Globe University/Minnesota School of Business, Woodbury, Minnesota, USA
For 125 years, Globe University has provided students with tools for success. Globe is affiliated with the Minnesota School of Business and offers students more than 28 locations in five U.S. states. The university prepares students for careers in business, health sciences, legal sciences, information technology and creative media with nearly 40 master's, bachelor's and associate degree, diploma and certificate programs.
Serving more than 16,000, the institution focuses on providing busy students with the options and support needed to fulfill their goals. Students can choose from day or evening programs at campuses in Minnesota, Wisconsin or South Dakota, a 100 percent online education, or combine both on-campus and online learning.
Students who attend Globe come from a variety of backgrounds, from working parents, young adults, international students and military personnel.
Due to tremendous growth, the university began a plan in 2009 to add five additional campuses. With more than 5000 new students expected in the coming years, the need for a larger, more robust admissions department became apparent.
But with admissions representatives now spread out across three states, Globe University needed a richer communications medium to link the departments together to discuss enrollment and registration practices, administer student interviews, and train new representatives.
Not only was face to face communication a necessity, but also the need to record training sessions and play them back later. One of the admissions representative's jobs is to give presentations to prospective students, many times to large groups at high school campuses and college fairs across the country.
This is a key recruitment practice for Globe and one that not only requires excellent presentation and people skills, but an in-depth knowledge of the university, its programs and various degree offerings. With such a fast-growing admissions workforce, the director of admissions in Minnesota had to ensure that the broader remote team was presenting a consistent message.
Previously, new admissions representatives would fly to Minnesota for a three-week training course to learn the ropes. This was a costly practice for the university and required new employees to be away from their homes and families for a significant period of time. Globe University sought a new way to keep the teams connected without the travel.
Globe University/Minnesota School of Business' Key Requirements:
After a thorough evaluation of video conferencing products, the university selected LifeSize as the vendor that met all of their needs.
LifeSize® Room 220™ and LifeSize® Express 220™ HD video endpoints were installed at the various Globe University/Minnesota School of Business campuses along with LifeSize® Video Center. Both LifeSize Room 220 and LifeSize Express 220 offer the crystal clear data-sharing capability that customers have come to expect from LifeSize endpoints, as well as Full HD video quality – 1080p30/720p60.
LifeSize Video Center is the most powerful one button HD streaming, recording and auto-publishing solution on the market today. The device allows users to share knowledge and communicate information via video, audio and data streaming. It's a single appliance solution that ensures that videos are easily accessible, live and on demand, in immersive high definition.
"When we saw a demo of Video Center, we were sold," said Tom Umphress, director of information services at Globe University/Minnesota School of Business. "It's the product's simplicity – the recording key is programmed in, so you literally press one button to record whatever is on the screen. We see incredible potential for this product."
Since the implementation, Globe has seen tremendous results and even some unexpected uses.
All new admissions representatives now attend training sessions live or on-demand from their home campuses via LifeSize Video Center. The instructor leading the session in Minnesota records the session with their LifeSize Room 220 system as the trainees watch via a LifeSize Express 220 system in their location or the stream on their PCs using a unique URL and log-in.
Developing excellent presentation skills is an important part of the admissions training. During the three-week course, representatives are required to give their presentation to fellow classmates and instructors at the end of each week, leading up to their final evaluation.
Now with Video Center, each trainee's weekly presentation is recorded, streamed live and made available to instructors and the director of admissions. Students also have access to their videos, so they can watch them later for a self evaluation as their skills progress.
The buzz about the new video offering quickly made its way around campus, and university officials and IT staff decided to try the technology in other departments. Soon Minnesota School of Business' nursing program began using LifeSize Video Center in a unique way.
Students at the Richfield campus regularly use a high-fidelity human patient simulator (HPS)—in effect, a high-tech dummy with realistic bodily functions. This is a growing trend in nursing schools across the country, where students gain hands-on experience with very life like patients without real-life consequences. The HPS is connected to computers and can be programmed to mimic the symptoms of a wide variety of medical conditions. They produce heart and lung sounds, their chests move, and they can be programmed to speak and interact with the nurses.
Prior to video conferencing, student teams would take turns in a small simulation lab evaluating the 'patient' with their instructor watching from behind a two-way mirror. Now, sessions are recorded via LifeSize endpoints in the lab that are connected to Video Center, so students and professors can evaluate their performance later back in the classroom, opening up a new level of learning.
"These are high-stress situations that encourage hands-on learning and critical thinking skills," said Pat Keller, professor of nursing at Minnesota School of Business' Richfield campus. "Our students need to learn how to react quickly to acute clinical problems such as cardiac arrest, hemorrhage or shock. Now that we're using LifeSize Video Center to record and playback these training sessions later, they can literally see their improvements. It's incredible."
Utilizing the data-sharing capabilities of the LifeSize Express 220 system, students viewing the videos can also watch the statistical output from the patient simulator directly on the screen.
"We're making good on our promise to deliver a higher quality education," said Umphress. "With LifeSize, the technology just works the way it's supposed to and the products are feature-rich, yet simple enough for the novice user. Students, professors and administrators are excited about this new tool, and we are looking at expanding the program into more degree programs, for internal recruiting and even internationally."
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