The Smart Classroom: Merging Technologies for Seamless Tele-education

T ele-education systems promise wider access to education and support for lifelong learning. These systems are either asynchronized or synchronized. Asynchronized systems are relatively simple. An organization can use the Internet to publish hyperlinked multimedia content and reach a wide audience. Yet, most current courseware is simply textbook material transferred to HTML; instead of reading the book, students read the screen. In most cases, live instruction catches students’ attention and interest much more effectively than static materials. Real-time interactive virtual classrooms therefore play an indispensable role in distance learning. In this type of tele-education, multimedia communication systems let teachers and students in different locations participate in the class synchronously. Most systems are desktopbased, however, so the teacher must remain at the computer, using the keyboard and mouse to operate the class—an awkward experience for a teacher. By applying smart space technologies in a real classroom, the Smart Classroom project bridges the gap between tele-education and traditional classroom activities in terms of the teacher’s experience and seamlessly integrates these two currently separate educational practices. (See the sidebar for a discussion of other projects seeking to merge pervasive computing technologies and education.) More specifically, we extend the user interface of a legacy desktop-based tele-education system—SameView1,2— into the 3D space of an augmented classroom. In the Smart Classroom, teachers can use multiple natural modalities while interacting with remote students to achieve the same effect as a teacher in a classroom with local students. Figure 1 gives an overview of the Smart Classroom. The system turns a physical classroom into a natural user interface for tele-education software. Teachers in the Smart Classroom can move freely, using conventional teaching methods to instruct remote students. Because they are in a real classroom environment, they can accommodate local students at the same time. Simultaneously instructing local and remote students also requires a smaller workforce than separate on-campus and tele-education operations. Furthermore, the lecture, recorded as hypermedia courseware, is available for playback after class.