Jason Erickson http://www.stickpeople.com/projects/de/index.html Title of Project and Summary -------------------------------------------------------------------------- DE (de-ee) - The Distance Education device The Distance Education (DE) device will demonstrate the use of a set-top box (National Semiconductor SP1SC10) as an educational training tool. It will combine the use of video, along with the communication capabilities and intractability of a computer device, to allow a unified and enhanced learning environment. The Opportunity -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Distance education is increasing becoming common place at many educational institutions. At the lowest level, distance education allows student(s) to be taught by a teacher that is not at the same physical location. Existing technology is then used to bridge the instructional gap. This allows workers to updated their skills and knowledge, provides college education opportunities, and reach people that are disadvantaged by time, distance, or even physical ability. Distance education today can consists of technology in four different categories: * voice - audio tapes, telephone, audio conferencing * video - slides, video tapes, video conferencing * data - email, Web, electronic teaching material * print - books, papers, study guides, workbooks, handouts Opportunities lie in unifying the above categories. The DE device will look at combining primarily video and data. Over the past year, I have taken two distance-learning courses from the local university, SDSM&T (South Dakota School of Mines and Technology). How this works is that about 1 1/2 weeks after the class was held, I would receive a video cassette tape in the mail. I would then log on to the class web site and download any instructional material for that week. I could then watch the lecture. Any assignments that I needed to complete would be emailed to the instructor. For tests, I was required to find a proctor and setup a time to take the test with them. Since I am located close to the school's campus, I chose to setup a time with the department and took the test there. The DE set-top box is able to improve the following situations: - It takes over a week since the class was held and I receive the video. It could be converted to a digital format and therefore downloaded, having a shorter distribution time. This option might not be viable for people who do not have broadband internet, like in a rural part of the country, but would be a good option for those that do have it. - Tapes currently cost a little over $1.00 for a T-60 tape. The class could be distributed on CD-Rs, cutting the cost of the media in half, and possibly cutting the cost of mailings as well. Distributing the class on CD-Rs would also allow electronic material to be distributed with it, instead of the need to obtain it separately. A disadvantage may be the loss of investments in existing VCR duplication equipment and the need to purchase CD-R duplication equipment. - The two devices, a VCR and a computer, needed to previously take advantage of the class is now one device. - A student could have more interaction with the lecture that is currently being viewed. In class assignments could be completed on the DE device before the lecture continued. An email can be sent while the student is watching the class lecture if the student had questions over what was 'presently' being discussed. Tests could be taken on the DE device, but might not be desired because of concerns with cheating. Features of the prize package that will be used -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The DE device will use the following features: IR Keyboard NTSC Output S-Video Output Audio Output 56K Modem 10/100Mb Ethernet DVD ROM Drive Floppy drive Creation software will also be coded, that will also work on the reference platform. That might make use of the following features: NTSC Input S-Video Input Audio Input PS2 Port 10/100Mb Ethernet IEEE 1394 Interface DVD ROM Drive Qualifications -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I graduated from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T) in 1997 with a Computer Engineering degree. For a year after graduating from SDSM&T, I worked for Dakota Scientific Software (DSS), writing SPARC assembly functions, porting DSS's mathematical libraries to Linux, and hand optimizing FORTRAN programs. For the past 3 1/2 years, I have been an embedded systems programmer for Comuniq, programming on an Intel i960 embedded processor for their Voice over IP (VoIP) solution. My responsibilities have been to design and develop the chip driver interface for the Infinion PEB2254 T1/E1 line interface chip and port a third party ISDN signaling stack to our system. On a part time basis, I have administered a FreeBSD System for the last 5 years for a company that hosts about 20 web sites, having the responsibility to rebuild/update the OS, configure Apache, sendmail, DNS, and ftp servers. For freelance work, I have written a Windows WDM device driver for a USB device. Software Plan -------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the DE device side, WebMedia is planned to be used and enhanced via it's plugin architecture. The enhancements need to be able to allow the following: In-class assignments. On-screen assignments, with the ability to submit them via email. On-screen tests, with the ability to submit them via email. Remote retrieving of lectures, from either the modem or ethernet port to the local hard drive. Management of lectures that are downloaded (delete, view). Allow other digital media to be included. The extent of digital media needs to be experimented with because of limitations of the output device (the TV). A paper distributed as a PDF file might not display well on the TV or it might be cumbersome to scroll both up/down and left/right if zoomed in to readable levels. Other digital media also under consideration is sounds and text documents. The plugin(s) will be written in C. Depending on the approach of packaging the lecture, a database such as PostgreSQL or MySQL database may be used. Addition software may be required for other digital media, such as Ghostscript or Adobe Acrobat Reader, or the SOX sound library for converting/playing sounds. The creator side will require a program that would put together the lecture and package it up. It will need to digitalize the input stream and allow insertion of any of the following: In-class assignments - Assignments that are done 'in class' On-screen assignments - Assignments to do for the next class period Tests - Taking a test Include any other digital media (handouts, lecture notes) for use. The creator will be written in C/C++, Python, Java, or a combination thereof. A demonstration web site will be created as well, to demonstrate the remote receiving of lectures, built upon either Apache or Zope. Additional Hardware -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just a consumer TV will be required for the device. For the creation software, there is a need to get video into the system. A VCR, video camera, or USB video camera will be used for this. CD-Rs will be recorded on another system, since the reference platform does not have a CD-R recorder. Future Potential -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Although this is being promoted as a use for distance education, it could also be used as an educational training device as well. This concept could also be taken a step further and slightly modified by allowing the lectures to be streamed over a CATV system at a predetermined time instead of distributing via CDs or Internet. This is not viable for distance education students, because their numbers are typically small, their distance varied, and their time availability differ. This might would work for a small university cable system that a majority students reside on campus. References for the project -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have consulted some people at SDSM&T in regards to this idea and would continue to do so throughout the development of this project. I will also take advantage of the Linux4TV site: http://www.linux4.tv