The 4-VA leaders believed in the power of cluster networks, and research led their schools to a different kind of technology integration. Collaboration between two parties can typically be achieved rather easily, using an integrated or computer-mounted camera. But immersive video rooms are something different: the sheer size and scope of these rooms teleport a full class of students to another campus, making a class, a lecture, the development of a prototype or project-based learning happen literally face-to-face.
Immersive engagement helps to build strong, lasting relationships above all else.
Opportunities for college students in Virginia today are exploding. Now leveraging the strength of Old Dominion University, 4-VA is focusing its efforts on four main projects: course sharing, course redesign, degree completion and collaborative research. Since this Virginia cluster was engaged, the number of active projects has risen from 59 to 94. Students enrolled in course sharing during the 2013-2014 school year jumped to 394 and 28 total degree completion courses were funded.
Leveraging talent in STEM fields, and doubling the number of course offerings from 11 to 23, has also prepared students for statewide jobs. 4-VA now has 39 projects working to increase research competitiveness, 35 projects enhancing student success in STEM, 24 projects working to expand student access to education and 17 projects defining instructional models.
By better connecting with their neighbors, the members of 4-VA have experienced the power of a local cluster, including an exponential increase in both their ability to collaborate and the amount of opportunities they can offer their students.
Cluster to Career
In other states, inter-school connectivity is absolutely vital. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System (MnSCU) has a total of 31 public universities and colleges on 54 different campuses. The system, which is the fifth largest group of 2- and 4-year colleges and universities in the country (based on student enrollment), is committed to engaging a statewide cluster so students in Minnesota can meet career goals.
Many of MnSCU’s campuses are located in rural areas with several geographic obstacles. By using immersive rooms to connect to the 54-campus network across the state, MnSCU instructors are now reaching students in previously underserved, rural communities and giving them access to new courses.
This type of engagement is particularly beneficial for job placement. More than 80 percent of MnSCU graduates remain in-state to begin their careers. By adopting a cluster, Minnesota is now expanding learning geographically and offering students more opportunities to fill much needed job functions in engineering, no matter how rural the location.
More specifically, with immersive courses many MnSCU instructors are now shaping their classes as “learning conversations,” rather than lectures. These learning conversations involve in-depth discussion about the material that is being taught and processed. By engaging a cluster mentality to flip its model of education delivery at Mesabi Range Community and Technical College, more problem solving takes place in a peer-to-peer environment, which immersive technology can execute flawlessly.
In both Virginia and Minnesota, universities are leveraging all schools statewide to create clusters that increase their collective competitive advantages. From significantly improving their ability to collaborate at an administrative level to expanding the opportunities for distance learning, regional education clusters are one of the most powerful and transformative advantages to college education today, and they should serve as a model for all other states to follow.
Renee Patton is the leader of US Public Sector Education at Cisco, helping schools, colleges and universities envision the future of learning.
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