FAMU College of Pharmacy Delivers Real-Time Distance Learning with Videoconferencing Solutions

Remote classes get a live, interactive experience that mimics the traditional classroom.

August 20, 2014 Chrissy Winske Leave a Comment

Florida A&M University started a distance learning program for pharmacy students via a Cisco videoconferencing system and a satellite location in Crestview. Each classroom has a number of technologies that allow the two campuses to have an interactive classroom experience.

“For each room, we got a Cisco TelePresence C40 which acts as the brain and two cameras. There’s a 12X-zoom camera positioned at the back of the room pointing at the podium the professor teachers from, and at the front of each room, a 4X-zoom camera pointing at the students. The cameras connect to the Codec C40, and the Codec connects to the network,” says Mobley.

LCD displays in the back of each room allow the two classes to see one another.

An Epson 5750 HiDef projector mounted on the ceiling is used to display lecture content on a 119” Dalite screen.

Ceiling-mounted Polycom HDX Ceiling Microphone Arrays with three microphones provide quality audio pickup of the professor and students in the classroom.

“We like these a lot because each unit has three microphones, and a ‘gating’ feature, so if somebody in the back is creating an unwanted noise, like moving a chair, the unit turns that mike off while it’s happening,” says Mobley

FAMU also purchased Shure lapel microphones that professors are required to wear during class.

60” LG displays at the back of each room act as “confidence monitors,” allowing the speaker to see the remote classroom.

Located inside each classroom podium are Shure microphones, a Crestron DMPS-300 room control system, Polycom Sound Structure (mixer) and a UPS.

The wall-mounted Cisco 4X 1080p camera provides a view of the remote classroom so the professor can see the distance students as if they were sitting in the main classroom. Video of each lecture is also recorded and stored for students to review as needed.

“We try to allocate 2Mbps for each inter-site videoconferencing session, to provide enough bandwidth for video — which is the lion’s share of things — plus audio, a smart board, and anything else,” says Mobley. “We already had a huge circuit on the Tallahassee side, so all we had to do was add a 10 megabit-per-second Metro Ethernet circuit to Crestview. A class’s connection is a simple IP data call, across Ethernet, just like on our campus LAN.”

As Senior Computer Support Specialist for FAMU COPPS, Jason Mobley oversees and manages the videoconferencing gear for classes, meetings and other activities. He credits part of FAMU’s success to the distance learning site visits that staff conducted before jumping into the university’s own program.

“The questions our faculty asked about teaching, during our own on-site visits, helped me understand about the technology, and helped the faculty understand about using it,” says Mobley. “Going to a live site meant we learned from fellow users, not just from the vendors.”

Getting (Video) to Class on Time

The biggest challenge, according to Mobley, was time. He received the approval to purchase the teleconferencing system in June of 2012, leaving a little over a month to get things up and running. Once the videoconferencing system was installed, there was just a bit of a learning curve.

“The first few weeks were hectic, but once we got everybody used to it, it’s simply there,” says Mobley.

Distance learning accessibility was not given to every pharmacy course at once, but rather will be granted to one class level per a year.

“For the 2012-2013 academic year, we started with the ‘P1’s — our first-year students. That’s about 16 courses across the two semesters. We currently have 30 students at the Crestview site, along with 150 in Tallahassee. Next year, we’ll add the P2 classes, and so on, until by the fourth year of the program, we’ll have full coverage.”

Mobley attributes part of the program’s success to site visits at other distance learning schools. Those visits provided Mobley and his team with a wealth of valuable knowledge.

“The questions our faculty asked about teaching, during our own on-site visits, helped me understand about the technology, and helped the faculty understand about using it,” says Mobley. ” Going to a live site meant we learned from fellow users, not just from the vendors.”