Challenges in Setting Interactive Classroom (Virtual Class Rooms)

17th October 2013

What is Virtual Classroom?

• Virtual classroom is a replica of the local class room teaching where

in the students at remote locations will get the same feel and

experience as if they are in the same classroom.

• Teacher will be able to use all conventional teaching tools and

continue to teach the way he does.

• Students can ask questions and interact with the teacher as if he is in

the local classroom

Options available for an Interactive Classroom / Virtual Class Room

• Video conferencing setup

o Tele-presence based system

o Room / Group Videoconferencing Systems

• PC based solutions / Software based Solutions

What is expected in a Interactive Class Room

• Clear View of teacher to students

• Teacher shall see Students / participants

• Teacher shall be able use conventional teaching tools

• Teacher shall be able to show computer screens

• Teacher is able to show objects

• Interaction with students

• If required, quick test on topic

• Good learning experience

Concerns while choosing a Technology

• Network availability • Bandwidth available • No of students expected in a class • Dedicated / General Purpose Setup • Modes of Participation • Scope of expansion (Scalability)

Gadgets / Equipments required for an Interactive Class Room

• Display systems

• Cameras

• Microphones & Speaker system

• Visualizes / Document Cameras

• Interface to Computer systems

• Interactive writing pad/panels

• User Interface for ease of operations

Setup for Interactive Class Rooms

• Dedicated Teaching stations

• Dedicated Learning Class Rooms

• General Purpose Class Rooms

NATIONAL INFORMATICS CENTRE

• Resolution: Standard Definition or High Definition? – SD (352x288 to 704x576 pixels) 30 fps

– HD720p (1280x720 pixels) 30/60 fps

– HD1080p (1920x1080 pixels) 30/60fps

• Bandwidth / Date rates: 128 kbps to 6 Mbps

• Content Resolution : XGA to HD1080p

• Content frame rate : 1 to 30 fps

• Hardware / SW Systems

• AV Accessories

• Management

IIT Madras IIT Hyderabad IIT Bombay IIT Gandhinagar IIT Guwahati IIT Patna

NIC/NICSI

• Each of six IITs has been provided with

– HD VC system with 2 cameras and 2 mics.

– 40” HD LCD TV – 2 nos.

– 2500 Lumens Projector

– White board Digital Converter

– A Laptop

• HD Multi Conferencing Unit installed at (Central location) NIC Delhi

Details of Equipment supplied in Pilot Virtual Class Rooms

NIC/NICSI

• Operations were largely manual

• Picking up of Student’s audio in large class rooms was a problem.

• Sharing of the written documents/3D-objects was not possible

• Display size was small

• The Equipments have not been permanently fixed in the class rooms

• No special site preparation was done in the Class rooms w.r.to lighting, layouts, acoustics etc.

Observations from Pilot Virtual Class Room Set-up

NIC/NICSI

THE PROJECT CREATION OF VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS AT IITS OVER NKN

• The project required the Creation of High Definition (HD) Video Conferencing based Virtual Class Rooms (VCR) at 15 IITs over NKN

• As per the project at each of the IIT, 3 Virtual Class Rooms will

be set up totalling 45 Virtual Class Rooms .

• A total of 38 VCR are being created at 15 IITs • NIC office at Delhi, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Pune and

Guwahati were also facilitated with similar facility.

• Later the project was extended to creation of additional 23 VCRs at IISC, NITs, IISERs, CMI etc.

• A total of 66 Virtual Classrooms (VCRs) were created under this project.

