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ITV Technology
Instructional Television (ITV) allows students at a distance learning location to take courses that are being taught from a campus.
Overview & How it works
ITV courses originate from a classroom on one of eight campuses. The instructor in the "broadcast" classroom teaches to those students in the classroom as well as those students watching the signal live on television at a remote location. Students at the distance locations can ask questions and participate in class by calling in on a phone.
The system allows for up to four ITV courses to be transmitted at any one time. Courses typically run in three hour blocks, Monday through Friday from 7:00 AM - 10:00 PM and on Saturdays from 8:00 AM throught 2:00 PM.
In the event that there are technical difficulties with the signal, the courses are recorded in Technical Support and the recordings are mailed to the locations that missed the signal.
The University of Maine System has been offerring ITV since 1989.
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ITV signals originate in from the broadcast classrooms, and on special occasions may originate from the TV studio in Augusta or can be sent from downlinked satellite broadcasts.
Each classroom is equipped with a control booth where a Distance Education Technician assists the faculty member by operating the technology.. Phone calls into the classroom are fed to this technician who notifies the instructor of the caller on line. The following devices are among the various choices to
ITV TransmissionsITV signals are encoded in MPEG-2 format and multicast to each of the other campuses and centers over Asynchronous Transfer Modem (ATM) leased fiber optic circuits.
At Centers, these signals are decoded, modulated onto television channels and sent over an in-house cable network. TVs throughout the center can tune into the appropriate course for that room by changing the TV channel.
 At Campuses, these signals are decoded and then broadcast over the air throught via Instruction Television Fixed Service (ITFS) frequencies allocated to educational institutions. The signals are repeated through series of transmitter towers and received state-wide at receive sites.
 At receive sites, the signals are downconverted to TV channels where they can be watched on a normal TV.
 Technical SupportIn a Master Control facility in Augusta, a team of technicians monitors the signals coming from the various campuses. These technicians record the classes in the event of a technical failure, and when needed, respond to trouble calls.
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InteroperabilityThe Maine State Department of Education initiated and Advanced Telecommunications for Maine (ATM) project which has become the Maine Distance Learning Project. which has put over 90 four-way, MPEG-2 encoded, ATM-transported, classrooms in Maine High Schools. ITV signals are encoded and transported over the same means so can technically be transmitted directly into these high school rooms. The UMS was closely involved in BioTech and Marine Sciences connectivity projects in which MPEG-2 encoded, ATM transported rooms were put on USM, UMM, and UMaine campuses. Likewise ITV signals can be transmitted into any one of these rooms.
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