A PC-based real-time multimedia tele-education system

A real-time tele-education system is described, suitable for point-to-point and for multipoint configurations, based on two-way interactive communication of audio, video, and graphics. The shared areas of all screens are kept synchronized throughout the session, while transfer times are minimized by the application of pretransfer methods. Evaluation results of a classroom experiment revealed that the system is appropriate for the conduction of distance lectures at a professional level. The multimedia concept used enables a way of teaching close to conventional face-to-face methods