University Business - April 2006 - (Page 54)

N T I L RECENTLY, THE WORDS WEB CONFERENCing conjured U up the image of small-framed and jerky video that was akin to bad cartoon animation. Voices would speak, but there would be no movement on screen. Video would often freeze. Viewers would have to draw on stores of patience as they helplessly waited for the picture and sound to adjust to each other. During the past few years, a number of companies have improved web conferencing software, making it more of a viable option for online learning and other meetings. The proliferation of broadband has also helped push the trend, allowing senders and receivers to stream rich media right to the desktop with fewer snags. Web conferencing can refer to a simple online set up an instant messaging program that allows for group discussion or something far more sophisticated. In most cases, each participant in a web conference has a web cam to capture video, a mic to capture audio, speakers, and a software program to bundle everything together and help broadcast it on the web. New voice-over IP technologies VoIP are creating the possibility for the mic and the speakers to be housed in a computer, but many systems still use telephone technology and speakers attached to a computer to deal with the audio portion. Overall, participants can view video, see slide shows, participate in posting to an interactive whiteboard, view information on a computer desktop, share files, or answer questions through audio chat. Currently, almost half of college campuses 45 percent have some type of digital delivery system, a category that includes web conferencing, according to this year's College Technology Review, published by Market Data Retrieval. This year was the first that survey asked about such systems, which at least will give higher ed a baseline on the use of this technology. The survey at least reveals that close to 30 percent of those who have such systems allow access from on and off campus. Users at 25 percent of the campuses that have web conferencing or digital delivery can access the technology from multiple campuses. That means there are a lot of people online in higher education, doing everything from streaming lectures, to pushing rich media and video clips, to instructing students in real time with slide presentations and other text material. Web conference use has extended beyond the classroom, though. There are more administrative meetings and interviews happening online. Some colleges and universities, such as the University of Phoenix and the University of Akron, have web cast commencement ceremonies. Installing conferencing equipment was an expensive proposition only a few years ago. Costs have dropped from a minimum of $40,000 to outfit a classroom with cameras, microphones and other equip- ment, to perhaps as little as $10,000 today. Globalization Drives the Trend Web conferencing allows people in different states or different countries to meet in cyberspace. The technology is not lost of higher ed's distance education administrators. Babson College Mass. has been working with web conferencing technologies since the 1990s, says Tova Garcia Duby, operations and ePlatform manager. The technology has gotten better, she says. Previous incarnations of the technology yielded poor resolution and audio that would flip in and out. It sounded as if the speaker was in an airplane or underwater, she recalls. Often the audio was out of whack with the video. It was like watching an old Godzilla movie where the words were being spoken but the mouths weren't moving. Recent advancements in web conferencing have helped replicate a true classroom feeling online. Duby uses Ellumniate's web conferencing program to enhance distance learning. The program allows stu- 54 | February 2006 universitybusiness.com WebConf.indd 54 3/23/06 11:04:42 AM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - April 2006

Table of Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
Stats Watch
People Watch
Sense of Place
On the Hill
Viewpoint
Future Shock
Financial Aid
Admissions
COVER STORY: Averting Housing Havoc
The Art of Reputation Building
Web Conferencing: Rich Media on the Desktop
All Rights Preserved
Admissions Messages vs. Admissions Realities
Internet Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
Direct Connect
End Note

University Business - April 2006