Shared teaching with multimedia-enhanced video-conferencing

Abstract

In Scotland all 13 universities and a number (8) of other related institutions of higher education are connected on a high bandwidth computer network. Organizationally, this is composed of four interconnected Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs). The high bandwidth (155 Mbit/s) and the network's operation under ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) enables routine use of high quality video-conferencing between institutions. Each institution has at least one (all the universities have two) video-conferencing suites, fully equipped with audio and video equipment and direct network access for PCs.