MOBIPRESS

Students can now watch lectures ‘live’ on their smart phones. Experts at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) have developed an automated application, which will allow students to watch lectures on their cellphones.

What distinguishes the application from other ones is the display. The application will allow students to focus on any part of the video with a clear resolution.

Called lec-to-mobile, the application has the potential to reform distance education programmes in the country. The application, developed by a professor and students of the electrical engineering department of the institute, will soon be patented. The project will be officially launched on a public domain in the days to come.

“Lec-to-mobile is completely automated. It allows students to download any lecture. It could be a lecture going on or an earlier one. The students will be able to ‘attend’ the lecture as per the required resolution. The cursor will automatically move on the writing board and will also zoom in and out whenever required. They will be able to experience a live classroom on their cellphones,” professor Subhasis Chaudhuri, the inventor of the application, told DNA.

At present, the application can be used on Android phones. However, it would soon be made available on windows application on cellphones as well. The beta version would be available for free initially, said Chaudhuri. “Distance education itself is a big sector now. Accessing lectures on the phone can help the sector in several ways,” he said.

Lec-to-mobile will offer lectures only by those professors who are willing to upload them. The application would also provide lectures by companies who are providers of such sessions.

“It is the same format used by television channels. The shows are created and developed by a production house and then are taken by the channels. Lecture companies or institutes can exploit the application in many ways,” Chaudhuri said.

“The idea is to make use of the limited amount of space that we have on cellphones,” explained Rangan Banerjee, dean, research and development, IIT-B.

“The team from the electrical engineering department has worked on the aspect of video resolution of the lectures. They are planning to put up the demo version on the public domain soon. The professor also has some patents on his name already.”