Instructional Television is one type of Distance Education technology, which help students to watch the instructor's lecture just like they would in a classroom setting.

• The audience of this presentation are Sultan Qaboos University First year Information Technology students.

• Objectives:
  
  After this lecture students will Be Able To:

1. Define the Instructional Television
2. Differentiate between Video conferencing & Instructional Television
3. Select the advantages & disadvantages of Instructional Television
   

Polycom CX5000 Unified Conference Station

Description:

Polycom CX5000 Unified Conference Station is a creative tool which easily adds voice & video collaboration to MS Live meeting 2007 & MS Communications server 2007, giving remote participants a 360-degree panoramic view of the conference room and video that automatically tracks the flow of conversation for more productive and efficient meetings.

Features:

The Polycom CX5000 Unified Conference Station is portable. It has nearly 3 kg weight. A 360-degree panoramic view of the entire room is sent to all far-end participants, providing a continuous view of everyone in the meeting room. This panoramic view video has 1056 x 144 pixel resolution & 3700 x 600 pixel camera resolution.




Moreover, it offers two options of frame rate for panoramic & active speaker video: 15 frames per second with 60 Hz AC –power & 12.5 frames per second with 50 Hz AC –power.

The Polycom CX5000 comes with high-resolution backlit graphical touch LCD, which has 12-key telephone keypad, Information navigation keys & delete key. In addition, it has various hard keys such as: On-hook/off-hook, flash, mute, volume up, volume down & information keys. It has also a console Loudspeaker powered with 300 Hz - 3.4 kHz Frequency response & with adjustable volume to 89 dBA SPL (peak) volume at 0.5 meters. You can also connect up to 6 full duplex directional microphones.

This Unified Conference Station has many different interfaces such as:

• USB 2.0 device cable

• 2 USB host ports

• 2 satellite microphone connections

• Telecom interface

• Data: RJ-45 10/100 Ethernet for system management

• Software download mode

• USB Human Interface Device (HID)

There are many environment requirements should be offered for this unique Unified Conference Station, for example we should operate the temperature from 0o – 40o C & operate the humidity from 15 % - 85%. To use the Polycom CX5000, the room reverberation time should be less than 0.01 seconds. In system requirements we should use:

• Microsoft Windows XP, 32-bit with service pack 2 (SP2) or later, or Windows Vista, 32- or 64-bit.

• 2.0 GHz or faster processor

• 2 GB of RAM or more

• 1.5 GB of available hard disk space

• Video card with 128 MB of RAM or more and support for full hardware acceleration

• 1024 x 768 or higher resolution video card and monitor

• Wired Ethernet connection

Advantages:

The Polycom CX5000 Unified Conference Station helps to:

• Concentrate on the conversation as well as following the lecturer at the same time.

• Feature of 360° view will allow all guest participation.

• Enable a fast ROI by immediately enhancing team collaboration through more effective and faster decision making, improved interaction and lower costs.

• Because of USB plug-&-play feature participants can set up & conduct various meetings.

• MS Live Meeting 2007 allows users to record & playback the combination of voice, video & content.

Technology supported:

The Polycom CX5000 solution brings video, voice, and content together through Microsoft Live Meeting 2007, which represented by the technology of panoramic view.
In a conference room, anyone with a laptop PC and one of these applications can simply plug the Polycom CX5000 into their PC and start sharing voice, video, and content with remote participants. The remote participants need no additional equipment, just a computer and a network connection, to join the meeting with panoramic and active speaker video.


Appropriateness to DE institutes:

The Polycom CX5000 Unified Conference Station designed to provide a significantly lower total cost of ownership. Nowadays, most institutes look firstly to the cost of each technology which they want to gain. Moreover, by the panoramic and active speaker video, no other vendor offers comparable technology with the lowest price.


For more information visit :
POLYCOM CX5ooo

www.ivci.com

Open Acadia

We have find Open Acadia University , which offers learning opportunities to Acadia students & the greater community. It was known as the Division of Continuing & distance Education. However it became Open Acadia to better convey the breadth of its audiences and programs.

