ALA

What would you teach if you had access to some really impressive information and communication technology, with all the bells and whistles, that simply screamed “skies the limit!”?

There is a project underway which is very close to just that.

Funded by the national training system’s e-learning strategy, the Australian Flexible Learning Framework, the Pump Video project is firing gigabytes across the Northern Territory, New South Wales and Tasmania.

It is enabling teachers and trainers to push the boundaries of online communication and engagement and will help determine the future business model for the supply and use of high capacity bandwidth within the vocational education and training system.

“Pump Video is a multimedia collaborative experiment that utilises a high capacity backbone network to engage students and teachers from across Australia,” said Sam Meredith, Manager Online Projects at TAFE NSW - New England Institute. “The three organisations are using this network to jointly produce multimedia packages.”

The transfer of high quality video and audio files requires a lot of data to be sent back and forth. Without a high capacity network this interaction would require lengthy transfers and burden existing infrastructure.

“With high bandwidth we can meet with other contributors in real time, an online face-to-face, independent of where we are in Australia,” Mr Meredith said. “We can also work together on the productions, say one working on video and the other audio, both making changes. We have had 16 live streaming video and audio feeds at once which was very impressive.”

Bill Wade is the E-learning Facilitator and Lecturer in Multimedia at Charles Darwin University, and has learnt a lot about developing high bandwidth projects.

“You can’t just go out and tell your students to use up bandwidth,” he said. “We found you needed to connect the project to class content, not optional extras that students may or may not get engaged in.”

The potential for innovative education and training opportunities using high bandwidth has prompted Pump Video participants to re-evaluate how courses are delivered.

“We have all learnt a great deal while on this project,” Mr Wade said. “Every aspect of the project has been educational, from the technical components through to developing a syllabus that promotes innovation.”

For more information about the pilot visit: http://pumpvideo.wikispaces.com/