NIC/NICSI

S.no Name Of IIT No of VCR

1 IIT-Ropar 2

2 IIT-Hyderabad 3

3 IIT-Kharaghpur 3

4 IIT-Bhubaneswar 3

5 IIT-Guwahati 1

6 IIT-Indore 1

7 IIT Gandhinagar 3

8 IIT Bombay 3

9 IIT Roorkee 3

10 IIT Madras 3

11 IIT Kanpur 3

12 IIT Rajasthan 3

13 IIT Patna 3

14 IIT Delhi 3

15 IIT Mandi 1

TOTAL : 38

VCR Locations at 13 NITs

S.no Name Of NIT No of VCR

1 National Institute of Technology, Agartala 1

2 Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad 1

3 Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal 1

4 Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur 1

5 National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar 1

6 National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra 1

7 Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur 1

8 National Institute of Technology, Patna 1

9 National Institute of Technology, Raipur 1

10 National Institute of Technology, Silchar, Cachar 1

11 National Institute of Technology, Surathkal, Mangalore 1

12 National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli 1

13 National Institute of Technology, Warangal 1

S.no Name Of Inst (ONE EACH)

1 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata

2 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, Punjab

3 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune

4 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Trivandrum

5 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal

6 TIFR Centre for applicable Mathematics, Bangalore

7 Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai

VCR Locations at IISERs & other Institutions

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 3 NIC ( NIC Delhi & 4 support Centres) 5

LAYOUT of VCR (DEPLOYUED OVER NKN)

MODES OF VCR

Three modes of operations of VCR

• LOCAL CLASS

• DISTANCE TEACHING

• DISTANCE LEARNING

IIT Delhi (VCR)

IIT Indore

IIT Bhubneshwar

Desktop (PC) based video conferencing

Video Conferencing from any PC/Laptop/Desktop equipped web cam, microphone & speakers (HD). • Based on a New Standard: Scalable Video

Coding (SVC)

• Reaches any desktop or laptop over LAN, WAN, Internet

• Point to Point

• Multi-point

• Seamless integration with standard video conferencing end points

VCR Using Desktop based Video Conf.

Share Content

Low Cost Software Videoconferencing Solutions

AIIMS MODEL PROJECT Government of Madhya Pradesh

• AIIMS, New Delhi

• PGIMER, Chandigarh

• IPGMER, Kolkata

• JIPMER, Pondicherry

• GMC, Bhopal

• UCMC, Delhi

• CNBC, Delhi

• LHMC, Delhi

• NEIGRIHIMS, Shillong

• About 450 Schools and Colleges

across State

• More than 40 locations are working

• Dedicated studios for teaching

station and Low cost PC solution

for Learning stations.

Teaching Institution Learning Institution Cources Classes/Week

IIT Madras IIT Mandi 6 13

IIT Roorkee IIT Mandi 3 6

IIT Kharagpur IIT Bhubaneshwar 2 5

IIT Delhi IIT Mandi + IIT Ropar 2 5

IIT Bombay NIT Jaipur 2 4

IIT Bhubaneshwar IIT Kharagpur 2 4

IIT Mandi Ph.D Students 1 2

IISER Bhopal IISER Mohali 1 3

IISER Mohali IISER Bhopal 2 7

IISER Pune IISER Trivandrum 1 3

IISER Trivandrum IISER Bhopal + IISER Pune 2 6

NIT Jalandhar None 1 1

TIFR Bangalore IISER Trivandrum + IISER Pune

1 3

Total 26 62

Other requirements & Challenges

• Knowledge Sharing – Demand & Offerings

(http://virtualclassroom.nic.in)

• Recording of Event/Class

• Streaming / Webcast

• Interactivity

• LMS integration

• Archival of Recordings & Storage

Demonstration

Up scaling the project to all institutions of higher learning

Two Models of establishing Virtual Classrooms :

1. High end classrooms ( using H/W Codecs with multiple cameras,

Multiple HD Displays, Audio systems, Control etc) (established at

IITs, NITs) ~ Equipment Cost Rs 30 to 40 Lakhs

2. PC based virtual classrooms (using Software based video

conferencing (established in AIIMS, Medical Institutions) ~

Equipment Cost ~Rs 5 Lakhs

3. Low cost PC Based Class Room Solution (MP Govt.) ~Rs 2.5 Lakhs

4. Very Low Class Rooms ~Rs 1 Lakh

THANK YOU