5. Connecting Useful Peripherals

To be able to create an engaging and varied video lecture, it is important to have some extra peripherals. Her are some examples.

Computer Presentations
Presentation software programs like Microsoft PowerPoint, are popular tools within video conferencing. Presenters use these tools to prepare slides for their presentations. These slides can then be transmitted through the videoconferencing system as a second video stream by loading them on a laptop computer, and afterwards connecting the laptop to the video system. By using the mouse they will be transferred during the teacher’s presentation. After the video conference, the teacher may easily upload the slides into the learning management system (LMS), whereby students might view them at their convenience. The teacher might also want to print slides as handouts, typically as 3 or 4 on a page. By distributing them to participants before video session starts, it will significantly reduce the amount of note taking required and allow more interaction and participation. The students can then add their own notes on the distributed material.

Figure 1: A digital whiteboard

A digital whiteboard allows the teacher to stand while he is writing and talking, which is the normal situation for a teacher. Of course, it is important to maintain learning environments where the teacher has maximum experience and keep number of new technical challenges low, especially the first times he is giving video lectures. The digital whiteboard is not connected directly to the video conferencing codec. It is connected to a PC, which, again, is connected to a video projector so that the teacher and everyone in the same room really can see what is written or visualized on a projecting screen.

Document Camera
The document camera is a versatile tool that can enhance instruction in a variety of ways. It might be used to zoom in on a small (2D or 3D) object, and transfer the picture through the video conference such that all locations connected can look at it in parallel. The teacher might use it by writing on a paper, or demonstrate fine motor skill processes that would be difficult to view otherwise. Such a camera will capture a full color, three dimensional, slowly moving image.

The document camera can also serve as a video switching station by virtue of the video input ports that most document cameras have. A computer that is interconnected to a digital blackboard can be plugged into one of the ports via a converter, whereby it is easy to scan pictures that are displayed at the document camera directly into the digital blackboard. It might also act as an additional camera, slide projector or other video source that might be utilized through the document camera.

Figure 2: A document camera

Figure 3: A tablet to draw and write on, besides operating your connected PC from this table screen.

In the video clip below, the connection of different peripherals are demonstrated.