Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Teleconferencing in education'

Video teleconferencing is a successful tool in the education and business industry because of its ability to reach a large audience at numerous remote locations. New computer and communications technology allows for advances in teleconferencing capabilities. In this thesis, an analysis of educational teleconferencing requirements is performed to develop viable educational teleconferencing design approaches. These design approaches must consider various transmission means and typical methods of instruction. One design approach is selected and a functional design is performed. The design is evaluated using performance models and the Simscript II.5 simulation language. Curve fitting techniques are applied to observed data to create probability distribution functions used in creating an accurate model. The performance evaluation is used to optimize the transmission protocol and validate the design. The simulation results show that with a 9600 baud transmission rate, the effects of degraded transmission lines, short display times or abnormally large file sizes, have no significant effects on the proper performance of the system.

Nobody really knows with certainty what education using digital video communication technology will be like in the next ten years. The only thing that seems certain is that it will not be like the present. While no one can see into the future, we can research present realities and current rates of change as bases for projecting ahead. Video conference systems that operate over IP (Internet Protocol) are being implemented in educational organisations, businesses and homes around the globe. Video conference manufacturers inform us that the implementation of such systems and their use is relatively straightforward. This may or may not be the case. This research argues that there is significantly more to implementing video conferencing over IP than simply installing the equipment, training staff and commencing classes. This study reports on an investigation into the effectiveness of implementing digital video conferencing over IP in educational institutions. It specifically looks at this in respect of the desktop and small group user. Research in desktop videoconferencing in education exists but is not abundant, for example, Thompson (1996), Kies et al., (1997), Bogen et al., (1997), Daunt (1999), Davis and Kelly (2002), Davis et al., (2004). With the considerable progress made in IP technologies, more educational providers are moving to use desktop and small group videoconference systems to link to classes and/or students over the Internet. This is a trend that is growing rapidly world-wide. The implementation and application of IP video conferencing in education is under-researched. This study examines three separate case studies to collect the required data. It looks at the processes required to set up effective communications with students and teachers using digital media. It identifies the specific difficulties that need to be overcome, both technically as well as the human factors that are involved. It addresses these issues chiefly as related to desktop users and small groups of participants in particular. In conclusion it also focuses on the design aspects of the video conference equipment and venues used in educational environments. The aim of the research, therefore, is to understand current and future trends of implementing and using video conferencing over IP, in a technical, human and design sense. The research has practical significance for educational institutions, as it provides useful information for students, tutors, technicians and designers involved in digital video conferencing technologies now, and in the years to come.

The rapid convergence of technologies of communication into a multimedia environment taking place over the last decade has created a new interest in the possibilities offered by videoconferencing systems. We are thus beginning to see the expansion of the potential for various levels of human interaction mediated by video in both business and educational domains. Through the support of the technologically mediated environment, people now have the capability to travel across time and space, meeting with other individuals, seemingly as if face-to-face. The purpose of this thesis is to explore more fully some of the issues of the new communication technologies (differences between face-to-face and mediated communication, changes to our conceptions of time and space, and problems of privacy and surveillance) and specifically how they apply to various videoconferencing scenarios as well as to a more detailed case study of a teleteaching experiment conducted recently at a French research institute.

Members of the Instructional Teleconference Consortium (ITC) were mailed a survey instrument. A total list of 375 teleconference coordinators generated 137 usable responses. The purposes of this study of faculty and staff development presentations by teleconferencing were to determine the amount of usage; which subject areas are utilized; what delivery methods (live, interactive, prerecorded, multimedia, etc.) are utilized; barriers (size or location of college, size of teleconference or travel budget, etc.) to implementing teleconferences; and the sources of presentations utilized in teleconferences. Larger community colleges are the greater users of teleconferencing and even produce some for distribution to other community colleges, whereas smaller community colleges have just begun to receive equipment that enables them to receive telecasts for this purpose. No clear subject area has yet been defined that dominates these teleconferences, and the trend is toward two-way audio and one-way video as the delivery media as communication costs decline. Barriers of money for staff, equipment, and programming appear to be the principal objections to the use of teleconferencing for faculty and staff development presentations. There appear to be few sources of presentations except for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 2000.
Title from title page screen, viewed May 16, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Dent M. Rhodes (chair), Robert L. Fisher, Ione M. Garcia, Ming-Gon John Lian. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-162) and abstract. Also available in print.

