Virtually perfect: universities are finding new ways to capture, store, and retrieve content for their online courses.

When it comes to engaging presentation of course material and the like, U.S. colleges and universities are fast deploying classroom and Lecture hall technologies and products to keep up with their brick-and-mortar competition. But meeting the challenge of presentation in distance education has been more daunting for most traditional institutions of higher ed. That is, until now.

Genius at Georgia Tech

If presentation systems could earn tenure, Big Bertha would have Lifetime employment at Georgia Institute of Technology's Hotel and Conference Center, an integral part of Atlanta's remarkable Technology Square. Big Bertha is the nickname for Georgia Tech's mobile production studio for distance learning, and at first glance, you'd have to wonder at it being tagged "Big." During transportation, Bertha is nothing more than a big rolling suitcase about 6 feet long and a few feet high. But when opened and set up for operation in a classroom or Lecture hall, Bertha spans 40 square feet of floor space and allows the college to capture and prepare video content for use on the Web, a videotape, CD-ROM, and more.

"In terms of its capabilities, it's much like a television news van," says Christopher Hamlin, technical project director for Academic Research Technologies at Georgia Tech.

Still, though Bertha is impressive, she doesn't have the stage to herself. Across the country, universities Large and small are finding new ways to capture, store, present, and replay information via their respective distance education networks. All it takes is the right mix of equipment--cameras, video-capture cards, network pipelines, servers, digital displays, projection systems, whiteboards, and the like. Now, that may sound Like an intimidating List of requirements, but with the right IT team in place and a little research, it's possible to build video presentation systems that keep distance education students coming back for more.

Worth the Investment?

There's no way around the numbers: Deploying distance Learning systems and their associated presentation systems can cost from $:100,000 to more than $400,000 per class room. But advocates say that's money very well spent. After all, brick-and-mortar universities are now under intense pressure to keep pace with the publicly held companies that promote online degree programs to working adults, and the gold ring is spelled R-E-V-E-N-U-E. In fact, as this story goes to press, the 12 leading distance-learning companies--including Career Education Corp. (www.careered.com), Corinthian College (www.cci.edu), Strayer University (www.strayer.edu), Sylvan Learning (www.sylvanlearning.com), and University of Phoenix Online (www.universityofphoenix.com)--remain Walt Street darlings, boasting a combined market value of $40 billion, according to The Motley Foot (fool.com), a popular Web site for individual investors. In its quarter ended Feb. 29, University of Phoenix Online's revenues surged to $184 million, a 57 percent jump from the corresponding quarter Last year. And over the past 18 months, according to the same Web site, shares in publicly held education companies have delivered a 150 percent aggregate return to shareholders.

Acutely aware of the competition, traditional colleges and universities are complementing their existing classrooms with high-tech presentation and content-gathering systems--like Georgia Tech's Bertha. When rolled into a room, Bertha can be networked to control equipment Like projectors, matrix routers, and four PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) cameras. A single-mode fiber connection sends the content from Bertha to Georgia Tech's Master Control Room, where it can be distributed by any number of methods--such as VHS tape, digital video, CD, or the campus cable system. But that's not all: Hardware from VBrick Systems (www.vbrick.com) can store or stream Bertha's content as MPEG audio and video across Georgia Tech's private network or the Internet. There's a lot of technology tied to Bertha, but there's a lot of expertise behind the rolling "suitcase," too.

Importantly, Bertha has a dedicated operator, says Georgia Tech's Hamlin, and the decision to fund such a position may be key to Bertha's success. "Our distance Learning staff prefers to allow the instructors to focus on what they do best. The distance Learning staff will focus on all the technology behind the scenes."

Getting Started

For most universities, the first distance-learning challenge is capturing images, class lectures, and other types of content for Live transmission or replay over the Web. This often involves carefully selected PTZ digital cameras. Such cameras have pan-and-tilt motors that allow the Lens to follow moving objects Like a Lecturing professor working at a whiteboard. And though the technology is impressive, connecting PTZ cameras to a distance learning network is a snap. The latest cameras include built-in PC or network connectivity, and some higher-end models offer 802.11b and 802.11g wireless connectivity. Higher-quality PTZ cameras capture and transmit about 30 image-frames per second, cost about $1,500, and are available from mainstream companies such as Canon (www.canon.com) and Sony (www.sony.com), and niche technology firms such as Axis Communications AB of Sweden (www.axis.com/se).

Indeed, more than 100 U.S. schools and universities use Axis cameras for video surveillance and distance education. The cameras have built-in Web servers, and compression chips and operating systems, which allow them to send real-time images over the Internet. Distance education students or security officials with the proper passwords can access the video feeds using a standard Web browser.

Georgia Tech, by contrast, uses Sony EVI D100 PTZ cameras and Vortex (www.vortex.com) mixers in 21 digital classrooms. According to Hamlin, the cameras feed video signals to Dell Inc. Optiplex GX-270 PCs (www.dell.com) equipped with ViewCast Corp.'s Osprey 230 video-capture cards (www.viewcast.com). The content moves through Georgia Tech's network to a Sun Microsystems (www.sun.com) enterprise server running RealNetworks Inc.'s Helix Universal Server (www.realnetworks.com)--a software platform for managing and delivering digital content.

