USC professor teaches students in Dubai virtually

Students at American University in Dubai can now take an Introduction to Interactive Entertainment course offered by the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Using Cisco TelePresence 3210 Global Classroom technology, 19 students in AUD’s Mohammed Bin Rashid School for Communication are currently enrolled in a virtual lecture experience. TelePresence is high-definition audiovisual conference technology that links two physically separate rooms into a single conference room.

According to AUD, the TelePresence technology was introduced in 2011 as part of a collaboration between Cisco and The Mohammed Bin Rashid School for Communication and is the first global classroom in the Arab world.

AUD Students can communicate with USC Assistant Professor of the Practice William Huber via a three-screen plasma display in the university’s Student Center. The class examines the origins of video games and aims to help students critically analyze gaming and the evolution of the player/video game relationship.

Huber said he can develop a close relationship with his students in Dubai because the technology the classroom uses allows him to see their faces and read their expressions more than he would be able to in a typical lecture setting.

“Where I teach at USC, I stand on a stage, and I feel more remote,” Huber told Emirates News Agency. “TelePresence does have a feeling of a seminar, I feel I can look at the students directly and see exactly what they are doing.”

 

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