Page 36 - Campus Technology, March/April 2019

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CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | March/April 2019
2018
Category: Education Futurists
Institution: University of Oxford Saïd Business
School
Project: The Oxford HIVE: Hub for International Virtual Education
Project leads: Mark Bramwell, CIO and director of professional services; Dominik Lukes, digital learning technologist; and Tim Rose, digital learning technologist
Tech lineup: LG, Sennheiser, SyncRTC, VDO360, Vogel’s Professional Solutions
and in real time.
The flagship offering of this comprehensive
initiative, the Oxford HIVE: Hub for Interna- tional Virtual Education, proved to be not only game-changing, but also affordable and man- ageable — a feat accomplished by acquiring existing technology and leveraging the vision and design expertise of technology partners both from industry and on campus.
The HIVE is a high-tech, U-shaped seminar room with 27 high-definition projection screens. But it offers much more than HD videoconferencing. Partnering with technology company SyncRTC, Oxford Saïd has created an infrastructure that allows an instructor or pre- senter — using SyncRTC’s MashMe.io software — to connect up to 84 participants from any- where in the world in a truly virtual classroom environment that encourages experimentation and heightens collaboration.
The multiscreen experience is next-generation webinar technology that allows all participants to interact with each other naturally, as though they were physically present in the same room. Along with the advanced functionality of the conferencing platform, high-definition video and sound applications are served in the unique environment of the video wall, with technology from vendors like LG, Sennheiser, VDO360,
and Vogel’s Professional Solutions. These high- end products enable new aspects of facial rec-
ognition, tracking and active participation inherent in the already advanced conferencing and collaboration software.
After the first scheduled class using the Oxford HIVE occurred in late 2017, a stream of creative uses followed throughout A/Y 2017/2018. By May 2018, the HIVE had hosted 54 trials and 25 live classes, providing more than 5,340 hours of individual online learning to some 544 partici- pants representing 15 countries.
Key to the success of the ambitious project are enthusiastic faculty and technology leaders on campus who have focused on the best uses of the HIVE and are actively promoting new use cases. In the coming year, greater focus will be placed on options for blended learning.
A video produced at Oxford Saïd, “The HIVE — Room of the Future,” has captured comments that best characterize the support and excite- ment for the HIVE: In the video, CIO and Direc- tor of Professional Services Mark Bramwell, a project lead for the HIVE, commented, “The really fantastic thing about the HIVE is that there are many potential user cases for it — everything from executive education, to our executive degree programs, to pre-admissions, careers, the Oxford Foundry ... all the way through to wider use across the university. The potential uses are endless, and we are really excited about being able to offer this not only to the school, but to the wider university.”
The same video explores how much faculty appreciate the HIVE’s potential to improve teaching and learning: “We need to learn not only the substance of our topics, but also, we need to learn our craft as educators and instructors ....” observed Peter Tufano, the Peter Moores Dean and professor of finance. “I think it’s important for all of us, from the newest [fac- ulty member] to the dean, to understand how it is that we can improve our craft — the craft of helping others learn.”
Meg Lloyd is a freelance writer based in Northern California.