RadioJames

After months of trying to get Flash Communication Server 1.5 up and running on one of our Linux video servers, I finally jumped ship, if only temporarily, and installed the new version Flash Server 2. I think the difficulties I was having had less to do with an incompatibility with the Linux server, as it did with firewall issues, but in any event after instantiating the first Flash app and connecting to the server, the light on my web cam lit up - and when I waved my hand and mumbled (the everyman’s latency test) - my recorded hand waved back and the sound of my voice came through.

So now the fun starts. A) Enticing instructors to join the pilot and begin to use video and voice as an adjunct to their online text lessons. and B) to allow students access to the same tools so that they can join the process.

Background: Two weeks ago I presented at an eLearning developer conference here in SF on the subject of using Flash and Flash Com server to develop audio and video apps for use in Higher Ed online learning, and so had to use external servers for the demonstration. I know it doesn’t really matter where the server lives, but I always feel better when a server’s in house rather than at a remote location. When I know the server’s at the bottom of a set of stairs, rather than at the end of a phone call, I feel like I have more control over how the apps themselves will perform. Does it make sense? Not really, but I accept it as the superstitious end of app development, and a measure of comfort..

Flash Com, the poor man’s breeze: I refer to Flash Com as the poor man’s Breeze, because it is, but more important is the fact that it allows anyone interested in Flash, to develop really powerful apps at an affordable price. When you combine the fact that Flash Server is what drives breeze, and breeze runs at a cost of $10,000 dollars, it’s nice to know that you can build your own breeze like app for a lot less. Yeah, maybe it doesn’t end up as full featured as the real thing, but then againyou may not need a full set of features. The great thing about Flash Com, is that you can build exactly what you need, a set of small powerful apps that perform different services and can be dropped into an online course as easy as dropping in an image.

Some other Universities that are using Flash Com:

• Ryerson University, Canada
• University of Aberdeen, New Zealand
  FCS takes the users from interacting with an application to interacting with each other - including lecturers presenting, while students simultaneously ask questions and having the whole thing recorded for later replay (e.g. for revision).