CONTENT
UPFRONT - Last DESIEN issue (see ENDNOTE) and Last in a Series on
BLOGs, DAMs, Wi Fi, and IP
FOCUS - Internet Protocol (IP) Video: The H.323 Videoconference Team
by Jamie Poindexter
UW - TTT-Teaching with Technology Today
LINES - November News Highlights

ED - Tablet PCs and Tegrity are Coupled for a Successful Course, Tech Skills
Every Faculty Member Should Know, Berklee College Offers Free Online
Lesson Sharing
BIZ/GOV/ED - If Content is King, Context is Queen! FCC Widens Wireless
Spectrum, Georgia Tech to Offer eCommerce Professional Certificate
ACCESSIBILITY - Gallaudet Videoconference 2004, UW 'Web Accessibility
for All' Project
TECH/TOOLS - Smaller Chips Built Using DNA as Template, MIT Center
Funds Speech Recognition Technology
READ/RESOURCES - 2003 Learning Standards Report, Best Business and
Management Distance Learning Undergraduate Schools, F-Light, AFT on
Campus

NEW ON THE LIST - Welcome to New Subscribers
FYI - News, Events, Conferences
ENDNOTE - Last DESIEN Issue
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

UPFRONT This will be the last issue of DESIEN (see ENDNOTE.) The FOCUS
article in this issue is also the last in a series on BLOGs, DAMs, Wi Fi, and IP.

In the past three DESIEN issues, FOCUS authors have explored the use of BLOGs
(Weblogs), DAMs (Digital Asset Management) systems, and WiFi (Wireless
Technology.) This months FOCUS author, Jamie Poindexter, our Operations Manager
at The Pyle Center, Instructional Communications Systems (ICS), University of
Wisconsin-Extension (UWEX) looks at Internet Protocol (IP) video. Jamie describes
IP and IP video, discusses the importance of setting up an H.323 team to plan
and implement IP video, and emphasizes the importance of learning the technical
language of each team member to ensure clear communication. She also provides
resources and recommendations that will help guide you in the process. A very
valuable article! Rosemary Lehman
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOCUS

Internet Protocol (IP) Video:
The H.323 Videoconference Team
by
Jamie Poindexter, Operations Manager, Instructional Communications Systems
University of Wisconsin-Extension

The Internet has been around for a while now, infiltrating our daily lives as new
applications and tools are developed. It transports data across the state or around
the world using a standard protocol known as the Internet Protocol (IP). Applications,
such as email, file transfer or web browsers, transport their information across the
Internet using protocols compatible with the Internet Protocol.

It is like speaking into a telephone to someone; your voice is converted into electrical
pulses and transported across the telephone lines. At the other end, these pulses are
converted back to sound by the receiving telephone, and the person you called hears
your voice. When you send an email, the text you typed is converted into digital pulses
that are transported over the IP-based network as packets and routed to the computer
of the person you sent it to.

Videoconferencing over the IP network works much the same way. The camera
pointed at you and the microphone you are talking into send their signals to a magic
box, to be converted and transported across the network. The magic box is a
codec (COder and DECoder). The codec, using an international standard known
as H.323, digitizes and compresses the audio and video signals and prepares them
for transport over the network. At the other end, another codec decompresses and
converts the signals back to analog so that person can see and hear you.

The IP protocol was not designed to carry real-time (live) signals like audio and video.
It’s important that the digital packets arrive quickly and in order so that the codec can
decode and play them to you in a natural way. Too much traffic on the network can
actually cause some of your packets to be discarded. If the packets do not arrive
quickly and in sync, you will experience frozen or pixilated video and poor audio
quality.

Today, many videoconference systems can be set up quickly and easily (almost plug-
and-play with a little rocket science mixed in). Quick and easy means you buy a
videoconference appliance, set it on top of a TV mounted on a cart or on your PC,
plug it into your campus or institutions network, set some menu options, and place
a video call to someone. However, to improve your chances of having a good
experience during the video call, it is very important to include technical staff in the
planning and implementation of a new codec.

