A Grounds-Wide Tele-Tutoring System for the University of Virginia
Jorg Liebeherr, Computer Science
1995 TTI Fellow
Email: jl3k@virginia.edu
Project website: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~jorg/gwtts/
Mr. Liebeherr has created an interface for the Internet that will allow groups of people to engage in real-time, interactive video conferences, a capability that goes far beyond the current static visual and textual information available through World Wide Web browsers such as Mosaic and Netscape. The program is called the "Grounds-Wide Tele-Tutoring System" (GWTTS), though its range is not limited to the University of Virginia, and its uses go far beyond tutoring. Anyone connected to the Internet on a computer with the appropriate hardware will be able to see, hear, and talk to others connected by the same software. With the distribution of the GWTTS to other parts of the world, the next step in the evolution of the Internet will be upon us. Mr. Liebeherr envisions many pedagogical uses for the GWTTS, including that of a classroom or office setting. It allows a number of users to be simultaneously logged onto the same session and, at the same time, allows for the presence of one user who may control the session. Therefore, professors can structure these sessions as office hours, lectures, seminars or study groups. For example, the program allows for students logged onto the session to signal that they have a question by clicking on an icon which generates an image of a hand being raised on the teacher's screen. The teacher can then select the hand image and answer the student's question.One of the most exciting elements of Liebeherr's creation is the use of a digital whiteboard as one of the channels of communication available to those logged onto a session. Users can set up a window-which looks like a blank sheet in a computer graphics program, complete with a toolbar on the side-and simultaneously write on it, just like a chalkboard. In this way, verbal communication can be supplemented with drawings, something with obvious utility in a number of fields. Currently, GWTTS is running on a few selected sites on Grounds. All machines that are connected so far run on UNIX-based operating systems. By Spring 1996, GWTTS will be ported to the Windows 95, as well as the Macintosh platform.