George Washington U Adds Video Tools To Extend Classes Beyond Main Campus
George
Washington University in Washington, DC
is improving digital video equipment in classrooms at its main Foggy
Bottom
campus and at remote satellite campuses so students at the latter can
participate fully in classes held on the main campus.
Beginning
next fall, students at George
Washington's campus in Hampton Roads, VA will be able to communicate
in real
time with faculty and students in classes held elsewhere.
"The
faculty member could speak to students in
either location and students can see, hear and speak to each other,"
said Paul
Schiff Berman, vice provost for online learning and academic
innovation, in a recent report in the university's student paper. "It is
one real-time class with students in two locations."
The
distance learning option connecting students
in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development is the first
of many
technology-enhanced developments at George Washington as the university
begins
to replace antiquated analog video equipment in its classrooms with
digital
systems.
Classrooms
in three Foggy Bottom buildings — the Elliott
School of International Affairs building, Duques Hall and the Media and
Public
Affairs building — are being outfitted with brighter projectors;
cameras that
can pan, tilt and zoom to show all parts of the classroom; and
microphones that
hang from the ceiling. Meanwhile, classrooms on the Hampton Roads
campus will
get large LCD displays, cameras and table microphones.
Classrooms
at the university's Virginia Science
and Technology campus in Ashburn, VA, are also being upgraded.
"GW
leadership has made an important investment
to upgrade our general purpose classrooms from analog to digital," said
Berman.
"This will allow for robust Web conference-based collaborative tools
for our
students enrolled in face-to-face courses at remote sites as well as
our
students enrolled in online courses."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.