Your network must meet minimum standards to minimize the risk of experiencing
problems and increase the quality of your overall experience with videoconferencing.
Replacing hubs with switches and setting up your firewalls parameters to allow
videoconferences through are just two examples of what can improve your video
experience that the technical staff can help with.

Forming a team to plan and implement a new H.323 videoconference classroom is
essential. Include people representing many areas of expertise to determine rules
of best practices for your campus or institution.

To help ensure a quality video experience, your team includes your network staff
(usually referred to as Information Technology), Audio/Visual and classroom support
staff, and room scheduling staff. The team also needs people experienced with
videoconferencing, such as those who train presenters and instructors to use
videoconferencing effectively and representatives from those who have taught over
videoconferencing. Also, include your multipoint video service provider. If you
are planning to connect to videoconference rooms over a wide area network, the
Internet or Internet2, you will need to include your wide area network service
provider as well.

The new team’s biggest challenge initially will be learning to communicate and
understand each other. Recently, I found myself in a conversation with an IT native.
He stated that he didn’t understand the codec users he supported. The users
included technical staff from the telecommunications world, not IT. He tried to get
them to understand his support challenges. I asked him if he was speaking in native
IT, a rather new language spoken by those that have grown up with computers and
the Internet. He responded yes and stated that he expected them to do so also.
Naturally, the users were speaking native telecom, not IT. I asked him what a router
was. He said it was a network device. I replied that the users he supports have a
different definition of what a router was. Next, I asked if he were to visit another
country where English was not spoken, would he expect the natives to understand
him speaking English. If you were there, you would have seen the proverbial light
bulb above his head light up.

It helps to have learned some key phrases of the other person’s language when visiting
another country. The same is true when you are about to implement a videoconference
system with team members from diverse backgrounds. They cannot effectively
communicate until they have learned some of the foreign language used by the other
team members. You must schedule time for each team member to learn from other
members, let them walk a mile in each others shoes.

After learning each others terminology, the team members must next become familiar
with best practices for implementing and supporting a videoconference room using
H.323 over the IP network. Because technology is evolving and changing, it would
be impossible to define those practices here. I suggest a web-based reference
provided by my department and our team partners at http://www.uwex.edu/ics/
support/video/H323/. We present local area network design recommendations that
will enable your network to transport videoconferences with less frozen video,
pixilated video or poor audio. There is also a glossary and links to tutorials and other
H.323 resources.

Jamie Diana Poindexter, Manager of Teleconference Operations
Instructional Communications Systems www.uwex.edu/ics
University of Wisconsin-Extension
The Pyle Center - Distance Education and Conference Center conferencing.uwex.edu
702 Langdon, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1487
Phone: 608-262-4931 TTY: 711 or 800-947-3529
ViDeNet video number: 0016082656868
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

UW

TTT - Teaching with Technology Today, Volume 10, Number 1

Special PowerPoint Section:
* Who's Talkin' Here? You or Your PowerPoint Presentation? by Nick Dvoracek,
UW-Oshkosh
* Is PowerPoint Evil? by Glenda Morgan
* Putting Your PowerPoint Files on Your Course Website

Additional Section:
* A UW Team Creates Online Training Materials for Desire2Learn
* The Merlot Classics 2003
* Meet the Experts, Featuring UW-Madison's Carole Turner
* Where in the World is M. Kayt Sunwood?

