The Wizards of OZ - Supporting Change in Learning and Teaching

Abstract

OZ is a distance learning environment for lectures, seminaries, and exercises in computer science at Humboldt-University, where OZ means distributed in space (ortsverteilt) and independent of time (zeitversetzt). The focus is on computer- exercises , which has certain implications on the technical setup: the back channel is very important and the teacher s presentation as well as the student s computer screens is visible on both places. Different modes of use are possible. Two rooms at different campuses of the university are connected by the universities internal high-bandwidth, but non-reserved, TCP/IP-connection. Each one is equipped with two data projectors, where one is used as white board mirroring the teacher s or a student s computer screen, while the other shows the teacher and the opposite room inhabitants. Each room has its own control computer that is also used for video or audio streaming. By the use of wireless connected laptops a comfortable degree of freedom for teachers and students is achieved. Despite this, we use low-cost hardware and standard software wherever possible. The audio-taped lectures are combined with the screen materials, mostly PowerPoint slides enhanced with QuickTime media, so that lectures as well as other stored materials are accessible via Internet. After more than two years of thorough experiments the installation has reached now a state where it is relatively stable, so that it is transferred now for regular use in our teaching activities.