Videoconferencing facilities
About videoconferencing
Videoconferencing allows people at two or more sites to be in interactive audio and visual communication. Besides the obvious use as an alternative to face-to-face conferencing, it has been used for such purposes as:
- Lectures and tutorials
- Debates
- Presentations
- Remote assessment
- Remote interviews
A videoconference is normally structured as in a face-to-face meeting: an agreed Chair conducts the proceedings.
Where are the facilities?
St Andrews has one dedicated videoconferencing studio in the St Mary's building. There are also a number of teaching rooms equipped for videoconferencing registered on the Janet Videoconferencing Service (JVCS) booking system in the following departments:
- Chemistry
- CREEM
- English [coming soon]
- Mathematics
- Physics & Astronomy
- SMRU
What are the facilities?
Videoconferencing studios all have the basic audiovisual equipment: video cameras, display monitor, speakers, microphones and equipment controller. There may also be ancillary equipment, eg video recorder, document reader (visualiser).
In those studios where H.239 in-band data sharing is not yet available, there is a PC set up for data communication using Microsoft NetMeeting. This provides the additional facilities of
- File and application sharing
- A whiteboard (useful for simple drawings)
- A chatboard (can be useful if communication problems arise)
