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Session 1120

Online Collaborative Drawing Board for Real-time Student-Instructor Interaction and Lecture Creation

Mohammad AlRamahi and Kurt Gramoll

School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering The University of Oklahoma

Abstract

Even though distance learning has become a significant aspect of engineering education, improvements are still needed. One area that needs more research and tool development is web- based collaboration. There is a strong need for collaboration tools to assist both instructors and students in working together during discussion groups, office hours and lectures to solve problems from a distance.

This research involved developing an online tool to allow real-time voice and vector-based drawing communication between the instructor and students. The tool, LectureBoard, was developed to provide online, collaborative and spontaneous lecture creation. The LectureBoard is a vector-based, Flash drawing program that is used through a browser. It provides both voice and text chat in addition to sharing any drawn object on the screen. The tool is completely encapsulated in a Flash Shockwave file so neither program downloads nor special software are required. The tool uses Flash Communication Server MX to coordinate the real-time communications between all session users. The LectureBoard is capable of recording a session and saving it in Flash shockwave format for later playback. This provides other students the opportunity to access the session later for review. The LectureBoard is integrated with the www.eCourses.ou.edu engineering course management system at the University of Oklahoma. Use of the system is open to any instructor without cost. This paper gives details on how the system was developed and used to facilitate collaboration for distance learning classes.

Introduction

Instructors utilize a variety of education techniques to deliver information to their students. Lately, there is an increasing interest in online distance learning due to the capabilities of the Internet [1]. It provides versatile, cost and time effective solutions for distance learning through online lectures. The issue of what is the best method to implement online lectures in the classroom still remains. Building static web pages with hyperlinks, bitmap images, diagrams, and videos have been used for a number of years. New methods to enhance online learning have been introduced, such as collaboration.

Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2004, American Society for Engineering Education

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AlRamahi, M., & Gramoll, K. (2004, June), Online Drawing Board For Interactive Office Hours And Creating Web Based Lectures Using Flash Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--13948