Connecting across the province through videoconferencing

VC

The Faculty of Medicine occupies over 1.5 million square feet of academic space spread over 75 health authority sites and four university academic campuses. MedIT works in collaboration with universities, hospitals and health authorities to provide the technologies that connect these sites and make distributed learning a reality in BC.

Statistics for the use of our videoconferencing rooms in 2012 reveal that videoconferencing is quickly becoming one of the primary channels that learners, faculty members, and staff are using to connect across the province. Videoconferencing has come to play a key role in effectively delivering high-quality education to health professional students.

Here are the 2012 numbers at a glance:

  • 7,165 total videoconference sessions
  • 45,141 total hours of videoconferencing
  • 14 new videoconference-enabled rooms (including 2 new rooms for the Department of Physical Therapy)
  • 113 total videoconference-enabled rooms

We saw a 29% increase in videoconferencing sessions and a 26% increase in hours from 2011. This means that not only are videoconferences being utilized more frequently, they are being used to have more extensive conversations. More people are connecting as well – an average of 3.27 sites connect to each videoconferencing event. The largest connection this year contained over 30 sites.

Videoconferencing usage also increased for academic rounds with a 47% increase in videoconferenced sessions from 2011 to 2012. Academic rounds allow faculty members, residents and medical students to learn through case-based multi-disciplinary lectures. Connecting online allows those in remote locations to participate in these conversations and interact with their peers across the province.

Learn more about videoconferencing in the Faculty of Medicine.