MCCORMACK, Paul & PEREIRA, Anson
Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept., Suffolk University, Boston, MA 02114, USA, pmccorma@suffolk.edu, www.ee.suffolk.edu
Abstract: The decreasing cost and the wide availability of video conferencing based on the H.320 standard has allowed Suffolk University, Boston, USA, to enhance and extend its engineering program. Enhancement of the engineering program has come about by the collaboration, using video conferencing, of the electrical engineering department with a company in Ireland, which provides invaluable engineering project experience for a number of students. The particular project is based on the ANSI/ASHRAE 135 - 1995 standard, which describes a new network protocol called Building Automation and Controls Networks (BACnet). A description of how the collaboration was established and maintained, and cost estimates for a similar collaboration between a Central/Eastern European company and a US institution are included.
Suffolk University has a campus in Madrid, Spain, where it offers the first two years of its electrical engineering program. A number of the required courses need to be taught by qualified engineering faculty in accordance with the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) requirements. The engineering department has used video conferencing to teach these required courses. A description of the process of conducting a course using video conferencing and the costs involved are detailed.
Keywords: collaboration, videoconferencing
The wide availability of video conferencing has provided many new and exciting opportunities in the field of education. This paper describes how video conferencing has enhanced and extended the electrical engineering program at Suffolk University, Boston, MA. The video conferencing systems described in this paper are H.320 compatible, which means that they use an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). The maximum data rate is 128 Kbps. Furthermore, the applications of video conferencing in this paper are limited to point-to-point connections.
The enhancement of the engineering program has come about by the collaboration, using video conferencing, of the electrical engineering department with a company in Ireland, which provides invaluable engineering project experience for a number of students. The success of this collaboration would not have been possible without the use of video conferencing.
By using video conferencing, Suffolk University was able to offer a number of courses from the first two years of its engineering curriculum at its Madrid campus. Since the university will apply for accreditation for its engineering program in the near future, it was important that qualified engineering faculty taught the engineering courses offered at the Madrid campus. A description of how the courses were conducted is included.
The standard that describes video conferencing over an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is H.320. There are many choices for H.320 compatible video conferencing systems with a wide variation in cost. The two applications of video conferencing described in this paper require the following features:
The low cost requirement mandated that a desktop video conferencing system be used. After some study, the Live 200P desktop system from PictureTel was chosen as the videoconferencing system. This system comes with a PCI board, camera, speakers, microphone, and software. Either Windows 95 (98) or Windows NT is required. The performance of the camera that came with the basic package was disappointing so we replaced it with a standard camcorder, which improved the quality of the image. The Live 200P board accepts either a PAL or a NTSC video input. In a classroom environment, it is necessary to replace the standard computer monitor with a large SVGA 36" monitor or a projection system. The iPen digital pen and tablet from Cross Pen Computing Group was used with the electronic white board. A block diagram of the video conferencing system is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Block diagram of the video conferencing system
By running the Live Share Plus software from PictureTel on a second computer that is connected to the Live 200 system with a null modem cable, it is possible to display the video image and the output from the electronic whiteboard on separate monitors.
An alliance between the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of Suffolk University and a company in Ireland was established in April 1998. The Irish company invited the engineering department to collaborate on a project that they had in the pipeline. Initial contact with the company was made as a result of a professional relationship between the author (PMC) and the managing director of the company. The company designs and produces controllers for building energy management systems. A new communication protocol for building energy management systems, called Building Automation and Controls Networks (BACnet) [1], provides a standard communication protocol for devices, such as air-conditioning units, temperature sensors, and controllers, from different vendors to inter-operate on the same data network. The company wanted to include this new communication protocol into their controllers. The goal of the project was to develop code in the C programming language that would implement this new protocol on the controller. It was agreed that Suffolk would design a working implementation of the protocol on a PC, after which the code would be turned over to the company’s engineers for further development and testing.
The collaborative effort proved to be a win-win situation for all involved. The advantage for the company was that they could get their BACnet project underway and at the same time concentrate their energies on other important projects that they needed to complete. Also, the successful experience of using the video conferencing technology to communicate and follow the progress of the project led the company to consider the same technology to stay in touch with their Asian distributor.
From the student’s perspective the interaction provided them with a wealth of experience they otherwise would have missed out on. An initial visit from one of the company’s senior engineers took place at Suffolk University. The engineer was travelling in the US at the time. A meeting was arranged with the students involved in the project and the engineer. The design and stipulations of the project were laid out thus giving the students firsthand experience of a typical engineering design meeting. To aid them in documenting the design of their project, the students were provided with a sample design report from the company. This was a wonderful learning tool for them. Perhaps the most noticeable gains to the students are the advanced programming skills they developed during the course of the project.
