Educational and Human Factor Issues

Misconceptions

The most common misconception about videoconferencing is "it's just like meeting face-to-face".  Videoconferencing certainly comes very close to this, but it is simply not the same. For example, in videoconferencing we are exchanging only two dimensions of face-to-face communication or precisely 2D visual and 2D auditory information in real-time fashion (note that 3D/spatial audio is not part of current videoconferencing solutions). We are not sharing true three-dimensional space and we do not have the full range of interactive modalities that we have in person (body language, for example). The first thing that users notice is a lack of social cues limited by space in view of the camera or by the range of a microphone.  Moving your head in real world will enable you to see a different view of the person that you have been talking to. Doing the same in videoconferencing will not produce the same effect - you will continue to see exactly the same view (image), the one of the camera. In addition, network parameters (low frame rate, high latency and packet loss) may make some videoconferencing sessions impossible for normal human communication. This will primarily depend on your connection (the bandwidth), the equipment (cameras, mics) and the videoconferencing solution used (codec, options that can be changed manually) - parameters over which you have some level of control.

The second most common misconception is related to the ease of establishing the connection and handling the session: "It is as easy as making a phone call!"  This is true - depending on the complexity of the system you chose AND only after you have installed and successfully implemented the system.  End-user software is improving and, therefore, so is the usability of videoconferencing.  However, much work remains to be done in perfecting the user interface and improving or developing protocols to provide a constant, uninterrupted flow of high-quality data.

Educational and human factor issues

You will find that the educational and human factor issues are intertwined and they influence each other greatly.  Other educational issues you may want to address include:

