Video Conferencing / Distance Education

Classroom Support maintains a full video conferencing service for faculty and staff of Illinois State University using IP Video for video conferencing and distance education applications. IP (Internet Protocol) Video uses equipment based on the H.323 protocol to digitize the video and audio signals from a session and make them available to similar equipment via the Internet. The advantages include lower cost for equipment, no special phone lines, and minimal setup. These services are offered to all faculty and staff at no cost.

Current Setup

Currently, there are three rooms available for video conferencing. The use of the rooms is limited to faculty and staff for activities related to teaching, research, and other professional objectives. This would include distance education with students, meetings with colleagues, guest speakers, or professional development activities. Two of the rooms are setup with approximately 9-12 seats plus conference tables and white boards. The third room can accommodate up to 40 people. The following items need to be kept in mind when scheduling an event:

• Only faculty and staff can schedule the use of the room. Scheduling is done online (see link at bottom of page).

• Activities should be scheduled between the hours of 8:30 am - 4:30 pm. In some instances conferences can be supported after hours but this is scheduled based on staff availability.

• A laptop computer, document camera, and VCR are available for use with the conference sessions. The requestor must make this need known when requesting a session.

• Click here to download a flyer (MS Word) highlighting our video conferencing services.

Mobile Option

Depending on the location, it is also possible to bring the video conference equipment to a location on campus. For example, it would be very easy to schedule a guest lecturer to visit your class in the large lecture halls. You'll need to contact Classroom Support about a mobile setup before scheduling a date to determine room compatibility.

Before You Schedule

Before you schedule a session, please contact the remote site you wish to connect with and determine if they have the equipment to support an H.323 or IP-based video conference. The two most common brand names of equipment for this type of conferece are Polycom and Tandberg. If the remote site has equipment from one of these two manufacturers (and some others), we will most likely be able to setup a conference for you. We will also need the name, phone number, and/or email address of a technical contact at the remote site. Once we have this information we will do a test call to test the connection before confirming your request. NOTE: Some institutions are using an older video conferencing technology called H.320 or ISDN-based. The most common brands for this type of equipment are V-tel and picture-tel. We can support conferences with this type of equipment but it does require additional scheduling lead time.

Questions and Scheduling

If you have questions about video conferencing please contact Rachal Roach by email at or by phone at 309-438-7412.

Click here to request a video conference session.

Tips for a Successful Video Conference

• Plan to arrive 15 minutes early to your video conference.

• If you are planning a recurring conference, you will recieve a training session on the use of the equipment prior to the start of your conferences.

• Make plenty of eye contact with the camera to create a sense of intimacy.

• Speak in a normal voice, the microphones are sensitive and will pick up your voice without having to shout. The microphones will also pick up unwanted noises such as paper shuffling. If you have paper, please keep the movement to a minimum as this can be disruptive to a conference.

• When choosing clothing for you conference, try to avoid white or bold patterns.

• If you are presenting material such as PowerPoint, keep the slides very simple. A white background with black text is easist to read. Click here for an example.

• If you will be using the document camera, consider using light blue paper instead of white.