Ectus Media e-learning tool
Introduction
New Zealand-owned Asnet Technologies Limited is the authorised distributor of the entire Polycom® Office, including the full range of voice, video and web-based conferencing products and management tools. Two of these products are Ectus Media and Ectus Place.
Ectus Media allows streaming of live video conferences to PCs with users able to interact in real-time via an integrated chat facility.
Introduction
New Zealand-owned Asnet Technologies Limited is the authorised distributor of the entire Polycom® Office, including the full range of voice, video and web-based conferencing products and management tools. Two of these products are Ectus Media and Ectus Place.
Ectus Media allows streaming of live video conferences to PCs with users able to interact in real-time via an integrated chat facility. It also records the conference, indexes and makes the content available. Ectus Place links the content with a collaborative environment for e-learning. Ectus Media can also be used to deliver pre-recorded digital video or presentations.
Government Sponsorship
The company received a $300,000 grant from Technology New Zealand for research and development and a $20,000 Business Development grant from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise for branding strategy.
The advertising material shows a single leader talking to several listeners in a single room, and this is the limitation of Ectus Media 200 – it can only have two concurrent connections, and a limitation of 10,000 page views per day. At the top end Ectus Media 800 allows eight H.323 connections with up to 50,000 page views per day.
Off-line Access
Participants do not need to remain connected to the network to access collaborative material – including online conversations. With News Reader access and email integration, participants and hosts can minimise their connect time.
Ectus Place expands the useability of Ectus Media by adding chat, integrated email, and search of recorded conferencing. The advertising blurb suggests uses such as:
1. Brainstorm: Collaboratively develop, discuss and rate ideas
2. Workbooks: Create personal journals, ePortfolios, drop-boxes etc.
3. Wiki: Collaborative web page development
4. Peer Review: Quick and easy set up of peer review and assessment tasks
5. Personal Calendar: Comprehensive web-based calendar
6. Shared Calendars: Simple or comprehensive group calendars
7. Weblogs: Standards based blogging
8. File Management: Make file stores available through the web
9. Message Attachments: Attach multiple files to messages
10. Inline Images: Image .les displayed in messages “inline ”
11. User Photos: User controlled photos and personal pro .les
12. Instant Messaging: Self-contained web based Instant Messenger service
13. Who ’s Online: Quickly see who else is logged in.
TeleTeaching
TeleTeaching Via Videoconference is steadily climbing, as teachers from schools and tertiary institutions undertake asnet's 3 day Certificate in TeleTeaching course - 'Mai te Hui-Ataata' - Via Videoconference. Begun 18 months ago, the intensive 3-day workshops have seen over 140 graduates from 15 courses. The Certificate in TeleTeaching courses sprang from a need to transfer good teaching practice into the videoconference environment, with particular requirements to suit the wharekura's need to teach and learn in Te Reo Maori.
Graduate TeleTeachers thus far are from Wharekura, Paerangi, East Coast schools, from ICTPD school providers, and Otago rural secondary schools.
Denise Hansen from asnet is facilitator, with Mercia Dawn Yates as Maori co-facilitator where this is required. Teachers work 'on-line' between two videoconferenced classrooms, adapting their sample resources and teaching style to suit the medium. Best teaching practice reigns for the 3 days.
Feedback from workshop evaluation forms has given clear indication that teachers are highly motivated by the new skills gained. And as a bonus, teaching in front of colleagues, hearing their feedback, and evaluating others as they teach, is of enormous value, and is often a first in their teaching careers.
Find out more from the Ectus website.
Posted by Heather Absalom-Smith at May 2, 2005 03:04 PM
