Hello Centra, give me heaven.
December 2, 2009 12:41 PM   Subscribe

Does anyone have recommendations for portable (and possibly idiot-proof) equipment to use for synchronous classroom sessions made available via Saba Centra?

I'm working on a project to help adapt some university classes for easier access by distance learners. Interestingly, the instructional design/pedagogy aspect is the easy part. The trickier part is putting together an affordable recommendation for portable, easy-to-use equipment that will play nicely with Saba Centra.

I know... Centra can work with just about anything. It's not a technical compatibility question. Rather, I'm looking for suggestions based on first-hand expertise about putting together an equipment package with the following components that work together elegantly.

* A laptop or tablet PC... if it's a laptop, we'd need a tablet or e-ink pen mouse for whiteboard-type functionality.

* A VOIP audio conferencing solution for bi-directional audio. I've seen Polycom's USB-compatible VOIP conference phones as an example, but can't find anyone who's actually used one.

* A cam for sending an image of the instructor out. (We might enable video for distance learners in the future, but this is our starting point.) This cam could be integrated with the audio system if such a product exists.

Other parameters: portability is key. This equipment will float from classroom to classroom as needed. Also, these classrooms are smallish, conference-room type environments (seating 12-20 people, typically), so we're looking for appropriately sized solutions from that perspective too.

Oh, and this configuration will mostly be used by technophobic professors, so there's that.

Again, I don't really need an idea of what equipment could work. I'm looking for suggestions based on real experience. Thanks!
posted by j-dawg to Technology (1 answer total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: Ah well... sometimes even AskMeFi gets stumped. But as a followup, here's where we are with this project. For our pilot class, we've assembled three pieces of equipment to use in concert with each other and with Centra:

* A ClearOne 150 USB VOIP conference phone. Oddly, the bigger players in the conference phone market (e.g. Polycom) don't really make USB devices suitable for conference rooms and classrooms. I've been really happy with the quality of this device, although it might get a little tough to use in larger rooms and with larger groups. This phone has been particularly useful in destroying myths that have developed among faculty that Centra doesn't have good enough audio quality for classroom use; the real problem is that folks haven't had the right tech pared with the software.

* A Logitech Orbit AF Webcam. The nice thing about the Orbit is that it can automatically track a speaker and pan/tilt/zoom appopriately. The bad part is that it does it by face(s) instead of by sound, so we really can't use it as seamlessly as we hoped during roundtable discussions. I'm sure we'll settle into a comfortable routine, but as far as I can tell, no one sells a USB based camera that tracks by speaker like pro videoconferencing equipment does. (Pair such a device with a high quality USB conference phone, and someone could make a lot of money, I suspect.)

* A Lenovo X200 Tablet. On the one hand, this is a great tablet; easily the best I've ever used. And it's a bulletproof machine, ideal for shuffling around classrooms. On the other hand, as a category, tablets seem poised to make a big leap forward in the next few months, so I wish we'd had a little more time to make a move. I suspect when we buy additional equipment for next year, we may rethink the type of machine that serves as a hub for all this other equipment.

One other observation for anyone contemplating doing this:

* Even with one of the nicest tablets on the market, Centra's built in whiteboard stinks. I'm still testing alternatives, but it's tough to beat the convenience of publishing whiteboard images to the conference archive with a single click. Anything that forces a professor to take an additional step is a big barrier. (Not that it should be, but that's the way a lot of academics are.)

I may post a follow up question about whiteboard software after checking the archives, but I'd give our early efforts a solid B so far. If I gain any other interesting insights before this thread gets locked, I'll come back and add more.
posted by j-dawg at 11:24 AM on January 20, 2010


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