About its policies, To become an ALL member or to register for a course, seminar or outing, you must be 50+ years of age. Full payment must accompany the registration form & In the event that you need to withdraw from the course, the fees will be returned, less a $15 processing fee, provided the request is received in writing by Open Acadia five working days prior to the start of the course. The textbooks may be purchased or borrowed. If there is any technical assistance with your online course, you can contact the technical assisstant.

Open Acadia University believe that understanding and making use of technology is an important asset to academic and workplace success. Their online courses are designed to provide students with the high academic quality of Acadia credit courses anywhere, anytime. They have mentioned that their courses are entirely online and open-entry. Unlike typical online courses that only begin on specific start dates, you can begin open-entry courses anywhere and anytime.
Acadia Online EAP courses are different from other online language courses because you really get to interact with the instructors and other students. Their virtual classroom lets you take part in live lessons. You will be able to see and speak with your instructor and other students from around the world. In addition, the self study sections of the courses include interactive lectures, quizzes and discussion forums.

There are different types of Distance Learning used by Open Acadia. It offers full courses of listening, reading … etc. There are also online activities like quizzes & lectures, where the students will have the opportunity to interact with other students & their lecturers. Moreover, It offers Virtual classrooms sessions with instructors & students. You will be able to see and speak with your instructor and other students from around the world.
This interaction supported in this program will allow students to study where they are & when they want. This way of interaction gives you an advantage of saving time to study overseas & saving money on accommodation & other expenses. It helps students to familiarize themselves with other cultures.

These types of interaction are supported by different technologies, for example, there is the videoconferencing, which is supporting a real time communication with the instructor & other students to improve your listening skills while you are learning. There is also what is called the student lounge for each course, where you can contact to other students & provide you with access to Longman Online dictionary to help you through your courses. Moreover there are the virtual classrooms which let you take part in live lessons & to contact with your instructor & other classmates. The advantage of these virtual rooms that providing you the same experience as inside the classrooms.

You can find mor information here:

http://www.openacadia.ca/index.php

What is Eid al-Adha? At the end of the Hajj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca), Muslims throughout the world celebrate the holiday of Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice). In 2008, Eid al-Adha will begin on approximately December 8th, and will last for three days.
©2008 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

More about WavePad

You can also in WavePad Editor see the frequency analysis displayed along with its wave form by dragging the tool menu:

& then the screen will appear like the following window:

The effects menu also has some very nice features, you can add echo,reverb or you can equlize your track or filter it to add bass feature.

You can also reduce the noise which in your track by this tool :

WavePad Sound Editor

Today I get some new features about my software The "WavePad Editor".

In WavePad Editor you can switch between another applications which are produced by The NCH Swift Sound like:

• SoundTap Streaming Audio Recorder


• MixPad


• Swich


• RecordPad

You can also with WavePad Editor zoom into your audio file to see more details of your project.

You can also see both channels for stereo.

all of these tools you can find them in the red circle below:

Now, I will add some key features of WavePad Sound Editor:

• Supports a number of file formats including wav (multiple codecs), mp3, vox, gsm, real audio, au, aif, flac, ogg and many more.

• Sound editing functions include cut, copy, paste, delete, insert, silence, autotrim and more

• Audio effects include, amplify, normalize, equalizer, envelope, reverb, echo, reverse, sample rate conversion and more

• Tools include spectral analysis (FFT), tone generation and speech synthesis

• Audio restoration features including noise reduction and click pop removal

• Supports sample rates from 6000 to 96000 Hz, stereo or mono, 8, 16, 24 or 32 bits

• Ability to work with multiple files at the same time in separate screens

• Includes a CD ripper to load audio directly from a CD

• CD burner function allows you to burn sound files to a CD

• Recorder supports autotrim and voice activated recording

• User interface very friendly