The industrial sponsorship of a student project proved to be an invaluable experience for the university. This collaboration led to more interactive contacts with companies, which provided testing facilities for the BACnet software. The collaboration also strengthened the undergraduate experience Suffolk University can offer its current and future engineering students and opened the door to the prospects of extending similar relationships with corporations around the world.
The initial meeting was the only ”in person” meeting, all others were held using videoconferencing. Electronic mail (e-mail) was used to schedule the videoconferencing meetings and to provide progress updates to the company. During the videoconference meetings, the application sharing feature of the videoconferencing software allowed the company to demonstrate their application software to the students and also provided a means for the students to report on their BACnet application. The electronic whiteboard was used to sketch out and share ideas.
The approximate cost of setting up a similar collaboration between a university in the US and a company in the Czech Republic is as follows:
The above figures don't include any usage charges that SPT Telecom may charge the ISDN subscriber in the Czech Republic. Also it is assumed that the call originated from the US and that the carrier is AT&T.
Suffolk University has a campus in Madrid, Spain where it offers, among other things, the first two years of its engineering program. Students enrolled in this program spend two years at the Madrid campus then finish the final two years in the engineering program on the Boston campus. The majority of courses in the first two years of the engineering curriculum fall under the categories of science, mathematics, humanities, and social sciences, however a number of engineering courses, such as Introduction to Engineering, Circuit Theory, and Digital Electronics are required. The accrediting body for engineering programs in the U.S., ABET, requires that qualified engineering faculty teach these engineering courses. To this end, it was decided that video conferencing would be a suitable method to deliver these courses from the Boston campus to the Madrid campus. The engineering classes are simultaneously offered at both campuses. The professor in Boston has his or her students present in the classroom and the students from the Madrid campus are included via video conferencing. The benefit in doing this is the incorporation of the two groups of engineering students, not only to acclimate the Madrid students to the Boston campus, but more importantly to ensure a standard in the foundation of the engineering education of all the students.
The professor uses the electronic whiteboard to present the lecture. The output from the whiteboard can be seen locally in the Boston classroom and remotely in the Madrid classroom. The students in Madrid can see and hear the professor in Boston and likewise the professor in Boston can see and hear the students in Madrid, allowing an even exchange of questions, thoughts, and ideas. Because of the six-hour time difference between Boston and Madrid, scheduling an appropriate class time became an important consideration. From our experience, an early morning class (Boston time) that meets three times a week seems to work best, a 9 a.m. class in Boston corresponds to a 3 p.m. class in Madrid. We found that in limiting the time the Madrid students were looking at a computer monitor to one hour helped to keep them attentive, so we conducted our sessions in one-hour periods that met three times per week. Another scheduling issue arose since holiday times in Madrid do not always concur with American holidays. As a result of this misalignment of holidays, extra classes were held for the Madrid students to keep in step with the Boston students.
In the past semesters, homework and exams from the Madrid campus were faxed to the Boston campus. However a new system will be in place for the Fall 99 semester. The new system uses a Crosspad from Cross Pen Computing Group, which allows a student to write on a regular pad of paper at the same time records a digital image of the student’s writing. When the student has completed his or her homework, the Crosspad is connected to a serial port on a computer, the appropriate software is run and the digital image of the student’s work is uploaded. Once the homework is uploaded it can be e-mailed to the professor in Boston for evaluation. After the assignment is graded it can be returned to the student with corrections and comments via e-mail. Examinations can also be implemented in the same manner with the help of a proctor to oversee the process.
The cost of setting up a course between a university in the Czech Republic and a university in the US, as described in this section depends on the choice of the video conference system. Assuming that the basic desktop system is used in conjunction with a 36 inch monitor, the approximate costs involved are:
The above figures don't include any usage charges that SPT Telecom may charge the ISDN subscriber in the Czech Republic. Also, it is assumed that the call originated from the US and that the carrier is AT&T.
Video conferencing provides a link between institutions of higher education and engineering companies all around the world, which can lead to exciting and wonderful alliances and collaborations between educators, students and engineers. It also provides the opportunity for universities to extend their campuses to any part of the world, where video conferencing is available. The desktop video conferencing systems provide good performance when used with a large monitor or a projection system, thereby lowering the overall cost of video conferencing.
[1] ANSI/ASHRAE 135-1995, A Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks, ASHRAE, Atlanta, GA, 1995.