Video and collaboration technologies are dramatically changing how we teach and learn, both in higher education as well as K12. I see it firsthand every day from two perspectives: 1) as an adjunct faculty member teaching graduate courses, and 2) as a member of the Cisco Education Solutions Team working with universities and schools around the world. Let me clarify that the focus is not on the video and collaboration technologies, but rather how they enable greater engagement, participation, and access to learning resources beyond a lecture, textbook, or even classroom walls.

1. Video and collaboration tools are helping enhance the MBALeadership and Change Management courses I teach in various ways: bringing into the room-virtually-guest lecturers, authors of text, and leaders from anywhere in the world;  recorded videos from multiple sources; and students who can connect virtually and create their own content for the class. The engagement and learning impact is significant, in my opinion-and the student feedback is very positive.

1. From a Cisco perspective, we help universities and schools maximize these technologies to extend their reach and impact in an increasing number of ways.  Educators connect with learners to enable lecture capture-live, streamed and/or recorded; flipped learning; immersive, TelePresence interaction; recorded as well as streamed courses; tutoring; recruiting; advising; and working together on team projects. Check out how the 4-VA Initiative is using TelePresence expand and extend the unique resources of  George Mason, James Madison, Virginia Tech, and UVA. https://youtu.be/_2lx_8oWZnk

San Jose State University is another example of how they are transforming higher education enabled by the use of video and collaboration technologies. https://youtu.be/LxbUHPQpwDw

Besides the accelerating number of use cases for video and collaboration, it is important to know that the technology has also become very user-friendly-as easy as one button or dialing a phone number-so educators can focus on teaching and not on trying to make the complex technology work.

In summary, video and collaboration tools are enabling educators to teach and students to learn and to collaborate from any location, with any kind of content, and using almost any device to engage each other face-to-face.

Register today to receive our upcoming whitepaper as well as the final compilation of all the#HigherEdThursdays blog series.  Reserve your copy now and we will send you the whitepaper, which will focus on trends, challenges and strategies for higher education, and the blog series compilation at the end of the series.

Happy#HigherEdThursdays!