TELECONFERENCING

TELECONFERENCING

INTRODUCTION

  As we know face to face interaction is the traditional standard for holding conferences. However holding of such conferences becomes a tedious task when the people involved in these conferences are located at a long distance. The time, money and energy spent in bringing people together for these conferences create numerous problems. The alternate lies in changing to teleconferencing by leaving behind the traditional face to face conferencing. Historically speaking, teleconferencing was first introduced in the 1960’s with American Telephone and Telegraph’s Picture.

TELECONFERENCING

    It is an interactive group communication or a real time interaction between two or more people in two or more locations through an electronic medium.

DEFINITION

    Teleconferencing is real time interaction between two or more people located apart. In other words, sitting at a great distance from each other, can take part in some discussion of the desired subject, can speak and hear and can get responses/reactions/opinions and can change necessary information.

                                                                                                  -Kulshreshtha and Sinha (1998)

NEEDED MATERIALS

             Teleconferencing requires more than one telephone line or mutually connected devices which are called contact system. Each device is connected to the other. Handset, headset, speaker phone and radio telephone are needed for contact.

TYPES OF TELECONFERENCING

Teleconferencing is held in three ways. They are:

1. Audio conferencing
2. Video conferencing
3. Computer conferencing

AUDIO CONFERENCING

Audio conferencing is nothing but a natural extension of the person to person telephone call for enabling communication and conversation among more than two persons at a time. Audio conferencing uses regular telephone lines provided by the local public telephone companies.

VIDEO CONFERENCING

In Video conferencing, face to face discussion is held using television and audio aids. It helps not only to communicate orally but also to have face to face dialogue and communication in simulation by making use of television and audio system. Here we can listen as well as view the faces and actions of the people interacting with us in conferencing.

COMPUTER CONFERENCING

            Here we can communicate text and graphics to participants to make access it with the help of their own personal computers. It helps the participants to communicate with each other by making use of computer technology. Computer conferencing can also help us to view the faces and actions of people under conversation through web cameras. Such form of conferencing has an extra advantage as it permits people to participate at different times according to their convenience. Here the transmitted communication may be stored for being used by a participant as and when he finds time and opportunity for working on the computer. In this way, here all participants need not be on line at their computer terminals at the same time. They can respond later on at their convenience.

MODE OF TELECONFERENCING

Audio system conferencing involving transmission across telephone lines may be considered as one of the most economic and viable means of teleconferencing. It can be further improved by being named as audio plus transmission system and supplemented through some means of visual display like below

1.            We can make use of Fax. So that electronic copies of pieces of type written information may be transmitted to the participants

2.            We can make use of electronic chalk board. Here what is written on the board can be converted in to digital information.

3.            We can make use of video text system i.e. teletext. Here we can send the digital information with text and graphics to the participants for viewing on their monitors.

In the mode of transmission in video conferencing video images are beamed back to participants from a special computer used as a “reflector”. This reflector can host multiple sites and hence several institutions located at varying distances can meet at once to hold discussion on an important theme or subject. In case you desire to hold such video conferencing for the benefit for the students of your school; you must have necessary preparation for this purpose based on the objectives you want to achieve from such conferencing. As a matter of beginning it is better to limit the partner sites to one or two by working on useful themes like below;

·         Students of social studies classes can collect and tabulate data about local geographical features and meet to share the outcomes

·         Students of science classes can collect leaves of indigenous trees and compare their colors and characteristics as the seasons change

·         Students of language class can write and share ideas of their own composition, have evaluation of some literary piece etc.

·         Students can work on a joint project by adopting the mode of teleconferencing

·         Students can hold such conferencing at the end of a unit of study in the subjects of their curriculum for sharing ideas and information for the better understanding and application of the learned material

In computer conferencing web pages may contain quite useful information regarding the theme or the subject of conference. At the most basic level, it is the ability to hold a conference where participants can listen by phone and simultaneously see visuals through their web browser. One as an Organiser can control what the participants see keeping everyone on the same page, and can use drawing tools to emphasis points. You can even allow participants to add comments and drawings to a presentation or hand off conference control to another participant entirely.

An institution can initiate a dialogue by placing a theme, subject or point of discussion on the web page and then encourage the viewers scattered around a vast region for playing their roles as participants in such web conferencing communication we know that a picture is worth a thousand words and web conferencing letters shape pictures, graph, slides and software’s with the interested participants thousands of miles away from us.

EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES OF TELECONFERENCING

1. It saves money; time and energy of the participants by allow them to participate in the conference from their own places.
2. It offers a good source of communication in the form of exchange of ideas and knowledge, sharing of experiences and execution of common projects, doing surveys and investigations etc.
3. It can help students and teachers for getting upto date information and experiences related to their topics
4. Teleconferencing reduces the chances of waste of time and other resources as usually happens in traditional conferencing
5. Members can participate more freely and more  equally with their adequate preparation
6. It has made possible a unit collaboration and corporation among the subject experts, teachers and students of diversified capabilities and interests of enriching their thrust of knowledge

CONCLUSION

Teleconferencing offers a means of interacting with others at remote places by circumventing travel costs, time and associated problems. Educational applications pertain to communication with the group of learners at different campuses and in different organisations. Further applications include information sharing and consultation.