TTT welcomes ideas from all UW faculty, academic staff, and students. Contact
Tammy Kempfert at: kempfert@uwsa.edu
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

LINES - November News Highlights

- Education representatives from South Africa, Egypt, Mexico, and the United States
are poised to discuss the role of technology in international education during
International Education week, which runs from Nov 17th-21st. The lead-off event
will be a videoconference conversation that will focus on the importance of learning
about other countries and other cultures, and the positive role technology can play
in international education. This virtual meeting will be Webcast and archived in its
entirety - http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=3772

- UMassOnline, the University of Massachusetts's Web-based learning division,
announced that online education program revenues and enrollments grew 40%
and 33%, respectively, in 2003. Revenues from the combined online programs at
the university exceeded $11 million, up from $7.8 million in 2002, while enrollments
reached 13,375, up from 10,039 in 2002. More than 90% of the revenues are
retained by the UMass campuses to support education and research programs.
" Distance learning is critical to the future of UMass and all of higher education,"
UMass interim President Jack M. Wilson said. "Without it, we cannot adequately
serve students who live far from our campuses or whose work and family lives
make traditional higher education an unattainable goal" -
http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=3725

- To help students learn English any time and anywhere, Fudan University, one
of the top universities in China, has formed a partnership with Asia Broadband
Inc subsidiary Shanghai Telecom to launch the Fudan New English program.
The program consists of 750 hours of interactive and multimedia self-learning
online courseware, 64 units of intensive online teaching video lectures, an
e-magazine, and interactive classrooms. Students also have the opportunity to
opt for the blended learning approach combining the benefits of online multimedia
English training together with the more traditional classroom training methods - http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=3768
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

ED

TABLET PCs AND TEGRITY ARE COUPLED FOR A SUCCESSFUL
COURSE - Stanley Lindsey has discovered a successful way to teach a
collaborative regional engineering program. He uses tablet PCs with the Tegrity
WebLearner (www.tegrity.com) for on-demand and live e-learning. It provides
everything that's needed to achieve the course goals. The technology combination
offers a unique approach that creates effective Web lectures that go far beyond
typical slide-show presentations with "talking head" video or audio. The key
difference is in the technology's ability to interact with the course content - allowing
for writing and drawing in multiple colors, pointing, and highlighting on diagrams -
all while he explains the concepts at his natural speed. The resulting video
modules, he says, are actually more powerful than what he could have taught with
a blackboard in a traditional classroom. For the complete article go to:
http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A4559.cfm (T.H.E. Journal, Nov 03)

TECH SKILLS EVERY FACULTY MEMBER SHOULD KNOW - April E.
Johnson of the University of Mississippi shared her list of seven tech skills every
faculty member should know on a recent LERN online course:

1. Learn how to compose in an html editor that allows you to use font styles, sizes,
and colors to spice up text and to insert images and make tables.
2. Learn where and how you can store images on your institution's web server
and learn to use an ftp program to get the images there or use their network.
3. Learn the above for audio and video as well as what types and sizes of files
your institution can support.
4. Learn how to create hyperlinks to all sources and how to give credit to the
sources.
5. Learn how to make a .ppt (PowerPoint) document into an .html document for
the web.
6. Can you use a browser to search the Internet and use the browser to bookmark
a page and grab an image - if legal?
7. Once you find or create an image, can you use an image editor to change the
size and save it as a web friendly .jpg or .gif? (E-LERN Faculty, 13 Nov 03)

BERKLEE COLLEGE OFFERS FREE ONLINE LESSON SHARING -
Berklee College of Music in Boston is promoting peer-to-peer networks as a
method for musicians to share audio and video clips. The Berklee Shares program
offers 80 different online lessons on writing music, producing, engineering, remixing,
and performing. The lessons, available in QuickTime, MP3, and PDF formats,
complement online and on-campus courses and are available free to anyone who
agrees to the terms set by the school. As with materials from MIT's OpenCourse
Ware and Rice University's Connexions projects, all lessons available through
Berklee Shares are protected by a Creative Commons license. David Kusek,
Berklee's associate vice president, said, "We can enter the file-sharing debate
in a very proactive and positive way. We're demonstrating a legitimate use of the
digital networks to distribute authorized content." The full article is at:
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,61173,00.html (Wired News, 12
Nov 03)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BIZ/GOV/ED

