North Kent College has unveiled a series of immersive classrooms that connect its four campuses together, along with other Colleges in Kent.
This means staff and students can now share their experiences with employers and make use of highly specialist teachers across a number of groups.
Each campus hosts its own hi-tech classroom which allows for a seamless learning experience with teachers and students in other immersive classrooms, and to connect with employers at remote locations.
The classrooms are fully interactive with digital whiteboards that students can use to answer questions or tasks set and engage in lessons as if they were in the room with the lecturer.
Each room also allows ultra-high-definition video presentations to be shared, and features motion tracking cameras with high-quality two-way audio that allows for natural conversations between rooms, no matter where the participant is standing.
Other advantages include:
- External lecturers and guest speakers will no longer have to attend a campus to give a presentation or talk as they can beam in remotely.
- Practical demonstrations can be broadcast straight to the rooms rather than students having to be taken out on trips to industry specific locations.
- Students can connect remotely if they are unable to make it to a campus due to illness or bad weather.
Mark Andrews, Deputy Executive Principal, Strategy and Curriculum, for North Kent College said: “I was delighted that Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, as the lead employer body for our regional skills improvement plan, enabled us to host a broad range of businesses and forge valuable connections with employers who are keen to engage with educating the talent of the future. It is exciting to connect similar groups across campuses at the three Kent college groups, and using our brand-new immersive classrooms, show how interactive tasks and team-teaching works across them.”
Lucy Druesne, Skills Programme Manager, Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, added: “It was a privilege to showcase our region's College group facilities to employers from the Kent & Medway Manufacturing Focus Group and build meaningful relationships to support the development of our future workforce. The immersive classrooms across the campuses of the three colleges demonstrated how interactive and collaborative learning can take place across different locations, maximizing the learning experience.”
No technical knowledge is needed by staff to use the classrooms, they simply connect their laptop and are ready to broadcast their lesson.
Students also don’t need to download any software to join the lessons remotely, as it is all browser based.
The classrooms were showcased last week by North Kent, Mid-Kent and East Kent Colleges, who received funding for them as a result of a joint funding bid.