Using distributed multimedia infrastructures for advanced teleteaching applications

Abstract

Distributed multimedia systems and advanced network and Internet technologies enable novel application areas such as teleteaching. This paper first presents an experimental distributed infrastructure for such teleteaching applications and discusses recent experiences with various distributed lectures and exercises. In addition to key technological issues such as multimedia information management and distribution, aspects of user interaction, content provision, and acceptance of given solutions are also discussed. Based on the implementation and evaluation results of the first project phase, an extended support platform using the Java programming language has been designed. Its major architectural components and their integration are presented in the second part of the paper. Special issues addressed are management of animated lecturing material, user administration, workgroup support, and evaluation of the overall learning process.