IF CONTENT IS KING, CONTEXT IS QUEEN! - At TechLearn 2003, Elliott Masie
gave a keynote which focused on a number of key trends in the e-Learning field. One
of the themes was CONTEXT. Masie believes that users of e-Learning are deeply
interested in the context elements of any topic as well as the content. Context covers
the wide range of "informal" and usually unauthored information and dialogue that is
so critical to learning and transfer. As colleagues consume asynchronous modules,
they also want to have the CONTEXT, wanting to drill down and talk about how it
" really works". Often, the CONTEXT is more valuable and more highly consumed than
the CONTENT. Yet, few organizations have a Context Management System or
process. Go to: http://www.masie.com (TechLearn Trends, 20 Nov 03)

FCC WIDENS WIRELESS SPECTRUM - Citing growing consumer demand for
wireless networks, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday
reallocated a portion of the 5-GHz spectrum from military to civilian use. Wireless
networks have been installed in a growing number of coffee shops, airports, and
college campuses and offer the promise of delivering high-speed Internet access
to rural and underserved areas without the expense of installing cables. Some
faulted the FCC for its choice of spectrum to transfer, saying the 255 new
frequencies offer poor performance for data networks. Harold Feld, associate
director of the Media Access Project, said that "the combination of the high
frequency and the low power limits mean the stuff won't go far enough." FCC
commissioners disputed this claim, saying technology has already been developed
to use the new frequencies effectively. Edmond Thomas, FCC chief of
engineering and technology, said the signals can travel five miles.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38286-2003Nov13.html
(Washington Post, 14 Nov 03 - Edupage, 14 Nov 03)

GEORGIA TECH TO OFFER eCOMMERCE PROFESSIONAL
CERTIFICATION - Georgia Tech's Electronic Commerce Resource Center will
offer an eCommerce Professional Certificate Program, designed to give participants
the opportunity to learn from industry and educational professionals the framework for
eCommerce integration. Instructors include an eCommerce attorney, a spokesman on
Internet security, large portal planner and developer, and university financial and
marketing professionals. The program includes the role of eCommerce in the business
organization, eCommerce as a sales tool, the latest search engine techniques, and
financial eCommerce security. (Syllabus News Update, 11 Nov 03)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ACCESSIBILITY

GALLAUDET VIDEOCONFERENCE 2004 - The Fourth Annual Conference on
Videoconference and Emerging Video Technology in Deaf Education will be held one
week later than first announced, due to the observance of Passover and Easter. The
new dates are April 18-20, 2004. This conference will continue explorations into
applications of video technology in deaf education and business environments. It is
designed for everyone interested in current and future video technology and its applications
in the deaf community. Presentations will include applications of videoconferencing and
related technologies such as webcasting, video interpreting and relay, as well as curriculum
development and accessibility at the K-12 and post-secondary levels, and general
applications in the deaf community and beyond. This conference has become one of the
most eagerly awaited technology conferences in the field. Please register soon. Seating
is limited to the first 200 registrants. Visit the conference web site for more information
and the registration form: http://academic.gallaudet.edu/videoconf2004./ You may register
before payment is made.

UW 'WEB ACCESSIBILITY FOR ALL' PROJECT - 'Web Accessibility for All' is
a 3-year project that is the result of a partnership between the UW-Madison's Center
on Education and Work and the McBurney Center Disability Resource Center. It is
funded by a federal grant from the Department of Education. The CEW's Interim
Director, Wendy Way, is the Principal Investigator and John Gugerty is the Project
Director.

Currently in its second project year, 'Web Accessibility for All's' mission is to help
UW System staff and faculty make their instructional, administrative and other web
pages and electronic documents, such as PDFs and PowerPoint presentations,
accessible according to the Section 508 Guidelines of the Federal Rehabilitation Act
and the UW System accessibility policy. The project will extend its outreach to
national public institutions of higher education during its third project year.

