ACTIONS Model

Video Conferencing

Access:- Videoconferencing is accessible particular technology for learners and it is very flexible when it use. But, there are some limitations of include:

Availability is not widespread in the U.S. Difficulty configuring and managing once ordered. Subject to service interruptions (single point of failure). It has distance-driven and metered costs (long-distance). The infrastructure supports only one telephony-like service: multipoint conferencing. Video calls on ISDN cannot be put on hold, cannot be forwarded (when no one answers, when the line is in use or for any other reason), and there has never been a Òvideo mail boxÓ on ISDN. Recording one side of an ISDN videoconference is possible using an analog VCR provided the appropriate interfaces exist on the local client system.

Costs:- Currently there are three distinct categories of clients defined primarily by usage.

Desktop: Desktop videoconferencing clients are assigned to a single user. They cost between $600 and $3,000 for a hardware-based system and up to $150 for a software-only client. Connectivity is over IP.

Small group: Either an appliance that costs between $3,000 and $12,000 or a PC-based system that costs between $6,000 and $14,000. Small-group videoconferencing systems are relatively easy to configure and use. They run over ISDN or IP. Large group/boardroom: Provide the highest-quality video, but also come with the highest price tag, with systems starting at $10,000. They also run over ISDN or IP.

Teaching and Learning:- Videoconferencing provides students and teachers with the opportunity to expand teaching and learning possibilities.  Students and teachers will no longer have to rely exclusively on the resources available within their districts.  Schools who have traditionally been limited by the walls that encompass the schools as well as   remote locations now have the opportunity to expand beyond those walls to access information.  With emerging technologies, schools have the opportunity to tap resources around the world Students using videoconferencing will have experiences:

Learning in an emerging technological environment that prepares students with real world communication skills

Utilizing world-wide resources including experts, professionals, remote institutional resources, and other students

Broadening the scope of learning resources Functioning in a global climate

Videoconferencing can provide administrative benefits in addition to student learning benefits.  Teacher in-service training, staff organizational meetings, collaboration with other districts, connections to university classes, and other uses can enhance the efficiency of the school system. 

Interactivity and User-friendliness:- New technologies open opportunities for student learning and this communication tool offers students unique possibilities for accessing information.  Videoconferencing goes beyond the interactions offered through traditional e-mail, telephone, or

on-line chat systems.  The video system adds the combination of visual and auditory information that puts the collaborators in an experience that closes the distance gap and helps the participants feel connected to each other. As libraries, museums, colleges, schools, government agencies and other information resource facilities add videoconferencing, students will be able to connect with experts, collaborate with other students, work in partnership on projects, and participate in world wide activities.  These activities, using videoconferencing, build relationships and encourage active learning.   Collaboration using this two way technology makes the experience almost like being there. Impacts include:

Enhanced motivation Improved communication and presentation skills Increased connection with outside resources Effective learning environments Expanded teaching capabilities Links to people from different social, cultural, and economic backgrounds 

Organizational Issues

Using proprietary technologies or H.323 standard-compliant endpoints, an IP network designed only for data can be modified to support business-quality videoconferencing services. Where bandwidth is available, the IT manager would need to add and adjust a few components to provide a complete solution, or outsource the management to a third party such as WireOne's GlowPoint service or Sprint's IP videoconferencing services. If the deployment is expected to have more than five or six systems, a centralized user and network administration console such as Polycom's Global Management System, RADVision's H.323 gatekeeper or Vcon's MXM is recommended. Some companies are going a step further and designing an enterprise conferencing portal using technologies such as FVC's Click-to-Meet. While these packages differ in their features and functions, they are designed to perform address book management (an important issue when clients are set up behind a firewall and use network address translation), set performance metrics on a per-device or user basis, and can even reduce the risk of application data traffic degradation due to excessive bandwidth consumption.

Novelty

It is a new technology. Nevertheless, in videoconferencing, bandwidth is assumed to be symmetrical. In full-duplex networks such as ISDN, Ethernet, ATM and time division multiplexed networks, capacity is expressed as bandwidth in one direction, though equal bandwidth is available for traffic in the opposite direction.

Speed:-Videoconferencing can leverage the existing public telephone network, a private IP network or the Internet. The target bandwidth for interactive video communications is in the 300K to 400K bit/sec per stream range. This includes audio and video as well as control signaling. The H.323 protocol does not require that two or more endpoints in a session send the same data rate they receive. A low-powered endpoint may only be able to encode at a rate of 100K bit/sec, but, because decoding is less processor-intensive, it could decode a 300K bit/sec video stream. A T-1 offers 1.5M bit/sec in each direction and would be ample bandwidth for two 512K bit/sec or three 384K bit/sec videoconferences, depending on the amount of simultaneous traffic on the network. Also, make sure that you have 10/100 switched Ethernet throughout the LAN segments where videoconferencing traffic is expected.