Flash Communication Server

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Project Summary: The Flash Communication Server has been supported for several years on a CTL server. Initially the Flash Communication Server was used for a variety of purposes (video streaming, chatrooms, etc) but the chatrooms developed by the CTL are the primary use of it currently. The Flash chatrooms fill in the gap and provide synchronous communication for areas where the WebCT chatrooms are not sufficient. Eventually another more widespread solution will be implemented but currently the maintenance of the server is minimal and no other solution has provided equal features.

Contents

Project Goals

  • Evaluate and implement a project using the Flash Communication Server.
  • Develop an online chatroom for faculty and staff that do not use WebCT and/or need additional functionality such as audio and video during their online chats.
  • Develop a chatroom that allows users to login with their MyMCC username and password.
  • Develop a chatroom for users outside of WebCT.

Relation to CTL Department Plan Initiatives

Project Staff

  • Jeffrey Anderson did the initial Flash Communication Server installation with Martin Lehner and Melanie Kroening contributing support.
  • Melanie Kroening developed the Flash Chatroom which runs on the Flash Communication Server, installed the Jrun application server with flashgateway, provided LDAP integration, and provided chat history storage.
  • Martin Lehner currently updates and maintains the Flash Communication Server and Paul Hickey currently updates and maintains the associated MSSQL database.
  • Melanie Kroening currently maintains and updates the Flash Chatrooms and provides technical support.

Project Timeline

  • Project was initiated in the Fall of 2003 when the order of the Flash Communication Server was approved.
  • The inital flash chatrooms were built in 2004 to provide simple text chats outside of WebCT for use with the online advisor.
  • The chatroom was modified later in 2005 to add in LDAP authentication to restrict access to MCC students and instructors.
  • The chatroom was modified in 2005 to add chat history storage for auditing of the chats (when the chats took place, who entered the chatrooms, were there any inappropriate chatters).
  • The chatroom was modified in 2005 to allow easier access to math symbols, spanish symbols, and german symbols.
  • The chatroom was modified in 2005 to allow graphing and whiteboard drawing.

Project Resources

  • Staff time has been required to install and maintain and support the Flash Communication Server and the people using the chatrooms.
  • Staff time has been required to develop and customize the flash chatrooms.
  • Funds were required to purchase the Flash Communication Server software.
  • Server space has been required for the Flash Communication Server, the JRUN application server (which allows LDAP authentication and communication with the database server), and the database server (which stores chat history).

Project Outcomes and Future Directions

  • Several faculty and staff are using the Flash Chatrooms for use within the online classroom or for other purposes (tutoring, financial aid advising, office hours, class chats) but the use of these chatrooms was never widespread.
  • Other chatroom pilots have been done and are being done currently in 2007 (the use of Macromedia Breeze and Elluminate).
  • CTL will support the Flash Communication Server until a solution is found that supports the staff/faculty equally as well or until the server space needs to be reallocated as maintenance of this project is minimal.
Retrieved from "http://ctl.mc.maricopa.edu/wiki/index.php/Flash_Communication_Server"
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