The 'Web Accessibility for All' project's web evaluation, training, and professional
development services are provided free of charge to UW System departments, units
and campuses. Over the last year, the project team has worked to identify key
stakeholders in all departments, units, and System campuses. The team has trained
these stakeholders in how to conduct website evaluations, resolve the accessibility
issues that arise, and then the stakeholders train others - particularly web designers,
support staff, faculty, teaching and project assistants - within their departments or
campuses. For more information about the project and services, visit:
http://www.cew.wisc.edu/accessibility or contact Anne Gravel Sullivan at:
agsullivan@education.wisc.edu
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TECH/TOOLS

SMALLER CHIPS BUILT USING DNA AS TEMPLATE - In an advance that
might provide a practical method for making molecular-size circuits, the smallest
possible, scientists in Israel used strands of DNA, the computer code of life, to create
tiny transistors that can literally build themselves. "What we've done is to bring biology
to self-assemble an electronic device in a test tube," said Dr. Erez Braun, a professor
of physics at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, and a senior
author of a paper describing the research in the journal Science. The new technique
takes advantage of a biological process known as recombination, where a segment
of DNA is swapped out for an almost identical piece. The cell uses recombination
to repair damaged DNA and to swap genes. A special protein helps connect the
replacement DNA to the desired location. The scientists then coated the DNA with
gold, producing a simple electronic device consisting of the nanotube connected to
gold wires at each end. Current through the nanotube could be switched on or off by
applying an electric field the definition of a transistor. Find the complete article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/21/science/21DNA.html?th (New York Times,
21 Nov 03)

MIT CENTER FUNDS SPEECH RECOGNITION TECH - The MIT Deshpande
Center for Technological Innovation issued its largest grant round since the launch of
the Center a year ago, awarding 13 grants from 45 proposals. The seven Ignition
grants, which fund proof of concept explorations, and six Innovation Program grants,
which further research towards commercialization, total $1.3 million. The grants were
awarded to MIT faculty in the School of Engineering and support a wide range of
emerging technologies, including: a new approach for speech recognition. This risky
new processing approach could be the breakthrough necessary to finally make
speech recognition a reality. (Syllabus News Update, 4 Nov 03)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

READS/RESOURCES

2003 LEARNING STANDARDS REPORT - The Masie Center's e-Learning
Consortium recently released a free report on the current state of Learning Standards:
'Making Sense of Learning Specifications & Standards: A Decision Maker's Guide to
their Adoption' - 2nd Edition. You can download or read this 82 page report (in PDF
format) at: http://www.masie.com/standards/

BEST BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT DISTANCE LEARNING
UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS - Find information about GetEducated.coms
Best Distance Learning Undergraduate Schools: Business & Management 2004.
This free college guidebook profiles more than 100 accredited online colleges in the
USA and is available in PDF (ebook) format.
Online baccalaureate degrees (BA/BS)
Online associate degrees (AS/AA)
Online career certificates
The book profiles only schools accredited by an agency recognized by the Council
on Higher Education Accreditation. http://www.geteducated.com/bdlus_bm.htm
(GetEducated, 12 Nov 03)

F-LIGHT - This month's issue features:
- An article from UMass Lowell about how they used evaluation data both to
validate the quality of their online program and also to make further improvements
- A new addition to F-Light's collection of research ideas for dissertations, grant
proposals, and a study of the kinds of virtual programs that are most likely to
engage students in a way that leads to substantial future support from them as alumni
- an announcement of an online Flashlight workshop, starting later this week, on
using data to get more educational value from technology. This workshop will focus
on evaluating uses of technology to reinforce the seven principles of good practice
(faculty-student contact, student-student interaction, active learning, time on task,
etc.) For the full features go to:
http://www.tltgroup.org/resources/f-light/2003/nov.html (F-LIGHT, Nov 03)

AFT ON CAMPUS - The American Federation of Teachers publication is
running a series of articles on distance education trends. In "Trends in Distance
Education," Sept 03.
http://www.aft.org/publications/on_campus/sept03/technology.html)
Thomas J. Kriger, State University of New York, writes about how "critics of
asynchronous courses and programs within higher education have recently found
unexpected support in the corporate sector." Learners in corporations are
increasingly expressing dissatisfaction with online-only classes. This is leading
to the creation of "blended learning" - courses that combine "face-to-face
teaching with software and Web-based teaching." Such courses also allow
faculty to retain greater control in their distance classes. (CIT INFOBITS,
Nov 03)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

