System and method for hybrid course instruction

Abstract

Systems and methods related to providing an electronic presentation to both in-class attendees and remotely located out-of-class attendees, in which video and audio associated with the presentation is provided to the remote attendees, and out-of-class programmable systems are programmed to execute an educational exercise associated with the presentation and be remotely operated by the remote attendees.

1 - 12 . (canceled) 
     
     
         13 . A system providing an electronic presentation, the system comprising:
 a console interface of a console programmable computer configured to provide a presentation control interface for directing visual content to a presentation display for viewing by a plurality of in-class participants;   a camera configured to capture video data of a presenter;   a microphone configured to capture audio data of the presenter;   one or more programmable computers configured to:
 receive video data from the camera, audio data from the microphone, and the visual content displayed on the presentation display, 
 encode the video data, audio data, and visual content as outgoing data, and 
 transmit the outgoing data to a plurality of remote attendee systems via a network; 
   a plurality of in-class programmable systems located in a classroom, configured to:
 execute learning software, 
 send an educational exercise in the learning software to one or more of the plurality of in-class participants, and 
 allow the educational exercise to be performed by one or more of the plurality of in-class participants; 
   a plurality of out-of-class programmable systems, operated by a respective one of the plurality of remote attendee systems via the network and located in the same classroom as the plurality of in-class programmable systems, configured to:
 execute the learning software, 
 send the educational exercise in the learning software to one or more of the plurality of remote attendee systems via a respective one or more of the plurality of out-of-class programmable systems via the network, and 
 allow the educational exercise to be performed by one or more of the plurality of remote attendee systems. 
   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 a connection server configured to:   exchange data with the plurality of remote attendee systems over the network and compress high bandwidth video data into low bandwidth video data for transmission over the network.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 a demonstration computer configured to:
 execute demonstrations by the presenter to remote attendee systems; and 
 control a demonstration window of a remote participant interface of each remote attendee system. 
   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein:
 the one or more programmable computers are further configured to:
 provide a user interface for displaying the presentation display to remote attendee systems, 
 provide a chat interface in the user interface; and 
   presentation control interface is configured to accept annotations and display the annotations in the presentation display.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 a plurality of breakout programmable computer systems each comprising a breakout display, a breakout camera, a breakout microphone, a breakout speaker, and a breakout input device;   wherein each breakout programmable computer is configured to:   provide a virtual whiteboard on the breakout display for displaying inputs entered via the breakout input device,   receive image data from the breakout camera and audio data from the breakout microphone,   encode the image data and audio data into outgoing breakout data, and transmit the outgoing breakout data to a subset of the plurality of remote attendee systems via the network,   transmit the inputs entered via the breakout input device to the subset of the plurality of remote attendee systems, and   receive encoded audio data from a remote attendee system included in the subset of the plurality of remote attendee systems, and output the received audio data via the breakout speaker.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein each breakout programmable computer is configured to allow remote access by the presenter for the purpose of assisting with or reviewing the progress of a breakout session. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein each breakout programmable computer is configured to display a breakout interface on the breakout display for a breakout session, and the breakout interface is displayed on the subset of remote attendee systems participating in the breakout session. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , further configured to provide an option to a remote attendee system to switch between the breakout session and a main presentation session when the breakout session is taking place. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the demonstration computer is configured to display output of at least one of the out-of-class programmable systems to observe use of the out-of-class programmable systems by remote attendee systems.   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the out-of-class programmable systems further comprise a monitor and are configured to display a result of the educational exercise to the presenter by the display to observe use of the out-of-class programmable systems by remote attendee systems.