The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and Trent University have become the first in Canada to use AccessGrid (AG) for the delivery of a complete academic program.

The two universities - members of the Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Computing Network (SHARCNET) consortium - are pioneering this new form of multi-institutional graduate program delivery with their Master of Science in Materials Science program.

SHARCNET's AccessGrid nodes at the Oshawa and Peterborough institutions are able to provide a more interactive virtual environment than simple videoconferencing technology, say the schools' faculty.

The concept of the program and its delivery via AG originated from UOIT-Trent discussions led by the UOIT Dean of Science, Dr. William Smith.

It was recognized that researchers at each institution were making significant contributions in both experimental and theoretical studies related to the study of materials, and that by pooling their faculty expertise and resources they could offer students a unique multidisciplinary Materials Science graduate program.

A key component of the vision for the program was the delivery of all courses via AccessGrid. UOIT has been a member of SHARCNET since 2003, and Trent was encouraged to join, both to facilitate the program delivery and to take advantage of SHARCNET's unique high-performance computing resources, which it did in 2005. Specially designed AG rooms were completed at each site in time for the program's launch in September 2007.

The UOIT-Trent MSc program is truly collaborative (for example, the position of director alternates every two years between each institution), and is loosely modelled on the successful Guelph-Waterloo joint physics graduate program, which has a long history of the use of videoconferencing technology.

Through the use of AccessGrid on a regular basis, all courses in the program are team-taught, that is, they are taught by at least one faculty member from each institution. In this way, students have access to a range of instructors and courses at both universities that they would not have had at either one alone. Faculty also now have access to this same breadth of expertise, thereby facilitating research collaborations between the partners.

The AccessGrid technology over SHARCNET goes beyond the limits of standard videoconferencing. It is not limited to participation between only a few sites. It provides high quality transmission of not only voice and video, but also reliable delivery of any computational content produced on a tablet PC at any of the participating sites. Furthermore, by being carried exclusively by SHARCNET and ORION, participants can rely on the throughput and security of the AG facilities. Also, unlike standard videoconferencing, AG uses multiple cameras and large projection or plasma displays, so the experience is immersive for the participants.

"You quickly forget that you are talking to a concrete wall," says Dr. Andrew Vreugdenhil, associate professor and Trent director of the program. "The AG technology allows for very realistic personal interactions between people at remote sites."

Each AG room is equipped with a tablet PC which allows instructors or students to use a stylus pen to annotate a presentation as it is delivered, which appears directly on computer screens at all participating locations. Participants at each site are visible on display panel windows to the instructors and to participants at every other site.

According to faculty, students have embraced the AG delivery format, which allows them to interact with more students and learn from more experts in their field.

Since the AG technology was built into the program from the start and has proven such a success among both faculty and students, it would be very difficult, as Dr. Vreugdenhil states, to envision how this collaborative program could work without it.

"The fact that this program was coming on stream so soon after my arrival and that the bulk of the course offerings would be made via AG, were key factors in my decision to come to UOIT," says Professor Brad Easton.

AG also allows professors to hold virtual office hours. Prof. Easton meets with Trent students to answer questions over AG using tablet computers at each end, allowing them to sketch diagrams and quickly work through problems, even from a distance. AG is also being used for the program faculty's administrative meetings and for face-to-face meetings involving faculty and research teams at partner SHARCNET institutions and colleagues worldwide. One example: a UOIT Health Science professor uses UOIT's AG node to communicate with her colleagues in Australia.

AG has begun to be used for broader course delivery across SHARCNET institutions and beyond. For example, a High-Performance Computing graduate course delivered primarily from the University of Guelph is currently being offered to students at Guelph, UOIT, Trent, and Brock. In addition, a Coast-to-Coast Seminar series involving researchers associated with partners AceNET and Westgrid consortia is delivered on AG on an approximately monthly basis.

The UOIT-Trent Materials Science MSc program points the direction to where the future of collaborative postsecondary education and research lies.

To learn more, visit www.trentu.ca and www.science.uoit.ca.


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