I'd like to see this in action. Sounds incredibly pricey (even if it's much cheaper than the alternatives) and I've no idea how it works, but it may be interesting.
University classes are set to be given a futuristic spin by letting lecturers appear as hologram-like apparitions beamed in from afar. Imperial College London will show off the technology at a special event later on Thursday before deploying it more widely. It believes it will be the first academic body to do so regularly.
"The lecturers have a high-definition monitor in front of them which is calibrated so they can point at people and look them in the eye. They can really interact."
They use a technique developed by a Canadian company, Arht Media. "The problem with Pepper's Ghost is that it can be intricate to set up and can cost about £150,000 to run an event," said Dr Lefevre. "This is simpler - you project upon a glass screen, and a backdrop behind it uses software to give it an illusion of depth. It runs at the low thousands each time, so for the first time universities can afford it."
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46060381
They had a lecture of Proof. Hawking broadcast in Sydney as a hologram, as I recall.. (searching)
ReplyDeleteThe problem with remote education isn't projecting the instructor to the students. It's projecting the students to the instructor.
ReplyDeleteIn a live lecture, the lecturer can see who is or isn't grasping the lecture, and can tune the delivery to bring the audience back on track.
Whether recorded or transmitted, a mediated lecture fails in this. The canned lecture is what it is -- you might as well be watching YouTube or listening to a wire recorder or phonograph. It's a dead record being replayed. (Though the possibility of halting playback to ask questions amongst yourselves, or to replay a sticky bit, exists.) A remote lecture removes the immediacy of a live performance. It's remotely (ha!) possible that there might be live feedback to the sender, but in most cases this ends up something like most teleconference calls.
Mind, it's possible that a remote lecture is better than no lecture at all. But it may be far inferior to a live lecture, even by a non-expert on the subject, if they are a good teacher.
BW π Since Hawking's lectures (I've seen several) were little more than him on stage playing tapes off of his speech synthesizer (the ones I'd heard were based on his books, effectively a chapter played on stage), there's little really lost.
ReplyDeleteFor a non-handicapped speaker, the difference would be profound.
Some of the organisational and institutional benedictions I have suffered through over the years suggest that in a non-trivial proportion of cases, the audience (and education) may be better-served by a motionless and voiceless cardboard cutout of the guest speaker.
ReplyDelete😆
Event Horizon Or possibly uncut raw cardboard?†
ReplyDelete† My new favourite punk band name.
True, making it interactive is much more difficult.
ReplyDeletebusinessinsider.com.au - Stephen Hawking made an appearance at The Sydney Opera House via hologram, and had a great Star Trek exit | Business Insider
I was more interested in the projection aspect than interactivity. There's not too much about how this works on the company website :
ReplyDeletehttp://www.arhtmedia.com/technology/
But I haven't had time to have much of a detailed look.
Professor Binns lives! So to speak.
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