January 2004
Video conferences over ORION now "normal course of business"
Using ORION to link participants in virtual space from multiple locations in a region the size of France has now become the norm, for the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM).
The next NOSM video conference, on inter-professional education, will link Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and Laurentian University in Sudbury - a distance of 990 kilometres along ORION's fibre route, through 11 signal regeneration stations.
"Learning Together: The First NOSM Workshop on Inter-Professional Education," will be held Friday, February 6 on the Lakehead University campus, while the Sudbury group will participate via videoconference over the ORION link-up.
"NOSM video conferences over ORION as a normal course of business, and we have enjoyed the great performance benefit over using ISDN connections," said Kevin Pashuk, the NOSM's Director of Technology.
"The ORION network is a key component in the delivery of events such as this workshop. This event is one of many that the School is presenting using technology such as ORION," he said.
Those not participating in the video conference will be able to view streamed portions of the conference from most Internet capable computers.
This full-day workshop will focus on ensuring that the School's curriculum follows an inter-professional approach. It is expected to draw participants in all areas of inter-professional education, including academics, health professionals, alternative practitioners, traditional healers and elders. Guest speaker, Dr. Karen V. Mann, will also facilitate the session. Dr. Mann is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Director of the Division of Medical Education at Dalhousie University.
The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is a joint venture partnership of Laurentian University, Sudbury and Lakehead University, Thunder Bay. With main campuses in Thunder Bay and Sudbury, the School will have multiple teaching and research sites distributed across Northern Ontario, in large and small communities.
The NOSM partnership serves an area the size of France, and ORION's ability to transmit multiple streams of massive amounts of data between NOSM partners is key to overcoming the great distances separating them.
Connectivity over the ORION network contributes to the School's success in many areas. Beyond advanced video conference capabilities, NOMS is looking to ORION's capabilities for collaborative research in biomedical, clinical, public health, population health, epidemiological, psychological and social sciences, health services, and educational research, including remote access to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) facilities and exploring virtual reality environments.
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