Distant e-learning using synchronous collaborative environment "Platine"

A lot of asynchronous systems have been developed to provide distance-learning solutions over the Internet. However, those environments are not able to give prompt feedback and they lack of interactivity. This research focuses on the provision of synchronous collaborative environments, focusing on the synchronous collaborative environment Platine designed and implemented in LAAS-CNRS with the help of Tokushima University. To evaluate such a solution, experiments were realized in Tokushima University. They were based on a synchronous environment that provides videoconferencing and collaborative tools. The aim of this research was to understand and to identify the requirements of the distance learners for such learning scenario. This paper presents the experience gained from the experiments, validating the improvement done to Platine which is not available on any other environment we know.