Online education and learning is growing, but there is always, especially in the federal government, a need to have live class room teachers,” said Merc. “The company structure has changed with distance learning systems. The students have to buy the computer and pay for the internet access.” Ironically, NASA’s Jet Space Lab (JPL) in Pasadena is a federal government enterprise that has turned from satellites to accept distance learning systems. JPL is managed by the California Institute of Technology, which selected LifeSize to help connect its 5,000 workers spread out in more than 100 structures. In addition, JPL’s workers, companies and partners are situated in remote offices around the world. JPL was looking for face-to-face over video capabilities allowing more frequent conferences between slightly situated employees and more appropriate transactions of ideas. The result is increased cooperation and contribution.
“Traditionally in the government and education space, applying interactive videos has been difficult to set up and making video calls has been a complicated process,” said Cindy Joffrion, LifeSize’s program manager for government, education and medical services. “I remember sitting in a college class room that had interactive videos and the video conferencing unit took up half the class room.” Joffrion recognizes the coming of WiFi and cellular phones having brought in an adjusting stage in distance learning systems.
“There is a drive for cellular, cloud and virtualization and this is essentially changing how video interaction and online learning works,” said Joffrion. “Distance learning is starting to become more adaptable to technology and to meet the needs of the customer. It is actually integrating and changing to advancement.” Another aspect of the progress of on the internet studying is shown by simple controls and performance. “WiFi enables smart video that places cooperation in the hands of the customer in a simpler user-interface method,” said Joffrion. “The smart-video concept is built on that concept of generality, allowing users to make video calls with a simple push of a button.”