This case study examined three listservs as follow-up activities for STARLINK® (State of Texas Academic Resources Link) satellite teleconferences for community college faculty development during the 1993-94 season. Purposes included determining through self report and other data: (a) appropriateness of listservs as follow-up activities for teleconferences, (b) if combining video satellite teleconferences with a listserv satisfied perceived needs, (c) purposes of accessing a listserv and if listservs facilitated changes in the performance of work, were supportive of teaching, and provided resources beyond teleconferences' content, (d) what aspects of listservs are helpful or not helpful to participants.

Across the period in which this research was conducted, there has been an increasing emphasis in government and university policies on the promotion of technology integration in higher education. This emphasis has also become evident in Commonwealth and State government policies relating to preservice teacher education because of the need to ensure that teachers enter the profession with the types of technological skills and competencies that can enhance teaching and learning. The research reported in this thesis describes the experiences and perceptions of computer-based technologies from the perspective of academic staff and graduates from two preservice teacher education courses in a Queensland university. The research was conducted in two phases using a repeated cross-sectional longitudinal design. In Phase 1 of the research conducted in 1997, and in Phase 2 in 2002, questionnaires were used to gather data. In Phase 1 of the research, participants comprised 43 academic staff members involved in two preservice teacher education courses and 72 first or second year graduate teachers from these courses. Items in the academic staff and graduate teacher questionnaires elicited information on a range of issues related to the technologies including knowledge and confidence levels, acquisition of knowledge, current and future usage in teaching, advantages and disadvantages of teaching with the technologies, the importance of the technologies to higher and preservice education and the adequacy of preservice teacher education to prepare new teachers to use technologies. Graduate teachers were also questioned about barriers to their classroom use of technologies. Further questions for academic staff investigated the existence of factors that facilitate usage of technologies and the degree to which the presence or absence of these factors constituted barriers or incentives to technology use. A number of questions also explored attitudes surrounding the valuing of teaching, research and publishing. Results from the first phase of research revealed that both academic staff and new teachers made little use of technologies in their teaching. The most salient barriers to academic staff technology use included lack of technical advice and support, time, and lack of evidence of improved student learning and interest. There was also a widely held perception among academic staff that teaching was not valued by their university and that, in particular, innovation in teaching deserved greater recognition. For graduate teachers, barriers to technology use included lack of computers and resources, lack of school funding, and lack of knowledge and training. In Phase 2 of the research, participants comprised 40 academic staff members and 123 graduate teachers from the same two preservice teacher education courses. Participants were again questioned about knowledge and confidence levels, acquisition of knowledge, current and future usage in teaching, and the adequacy of preservice teacher education to prepare new teachers to use technologies. In light of new research and building on findings from the first phase of data collection, several new questions were added. These questions related primarily to the nature and availability of training and how preservice teacher preparation in technology use could be improved. Results from the second phase of research indicated that, among academic staff and graduate teachers, there had been considerable increases in knowledge and confidence levels in relation to the technologies, along with increased levels of usage. Both groups were also significantly more likely than their earlier counterparts to report that preservice teachers were adequately or well prepared in the use of technologies. For graduate teachers, lack of equipment and resources were ongoing barriers to technology use. Training in technology use appeared to be less of an issue for graduate teachers than academic staff with most reporting access to, and satisfaction with, inservice training opportunities. Encouraging too, was the finding that these graduate teachers were significantly more likely than their 1997 counterparts to attribute their knowledge of the technologies to preservice teacher education. While positive change in technology use was evident across this period, continued efforts to support and integrate technology in preservice teacher education remains important, as does support for the innovative use of technology to promote learning in schools.

