Taught Course Centre
Encyclopedia
The Taught Course Centre or TCC is a collaboration between the mathematics
departments at five UK universities aimed at providing a broader range of lecture courses for postgraduate students.
Lectures are given at all five universities and, using Access Grid
technology, students at each of the other four institutes may participate with each lecture.
The TCC was set up in 2007 with funding from the EPSRC. Twenty six courses were made available to students in the first year of the collaboration, with topics from diverse areas of mathematics including number theory
, partial differential equations, random matrix theory, and group theory
. One of the aims of the project was to encourage contact between postgraduate mathematics students at the five universities and set up future collaborative work.
technology for video conferencing using the proprietary IOCOM
software suite. The lectures take place in the virtual venue named Maths TCC. These lectures may be recorded upon request if permission from participants is obtained in advance.
TCC lectures normally transmit video streams using H.261
and audio as G.711
for compatibility with the freely available AG3 software.
Each Access Grid session is paired with a Jabber/XMPP
session on the AGSC
Virtual Venue Server. The XMPP session allows instant messaging with other participants allowing fault diagnosis or communication without interrupting a session.
that can be viewed locally and transmitted to all participants of the meeting. Elliott A Nichol and Stuart P Burchell are currently working on a system to transmit these streams using H.261
, thus allowing the AG3 tools view and record them.
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
departments at five UK universities aimed at providing a broader range of lecture courses for postgraduate students.
Members
The five collaborating universities are:- University of BathUniversity of BathThe University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
- University of BristolUniversity of BristolThe University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
- Imperial College LondonImperial College LondonImperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
- University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
- University of WarwickUniversity of WarwickThe University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
Lectures are given at all five universities and, using Access Grid
Access Grid
Access Grid is a collection of resources and technologies that enables large format audio and video based collaboration between groups of people in different locations. The Access Grid is an ensemble of resources, including multimedia large-format displays, presentation and interactive...
technology, students at each of the other four institutes may participate with each lecture.
The TCC was set up in 2007 with funding from the EPSRC. Twenty six courses were made available to students in the first year of the collaboration, with topics from diverse areas of mathematics including number theory
Number theory
Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers. Number theorists study prime numbers as well...
, partial differential equations, random matrix theory, and group theory
Group theory
In mathematics and abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as groups.The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as rings, fields, and vector spaces can all be seen as groups endowed with additional operations and...
. One of the aims of the project was to encourage contact between postgraduate mathematics students at the five universities and set up future collaborative work.
Configuration
In normal operation, the TCC uses access gridAccess Grid
Access Grid is a collection of resources and technologies that enables large format audio and video based collaboration between groups of people in different locations. The Access Grid is an ensemble of resources, including multimedia large-format displays, presentation and interactive...
technology for video conferencing using the proprietary IOCOM
IOCOM
IOCOM, formerly known as InSORS, is an American technology corporation that develops and markets visual communication software. Founded in 1998 by Kevin Gleason and Michael Galich, and has an advisory board which includes Edward Zander, former Sprint Nextel executive John Garcia and Ian Foster...
software suite. The lectures take place in the virtual venue named Maths TCC. These lectures may be recorded upon request if permission from participants is obtained in advance.
TCC lectures normally transmit video streams using H.261
H.261
H.261 is a ITU-T video coding standard, ratified in November 1988. It is the first member of the H.26x family of video coding standards in the domain of the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group , and was the first video codec that was useful in practical terms.H.261 was originally designed for...
and audio as G.711
G.711
G.711 is an ITU-T standard for audio companding. It is primarily used in telephony. The standard was released for usage in 1972. Its formal name is Pulse code modulation of voice frequencies. It is required standard in many technologies, for example in H.320 and H.323 specifications. It can also...
for compatibility with the freely available AG3 software.
Each Access Grid session is paired with a Jabber/XMPP
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence...
session on the AGSC
Access Grid Support Centre
The Access Grid Support Centre provides support for Access Grid and other video collaboration tools for the UK academic community.Based in the University of Manchester they provide on-demand support, procurement advice, and a range of services such a presentation sharing, network bridges,...
Virtual Venue Server. The XMPP session allows instant messaging with other participants allowing fault diagnosis or communication without interrupting a session.
Oxford
The Oxford TCC is equipped with a Smart Board and SympodiumSMART Technologies
Smart Technologies is a publicly traded company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1987, Smart Technologies is best known as the developer of the Smart Board interactive whiteboard...
that can be viewed locally and transmitted to all participants of the meeting. Elliott A Nichol and Stuart P Burchell are currently working on a system to transmit these streams using H.261
H.261
H.261 is a ITU-T video coding standard, ratified in November 1988. It is the first member of the H.26x family of video coding standards in the domain of the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group , and was the first video codec that was useful in practical terms.H.261 was originally designed for...
, thus allowing the AG3 tools view and record them.
Events
- January 21 2008
- TCC Number Theory Event Day was held at Bristol and students were given a chance to talk about their research to their peers and share ideas.
See also
- MAGIC (postgraduate mathematics)MAGIC (postgraduate mathematics)The MAGIC group is a consortium of mathematics departments in the United Kingdom which runs a range of postgraduate-level lecture courses using Access Grid videoconferencing technology...
a similar project with a different group of UK universities - IOCOMIOCOMIOCOM, formerly known as InSORS, is an American technology corporation that develops and markets visual communication software. Founded in 1998 by Kevin Gleason and Michael Galich, and has an advisory board which includes Edward Zander, former Sprint Nextel executive John Garcia and Ian Foster...
- Access Grid Support CentreAccess Grid Support CentreThe Access Grid Support Centre provides support for Access Grid and other video collaboration tools for the UK academic community.Based in the University of Manchester they provide on-demand support, procurement advice, and a range of services such a presentation sharing, network bridges,...