Connecting
online in synchronous spaces with audio and video capabilities has been around
at least since the 1990s. I learned to
webcast (it was more painful for Jeff Lebow than for me) during 2007 as part of
the Webcast Academy class
of 2.1. At that time, using Windows, simplecast, and a shoutcast server
maintained by EdTechTalk, and a lot of luck, one could stream live audio. Here is an example from It’s Elementary the webcast by Jose
Rodriquez, Alice Mercer, and myself.
Such webcasting solutions are now obsolete as free webcasting is as easy
as calling friends on Google+, connecting on Oovo, Ustream, Livestream, or Qik.
People love to
connect and converse with each other.
Today I witnessed k-12 students using Blackboard Collaborate (free to
them) to connect and talk about their learnings during their recent Flat Classroom projects. The above photo is from a recent webcast including Illinois and the Virgin Islands. Webcasting services connect more people at a
time than VOIP services, although a few of us still remember the hundreds of
people in Skypecasts (no longer around).
These services connect people synchronously and allow for asynchronous
archival of the content in mp3 or mp4 formats.
Dream with me
for a minute. Free webcasting could be
even better if it were possible to project the live webcast (or the archival
copy) anywhere there is wifi using a hologram to include audience members
without any hardware. I may be dreaming
now, but give it a couple years….
References
Thornburg,
D. D. (2009). Current trends in
educational technology. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space
Exploration.
6 comments:
Love the Flat Earth concepts. In the spirit of Star Wars, where the characters have three dimensional conversations with each other with a projection, the idea has merit. Google Glass is one project I am following, as it is portable, with you all the time, and used as a part of everyday life. Thoughts?
Do you mean like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cf7IL_eZ38 ?
We have got to link up some of my students and teachers with others around the world. I have tried and used Skype but am dabbling with UStream with an Art teacher. Free is best which is why Skype. UStream needs $$ to be ad free. This is always a problem with education. How can we solve the inappropriateness that free includes?
Thanks for sharing,
~Laurie Korte
I find Skype to suit our Elementary needs so far, being that it is free. To save we do a screencast as it is all happening. Ustream would be nice without the subscription fee or inappropriate ads if free. How can we get free anything with only appropriate ads would be a problem worth solving as progress towards always education free.
Thanks for sharing,
~Laurie Korte
Lisa,
I think the dream of holographic communication is likely not too farfetched! Think of all we do now that used to be just someone's dream.
Christine
Hi Lisa,
Did you see this?
http://www.eyeliner3d.com/cisco_telepresence_holographic_video_conferencing.html
~Laurie Korte
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