Across the period in which this research was conducted, there has been an increasing emphasis in government and university policies on the promotion of technology integration in higher education. This emphasis has also become evident in Commonwealth and State government policies relating to preservice teacher education because of the need to ensure that teachers enter the profession with the types of technological skills and competencies that can enhance teaching and learning. The research reported in this thesis describes the experiences and perceptions of computer-based technologies from the perspective of academic staff and graduates from two preservice teacher education courses in a Queensland university. The research was conducted in two phases using a repeated cross-sectional longitudinal design. In Phase 1 of the research conducted in 1997, and in Phase 2 in 2002, questionnaires were used to gather data. In Phase 1 of the research, participants comprised 43 academic staff members involved in two preservice teacher education courses and 72 first or second year graduate teachers from these courses. Items in the academic staff and graduate teacher questionnaires elicited information on a range of issues related to the technologies including knowledge and confidence levels, acquisition of knowledge, current and future usage in teaching, advantages and disadvantages of teaching with the technologies, the importance of the technologies to higher and preservice education and the adequacy of preservice teacher education to prepare new teachers to use technologies. Graduate teachers were also questioned about barriers to their classroom use of technologies. Further questions for academic staff investigated the existence of factors that facilitate usage of technologies and the degree to which the presence or absence of these factors constituted barriers or incentives to technology use. A number of questions also explored attitudes surrounding the valuing of teaching, research and publishing. Results from the first phase of research revealed that both academic staff and new teachers made little use of technologies in their teaching. The most salient barriers to academic staff technology use included lack of technical advice and support, time, and lack of evidence of improved student learning and interest. There was also a widely held perception among academic staff that teaching was not valued by their university and that, in particular, innovation in teaching deserved greater recognition. For graduate teachers, barriers to technology use included lack of computers and resources, lack of school funding, and lack of knowledge and training. In Phase 2 of the research, participants comprised 40 academic staff members and 123 graduate teachers from the same two preservice teacher education courses. Participants were again questioned about knowledge and confidence levels, acquisition of knowledge, current and future usage in teaching, and the adequacy of preservice teacher education to prepare new teachers to use technologies. In light of new research and building on findings from the first phase of data collection, several new questions were added. These questions related primarily to the nature and availability of training and how preservice teacher preparation in technology use could be improved. Results from the second phase of research indicated that, among academic staff and graduate teachers, there had been considerable increases in knowledge and confidence levels in relation to the technologies, along with increased levels of usage. Both groups were also significantly more likely than their earlier counterparts to report that preservice teachers were adequately or well prepared in the use of technologies. For graduate teachers, lack of equipment and resources were ongoing barriers to technology use. Training in technology use appeared to be less of an issue for graduate teachers than academic staff with most reporting access to, and satisfaction with, inservice training opportunities. Encouraging too, was the finding that these graduate teachers were significantly more likely than their 1997 counterparts to attribute their knowledge of the technologies to preservice teacher education. While positive change in technology use was evident across this period, continued efforts to support and integrate technology in preservice teacher education remains important, as does support for the innovative use of technology to promote learning in schools.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1997.
Title from title page screen, viewed June 2, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Larry Kennedy (chair), John Goeldi, Barbara Nourie, William Tolone. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-90) and abstract. Also available in print.

abstract: This study is intended as a catalyst to inspire new ways of thinking by educators, school administrators, and museum educators. It is a study of six K-12 art teachers who have both the technology and the opportunity at their school campuses to use collaborative videoconferencing as part of their instruction in multicultural art, linking their students to the resources of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. The art unit used for the purpose of this study was Latina/o art. Findings show the Smithsonian American Art Museum program to be of high quality and useful i students see the connection between identity of self and multicultural art.
Dissertation/Thesis
M.A. Art 2013

Information and communication technology (ICT) has dominated our lives and the way we learn in such a way that, without it, our way of life becomes obsolete. This study explored challenges experienced by tutors in facilitating teaching and learning through the use of videoconference (VC) technology in an open and distance learning (ODL) environment. These challenges are exacerbated by the fact that most tutors, although highly qualified, do not have teaching methodologies with their qualifications at the time of their employment as tutors. It is believed that if these challenges could be given attention, VC technology would serve as an effective facilitation tool for bridging the distance in teaching and learning. Based on qualitative research approach, this study followed a qualitative phenomenological research design. Qualitative data was collected from individual semi-structured interviews with specific VC tutors; tutorial observations based on tutorials offered in the VC environment; and focus group interviews with students who attended tutorials through VC technology. Informed by the Community of inquiry (CoI) theory, the study answered the following main research question: “What are the experiences of tutors in applying instructional methodologies during VC tutorials?” The findings indicate lack of skills and reluctance in applying various active facilitation methods by VC tutors, insufficient technology training intervention by the ODL institution under study, technical challenges of VC technology in teaching and learning, and lack of monitoring systems during VC discussions. The findings further featured various factors that contribute to tutors’ ability in promoting interactivity during VC tutorials. In conclusion, this study clearly indicates that instructional methodologies used in VC tutorials cannot contribute to a meaningful teaching and learning, and thus make interactivity absent throughout VC sessions. Based on these findings, and suggestions for further research, the study therefore recommends acceleration in tutor training on exploitation and integration of VC technology with various suitable teaching methodologies.
Curriculum and Instructional Studies
M. Ed. (Didactics)