East Georgia State College, an institution in the University System of Georgia in the U.S., uses video conferencing for educational innovation. It fosters collaboration between universities and technical colleges while keeping student costs low. Nine BT video conferencing systems now bring the college together with satellite study centres and partner institutions elsewhere in the state. And it’s looking to extend its teaching connections still further with new programmes aimed at the advancement of high school kids. Video conferencing opens new era of collaboration in education. Case study - East Georgia State College. Video conferencing has made a huge difference. I’ve never known a time before where an entire graduating cohort – everyone who’s completed the course – passes the board at the first attempt. Elizabeth Gilmer, VP Institutional Advancement, East Georgia State College
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East Georgia State College, an institution in the University System of Georgia in the U.S., uses video conferencing for educational innovation. It fosters collaboration between universities and technical colleges while keeping student costs low.
Nine BT video conferencing systems now bring the college together with satellite study centres and partner institutions elsewhere in the state. And it’s looking to extend its teaching connections still further with new programmes aimed at the advancement of high school kids.
Video conferencing opens new era of collaboration in education.
Case study - East Georgia State College.
Video conferencing has made a huge difference. I’ve never known a time before where an entire graduating cohort – everyone who’s completed the course – passes the board at the first attempt.
Elizabeth Gilmer, VP Institutional Advancement, East Georgia State College
Evaporating boundaries for enhanced learning.One of the 50 most affordable higher education centres in the U.S., East Georgia State College (EGSC) offers science and humanities degrees along with practical courses like nursing.
Video conferencing has played a vital part in its achievement of low cost, high-quality education. When the college wanted to offer a nursing degree in partnership with Darton State College in Albany, GA, more than 150 miles distant, it chose a BT One Collaborate solution using Polycom technology.
The flexibility and readiness of BT to work side-by-side with the college on creating a 42-desk virtual classroom for nursing students really stood out. A state procurement contract between BT and Georgia made purchasing easier.
Mike Rountree, VP for Information Technology, says: “Without the BT One Collaborate solution, high facility costs would’ve made the Darton nursing course initiative impossible.”
The facility means students at EGSC can attend Darton lectures. “Video conferencing has made a huge difference,” says Elizabeth Gilmer, VP for Institutional Advancement. “I’ve never known a time before where an entire graduating cohort – everyone who’s completed the course – passes the board at the first attempt. That’s around 25 people each time.”
Cutting travel time and improving staff productivity.Remote collaboration has transformed the day-to-day business of the college too, from the college president’s governing cabinet to staff and faculty meetings. The main EGSC campus is at Swainsboro, with Statesboro and Augusta satellites 37 and 70 miles away respectively.
Elizabeth Gilmer says: “We’re keenly aware of the benefits of using video conferencing in place of travel. One guy I regularly meet with wears ten different hats. If I ask him to come here for a one-hour meeting, he’ll be travelling two hours each way. Adding on time for lunch and the meeting, his whole day would be a wash.”
With video conferencing, people can stay put. Their days become hugely more productive. Decision-making has become significantly faster too.
The system is used for face-to-face meetings; both scheduled and impromptu. It also allows documents to be shared over the college’s network, offering on-campus speeds of 100Mbps. Four quality-of-service classes prioritise time-sensitive traffic like voice and video.
Creating market edge while supporting advancement programmes.At EGSC everyday cost and carbon savings are matched by a constant quest to find new ways to make innovative use of the technology.
“We’re thinking of new video conferencing uses to maintain our market edge,” says Elizabeth. “For example, we plan to extend it in the summer of 2016 to the Great Promise Partnership programme.”
Benefiting high school students, the Great Promise Partnership (GPP) programme aims to reduce dropout rates by giving them work experience in manufacturing, office and small business settings. It also offers mentoring, life skills, tutorials and a wage. It will use BT One Collaborate Polycom for directors of the programme to meet without having to travel.
We want to be people’s first choice for tuition dollars. Here you can get a first-class degree for much less than in any other college in the state. Utilising innovative BT technology helps us do that.
Elizabeth GilmerVP Institutional AdvancementEast Georgia State College
We’re thinking of new video conferencing uses to maintain our market edge. For example, we plan to extend it in the summer of 2016 to the Great Promise Partnership programme.
Elizabeth GilmerVP Institutional AdvancementEast Georgia State College
Case Study - East Georgia State College.
“Fostering a better-educated workforce will have a strong social value,” says Elizabeth. A parallel programme called Move on When Ready is also expected to use the BT Polycom technology in the future.
The college calculates the cost of tuition, fees, housing and meals at EGSC at around $5,650. That compares to typically $7,000 in other state colleges and $11,000 at a research university.
“We want to be people’s first choice for tuition dollars,” concludes Elizabeth Gilmer. “Here you can get a first-class degree for much less than in any other college in the state. Utilising innovative BT technology helps us do that.”
