Video email: a method of speeding up assignment feedback for visual arts subjects in distance education
The type of asynchronous communication offered by electronic mail has been shown to be particularly effective for providing feedback on assignments in distance education. However, the use of electronic mail has generally been restricted to the exchange of textual information. For practical assignments which include a large visual component, a method of providing feedback which enables the tutor to point to features of the student's work is needed. This paper reports the results of a recent investigation into the feasibility of providing visual feedback to students in practical art subjects by sending compressed digital video clips as attachments to email messages. It concludes that transmission of video by email is now technically feasible, although bandwidth constraints of dial-up links and the time taken for compression put a tight limit on the amount of video that it is practicable to transmit. Nevertheless, developments in technology are expected to improve this situation quickly. Many of the issues that are examined are relevant to other areas of multimedia delivery