In a sign of the growing importance of video conferencing to the education sector, Deakin University has announced that it will use the technology to deliver education services to mental health students in clinical placements at sites across Victoria.
Cameras and large screen monitors in four locations in Victoria – Deakin’s Clinical School in Geelong, Waurn Ponds Campus in Geelong, Warrnambool campus and at Box Hill Hospital – will be used to deliver recorded multimedia lectures, live interactive tutorials as well as conventional video conferencing.
According to a Deakin University spokesperson, the Tandberg-supplied gear will enable high level teaching skills located in regional and metropolitan areas to be provided to students on placement in rural areas.
It will be funded by a $336,120 Australian Government grant and will both increase the availability of teaching to students and increase training opportunities.
“The video conferencing equipment … will enhance the current teaching of certain clinical skills, such as the nuances of interaction that occur during a psychiatric interview,” the spokesperson said.
“It will provide a true sense of being in the same room for both students and teaching staff. This funding provides specifically for the installation of high definition equipment which is required for teaching in the mental health area.”
The university already employs teaching via video conferencing facilities in a number of faculties and also uses video conferencing extensively for staff engagement in order to cut down on staff travel.
It also recently used the technology to launch "Deakin at your Doorstep", a program that uses teaching by videoconferencing facilities to provide better access to tertiary education for students in rural and regional areas of Victoria.
The Deakin at your Doorstep Associate Degree program is being offered at Deakin’s Warrnambool campus and at Deakin Learning centres in partnership with three Victorian TAFE Institutes – Sunraysia, East Gippsland and Chisholm.
In March Deakin announced that it would move to the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) platform for its next-generation data centre.
The move is part of a bid to streamline its data centre resources, reduce infrastructure costs and improve business agility.
The university’s information technology department supports 300 software applications for more than 34,000 students and 2600 academic and administrative staff. The new Unified Computing system is expected to improve responsiveness by accelerating the delivery of applications from weeks to minutes.