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Rich Media >> Get Rich Quick
7/22/2005
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BANDWIDTH PROBLEMS don't impede distance |
“For both students and faculty members, this simple approach really d'es enhance everyday goings-on around Wharton,” says Ditto. “We found this was the best way to build upon what happens in our classrooms.”
Because it is asynchronous, the Wharton solution addresses one of the most prevalent stumbling blocks for rich media: bandwidth. Generally speaking, most interactive technologies sap gigabytes of network bandwidth, so institutions that run mission-critical applications on the same network may not have much bandwidth left for the rich media apps.
Another element of the bandwidth issue revolves around student connections: Streaming connections require 150 Kbps of bandwidth, or roughly one-third of standard DSL line throughput. Short of requiring all students to have a connection of minimum speed, there’s no foolproof way for a school to ensure that all students are connecting at speeds that enable them to follow instructors in real time. In most cases, when bandwidth is an issue on either side, at least some students will experience five- or 10-second delays, effectively rendering the benefits of rich media useless.
To ensure that bandwidth isn’t a problem for their students, technologists at the College of Engineering at Villanova University (PA) have whipped up a blend of old-fashioned technology and even more archaic transportation. At the end of every distance education class, IT staffers help faculty members wrap class materials into Zip files, usually no larger than 150MB. Next, depending on a student’s connection, the staffers either make these Zip files available for standard download, or they burn the files onto a CD-ROM and then spend $5 or $10 to overnight it via the US Postal Service. With this approach, Seán O’Donnell, director of Distance Education, says that instead of downgrading quality to serve the lowest common denominator, the school is able to respond to the individual needs of students with all types of connections.
“We’re ready for anything,” he boasts. “But believe me, if you’re a distance education student paying for one of our distance education classes, you wouldn’t want to go into the race with a Pinto, you’d want a Porsche.”
Stumbling Points
As O’Donnell explains, schools can work to eliminate bandwidth as a problem for rich media on campus. One obstacle that has established itself as a more formidable challenge to the development of rich media is “educator comfort.” According to IIT’s Kapp, educators in fields such as engineering and science are comfortable enough with technology to explore new products as they come out. However, in fields such as English and history, where educators don’t rely on technology nearly as much or as frequently, Kapp says faculty familiarity with rich media drops dramatically, necessitating a learning curve that can debilitate a push for change.
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