NEW ON THE LIST - Welcome to new subscribers: Rafael Pimentel, Scotty Carroll,
Sulaiman Hashim, Judith Wearing, Lynda L. Mattes, Oliver Oostbrook, Karen
Hollingworth, Debra Anderson, Elizabeth Ann Boeringer, Alicia Dartmoth, and Ellen
Warren-Sanderson.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FYI - News, Events, Conferences

* UCEA 2004 - UCEA is holding its 2004 Workforce Development Forum January
15-16 in San Francisco, CA For full information go to:
http://www.ucea.edu/2004workforce.htm

* LEARNTEC 2004 - This conference is scheduled for February 10-13 in Karlsruhe,
Germany. Complete information can be found at: http://www.learntec.net/.

* SITE 2004 - The Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education
International Conference will be March 1-6 in Atlanta, GA at the Hyatt Regency
Atlanta on Peachtree St. See: http://www.aace.org/conf/site

* EDEN RESEARCH WORKSHOP 2004 - This third annual EDEN workshop,
Supporting the Learner in Distance Education and eLearning, will be held at the Carl
von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg, Germany, March 4-6. Registration information
and program details are on the web at:
http://www.eden.bme.hu/contents/r-net/Oldenburg/oldenburg0.html

* NUTN 2004 - The NUTN Quality in Distance Learning Conference will be
held June 12-14 at The Colony Hotel Kennebunkport, ME For more
information on the program schedule and registration, please visit:
http://www.odu.edu/dl/nutn

* ED-MEDIA 2004 - The World Conference on Educational Multimedia,
Hypermedia, and Telecommunications is scheduled for June 21-26, 2004 in
Lugano, Switzerland. For complete information and to register go to:
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/call.htm

* SCI 2004 - On behalf of the SCI 2004 Organizing Committee, you are invited to
participate in the Eighth World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics, and
Informatics, which will be held in Orlando, FL July 18-21. Full information is at:
http://www.iiisci.org/Journal/SCI/Home.asp

* EISTE 2004 - The International Conference on Education and Information
Systems: Technologies and Applications (EISTA) will be held in Orlando, FL July
21-25. To participate go to: http://www.confinf.org/eista04

*OUTREACH SCHOLARSHIP 2004 - This conference on Impact Through
Engagement is issuing a Call for Proposals for its October 3-5 event. Proposals
are due January 16, 2004. The conference location is The Penn Stater conference
Center Hotel, State college, PA See: http://www.outreachscholarship.org
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ENDNOTE - LAST ISSUE OF DESIEN - This month's issue of DESIEN will be the
last one. Over the past ten years, DESIEN has grown from a University of Wisconsin
newsletter for 64 faculty to one that is read internationally by over 1,100 subscribers
and often forwarded on to others. We hope that it has been a valuable source of
information and have appreciated the periodic comments of its value that some
subscribers have sent.

Thanks to all of the DESIEN information sources that have given me permission to
share their articles, or portions of articles on a regular basis. A special thank you to
Rich Berg of ICS, our Materials Development Specialist, who has so carefully
designed the archive and kept it current.

During the coming year, in addition to my work at ICS, I will be involved with post-
doctoral work in the area of teaching and learning via technology, and will look
forward to sharing my findings and applications when the work is completed.

It has been a pleasure to compile and share the latest distance education
information with you over the years. I hope you enjoy this last issue. We at ICS have
appreciated your subscribership and encourage you to continue to visit the archive at:
http://www.uwex.edu/disted/desien/
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DESIEN ARCHIVE: An Archive has been created for past issues and interaction
comments. To access the archive go to: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/desien/
__________________________________________________
Creator/Editor: Rosemary Lehman, PhD
Instructional Communications Systems
University of Wisconsin-Extension
lehman@ics.uwex.edu
Copyright 2003 Board of Regents
University of Wisconsin System