1. © Blackboard, Inc. All rights reserved. AV Tools Integrating Video Conferencing into Blackboard Hao Dam h.dam@arts.ac.uk IT Research and Development Unit University of the Arts London, UK July 18 th 1.30pm

2. 2 Presentation overview » University of the Arts London and the IT Research & Development Unit » Demonstration of the AV Tools » Developing the AV Tools » Future developments

3. 3 University of the Arts, London » Formerly known as the London Institute » 5 colleges: » Camberwell College of Arts » Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design » Chelsea College of Art and Design » London College of Communication » London College of Fashion » Europe’s largest university for art, design, fashion, communication and the performing arts » Over 35,000 students from over 100 countries » Further education, Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Research degrees

4. 4 IT Research & Development Unit » Promoting and developing technology for learning, teaching and research in Art, Design and Communication, within the University of the Arts, London

5. 5 Overview of Blackboard » Installed in 2002 as main VLE » Provide online blended learning and teaching environments » Currently running Blackboard 5.5.1 Number of courses506 Number of instructors2,401 Number of students35,581 Highest hits per month (Oct '04)1,073,514 Lowest hits per month (Sep '04)286,809 Hits on most active date (10 Jan '05)60,571 Average number of hits per day24,313

6. 6 Building blocks Visual Student RecordsImage Board AV Tools…

7. 7 What are the AV Tools? » A suite of 3 tools, which enable staff and students to communicate, videoconference-style, with other members of their course or organisation.

8. 8 Building the bridge BB Plugin Property configuration folder URL Access to swf BB - Communication tools Client Blackboard.txt Admin Component Links Component Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

9. 9 Overview of Flash Communication Server Client Flash Communication Server Sends/receives data streams Plays SWF using Flash player Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

10. 10 Client 1Client 2 Server Overview of Flash Communication Server Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

11. 11 Flash Communication Server application Overview of Flash Communication Server Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

12. 12 Designing the Flash Applications BB Plugin Blackboard User’s name User’s role Course ID User’s name User’s role Course ID AV Tools Client SWF Admin Component Links Component Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

13. 13 Designing the Flash Applications Flash Communication Server Components Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

14. 14 » Automatic user sign on » User entry messaging » Administrative rights » Playback controls » Record pausing/resuming Designing the Flash Applications Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

15. 15 Chat Archiving & PHP Shared Objects Chat History … Flash Communication Server Flash Application Chat History Instance of AV Room Blackboard Client ? Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

16. 16 Flash Application Chat History Instance of AV Room Chat Archiving & PHP Flash Communication Server Blackboard Client.html … Web Server PHP.html View archives Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

17. 17 AV Message & FTP Adapted from Flash Communication documentation.flv ….fso Flash Communication Server AV Message Board API.flv.fso

18. 18 AV Message & FTP Adapted from Flash Communication documentation FC Server Application Folder FTP Server Virtual Path Web Server Zip file.swf Client.zip PHP FTP Mapping.flv

19. 19 Using XML Adapted from Flash Communication documentation Client.swf ?.flv

20. 20 Using XML Adapted from Flash Communication documentation Client Zip file.swf.xml.swf.flv.xml.flv PHP

21. 21 System architecture & HTTP Tunneling Adapted from Flash Communication documentation Blackboard FC Server Web Server running PHP FTP Server Server MachineClient 1935 Firewall 80

22. 22 System architecture & HTTP Tunneling Adapted from Flash Communication documentation FC Server Server Machine 2 Client 1935 Firewall Port 80 Web Server running PHP FTP Server Server Machine 1

23. 23 Future Developments » Security » Reducing Latency » Turn-taking mechanism » PDA Version

24. 24 Thank you all for listening » Question? Hao Dam h.dam@arts.ac.uk IT Research and Development Unit University of the Arts London, UK