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A Journal of Software Engineering and Applications, 2012, 5, 50-54 doi:10.4236/jsea.2012.512b011 Published Online December 2012 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/jsea) Copyright © 2012 SciRes. JSEA Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Implication for Education Pannee Suanpang Information Technology Department, Faculty of Science & Technology, Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand. E-mail: dtechpannee@yahoo.com Received 2012 ABSTRACT This paper illustrates the development of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and its implication for education. IPTV is a new type of educational technology that provides digital content (text, graphic, audio and video) which users watch as television broadcasting on the In ternet. With the capabilities of IPTV that could be used for educational purpose. Therefore, the IPTV project’s (Suan Dusit Internet Broadcasting: SDIB) aim has been to develop into a platform that increase educational opportunities that support distant education. The IPTV system was designed to broadcast in four channels (kids, video on demand, variety and radio). More than seven hundred program are being transmitted both trough live and video on demand streams via computer, set top boxes and mobile devices. The IPTV system has been implemented and used in 80 pilot schools. The data of an evaluation of the IPTV system was collected from question- naires and interviews. The results indicated that IPTV users were highly satisfied with the contents, set top boxes, LCD television, and overall IPTV systems. Keywords: IPTV; Internet Broadcasting; Educational Technology 1. Introduction Internet protocol television (IPTV) is a collection of modern technologies in computing, networking, and sto- rage integrated to delivery digital content through an Internet Protocol (IP) network [1]. This system broad- casts various types of digital content including text, graphic, audio and video files over an IP network in or- der to reach a large number of users [2]. IPTV uses digi- tal broadcast network such as ADSL and satellite to broadcast the data and provide user interface, which can be either a television monitor or web page with a menu organized in several categories such as movies, video games and radio [3]. The IPTV occurrence is being con- tinuously enhanced with improvements in its underlying networking and computing. The successful deployment of IPTV on a large scale is essentially dependent on a wide range of supporting technologies [1,4]. IPTV has changed the way of users ’ access informa- tion, knowledge and entertainment. It has been utilized in multiple sectors such as business, entertainment, com- munication, healthcare and education. The implication of IPTV for education are becoming admired, especially in supporting distant education. IPTV can provide more collaborative content than traditional television applica- tions and it encourages existing passive television learn- ers to become more actively involved in their learning activities [5]. However, there has been limited research and a few articles on IPTV’s implications for education. This study breaks new ground and addresses key ques- tions about the development of IPTV system implica- tions for teaching and learning. The aim of this paper is to study the development and deployment of IPTV (Suan Dusit Internet Broadcasting: SDIB) and its implications for education. 1.1 IPTV Trends Currently, the IPTV industry has grown enormously both in term of n umber of s ubscribers and investments by service providers. The world’s leading markets for IPTV are Germany, France (2.7 million users end of 2009), South Korea (1.8 million users), and other [1]. Multime- dia Research Group is forecasting that the number of global IPTV users i n 2013 will grow to 81 million and the service revenue is expected to grow to $19.9 billion [6,1]. IPTV trends create a new model for service provi- sioning and a transition from traditional broadcaster- centric television services to a user-centric television Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Implication for Education Copyright © 2012 SciRes. JSEA 51 model. The IPTV user’s behavior is changing from ac- tive to passive and content digitization allows for easier distribution [1]. The advances in IPTV technology will blend aspects of communication, social media, interac- tivity, and search information in new ways. In the future, IPTV is expected to change the user experience by en- hancing user’s interactivity, service personalization (such as content personalization, recommendations, target ad- vertisements, and personalize channels [8], mobility and multi devices/screen usage. 1.2. IPTV System Capabilities The IPTV system capabilities [5,9] shown in Table 1 1.3. IPTV Architectures The basic IPTV architecture shown in Figure 1. Table 1. IPTV system capabilities. Issues IPTV Capabilities Users worldwide that have known IP addresses and known locations Video quality Controlled QoS, broadcast TV quality Connection bandwidth Between 1 and 4 Mbit/s Video format MPEG-2 MPEG-4 Part 2 MPEG-4 Part (AVC) Microsoft VC1 Receiver device Set top box with a television display Resolution Full TV display Reliability Stable Security Uers are authentification and protected Complementarily with cable, terrestrial and satellite broadcasting Potential commenon STB, complementary coverage, common metadata Copyright Media is protected Figure 1. Basic IPTV architectures. The basic IPTV architecture components include [1]: 1) Acquisition severs (A-severs): for encoding video and DRM metadata. 