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Sorenson Showcase:
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The ProblemIn the fall of 1999, Dr. Beheruz Sethna was asked to be interim senior vice chancellor for academic affairs for the University System of Georgia, in addition to his responsibilities as president of the State University of West Georgia (UWG). The new duties required him to move his home base from Carrollton to Atlanta (about 50 miles away), where the Board of Regents is headquartered. Not wanting to give up on the management course he regularly taught at UWG, Sethna asked the university's Distance Learning office to find a way for him to continue teaching without having to make the hundred-mile round trip. The SolutionThe State of Georgia has the most extensive video conferencing system in the world: the Georgia Statewide Academic and Medical System (GSAMS). As expensive and extensive as it is, GSAMS doesn't provide data sharing, a feature Sethna needs to hold class successfully. The UWG staff investigated a number of possibilities, and finally purchased several units of Sorenson EnVision, sight unseen. Thirty minutes out of the box, their new system was up and running. Sethna now conducts his course from his desk in Atlanta, conferencing with students who meet together at the UWG campus in Carrollton. The students and instructor interact naturally, discussing class topics as they would in a conventional classroom setting. EnVision's file and application sharing allows them to work together on complex statistical documents. Sethna's image and course materials are projected onto a large screen so all students can see him clearly. Building on the success of EnVision in the classroom, the UWG staff decided to try out their video conferencing solution in other areas of operation. Besides training and day-to-day communication, the institution is seeing a huge impact on that "necessary evil" of all organizations: meetings. According to Matthew Clay, UWG's director of education technology services, UWG's off-campus faculty are experiencing a very personal sense of liberation from the use of EnVision. Faculty members at the Dalton campus, about 100 miles away, no longer have to drive to Carrollton to attend meetings. With four hours of travel time shaved off their schedules, they have reclaimed energy and productivity. Clay explains: "At least one member of this off-campus group normally drove to the West Georgia campus once a week. Now the portable system is just rolled into the room wherever the meeting is being held." UWG administrators estimate that EnVision saves them about $200 per person, per meeting. At Dr. Sethna's request, the board of regents has deployed EnVision to assist in the administration of the 34 institutions of higher learning in the University System of Georgia. The board has to meet often to review proposals from these institutions, and the decisions they make have a major impact on students, educators and administrators. Because of this, university personnel would typically make the trip to Atlanta to be available during deliberations. Now, with EnVision in the board room, faculty and administrators can be part of the process without wasting valuable time in transit. "UWG administrators estimate that EnVision saves them about $200 per person, per meeting." Matthew Clay The UniversityThe University System of Georgia was established to contribute to the educational, cultural, economic, and social advancement of Georgia by pursuing leading-edge basic and applied research, scholarly inquiry, and creative endeavors; and by bringing these intellectual resources to bear on the economic development of the State and the continuing education of its citizens. | |
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What's New?If you don't know me, or don't know me well, you can get a pretty good picture of who I am and what I do from snooping around in this site. How I pay the bills:
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