Page 25 - Campus Technology, March/April 2018

SPECIAL SECTION
2017 CT IMPACT AWARDS IN DEPTH meg lloyd Serving Students With AR and VR
Oral Roberts University built a Global Learning Center that combines anytime, anywhere access to information, course materials and streaming media with a deep dive into augmented and virtual reality.
Category: Student Systems & Services Project: Global Learning Center
Project lead: Michael Mathews, associate vice president for innovation and technology
Tech lineup: EON Reality, rSmart
AS ORAL ROBERTS UNIVERSITY
began work on an augmented and virtual reality initiative back in 2014, academic and technology leaders on cam- pus determined that offering the latest AR/VR content resources to the local Tulsa, OK-based campus was sim- ply not enough. Under the leadership of ORU President William Wilson, and with a strong commitment and a Glo- balization Case Statement from the Board of Trustees, the
university set out to “use new paradigms in technologies to reach millions” — addressing both concept skills and professional competence for students around the globe.
The university invested $8.5 million to construct a Global Learning Center that was in full service by AY 2016-2017. The center’s planners decided that AR/VR would be among the key technologies they would use to bring ORU’s education to students worldwide. Along with classrooms, studios, a performance hall and conference rooms, the center’s upper level features an AR/VR facility dedicated to content in more than 7,000 academic subjects. To make a growing volume of curricular content more easily accessible for both campus-based and international students, the plan included a Digital IT Concierge service — with a simple search interface that helps students identify the resources and services they need 24/7.
The ambitious plan for AR/VR content discovery and access is a good fit for the university as it defines its role
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CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | March/April 2018
Oral Roberts University’s Global Learning Center team is providing a worldwide community of students with a rich collection of learning materials enhanced with virtual reality.