Making Connections a World Away
Cox helps local new media school link up with global e-learning
March 19, 2005
By Katie Haughey
Representatives from business as science circles look over the work of Providence and German students at a recent symposium in Germany. IMEDIA students collaborated on the multimedia projects.
When Cox Business signed on to be the technology sponsor of the IMEDIA Academy, it meant the Providence school for new media technology would be able to collaborate with other learning centers around the world.
“This allows us to conduct joint learning experiences between Providence and any of our other hubs in the network we have,” said Dr. Miguel Encarnacao, president of IMEDIA.
Cox donated the increased bandwidth the academy needed to conduct global learning sessions.
IMEDIA does research and development in multimedia design, technology and business applications, and provides educational certificate programs, training and work force development in the same areas.
The increased bandwidth makes it possible for students on opposite sides of the globe to send large digital media files back and forth instantaneously.
“The bandwidth handles larger files and allows for interaction with the dynamic media like animations and virtual reality programs,” Encarnacao said. “When students are working with that media, they’re constantly interacting with the data, changing it, and it has to be updated frequently.”
Mark Scott, vice president of Cox Business, said Cox’ involvement with IMEDIA is a win-win relationship.
“When you look at one of their basic missions – they’re involved with preparing today’s work force for tomorrow’s technology,” Scott said. “Our interest is to fully understand all those applications, so we can not only meet our customers’ needs, but also as partners in the business community.”
The first group of Providence IMEDIA students to graduate after Cox donated the bandwidth was able to enjoy a joint graduation ceremony with their counterparts in Darmstadt, Germany, Encarnacao said. Twenty-six students in Germany and Providence received certificates during the graduation.
Students, teachers, science and business sponsors on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean were able to participate in the exhibition and symposium, “Trends and Challenges in New Media and eLearning.”
Attendees were able to see the projects IMEDIA students completed during the school year.
Many of the projects were done in cooperation with research institutes and businesses.
The international certificate program for new media projects encompassed a range of topics, from emergency and disaster management and analysis to architectural virtual reality programs. Students Maria Arnold from the United States and Miguel Arrieta from Peru worked to integrate augmented and virtual reality models for architectural reviews and illustration of building construction processes. The pair worked to create camera animation of an existing model. The project required additional modeling and animation work.
The finished project can be utilized to view a building from various angles.
“They are getting these intercultural experiences,” Encarnacao said. “If a student is studying Web design, for example, and is just learning how to design for the U.S. market, they won’t be familiar with how to do it in Asia.” By working collaboratively, students will develop a broader, more marketable cross-section of skills.
Currently, the people who want to participate in the program are limited because they need to travel to Providence for five months of study, Encarnacao said.
“If they could just come for a brief period, meet and then collaborate virtually, it would allow us to grow the program to much higher numbers,” Encarnacao said.
“Another aspect is you don’t always have experts on hand to teach these things. So if you are going global, you have much better ways to get more experts into the training programs.”
Scott said he’s been impressed with some of the IMEDIA projects.
“They have educational software and 3-D sonograms … if you’ve ever seen that, it just blows you away,” he said. “I think everyone will win from this (partnership).”
IMEDIA is part of an internationally recognized university consortium that includes schools in Asia, Europe and the United States.
Amanda Rider
Cox Communications
860-432-5145 - Connecticut
401-615-1185 - Rhode Island
