Using Holograms as an Effective Educational Tool to Deliver Live Seminars

As technology evolves, the advent of digital technologies has provided education practitioners with opportunities to explore innovative use of technology in teaching and learning. Some of the latest technologies revolutionise the delivery of education, allowing access to higher education for greater numbers of students and with more flexibility. For example, Webinar, Teleconference, Podcast, and Video-based lectures allow both faculty and students to have more flexibility in terms of fitting in their time management and lifestyle.

Imperial College Business School has recently procured a system capable of reproducing full-scale digital projections of speakers that can be ‘beamed in’ live from remote locations. As a result, we have started a pilot project in order to explore the use of holograms in delivering live seminars as an effective means for enhancing students’ learning experience. The purposes of the study are to identify the strengths and potentials of holograms as an effective educational tool in higher education.

The research shows that the students’ attitudes toward the use of holograms are very positive in general. Students felt the seminar delivered through holograms was enjoyable, and the use of holograms can enhance engagement with lecturers because of the reality of teaching presence. The study also suggests that the effectiveness of the use of holograms can offer ample opportunities and flexibilities to faculty who’d be able to teach students from diverse locations simultaneously. Recommendations are also made in this paper for the successful implementation of holograms in practice.

The accompanying talk aims to stimulate discussion and reflections on effective use of holograms in teaching and learning with appropriate pedagogical approach. We also aim to share some lessons we have learned in terms of good practice in use of holograms.

Written by Andrew Parry and Nai Li, Edtech Lab, Imperial College Business School, UK. Published in the Book of Abstracts for OEB Global 2019, ISBN 978-3-94-1055-51-3. Order the print version here.