Virtualized Classroom – automated production, media integration and user-customized presentation

Multimedia materials from classrooms and seminars are rich sources of information. Our Virtualized Classroom Project, which is a testbed for integrating novel multimedia software systems, addresses fundamental research problems occurring in different components of a next-generation, processingenhanced e-learning system. Our ultimate goal is to create a natural learning environment that could give students interactive experiences equivalent to, or even better than, the real classroom. This will be enabled by virtual instructor presence, user-selectable and fully-indexed visual aids, and flexible communications between students, the instructor and virtual instructors (computers). We have developed several basic components for the Virtualized Classroom project: automated data collection, intelligent media integration, and flexible user interfaces. 1