Graphical User Interface and MATLAB Web Server for Multimedia Teaching on WWW

The World Wide Web provides new opportunities for distance education over the Internet. The Web when combined with other network tools can be used to create a virtual classroom to bring together a community of learners for interactive education. The specific issue addressed here is tailoring specific functionality to allow a group of instructors and students to carry out the learning process in Signal and Image Processing in an electronic virtual environment that is meant to replace the physical class environment. In order such an environment to be performed, not only the course content itself but and different Web-based tools for interaction between the students and instructors are presented as well. Graphical User Interface (GUI), designed and presented here, brings together the students and course instructors through virtual lab-sessions, help and chat rooms. It is mainly developed using Macromedia Flash. As Signal and Image Processing are areas, which heavily depend on mathematics, the lab-sessions are performed through MATLAB Web Server. Some specific applications of it are shown as well as complementary tools like Web-calendar and digital library. Finally, conclusions and future work on this virtual classroom are given.