Tele-Conferencing

Tele-Conferencing

In tele-conferencing, people situated at distant places establish direct contact through tele-communication and converse among themselves. This sophisticated method liberates people from undertaking expensive and time-consuming long distance journeys. When this method is employed in education, pupils of different educational institutions and those in different campuses could establish direct contact with expert professors and educationists and get guidance and clarifications in their curricular programmes. In this method, participants situated in far off places too could participate in a seminar and exchange their views. For arranging tele-conferencing higher technology than one way process of tele-communication is required.

Types of Tele-Conferencing

          At present tele-conferencing is arranged along three basic types. They are

i.                   Video-Conferencing

ii.                Audio-Conferencing

iii.             Computer-Conferencing

Video-Conferencing uses televisions and audio-systems and through electronic media makes it possible for participants though not physically present in the same place to participate in a conference face to face and interact with each other.

Audio-Conferencing is an extension of the method of telephone conversation between any two people; here more than two could participate in conversation and exchange ideas among themselves.

In Computer-Conferencing people at distant places, through their respective individual computers establish contact with the "Control-Computer" (or Master-Computer) and get texts, diagrams, pictures, graphs etc. transferred).

In a complete tele-conferencing procedure all the three tele-conferencing types are integrated and supplement each other so that the participants get almost the feeling as if they are present physically in the conference.

Equipments and Devices

          To arrange for tele-conferencing, equipments and devices like "Multi-Dimensional Visual and Audio Transmission System", "Electronic Chalk-board", "Tele-Text System" etc. are needed. By connecting micro-computers to high power 'Modem', information from distant places could be obtained at a great speed of 300 to 1200 'bauds". 'Baud' represents the speed with which data are processed or obtained. Other devices required are: Computer Monitor, telephone connection linked to the computer and Electronic Display Board. Through "Audio-Plus" system, "interactive-audio" and "one way video communication" are linked.

i.                   Electronic Chalk-Board: - When anything is written or drawn on the electronic chalk-board, it produces minute pressures which are converted into 'digital information'. When these are transmitted, people at distant places, sitting in front of their computer monitor could see the written information in the visual form.

ii.                Slow Scan Television System: - This transmits photographs, individuals, visual materials etc. in black and white within 15 to 30 seconds to distant places.

iii.             Electronic over-head Projector : - Using this device, pictures and diagrams drawn by the teacher in the classroom  could be transmitted to far off places and presented through over-head projector and enable the students to view them almost instantaneously.

iv.              Vide text system – Tele text: - This device helps to transmit information in the form of texts, figures and diagrams in multi colours, to distance places so that power sittings, in front of their colour television sets could view them. For transmitting this types of data-base "Central Comupter" (control computer) linked to the individual computers of distant learner serves as the basic component of the system.

v.                 Fax to Transmit Documents: - 'Fax' helps in transmitting written documents to far off places by scanning the documents to far off places by scanning the documents and sending the copies of the same through tele-communication.

vi.              Compressed Video: - This device transmits the elected bits of video information to colour television sets situated at distant places.

In different types of tele-conferencing different combinations of equipments and devices, from among those described above are made use of. One way electronic signal transmission is called "Simplex". Two-way electronic signal transmission is called "Duplex". If information is transmitted through either one of the channels at a time, then it is called 'Half-Duplex'.

For designing tele-conferencing, "Duplex" method of electronic signal transmission is to be employed, which turns out to be highly expensive. Employing the "Half-Duplex" method by making use to telephone cables for electronic signal transmission proves to be economical. The diagram of a simple network for arranging tele-conferencing is given below:

Advantages

          Following are the important advantages of using tele-conferencing in education:

i.                   This serves as an additional system to help the learners belonging to different educational institutions spread out in a particular area.

ii.                This helps in conducting off-campus courses in a number of widely scattered centres.

iii.             It cuts down the cost and time involved for the learners to undertake long journeys to reach the study centres and experts for getting guidance and clarifications.

iv.              In this method, teachers initiate and regulate students' learning while offering lot of freedom to students and hence quite welcome among the students.

v.                 Group discussions and seminars could be arranged economically even for students under distant education mode.

vi.              As immediate feedback is available to students in tele-conferencing they could undertake remedial measures easily.