Ermdclime: Enabling Real-time Multimedia Discussion for Collaborative Learning in Mobile Environment

With the aid of mobile technology, it´s possible to carry out collaborative learning (CL) in any places at any time. And the most essential and effective way to achieve this goal is through real-time multimedia discussion. In this paper, a multi-agent system, ErmdClime, is designed and implemented to enable real-time multimedia discussion for collaborative learning in mobile environment. The realtime bi-directional audio/video interaction and shared white board are integrated seamlessly into the system for learners with mobile devices. Besides, this system enables both local and remote learners to control the play of PowerPoint slides by voice command when discussing and annotate on the shared white board. Context-aware technology is used to switch real video and white board display on mobile devices. User study demonstrates that learners feel quite natural and highly efficient when they are engaged in the CL with mobile devices in our system