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RNP transmits the 2nd phase of a course at Impa

The National Education and Research Network transmitted, in real time, to 423 spectators, the 2nd phase of the Professional Development Course for High School Math Teachers, held in Rio de Janeiro by the Institute of Pure and Applied Math (Impa). The transmission, received by nine institutions in nine Brazilian states, was made from July 29th to August 2nd, by RNP2 network, and it proved to be the result of one more successful partnership between RNP and Impa.

According to Elon Lages, the coordinator of the course, this initiative aimed to qualify high school math teachers and undergraduate math students. It allowed Impa to reach a total audience five times higher than the 100 people present in the physical facilities of the institute. Furthermore, it enabled the learners to have a direct contact with Impa's faculty.

The classes, taught in modules comprising the contents of the three grades of high school, could be attended on a big screen, in auditoriums, or on individual machines at the State University of Campinas and the federal universities of Alagoas, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Piauí and Rio Grande do Sul.

Know-how made the 2nd transmission easier

- The participants' greatest satisfaction was being able to see and listen to renowned authors of the books they used to study and interacting with them, for free, clarifying problems, participating together in exercises and discussions made possible by a chat tool - commented Elon Lages. He also assured that the know-how gotten during the transmission of the 1st phase of the course, in January, greatly contributed for the second phase to happen smoothly.

This time there was band reserve between the Points of Presence, through the configuration of ATM and Frame Relay virtual circuits (PVC's). Depending on the location, there was a multicast or unicast traffic of information, sound and image. The unicast coding and transmission were done via Windows Media Encoder software, in the MPEG W8 format. As for the multicast transmission, it was done via Windows Media Server.

In order to attend the classes, one needed to have Windows Media Player installed. The contents could be accessed through the "Streaming Multicast Experimental" link on RNP's site. After a click on this link, the program opened a window, making the multicast connection, which allowed viewers to receive the audio and video data. The average transmission rate was of 220 Kbps.

The transmission was considered good in the final evaluation made in states such as Alagoas, Ceará, Piauí and Minas Gerais. Heitor Soares Ramos Filho, network administrator at the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL), declared then: "In no time did we have any interruption that disturbed the course or made it impossible to follow it." The dedication of the technical staff in RNP's Points of Presence was recognized even by the institutions that had sound and image interruptions. Such problems are being investigated so that the next transmissions can be made better.

The alternatives being analyzed are problems related to the client-software; internal flaws in RNP2 routers; or deficiencies in the local networks (jams or low performance routers and switches). The next Professional Development Course for High School Math Teachers will take place in January 2003.

[RNP, 09.13.2002]