Room Concept
The Distance Education Room located in room A304 of the General Building, is UT Memphis' newest interactive video classroom. It is one of the finest facilities of its type in the University of Tennessee Educational Network (EDNET) and contains unique and innovative capabilities.

User Friendly: The room is designed to give the teacher maximum control while maintaining an amazing ease of operation. The configuration of all equipment and teaching resources have been specifically designed to be operated completely by one person...the teacher. It is not necessary to have an engineer or technician present to operate the room successfully.

Two Operating Modes: The room operates in two modes which give the teacher maximum flexibility in controlling the teaching/learning environment - the Teaching Mode and the Conference Mode.

Teaching Mode
In this mode all students, including those in the room with the teacher as well as those at the remote site, see exactly the same thing. Thus any slides, videotapes, or other graphics, as well as the face of the teacher, are seen by all students at the same time on the video monitors in their room. This helps ensure that the quality of instruction received by all students, both local and remote, is the same. Also, since slides are no longer projected on a screen but go directly into the television system, all students see a much higher quality image since it is no longer necessary to dim the lights.

Conference Mode
In this mode the students at both sites, local and remote, see each other simultaneously. This mode may be used during question and answer sessions, student presentations, or any other activity which requires face-to-face video interaction of the students. When the room is in this mode it may also be used as a conventional video-conferencing room in which interactive video meetings may be held with colleagues or students at remote sites. The teacher may switch back and forth between modes at any time simply by pressing a button.

Interactive Video Teaching Station
One of the most unique characteristics of A304 is the Interactive Video Teaching Station. The teaching station is made up of a standing-height desk configured with elmo, 'pen pal', slide projector, and two vcr's (see Figure 1). An adjustable chair is provided which matches the height of the table. In this way the teacher has the option of either standing or sitting while teaching. There is a small preview monitor at the teaching station which lets the teacher preview slides, videotapes, or elmo documents, before showing them to the students.

Using the Interactive Video Teaching Station
The teaching station also includes a camera and two large monitors directly in front of the teacher, but below the eye level of the students in the room with you. This arrangement enables you to easily and constantly monitor the remote site as well as what the students are seeing. Using the features and capabilities of the teaching station might be compared to driving a car...a luxury car with all the power options! Just as you have two side-mirrors to attend to in your car (left and right), there are two monitors that the teacher must to attend to (see Figure 2). The first monitor (on the left) shows the students at the remote site. The second monitor (on the right) shows what is being transmitted and seen by the students.

The camera focused on you is located right between the two main monitors of the teaching station. In this way, when you are looking at either monitor the students see you 'looking' at them since you are facing the camera directly. This feature provides the students at either the local or remote site with a more 'intimate' teaching/learning experience since, no matter from what angle a student views the monitor, you appear to be talking directly to that individual. This is also true of the students in the room with you since, unless they are sitting in the middle of the front row, many students tend to watch the closest monitor which actually gives them a better view of you than looking all the way down the room to the teaching station in front. Also, students in the middle of the front row will tend to see you looking directly at them since the monitors and camera are set just below the desk level of the first row.

Click on one of the pictures below to see a larger view of the Teaching Station:

Effective Interactive Video Instruction
Although the design of the room and its equipment configuration is intended to make teaching as easy as possible in this new environment, certain guidelines should be followed in order to make the most effective use of the distance education facility.

1. Always be aware of what your students are seeing! Just as you must constantly glance at your rear- and side-view mirrors on your car when driving on the freeway, you must constantly monitor the screens in front of you...especially the one on the right which shows what your students are seeing.

2. Teach to the camera. Always try to look directly at the camera when presenting material to the students. Try not to teach to the students in the room with you but, rather, to the monitor which shows the students at the remote site. Due to the slope of the lecture hall, if you look at the students in the room, the students at both the remote site as well as the local students looking at the monitors will see you looking up over their heads. This view of the teacher can be quite unflattering as well as disconcerting to the students.

3. Prepare all materials in advance. Prepare your charts, graphs, documents in advance. Although the elmo can be used to draw figures or write words in response to specific questions, it is poor practice to prepare your documents 'on the fly'. An hour of class time in an interactive video format does not equal an hour of class time in a standard lecture hall format so it is important to be as organized as possible.

4. Prepare a class time schedule. It is a good idea to prepare a schedule sheet for yourself which lists the topics you will present or the graphics you will show with an estimate of what time during the hour you will show them. Remember, at the end of the allotted time for the transmission, BellSouth simply disconnects you with no warning or grace period. You want to be sure that you have achieved all the instructional goals you set for the hour before time runs out. In order to give yourself some breathing room it is good practice to plan to be finished about 10 minutes before BellSouth is scheduled to disconnect the line.

5. Frequently engage the remote students. It is easy for the students at the remote site to feel 'disconnected' from the teacher they are seeing and hearing on their television monitors. Only you can keep the remote students from feeling disconnected. It is good practice to periodically stop and ask if there are any questions or comments and to call specifically on the remote students first. See the separate attached Suggestions for Encouraging Remote Student Interaction.

6. Become familiar with the equipment. Using the interactive video teaching station is comparable to driving a car. You have to attend to a number of things at the same time all the while you are moving along fairly quickly. The equipment on the teaching station includes (1) an elmo for showing paper documents or three dimensional objects, (2) a video slide projector (carousel type), (3) two vcr's - one to playback your tapes and one to record the entire class, and (4) a Pen Pal which enables you to control the equipment. Several important points should be noted concerning this equipment. First, the elmo not only shows paper documents and three dimensional items, it is also the control center for showing slides or videotapes. Hint: Try to avoid using transparencies on the elmo! Not only do transparencies not show up as well as paper documents on the monitors, the fluorescent light on the elmo table produces a glare under your chin and nose which gives your face an eerie Halloween-mask look when you switch back to the teacher camera.

The Pen Pal is the control center of the entire interactive video teaching station. Although it has many capabilities, the Pen Pal has been programmed to be as easy to use as possible. A copy of the Pen Pal layout is shown on the following page with an indication of its functions. The Pen Pal has been programmed so that only 5 buttons will give you all the control you need to produce a first rate interactive video class. These buttons, shown on the diagram on the other side of this page are:

* Preset A: Shows a close-up of your head and shoulders. Recommended when you are lecturing.

* Preset B: Shows you from the waist up and includes a large section of the blackboard. Recommended when you are doing blackboard work. (Make sure blackboard light is on.) This preset may also be used as a general lecturing setting if preferred.

* Preset C: Shows the students on the LEFT side of the classroom. Recommended for student questions or discussion.

* Preset D: Shows the students on the RIGHT side of the classroom. Recommended for student questions or discussion.

* Camera 4: Switches control to the elmo so you may show documents, models, slides, or videotapes.

There are a number of other sophisticated optional features of the Pen Pal which are not necessary for effective interactive video teaching but which are available for the advanced user. The teaching station also includes a mode switch which easily permits you to switch the room from teaching mode to conference mode as often as you wish.

Training for the use of interactive video teaching station will be regularly scheduled. If you have any questions, or wish to arrange for special training sessions please call Dr. Raoul A. Arreola at 448-6123.

See schedule for distance education seminars.