The situation is similar at New York Institute of Technology's New York College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYCOM). The medical school's classrooms feature Sony and Canon PTZ cameras that monitor all lectures, according to Chellappa Kumar, director of NYCOM's New Technologies Initiative. As is the case at Georgia Tech, the cameras are Linked to Dell PCs featuring Osprey video-capture cards. But in a slightly different twist, scan converters from Extron Electronics Inc. (www.extron.com) provide "PC-to-TV" capabilities, allowing students and NYCOM partners to view the content on TV-oriented videoconferencing systems.

In addition to Extron, scan converters are widely available from such companies as AITech (www.aitech.com), FOCUS Enhancements (www.focusinfo.com), Sony, and NEC (www.nec.com). Low-end scan converters cost about $100 but often aren't ideal for distance education systems. That's because they support only 640x480 picture resolution and often lack antiflicker filters, notes a spokesperson for Communications Specialties Inc. (www.commspecial.com), a NY-based computer video specialist. Without the filters, picture quality can suffer.

By contrast, midrange scan converters (about $500 to $700) push resolutions up to 1024x768 and offer 24-bit color processing, so the converted image (that is, the final image displayed on a TV) will retain the richness of the original image. High-end scan converters ($2,000 or more) Lift resolutions to 1600x1280 and offer additional features to enhance picture and sound quality, notes a Communications Specialties spokesperson.

Getting Around Roadblocks

Sexy technology notwithstanding, pushing video feeds out to remote classrooms or home computers makes some university IT managers mighty nervous. After all, early distance Learning systems suffered from bandwidth bottlenecks that caused grainy video, fuzzy audio, and plenty of student frustration.

But the times certainly are changing. Roughly 45 percent of U.S. households with an Internet connection now have broadband (cable modern or DSL) service, according to Nielsen//NetRatings of New York. The research firm expects more than 50 percent of home Internet users to adopt broadband by June 2004. At the same time, most universities have upgraded from 10Mbps (megabits-per-second) and 100Mbps Ethernet to switched Ethernet and gigabit Ethernet. The move to these faster networking technologies is akin to widening a highway: Magically, traffic bottlenecks disappear.

Of course, addressing network bottlenecks is only half the challenge. In many cases, universities want to store classroom Lectures in digital format for future review. NYCOM, for one, stores its streamed video on several Dell PowerEdge servers. Each server has 90 gigabytes (GB) of storage and a mirrored Fast Wide SCSI (small computer system interface) RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) configuration. SCSI ('skuzzy") is a popular means for interconnecting computer peripherals, and RAID is a solid, proven approach for building highly reliable, low-cost storage systems.

NYCOM students can retrieve video from the Dell servers and watch the content from any Internet-enabled computer. "During semester breaks," says Kumar, "we get hits [i.e., online visits] from all over the U.S. because students want to study course Lectures from the comfort of home. It's like having an academic version of TiVO," says the technology director. "They can fast-forward or replay dips in an instant. Now our female students consider pregnancy an option during their class years, since they can watch the lectures from anywhere." Faculty members also benefit by watching their own lectures and adjusting their teaching styles to more effectively engage students.

A codec (short for compressors/decompressors) can also play a key role in a distance learning presentation system. Consider a typical distance learning scenario involving a primary campus (say, in New York) and a distant branch campus (for this example, located in Florida). At the New York campus, networked PTZ cameras and microphones capture audio and video in a classroom or lecture hall. Next, a codec compresses the data for transmission over a private network or the Internet to the Florida campus, which has a digital classroom for remote students. At the Florida location, a second codec would be required to decompress the data so that remote students can view and hear the lecture in real time.

Linking It All Together

Southeast Community College (KY) is taking a slightly different approach to distance education. The college serves 4,200 students across five campuses spread out over 110 miles. Southeast currently has eight Internet TV (ITV) classrooms that offer H.320 and H.323 videoconferencing capabilities, says Charley Simpson, director of Technology and Telecommunications. H.320 is a standard for videoconferencing over ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)--an up-and-coming broadband technology of the 1990s that never gained critical mass but still enjoys niche support, especially at universities that pioneered distance learning. By contrast, H.323 is a standard for videoconferencing over IP (Internet protocol) networks, including intranets, extranets, and the public Internet.

Specialized network hardware from VBrick Systems allows Southeast to distribute classroom video in a closed-circuit TV format between the ITV classrooms and Lab PCs. A network attached storage system (SAN) from Maxtor Corp. (www.maxtor.com) allows the university to archive the content. And e-learning software from WebCT (www.webct.com) and Cyber Learning Labs (www.cllinc.com) permits Southeast Community to deliver video and other types of content over the Web to remote students. (Cyber Learning Labs is the maker of ANGEL, short for "A New Global Environment for Learning.")

