A distributed multimedia conferencing system for distance learning

This paper presents a platform-independent multimedia distance education system, called GVA (Global Virtual Academy). The GVA system provides a distance lecture environment supported by multi-use interactive tools such as real-time full-duplex voice talking, text chatting, and a shared whiteboard on top of a web browser. For organizing and coordinating several concurrent lecture sections session and conference management schemes are employed. In addition, this system offers a self-study environment in which students access lecture notes on the web and review previous lectures on demand. For the on-demand lecture review service, multimedia data of real-time lectures are stored on the database of the GVA system and replayed later on demand with intermedia synchronization. This system is implemented in Java language and thus portable to any machines with Java Virtual Machine. Currently, this system is accessible by the registered through various network environments including LAN, ISDN, PSTN and Internet. This remote lecture system can provide a good environment to educate students via multimedia interactive communication and bring remote users within easy distance.