Smart Remote Classroom: Creating a Revolutionary Real-Time Interactive Distance Learning System

Real-time interactive virtual classroom is an important type of distance learning. However currently available systems are insufficient in the support of large-scale user access and cannot accommodate heterogeneous devices and networks access either. Furthermore, these systems are usually desktop-based, which means the teacher experience is completely different from teaching in a real classroom. The Smart Remote Classroom project tackles these difficulties through following technologies: 1) A hybrid application-layer Multicast protocol called TORM and an Adaptive Content Delivery scheme called AMTM are developed to accommodate a largescale users to access a virtual classroom with different devices and networks conditions simultaneously. 2) A dedicated software called SameView is developed, which take use of the proposed TORM and AMTM technology and provide a rich set of functions for teachers and students to efficiently carry out the real-time interactive distance learning. Moreover, SameView can record the whole process of a class into a compound multimedia document for later retrieval of the class. 3) An augmented classroom called Smart Classroom is developed where the user interface of the SameView for the teacher are distributed in and fused with the room space. Thus the teacher can instruct the remote students just like face-to-face teaching in a conventional classroom. All these developed technologies has been successfully integrated and demonstrated in a prototype system.