Distance education via IP videoconferencing: Results from a national pilot project

Internet Protocol (IP)-based videoconferencing technology can offer a low-cost means of collaboration and resource sharing on a national or global scale. This is potentially of interest to many users, especially in non-profit sectors such as education and healthcare. However, it has been questioned whether a best-effort network service can provide the reliability and quality required to support teaching and learning activities. To evaluate the technology, a 9-month pilot project of distributed teaching activities between 13 UK universities was set up. We present and discuss the issues involved in gathering and analysing data in a large-scale project with real users engaged in learning activities. The results suggest that incorrect equipment set-up and user behaviours cause most of the perceived problems, rather than network irregularities