A Multimedia Adaptive-Quality Platform For Real-Time E-Learning Over IP

The interest in creating multimedia support for remote learning is increasing explosively, thanks to the development of a variety of multimedia software packages for slide presentation, on the one hand, and the spread of the Internet in schools, Universities, research laboratories and the majority of student houses, on the other hand. However, most of the e-learning platforms used today are merely off-line. In other words, they consist of a multimedia site where teachers and students can exchange information and didactic material through file transfer and e-mail, or where the teacher can propose evaluation tests to the students. At the same time many videoconference hardware and software platforms have been deployed to support audio/video communications between two or more users. However, their main target is videoconference applications, and they are not suitable for teaching environments. The target of this paper is to provide an overview of the main aspects related to the development of multimedia e-learning tools which allow on-line remote learning, the main characteristic of which is close real-time interaction between teachers and students, and between students themselves. The authors conclude the paper by describing a relevant experience, the VIP-Teach tool, developed according to the principles illustrated in the paper.