002+Video+Conferencing



 Video conferencing is helping to shape the world we live in today. Use of video conferencing is on the rise; you can find video conferencing being used in almost any technological setting. Video conferencing is currently being used in the education system (Shore, 2010). Video conferencing allows students and teachers to take classes online. Instead of the online class being a simple computer screen, students and teachers can now have a face-to-face interaction. Video conferencing has also made its way into the tutoring aspect of education. Now, tutors can reach the children in need all over the world with video conferencing. Video conferencing allows one to have the face-to-face interaction, which is vital to the learning process. Children can now access tutors from anywhere in the world at the click of a mouse. Video conferencing is also being used in corporate America. Business owners are increasingly using video conferencing for a number of reasons. First, video conferencing allows the work place to stay connected in ways that they were previously not able to. Phone conferences have been almost completely abandoned. Video conferencing allows for not only a phone conversation, but also a face-to-face interactive conversation. Before where you could only speak to the person is becoming obsolete. Another instance where video conferencing may be used is inside our court system (Reporter, 2010). In some instances, people have been tried via video conferencing and web cam. This use may become controversial in the future; is it acceptable to tri a man via web cam? Nonetheless, web cam usage is on the rise; you can find many sources for its use all around the world.

 Video conferencing is a technology that has been used for almost fifty years. The first use of video conferencing started in 1936 by the Germans. The first system was just two televisions connected by a closed circuit cable. Even though the people did a video conference in one building, this technology lead to what we use today. Years later, NASA used radio frequencies to share conversations with people in space. The radio frequencies were transmitted via satellite. In the 1980s, digital telephony transmission networks were possible (Roberts, 2004). Digital telephony is uses digital electronics to send video and audio messages. One network that was used for video conferencing was the ISDN, or the Integrated Services Digital Network. This network is a set of communication standards for digital transmission. During the early 1990s, Internet video conferencing became available to the public. This gave people a way to have a video conference with another person while being on their personal computer at home. At this time the technology was expensive so the only people who really used this technology were doing so at work. Having this way of communication made it possible to have a video conversation from one part of the world to another. In the 2000s, sites such as Skype and iChat were free internet sites where a person could use their webcam and talked to their friends while on the internet.(Roberts, 2004)Finally in 2005, Life-size Communications developed a high definition display which made video conferencing more clear. What will be the next step for video conferencing? It has already been used in many workforces and is now being used in schools. The future of video conferencing is very bright and it is exciting to think what will come next with this great technology.

 Video Conferencing has been used in schools across the country throughout the past decade. As costs decrease, more and more schools and institutions have decided to use video conferencing as a part of their programs (Education World). It can help students learn a variety of things in one lesson. Video conferencing helps strengthen speaking, listening, and presentation skills for students, and allows the students the opportunity to virtually visit places that they never would be able to visit in person, such as foreign countries, zoos, aquariums, and NASA (k-12). Video conferencing provides meaningful experiences that textbooks alone cannot provide. Students get the opportunity to interact with other students from other districts, other states, and even other countries. Video conferencing can be used across grade levels, and works with different learning styles. When students get the chance to see, hear, and talk to professionals, they learn more and retain more information than if they had just read about the subject in a textbook. Because of this, teachers are actually developing entire lessons around video conferencing instead of just watching movies and looking at pictures in books (k-12). Video conferencing will eventually blossom in more schools in the United States education system because educators and school board officials are learning about newly found research on the subject. Video conferencing can be used in many settings across the world and across generations. Now that practically anyone can use video conferencing, more people will find ways to use it to make their lives and jobs easier. Also, since it has developed so much over the ages, making it cheaper and quicker, more people will use it for leisurely activities in the home, college dorm, and everyday life.

Reporter, Staff. (2010, September 21). High court orders video conferencing. The Hindu, 1, Retrieved from []

Roberts, L. (2004, November 13). The history of video conferencing. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?The-History-of-Video-Conferencing---Moving-Ahead-at-the-Speed-of-Video&id=5369

 Shore, G.D. (2010, September 16). Video guidance designs communications system for Hazelden, building visual technology platform for the future. Business Wire, 1, Retrieved from []









Kimmie, Andrew, Kris