Education
Internet usage has greatly accelerated over the past few years. Today, it's easier to connect with people both inside national borders and all over the world, and the range of uses will continue to expand.
Using broadband networks, the HD Visual
Communications System offers a stable connection and a lifelike presence that both differ greatly from
conventional videoconferencing systems, making it a unique tool for innovating the field of education. The HD Visual Communications System invigorates learning by allowing faraway people to connect and communicate in real-time as if they were actually in the same room.
Until now, the learning process in primary schools, secondary schools, high schools and universities has consisted of one-way teaching -- from teacher to student. Even when lessons included discussions and questions, they were almost totally limited to the students and teachers themselves, and took place only within the classroom.
Today, in a world that is connected by the Internet, we need to bring greater openness to our education. It's
[ High Schools, Universities and Technical Colleges ] High schools, universities and technical colleges have a large enrolment, and school buildings and campuses are often located far from each other or dispersed over a large area. It takes considerable time for teachers to move between schools and campuses, so it can be very difficult to standardise their educational levels.
Weaknesses also appear in teaching specialised subjects when you are dealing only with the capabilities of a single school.
The HD Visual Communications System solves problems like these by greatly expanding the scope and
opportunities for learning and conducting research. ■ Bringing Dispersed Campuses Back Together Many universities today are engaging in decentralisation. For example, campuses are divided into specialised departments, or satellite campuses are established. The background to this trend is a diversification of
educational needs, and demands from students for more diverse course selections, enabling them to take classes outside of their specific field of study.
By using the HD Visual Communications System to connect school buildings and conduct remote classes, the closed environments of conventional campuses can be transformed into organically linked venues that meet diverse educational needs.
■ Collaboration with Other Schools or Companies in an Alliance
Many universities have developed alliances with each other and with business-affiliated schools around the world. Students can participate in remote classes and seminars by using the HD Visual Communications System, and share high-level knowledge over long distances to attain specialised qualifications. Joint research can also be conducted with private companies, enabling intensive, detailed research based on not only the school's own technical capabilities but drawing from expertise outside of the school to meet wide-ranging needs.
■ Research Centre and Seminar Links
By using the HD Visual Communications System to provide close-knit exchanges between research centres and seminars conducted on distant campuses, high-level joint development and joint research projects can be undertaken without having to physically move from place to place. Also, by utilising the advantage of constant Internet connection to link with distant laboratories, joint research can be conducted naturally, as if everyone were in the same room.
■ Special Lectures with Distinguished Instructors The HD Visual Communications System also makes it possible to hold remote classes with leading instructors, authors and professors. Instructors who have specialised skills are often busy travelling and do not have much time, limiting the opportunities for students to receive their valuable lectures. However, connection using the HD Visual Communications System eliminates the need for travel, making it easier to adjust their schedules.
■ Live Broadcasts for Ceremonies
Schools can be connected with dispersed campuses to simultaneously conduct school-wide events like graduation ceremonies. The activities can be shown live to branch schools and other schools, and even to people in the students' native countries. Because the images of graduation and other ceremonies can be distributed electronically, there are no space restrictions or unnecessary travel for participants.
■ Covering Specialised Areas -- Like Music, Painting and Dance
Training can now be conducted through activities related to music, painting and dance by connecting music schools and art schools with the HD Visual
Communications System. Backed by a stable connection, high image and sound quality, and minimal delay, situations that used to require teachers to travel to distant classrooms can now be carried out regardless of the location.
[ Primary Schools and Secondary Schools ]
Until now, lessons in classrooms consisted of reading from textbooks and looking at pictures to learn about things like the earth's creatures, famous paintings, and local and world culture.
Classes might visit museums, zoos or other nearby public facilities as extracurricular activities, where the students could see and learn about actual paintings, fossils, and living creatures.
Now, the HD Visual Communications System promises to greatly expand this traditional kind of education. ■ Exchanges with Other Schools, and Language and Cultural Exchanges Between Schools from Other Countries
The encounters that students have with other people during their school years are one of the greatest influences on their learning. Until now, many students have grown up thinking that their school was basically the whole world. By using the HD Visual
Communications System to connect them with people in other areas or even other countries, and stimulate their thinking, a whole new kind of chemical reaction will occur between them. Classrooms will suddenly expand and studying will become ever more enjoyable.
Also, learning how other people think is not only a major plus for the students' psychological development, it helps them to improve their natural learning skills by teaching each other about culture and language.
■ Cooperation and Study Between Teachers The HD Visual Communications System also invites teachers to share their knowledge. Teachers are busy people. The time that they spend in lesson preparation often makes it impossible to take study trips. Now, they can boost their skills by linking up with and studying with teachers anywhere in the world, without having to travel at all.
■ Remote Caring for Students
Although therapists are needed in every school, there are oftentimes just not enough to handle the entire student body. By using the HD Visual Communications System and receiving outside therapist support, a high level of care can be provided for each and every student.
■ Connecting Schools and Public Facilities for Extracurricular Lessons Without the Need to Travel Public facilities like zoos, art museums, museums, astronomical observatories, and aquariums can be connected to schools with the HD Visual
Communications System to conduct classes with live images. Question-and-answer sessions with personnel from these facilities can also make classes more informative and enjoyable.
Even in ordinary classes, connecting with universities, music schools and art schools allows students to enjoy high levels of specialised learning at primary and secondary schools that simply wouldn't be possible with a single teacher. By using interactive practice sessions for subjects like music and art, highly skilled teachers appearing on-screen can truly make classes come to life.
[ Summary ]
From now on, schools are going to be increasingly expected to provide a wider scope of educational opportunities for their students. The policies that many schools have followed until now do not allow them to distinguish themselves from other schools, and may prevent them from keeping pace with modern trends. There is a real need to use tools like the HD Visual Communications System to enable active new learning methods that raise the level of educational quality and attract potential students.
System Connection Diagram
Full HD Plasma TV Full HD Plasma TV
HD Visual Communications System Features
■ High Image Quality
The HD Visual Communications System incorporates high image quality technologies that Panasonic developed and refined for VIERA and DIGA. Its 1080i Full-HD images enable comfortable visual
communication. ■ High Sound Quality
The original Panasonic echo canceller ensures natural two-way communication. Special microphones provide stereo sound with remarkable presence for smooth communication.
■ Stable Connection
Panasonic's original AV-QoS maintains stable connection even when a best-effort Internet connection is used. There will be no more annoying interruptions during meetings, remote classroom sessions, or joint study meetings.
■ Easy Operation
The graphic user interface (GUI) and remote control feature Universal Design for easy operation by anyone.
■ Sub-Camera/PC Screen Display
When a sub-camera is connected, it is possible to zoom in on an item so that discussions can be held on small details with people at distant locations. There's no need to provide a special overhead camera. An ordinary digital video camera can be connected to the HD Visual Communications System using an HDMI cable for easy use whenever needed. The screen of a connected PC can also be displayed for smooth communication.
■ Superb Expandability
A wide range of products, such as plasma display panels, projectors, HD camcorders and integrated cameras, can be connected according to specific needs.
For further information, visit the following website: http://panasonic.net/psn/products/hdvc/index.html