CRCD/EI: Effective Distance Learning Through Sustained Interactivity and Visual Realism

0417458普渡大学“CRCD/EI：通过持续互动和视觉现实主义进行有效的远程学习”539,999美元这个项目结合了视觉、图像处理、机器人和计算机图形学的研究，创建了一种新型的远程学习系统，使教师和远程学习者能够在课堂上感受到一种“临场感”。该项目涉及研究、开发、部署和评估远程学习系统，该系统可以扩展真实教室，以独特的方式容纳偏远地区的学生。该系统的有效性来自于向远程和本地参与者传达一种强烈的感觉，即远程参与者实际上就在教室里。这种临场感是通过以下方式实现的：互动性--系统支持参与者之间的高带宽、低延迟、不间断和安全的通信；高质量的图形--系统通过将分段的高分辨率实时视频与预先下载的逼真的照片级3D模型和演示材料相结合，提供对教室、教师、学生和授课材料的逼真、直观的描述。托管远程学生的虚拟教室与真实教室无缝集成。真正的教室被扩展到可以容纳偏远地区的学生。每个远程学生都被实时获取，并集成到一个通用的虚拟3D教室中，该教室被连续渲染并投影在真实教室的墙上。在本地站点，教师看到位于远程位置的学生，就好像他们是坐在教室后排的本地学生一样。虚拟教室的模型是照片真实感的，具有一个几何体，使教师能够很容易地看到远程参与者。在远程站点，学生使用一台个人计算机和一台具有快速接口、宽带连接到互联网的数码摄像机参与授课。投资促进机构预计，他们的系统将克服目前远程教育的许多缺点，包括：远程学生的图形表现不充分；虚拟教室的整合不充分；缺乏对个别偏远学生的支持；缺乏对其他教育活动的支持；数字内容创作工具缺失或不足。

0417458Voicu PopescuPurdue University"CRCD/EI: Effective Distance Learning Through Sustained Interactivity and Visual Realism"$539,999This project combines research in vision, image processing, robotics, and computer graphics to create a novel distance learning system that enables instructors and remote learners to feel a "sense of presence" in the classroom. The project involves researching, developing, deploying and assessing a distance learning system that extends the real classroom to accommodate remotely located students in a unique way. The system's effectiveness comes from conveying a strong sense to both remote and local participants that the remote participants are actually present in the classroom. The sense of presence is enabled by: Interactivity -- the system supports high-bandwidth, low-latency, uninterrupted, and secure communications between the participants; High-quality graphics -- the system provides realistic, visual descriptions of the classroom, instructor, students, and of the lecture materials by combining segmented high-resolution real-time video with pre-downloaded photorealistic 3D models and presentation materials. The virtual classroom that hosts the remotely located students is seamlessly integrated with the real classroom. The real classroom is extended to accommodate remotely located students. Each remotely located student is acquired in real-time and integrated in a common virtual 3D classroom that is rendered and projected continually on a wall of the real classroom. At the local site, the instructor sees the remotely located students as if they were local students seated in additional rows at the back of the classroom. The model of the virtual classroom is photorealistic, with a geometry that allows the instructor to easily see the remote participants well. At the remote site students participate in the lecture using a personal computer and a digital video camera with a rapid interface broadband connection to the Internet. The PIs anticipate that their system will overcome many of the shortcomings of current distance education including: inadequate graphical representation of the remote students; inadequate integration of the virtual classroom; lack of support for individual remotely located students; lack of support of other educational activities; and missing or inadequate tools for digital content creation.