Polycom real presence video collaboration helps students and educators at universities in the Gulf collaborate and share knowledge with overseas universities

Video collaboration solutions from Polycom, Inc, the global leader in open standards-based unified communications (UC), are enabling professors and students at The American University of Kuwait (AUK) to share knowledge and culture with overseas universities and increase collaboration between classrooms within the AUK campus.

In addition, these new innovations and technologies have saved AUK tens of thousands of dollars on travel and maintenance costs, as well as $50,000 a year in interview costs alone, supporting the development of educational systems and providing real value to this sector.

AUK set out to provide its faculty and students with audio and video conferencing tools necessary to facilitate learning with universities abroad and enable them to hold classes in more than one classroom simultaneously. AUK selected 10 Polycom HDX telepresence systems in addition to its existing video-conferencing system – a Polycom VSX 7000 system. The systems are being used by approximately 20 faculty and 30 non-faculty members as well as around 500 students, across various courses.

“We found that students today responded better visually compared to previous generations and we felt that it was our responsibility in conjunction with faculty recommendations to provide the best possible learning environment,” said Rusty Bruns, Director of Information Technology at AUK. “We wanted to conduct training and hold classes in more than one classroom simultaneously. Since it was going to be used by students mainly, we also wanted a communication tool which would be easy to use. The ability to have speakers, guest lecturers and authors speak to classes from anywhere in the world was an added advantage.

In Washington, DC, Georgetown University has pioneered state-of-the art telepresence technology to extend its educational reach and create a ‘global classroom’ with its branch campus, the School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Qatar). The Polycom RPX™HD Immersive Telepresence System is used in an undergraduate course titled ‘Social Entrepreneurship in the Middle East & United States’being taught from Washington, DC and accommodating up to 18 students in tiered seating in Qatar and 10 students in Washington DC. 

James Reardon-Anderson, Dean of the School of Foreign Service in Qatar explains: “The ‘Global Classroom’ initiative is designed to help provide a consistent learning experience between geographically separated campuses. It is intended to give students from different countries and cultures an opportunity to talk and learn directly with one another, and weave together the two Georgetown campuses in a way that had not been possible in the past.”