© Blackboard, Inc. All rights reserved. AV Tools Integrating Video Conferencing into Blackboard Hao Dam [email protected] IT Research and Development Unit.

© Blackboard, Inc. All rights reserved.

AV ToolsIntegrating Video Conferencing into BlackboardHao Dam [email protected] Research and Development Unit University of the Arts London, UK

July 18th 1.30pm

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Presentation overview

» University of the Arts London and the IT Research & Development Unit

» Demonstration of the AV Tools» Developing the AV Tools» Future developments

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University of the Arts, London» Formerly known as the London Institute» 5 colleges:

» Camberwell College of Arts» 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

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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

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Overview of Blackboard

» Installed in 2002 as main VLE» Provide online blended learning and

teaching environments» Currently running Blackboard 5.5.1

Number of courses 506Number of instructors 2,401Number of students 35,581Highest hits per month (Oct '04) 1,073,514Lowest hits per month (Sep '04) 286,809Hits on most active date (10 Jan '05) 60,571Average number of hits per day 24,313

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Building blocksVisual Student Records Image Board

AV Tools…

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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.

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Building the bridge

BB Plugin Property configuration folder

URL

Access to swf

BB - Communication tools

Client

Blackboard

.txtAdmin

Component

LinksComponent

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

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Overview of Flash Communication Server

Client

Flash Communication Server

Sends/receives data streams

Plays SWF using Flash player

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

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Client 1 Client 2

Server

Overview of Flash Communication Server

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

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Flash Communication Server application

Overview of Flash Communication Server

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

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Designing the Flash Applications

BB Plugin

Blackboard

User’s nameUser’s roleCourse ID

User’s nameUser’s roleCourse ID

AV Tools

Client

SWF

AdminComponent

LinksComponent

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

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Designing the Flash Applications

Flash Communication Server Components

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

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» Automatic user sign on» User entry messaging» Administrative rights» Playback controls» Record pausing/resuming

Designing the Flash Applications

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

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Chat Archiving & PHP

Shared Objects

Chat History

…Chat History

Chat History

Flash Communication Server

Flash ApplicationChat History

Instance of AV Room

Blackboard Client

?

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

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Flash ApplicationChat History

Instance of AV Room

Chat Archiving & PHPFlash Communication Server

Blackboard Client

.html

….html .html

Web Server

PHP

PHP .html

View archives

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

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AV Message & FTP

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

.flv…

.fso

Flash Communication Server

AV Message BoardAPI

.flv .fso

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AV Message & FTP

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

FC Server

ApplicationFolder

FTP Server

VirtualPath

Web Server

Zip file

.swf

Client

.zip

PHP

FTP

Mapping

.flv

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Using XML

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

Client

.swf? .flv

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Using XML

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

Client

Zip file .swf.xml.swf .flv .xml .flv

PHP

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System architecture & HTTP Tunneling

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

Blackboard

FC Server

Web Server running PHP

FTP Server

Server Machine Client

1935

Firewall

80

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System architecture & HTTP Tunneling

Adapted from Flash Communication documentation

FC Server

Server Machine 2

Client1935

Firewall

Port 80

Web Server running PHP

FTP Server

FTP Server

Server Machine 1

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Future Developments

» Security» Reducing Latency» Turn-taking mechanism» PDA Version

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Thank you all for listening

» Question?

Hao Dam [email protected] Research and Development Unit University of the Arts London, UK