Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/55680
Technology Blair Sheppard, dean of Duke's Fuqua School, leads a recent CEO Master Class in Duke's new telepresence-equipped lecture hall. This meeting connected the Duke campus in Durham, North Carolina, with locations in San Jose, California, and New Delhi, India. Tapping into Telepresence Imagine a network of technologically inter- connected classrooms at universi- ties in dozens of countries. Within such a network, students and fac- ulty could meet face-to-face, even though they are thousands of miles apart. Faculty could teach courses across multiple time zones in real time; students could choose from a nearly endless course catalog; and executives could guest lecture to not just one class, but several, with- out leaving their home cities. Educators are trying to form just such a network using telepresence, a technology that facilitates face-to- face meetings via rooms equipped with high-definition television screens, distributed video cameras and microphones, and carefully 68 BizEd MAY/JUNE 2010 placed lighting. Cisco is the most prominent vendor of this technol- ogy, with its TelePresence product, but other companies like PolyCom and Tandberg are also in the market. As of last fall, more than 35 higher education institutions had partnered with Cisco to adopt TelePresence. Among them were Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in Durham, North Caro- lina, and the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Busi- ness in Columbia. Duke University's new lecture room was created with the help of IVCi, a New York-based company that specializes in telepresence room designs. The space includes 103-inch plasma displays and six cameras that provide both pan- oramic and life-size video. The podium is equipped with two docu- ment cameras, three displays that allow instructors to view remote classrooms, and 66 push-to-talk microphones to allow interactive discussions. The room was inaugurated in February with a CEO Master Class that linked the Durham campus with locations in San Jose, Califor- nia, and New Delhi, India. Fuqua professor Tony O'Driscoll and four students connected from India; John Chambers, Cisco's Chair- man and CEO, and John Doerr, a partner in the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, connected from California.