• Involve your students: Once you define your learning goal, you will start considering a set of methods, tools and systems that most effectively support those goals. At this point you may decide to use a videoconferencing system. A particularly effective approach is to involve your students as early as possible and let them help you in dealing with equipment and designing the best possible experience. This can start as early as testing and selecting equipment.  How early you involve them and what kind of work they would do will, of course, depend on the age of the students, but students of any age can help with some stages of preparation for the video session. The chances of students embracing and supporting the use of these systems will be much higher if they are given an opportunity to handle and be in charge of the systems themselves. They will also have greater appreciation for the tools and be less sensitive and more tolerant to occasional hiccups during the sessions - you are bound to experience occasional disconnections and perhaps plenty of artifacts and you will certainly need understanding and patience from your audience.  Those that choose to contribute will have a much deeper sense of ownership, which in turn can have a great impact on their participation, learning and finally the success of entire videoconferencing session. If you plan to conduct a series of video conferences, you may want to opt for the solution where you will appoint a team of three students to be in charge of (or helping with) the first session, another group of students for second session, and so on.
• Make a script: The need for the script is simple: videoconferencing is a different medium there are different communication cues and rules, and consequently your expectations and actions should be different too. The dynamics of the video session are not exactly the same as dynamics of face-to-face conversation, and you will need to employ a higher level of management, especially if you are connecting to a site for the first time. An important part of your preparation will therefore be working out the dynamics of the session and the activities that your students will engage in. Note that some activities may be shared with remote people and some may be done only locally so you may want to plan interactive parts. Your students may pick up the new form of communication very quickly and engage in spontaneous discussion but it is still good to have the script available. You can always change or abandon your script if useful interaction develops spontaneously!
• Make a back-up plan: When planning a videoconference, it is important to remember that you do not have full control over communication parameters. In such situations it is highly advisable to have a backup plan i.e. activities in case the connection to the remote party fails completely. The lack of connectivity does not mean that your class can be cancelled because your students will still expect some class activities to happen.
• Plan shorter presentations (for example, 15 minutes) per speaker: The attention span in a videoconferencing session is much shorter than in face-to-face communication. This is especially true for K-12 students and so you should not plan long presentations given by a single speaker. If there is a need for a longer presentation, you may want to break it in 15-minute segments and insert other activities between the segments (i.e. Q&A, work/discussion in small groups).
• Life-size images: Whenever it is possible, use a projector instead of a monitor screen. This is true even if your site only has one person participating in the session. While you should keep in mind that a projected video image is generally of somewhat lower quality than that shown on a display device such as a television monitor, life-size imagery has proven to contribute towards a higher level of immersion (the sense that you are participating in a real rather than virtual event) and invokes a more natural responses and a higher level of engagement. The size of the display will be even more important when you have a group of students participating. A larger display will help everyone to see the remote site clearly and consequently all students in the group can have the same appreciation and participation in the event. It is no coincidence that this same effect, on a larger scale, is used in IMAX theaters.
• Good audio is very important: Having good audio is extremely important in sessions where participants will be conversing most of the time. Although the quality of both auditory and visual data is important, the imperfections in audio quality seem to cause more problems. Our visual sense is far more "forgiving" than the auditory sense - our brain can do some "filling in" in case of missing visual information (our brain does automatic "in-between" i.e. filling in the missing frames and visual gaps). In the case of auditory data this does not happen; the variations in this kind of data are just too large. If we missed some words it is almost impossible to make a good guess of what the speaker actually said. Therefore, not being able to hear your colleagues makes communication extremely difficult and disconcerting. If the system allows you to change the "resolution" of audio data, you should set it so that it provides/sends the best audio possible. Also, some brands of videoconferencing equipment provide automatic fill-in of of missing video and audio information, so you should take that into account when choosing your equipment. You may also wish to add a higher-quality speaker or sound system to that provided by your projector or display device.
• Eye contact: Eye contact is extremely important for establishing the trust and naturalness in conversation during the session. It is best to have your camera as close as possible to the display area to enable the semblance of the eye contact that we normally maintain when we talk to someone. The goal is to be able to look approximately at the same place when we talk to the people who are at the remote sites (our camera will be capturing this so we should look towards it) and watch and listen to them when they speak (i.e. in the display area). If you cannot position the camera very close to the display area, you must invest extra effort and ALWAYS look at the camera (and not the display!) while talking to the people at the remote site.  Perhaps briefly "check" the display for their possible reaction. Again, eye contact is a very important factor in providing the conditions for natural human communication and any effort in securing this will be well rewarded.
• Background noise: Eliminate all sources of background noise from the room (e.g. fans, disks, etc). Any audio from your room may be picked up by the microphones and transmitted to the remote site at a volume that does not necessarily correspond with the volume you thought it had at your site. You may have the impression that a low voice side-discussion at your site cannot be heard at the remote site; nevertheless this audio could be picked up and reach your colleagues at the remote site. The result will be very disconcerting for your listeners, since it may be thought that people are not listening to what the main speakers are talking about at that point. Your students should be warned about this as, very often, they have the false impression that "people at the other sites cannot hear them".
• Make a site label: Make a clear label/sign for your school - ask your students to be creative and take care of this. This is especially important to do if you participate in multipoint videoconferencing session and helps participants to easily recognize the site that is currently "on the air". This can be a large poster in the background of the room in large print with your school name, or a smaller name card placed in front of the speaker(s). If you have a school/project/classroom mascot and you want to show it to the people at the remote site, you can also position this mascot at a visible, strategic place. This special touch is often highly appreciated and can show that you invested additional time and effort to provide the best conditions for communicating with your colleagues.
• Space considerations: When considering spatial arrangements in the room where the session will be held, it is worth considering an arrangement that will strengthen an informal atmosphere. This helps students view themselves as equal partners in the session and can set a tone for their active engagement.

Ethical issues

The use of any technology in human lives inevitably introduces new rules and new customs; it changes the fabric of our society to a smaller or larger degree. We can remind ourselves of what kind of changes emerged with the invention and use of radio and telephone, for example. Some changes were very positive and some were not, depending on humans acting one or another way to use (or misuse!) the technology. Consequently, we should work hard to develop a good understanding of all issues that arise from such uses and correlate them to the potentially harmful effects they may have on other people, objects, environment, nature and natural habitat, or customs. This awareness should be introduced as early as possible in our lives as the best tool to minimize potentially harmful effects. (We are, of course, not suggesting that there must be harmful effects in every case.) The age of K-12 students is very appropriate to start building and nurturing such awareness.

We are still trying to understand what effects videoconferencing may or may not have, especially when we consider its mass use in different aspects of our lives. Educators should analyze both the positive and negative effects and may want to discuss them with their students. A good starting resource for building such awareness is the work of teachers from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) Ethics and Computer Science [1] in Alexandria, VA. Being aware of the issues is a big step towards building life-long conscious and responsible users.