515 Streaming Live

Posted on July 4, 2008
Filed Under Ed Tech |

I’m currently teaching a class for APU in which I have three students at the Inland Empire campus and one student that is taking the course virtually through the internet. In the past I have supported online students simply by posting notes and instructional videos on my course website. We also use skype to talk at least once a week to be sure that we are on the same page. so to speak.

This past week I took a new step in the right direction as far as having my online student be able to participate in class discussions in real-time. I streamed my audio and screen over the internet using ustream.tv. I also had my online student on skype on a speaker so that he could both hear and speak to the other students in class. This worked very well other than the fact that there was about a 5-10 second delay in the stream, so he would see and hear everything later than the rest of the class. Also with a live mic in the room to pick up the discussion he would hear a delayed echo of himself over the steam whenever he would talk.

I was streaming my screen using Camtwist on my G4 iBook,which I was also using to record audio. I was using a separate Dell latitude to handle the skype connection. I noticed from using menu-meters on my iBook that my processor was pegged at 100% the entire night, and as the class went on programs started having more and more trouble. I’m wondering if the amount of delay we were experiencing in the stream was simply because my processor couldn’t keep up, or if delay is something we should get used to with streaming.

Next week I will try using the Dell to handle the skype and the stream and see if it’s better. I know that my iBook is old and slow and have a MacBook Pro on order, but until that comes through I need another solution. I’m going to try hooking a webcam to the PC and just point it at the screen in the classroom so that the online students can see what all the students see on the screen. It doesn’t seem that it will be as good as streaming the screen directly, but the best solution when using two computers.

If anyone has ideas or suggestions let me know. Or if you want to join us in class we will be streaming next from the class website on Tuesday 7-8. Just click on the “515 Live” link.

Tim

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