2) Distributed severs (D-Sever): provide caching and QoS control. 3) VoD creators and severs: retain a library of en- coded VoD content to provide VoD services. 4) IP routers: route IP packets and provide fast re- route in case of routing failures. 5) Residential gateways: IP routers for bundled ser- vice at home. 6) STBs: a STB (Set top box) is a device on the user side that interfaces with the user terminal (e.g. TV, PC, laptop, and others) with DSL or cable wiring. 2. IPTV Implication for Education The IPV implications for education project was imple- mented at Suan Dusit Rajbhat University, Thailand since 2008. The IPTV was called Suan Dusit Internet Broad- casting (SDIB). 2.1. Aims of IPTV The aims of IPTV are to develop new educational inno- vations for supporting distance and life-long learning for students of Suan Dusit Rajabhat University and to in- crease learning channels for the delivery of information and knowledge to local communities [11]. 2.2. Concepts IPTV was designed to support education. Figure 2 shows the IPTV system design for support distance learning. Internet Figure 2. IPTV designed concept. Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Implication for Education Copyright © 2012 SciRes. JSEA 52 2.3. Channels, Contents and Users IPTV was designed to broadcast in four channels and provided the following contents [2,3,10,11]: Channel 1 (kid program): broadcasts teaching and learning at Sa-Tid-La-Or-U-Tid primary schools. Most of the contents are useful for distance students who are studying in the Bachelor of Education Program in Pre-school Education. Currently, the university has more than 20,000 distance students who are studying in this program. Most of them are teachers who are working in the early childhood care centers in Thai- land, and therefore the contents of this channel are useful for them. This channel broadcast more than 372 programs that focus on early childhood education. There are many interesting program such as brain- based learning (BBL), toys for children, and food and nutrition for children. Moreover, there are some live programs such as Kindergarten Fantasia which broad- casts children’s activities in their classroom; parents can watch these programs from the Internet. Users who are distance students currently number more than 20,000. Furthermore, the audience includes par- ents, kindergarten school teachers, and researchers who are interested in studying early childhood educa- tion. Channel 2 (video on demand of university teaching): broadcasts video on demand for bachelor’s and mas- ter’s degree students. This channel broadcasts more than 95 programs. Users wi ll be students who are studying at Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, of which there are currently around 30,000. Channel 3 (variety): broadcasts variety programs with a focus on the university’s strengths. This channel broadcasts more than 240 programs. There are many interesting program such as Food and Thai Cuisine, Thai Handicrafts, Tourism in Thailand, Thai Food and Beverages, and others. Users will be students, teach- ers, university staff, and people who are interested in these programs. Channel 4 (radio): broadcast radio programs for users who have low internet access. This channel broad- casts 11 programs. There are many interesting pro- grams such as Art of children, Knowledge Manage- ment for Fun, and others. Users will be people who have low speeds of internet access. 2.4. IPTV Architecture The IPTV architecture design shows in Figure 3. It con- sisted of Studio rooms for live broadcasting which have high definition video cameras. A multimedia server (MMS) which separated one channel from one server. Server numbers 1-3 were located in the control room at Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, Thailand. Server numbers 4-5 were located at CAT Telecommunication as a co-location. SAN storage for 6 terabytes for storing multimedia content. F5 as the load balance for distributing traffic to the Intranet. Website (sdib.dusit.ac.th) for broadcasting content through users. Figure 4 shows website of the IPTV. 2.5. Devices Users can access IPTV by using PCs, tablets (iPad, Galaxy Tab, HP Touchpad), smart phones and smart TVs (iPhone, Samsung, BlackBerry, Nokia, HTC, Sony Internet TV). The browser supported both browsers on PCs (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome) and browsers on mobiles (Safari on iOS, Android, Internet Explorer Mobile). Figure 3. IPTV hardware architecture. Figure 4. IPTV website. Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Implication for Education Copyright © 2012 SciRes. JSEA 53 The questionnaire was divided into three parts: demo- graphics information, IPTV system evaluation, and user satisfaction. The questionnaire trials and had a highly re- liability (Alpha Coefficient by Cronbach) of 0.988. 2. Result The demographics profile of IPTV’s users is given in Table 2. 