costly or time consuming
• When there is a large, disperse audience.

So what does the future of video conferencing hold for us? I foresee a day when video calling replaces telephone calls. Office phones and cell phones will automatically incorporate a video component. Today in the U.S. you can experiment if you have two AT&T customers with Video Share (www.wireless.att.com/source/videoshareflash) capabilities and in other parts of the world video conferencing is common-place on cell phones.

There will also be systems within the home—probably television-based. The television, however, may not be what we know as a television today. It will serve more as a monitor for viewing movies, watching live broadcasts, taking classes, and playing games. I have started a company, Acadium, Inc., (www.acadium.com) that is researching the technology necessary to reach people in their homes, using their televisions and global networks.

The networks available to us are evolving everyday and I believe we’ll continue to see faster speeds and more options. These networks, whether they are supported by fiber, cell towers, or satellites will open the door to a wide range of options for education. The webcam connected to the laptop will one day sit in the hall of fame with the Commodore computer as we grab our remote, select a station, and sit down in the living with a cup of coffee to begin class.

Use the comment field to share your ideas on the future of video conferencing,