Design and evaluation of a real-time video conferencing environment for support teaching: an attempt to promote equality of K-12 education in China

Abstract

ABSTRACTImbalanced allocation of teacher resources is a major factor causing inequality in K-12 education in China. Traditional ways to solve this problem, such as on-site support teaching and recorded lectures of quality teachers, have posed many defects. It is suggested that information and communication technology should be employed to deal with the problem. The research put forward an idea of building a particular real-time video conferencing environment (RVCE) for support teaching guided by the Community of Inquiry framework. An experimental environment was built in June 2014, which comprised two Internet-connected multimedia classrooms, one as the local room and the other as the remote room. A case study was then conducted to examine the efficacy of RVCE. Results showed that RVCE could support different kinds of learning activities and would be a feasible practice to promote the Equality of K-12 Education in China.