TelePresence Applications in Education & Training

Cisco TelePresence solutions for education open new opportunities to visually connect students, faculty members, administrators, and researchers to enhance learning, professional development, and external relationships. Cisco TelePresence elevates face-to-face learning and collaboration by delivering a natural communications experience through high-definition audio and video, expanding education opportunities for both students and faculty. Cisco's complete line of telepresence solutions for education range from immersive systems for the lecture hall to video collaboration and content sharing tools for the classroom. Students and faculty are now able to have instant face-to-face access to experts around the world on any topic, all at the touch of a button.

Featured Case Study: Duke University

Challenged with educating the next generation of global leaders, facilitating collaboration across university boundaries and streamlining operations - Duke turned to Cisco Collaboration solutions to facilitate collaboration in the classroom and beyond. By deploying Cisco TelePresence, Unified Communications and Enterprise Social Software, Duke University is now able to extend the interactive classroom experience to people around the world and is saving US$2.5 million annually in communication system support costs.

University Prepares Next Generation of Global Leaders

 

Duke University Enables Collaboration in the Classroom and Beyond

 

More TelePresence Case Studies for Education

Wall Street English-China

 

Darla Moore School of Business

 

University of Missouri

 

Educational Applications:

• Extend the reach of existing faculty to address needs of larger student bodies — Telepresence has allowed schools at all levels to offer students access to more courses by sharing highly qualified faculty via distance learning. Students are also able to participate in concurrent enrollment and dual-credit classes via video without missing essential classroom interaction, often an absent component of online courses.
• Access to content and experts previously unavailable — Content providers from around the world offer programs and content on everything from cultural museum tours to sports history. One famous author visits with students around the world every day from her home in Seattle, WA. Many rural students with no access to art museums or famous landmarks are able to visit them virtually and participate in interactive lessons focused on the sites' authentic resources.
• Integrate course lectures and live content with online materials — By capturing class lectures and activities, educators are able to provide a true blended learning experience for students. Uploading video content to their Learning Management System (LMS), such as Blackboard or Moodle, educators are augmenting the effectiveness online course materials.
• Bring together multi-cultural student groups for collaboration and learning — A class studying Spanish in Minnesota connects live with a class studying English in Spain. By bringing together these multi-cultural groups, educators offer students the chance to actively participate in their own education — the students experience other cultures and even teach each other, across the campus or across the world.
• Increase professional development opportunities — Faculty are able to access more professional development opportunities while saving time and cost of travel. Schools and organizations are able to better meet the needs of their staff by providing more choices and programs individualized to the needs of the organization.
• Provide access to content and lectures from anywhere at anytime — Captured and automatically posted for download to mobile devices, video content is critical to a true blended learning experience for the online classroom — or as a supplement to the traditional classroom. Students are able to view and refer back to lecture content, opening up class time to discussions and project work.
• Supervise and mentor — As universities send new teachers out into the workforce, and as institutions struggle to retain early service teachers, it is imperative to provide them with effective mentoring and supervision, which is proven to increase retention rates. Using video communications, teachers are instantly connected with their mentors or supervisors for ad-hoc advice or questions.
• Deliver instruction and therapy for students with special needs — One program connects hospital-bound students to their homerooms, which has proven to increase the patient's well-being and recovery. Students who require special therapies or remediation are not required to leave campus and waste valuable instruction time and itinerant teachers become a part of the past.
• Increase administrative effectiveness — Administrators utilize video communications to connect with staff at multiple campuses, to collaborate with government and elected officials on key education issues and to conduct regular meetings with direct reports. One institution uses telepresence to connect with vendors and suppliers, and many board members stay in visual contact with each other and the community with personal telepresence systems.