Southeast Community's online learning systems are in constant use. "The eight ITV classrooms operate from 7:45 a.m. until 10 p.m.," boasts Simpson. "In addition, we provide Web-based classes and what we call Web-enhanced classes. We also provide a significant amount of noncredit training programs via distance learning. An example is in the Economic Development department, where we received the programming via ITV from another organization. We then delivered it to cable, our LAN, and the Internet."

Next up are distance ed projects with neighboring schools, and Southeast Community College is a prime example here, as it is part of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System for broadband communications.

"We are currently exploring methodologies for providing additional streaming content between our institutions in a comprehensive manner," says Simpson. "A new statewide network with additional bandwidth scheduled to roll out this spring will provide the base infrastructure."

The community college also has worked with such regional partners as The Center for Rural Development, Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp., and the University of Kentucky to provide a program called the Kentucky Entrepreneur Accelerator Network (KEAN). Simply put, KEAN is a Web-based portal for entrepreneurs.

"We'll use VBrick MPEG 4 technology to deliver live and archived entrepreneur training," says Simpson. "And we'll use ITV technology to create statewide access to content before streaming it. This is going to be a big one."

In fact, plenty of universities are building their videoconferencing and distance education platforms on VBrick's technology. Founded in 1997, VBrick's first product was an encoder that took analog video, compressed it, and streamed it over the Internet, according to Pat Cassella, senior director of Product Management. More recently, the company has expanded its product line to support video streaming between classrooms, dorm rooms, and desktop PCs. The company's latest flagship product, EtherneTV, allows universities to offer subscription-based services to dorm rooms over Ethernet networks.

Smart Projectors Weigh In

Distance ed administrators and instructors at Miami-Dade Community College (FL) are proud of delivering picture-perfect presentations to remote students, and the school has put a great deal of money and effort behind that initiative. Last year, MDCC opened the Emerging Technologies Center of the Americas (ETCOTA), a 40,O00-square-foot facility linked by fiber optical cable with 19 fully networked classrooms.

The classrooms feature Sony's VPL-FX50 SuperSmart projectors. The projectors, which include built-in network connections, can fetch content from the Internet, local servers, or the college's video Libraries. For distance Learning, Sony's EVI-D100 robotic video cameras capture and record lectures on video tape recorders, permitting remote students to view classroom discussions on the Web. Digital Video Systems (www.dvsystems.com), a Miami-based integrator specializing in audio/video systems, helped to design the system. The Sony projectors feature full IP (Internet protocol) addressability. This allows the college to monitor each unit remotely and minimizes system downtime. For instance, network administrators can check a projector's bulb life status remotely, which minimizes the risk of an unexpected failure. The projectors also support Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Sony's PJNet management software. As a result, projectors can be programmed at a specific time to cool down or warm up for the next Lecture. Using the Sony software, IT managers can monitor up to 255 projectors at once.

Not surprisingly, ETCOTA is making its mark as one of the world's premier technology centers. According to Jonathan Sussman, the center's director of Industry Relations, "Institutions and academics from around the country and world, including China, Italy, and Spain, have come here to observe our architectural design, sophisticated technology, and curricular standards so that they can emulate the fully integrated approach to learning."

Sounds like the makings of a perfect presentation.

Five Steps to Success

Looking to improve or launch distance ed presentation? Heed these tips.

Emulate the best. Attend open houses at other local colleges. Be sure to quiz faculty and staff about their recent projects involving presentation systems for online learning.

Outsource to experts. Major integrators serving the education sector such as Digital Video Systems of Miami (www.dvsystems.com), can answer your most pressing questions about presentation systems.

Think small. Many universities try to stretch their IT dollars across far too many digital classrooms and presentation systems. Instead, focus on a few classrooms, and equip them with hardware and software that will stand the test of time.

Poll your customers. Distance learning students are a prime source for regular feedback. Use online polls and e-mail surveys to quickly determine what's right--and what's wrong--with your presentation systems.

Stick with standards. Dozens of companies in the presentation market rely on proprietary hardware and software. If the companies go under, you're left with technology that few people know how to service. Avoid that trap and standardize on established product lines, such as Intel servers running Windows or Linux.--JP

Technology Primer

A quick look at key technologies used in distance learning presentation systems.

H.320: A technology standard for videoconferencing over ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), a broadband technology that telecom companies promoted heavily in the early 1990s.

H.323: A technology standard for videoconferencing over IP (Internet protocol) networks.

PTZ: Pan, Tilt, Zoom cameras. These cameras are widely available from Canon, Sony and other hardware makers. Generally speaking, they can capture lectures and follow professors who move about a classroom.

Codec: Short for Compressor/Decompressor. This device compresses data for easy transmission over a network. At the other end of the network, another codec decompresses the data.

RAID: Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. A type of hardware, widely available with servers, that provides highly reliable storage. Ideal for storing multimedia content on a network.

Scan Converter: A device that prepares computer images for display on a TV.

SNMP: Simple Network Management Protocol. This software standard allows IT managers to easily troubleshoot network devices (including high-end projectors) from a remote workstation.

Joseph C. Panettieri has covered Silicon Valley since 1992 for such media brands as InformationWeek, Ziff Davis Internet, and eWeek.