ONLINE EDUCATION GETS SHOT IN THE ARM

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Updated : September 9, 2013 00:30  am,dubai
By editor

Universities in the region have an opportunity to reach thousands more students thanks to a cheaper online learning platform recently launched by Visionaire

Visionaire is leveraging its UC capabilities to deliver the classroom of the future in the region through open source technology.

Visionaire, with its partner company Arrive Systems, has brought the Matterhorn OpenCast technology in the UAE with hopes of providing local universities with an economical online platform to deliver classes to many more students.

The OpenCast technology was collaboratively built by Berkeley and ETH Zurich universities. Thirteen universities then joined the Matterhorn OpenCast Project to produce the lecture capture solution on a large scale and built the entire platform.

Visionaire will work as system integrators for the project. “Our partner company Arrive builds the capture hardware based on specifications provided,” said Aseem Gupta, Chief Visionary at Visionaire.  “Matterhorn is a large server software that does all the injecting of the video, creating and optimizing it for the internet and then catalogues, publishes and extracts it to make it ideal for a student to re-repeat these lectures on a regular basis. So, when you combine the hardware and software, this becomes a very powerful solution.”

OpenCast, according to its promoters, is an open source based community that works in collaboration of individuals, higher education institutions and organizations to develop best practices and technologies for management of audio-visual content in academia. The community shares experiences with existing technologies and practices, thus identifying future approaches and requirements. The community also seeks broad participation to allow members share expertise and experiences and collaborate in related projects.

Most people are reluctant when they hear “Open Source”, according to Aseem. Linux has however shown how successful open source technology can become. “Matterhorn is built on this scale and one can do thousands of classes at a time using this method,” said Aseem.

The OpenCast technology provides the ability to virtually archive and broadcast training, lecture and classroom sessions over the internet for “timeless” views while creating a library of rich media resources for use by educators and trainers. The video is offered in Full HD, integrated with voice and presentation feeds and presented on any connected device, mobile or fixed to display video, voice and presentation on the same screen.

The Arrive ViewPoint solution from Arrive Systems is based on OpenCast platform and offers the HD low-cost lecture recording appliance. This solution removes the need for a dedicated computer capture agent at the presenters’ side, reducing connectors, space and power consumption, maintenance, spares and backups. This can in turn save money, thus simplifying installation and increasing reliability with fewer devices in the classroom, explained Aseem.

“What we are giving is the opportunity to be able to create this new blend of learning solution for our clients, and we sell the hardware and the service,” said Aseem.

Despite the obvious benefits, adoption of lecture capture technology in the region has been hindered by the high cost of proprietary software. Commercial lecture capture solutions are very expensive and the software alone can cost an institution around 60,000USD, according to Aseem. The institution will still have to invest in the capture hardware and with the addition of microphones and cameras in the classroom, the cost adds up to an additional 18,000-20,000USD per classroom.  The proprietary software itself is locked and one has to go back to the vendors for any additional services or upgrades.

Matterhorn on the other hand is offering this open solution for free. “Matterhorn was built by universities, for universities and so they decided to keep it open. The system is free and will cost nothing for the licenses,” said Aseem.

Universities generally operate under very tight budgets. The few universities that can afford the CAPEX do not even have the means to sustain the system. UAE University will be the first institution in the region to implement the Matterhorn system, a project that will be running before the second half of this year. Visionaire will install the system in 85 classrooms.

Visionaire has been providing lecture capture technology since 2005 but with few takers because of the high cost overlay. This time around, Visionaire is hoping to make money on volume. “We will be able to sell more of the open source solution rather than a few expensive ones as a lot more schools can now afford this solution,” said Aseem. Visionaire will install the Arrive solution for around 3,500 USD per classroom.