2.6. The Study The IPTV study was im plemented in 80 pilot schools around Thailand. Suan Dusit Rajabaht University pro- vided free LCD television, set top boxes, and ADSL to the pilot schools. The IPTV system was used by teachers and students in the pilot schools for six months. The re- search was complied through both quantitative (a ques- tionnaire using 322 sam ples) and qualitative methods (interviews). Table 2. Demographic profiel of IP TV use r s. Items Frequency Percent Central 157 47.29 Southern 49 14.76 North 45 13.55 North-Eastern 71 21.39 Area N/A 10 3.01 Femal 293 88.25 Male 37 11.14 Gender N/A 2 0.60 >25 yrs. 9 2.71 26-35 yrs. 133 40.06 36-45 yrs. 116 34.94 <45 yrs. 72 21.69 Age N/A 2 0.60 Undergraduate 9 2.71 Bachelor degree 280 84.34 Master degree/ Ph.D. 41 12.35 Education N/A 2 0.60 >1 yr. 6 1.81 1-5 yrs. 98 29.52 < 5 yrs. 224 67.47 No experience 2 0.60 Work experience N/A 2 0.60 >1 yr. 27 8.13 1-5 yrs. 149 44.88 < 5 yrs. 141 42.47 No experience 13 3.92 IT expereince N/A 2 0.60 >1 yr. 37 11.14 1-5 yrs. 138 41.57 < 5 yrs. 144 43.37 No experience 11 3.31 Internet expereince N/A 2 0.60 Yes 314 94.58 No 15 4.52 Computer at school N/A 3 0.90 The result of IPTV system evaluation found that most of users used IPTV via set top box (84.34%) and used IPTV at school 3-4 days per week on average. The result of user’s satisfaction with the IPTV sys- tem is shown in Table 3. The result of the IPTV system evaluation showed that the highest scores (mean =4.32) were achieved by the television LCD, the overall IPTV system (mean =4.24), benefits of using content from IPTV (mean = 4.16), con- tent in IPTV (mean = 4.16) and set up box (mean = 4.04) respectively. Here are some comments which illustrate the usefulness of the IPTV system as follows: “I really like IPTV system because it help use to prepare teaching material easier for example I develop- ments program it teach me how to make toys by using plants and natures resources that we can find in our lo- cal community. This is very useful for us.” “We can use TV LCD for other purpose as well, such as watching news, connect to the Internet and use for watch IPTV programs.” “I think, content in IPTV is really useful both for teacher and students. Students can learn outside the classroom by using IPTV system. It ‘s good for educa- tion” The result of IPTV program evaluation show that the highest score were achieved by Toys developments (means = 4.00), Novels for children (mean = 3.98), Study tours outside the class room (means = 3.93), Teaching and learning at Sa-Tid-La-U-Tid (mean = 3.93) and English for fun (mean = 3.91), respectively. Here are some comments illustrate the usefulness of IPTV pro- grams as follows: Table 3. User’s satisfaction using IPTV system. Issues Mean SD IPTV system Television LCD 4.32 0.84 Overall IPTV system 4.24 0.72 Benefit of using content from IPTV 4.16 0.77 Content in IPTV 4.16 0.79 Set top box 4.04 0.87 Total 4.17 0.65 IPTV program Toys developments 4.00 0.75 Novels for children 3.98 0.79 Study tours outside the class room 3.93 0.80 Teaching and learning at Sa-Tid-La-U-Tid 3.93 0.80 English for fun 3.91 0.84 Total 3.83 0.70 Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Implication for Education Copyright © 2012 SciRes. JSEA 54 “Kids in our school like to watch IPTV program very much especially ‘Study tour outside the classroom’ pro- gram because it help them to explore the world outside the classroom. Children can learn by watching those programs and discuss with their classmates. I think, the IPTV system is very useful especially for teacher and students in the rural areas that can access new knowl- edge and information for supp ort lifelong learning.” “Kids like to watch English for fun program because our school doesn’t have foreigner teachers to teach Eng- lish. So, I open this program and use for my teaching. Students are rea lly like it.” 3. Conclusion The implication of IPTV ‘s use in education was illus- trated in this paper. The IPTV project background was demonstrated and explained through IPTV concepts, channels contents and users, architecture and devices. The IPTV concepts were design to support distant learn- ing. It consisted of four channels (kids, video on demand, variety and radio) and provided information regarding bandwidth availability and it supported a variety of out- put devices (television monitors, PCs and smart phones). Users can watch IPTV programs both in the live and video on demand format. An IPTV study was imple- mented in pilot schools around Thailand. The result found that the IPTV users have a high score of system satisfaction and IPTV programs. 4. Future Work The future study should develop IPTV to mobile IPTV system because the technological trend of mobile IPTV is becoming popular and advance. Mobile IPTV t ech- nology is an application that allows users to transmit and receive multimedia content through an IPTV based net- work with the support of security, mobility and interac- tivity [2]. Also, the research should focus on how to de- velop learning pedagogy by using IPTV integrated with social networking to support distance learning. 5. Acknowledgement The author would like to thank you the Office of Aca- demic Resource and Information Technology (ARIT) at Suan Dusit Rajabhat University for providing IPTV sys- tems to the pilot schools, and providing network infra- structure for supporting IPTV operation. REFERENCES [1] S. Zeadally, and H. Moustafa, “Internet Protocol Television (IPTV): Architecture, Trends, and Challenges, IEEE Systems Journal. Vol.5, No. 4, 2011, pp. 518-527. [2] P. Suanpang, “The development IPTV to mobile IPTV implications for teaching and learning”, Proeeding of the ICTC 2012 International Conference on ICT Convergence, Korea, 15-17 October 2012, to be published in IEEE Xplore Digital Library. [3] A. Al-Hezmi, R. Rebahi, T. Magedanz and S. Arbanowaski, “Towards an Interactive IPTV for Mobile Subscribers”, Proeeding of International Conference on Digital Telecommunications, IEEE Computer Society Press, 2006. doi:10.1109/ICDT.2006.74 [4] Z. Liu, B. Wei, and H. 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