ASU, with more than 80 video conferencing (VC) capable rooms, and four geographically separated campuses is the ideal place for use of this incredible timesaving tool.  However, currently ASU videoconferencing is not used to its full potential.  Many people do not know they can use VC rooms, how to use them, or what to use them for.  Not only do we have VC, but we have other conferencing choices, like web conferencing, which you use from your own computer, and teleconferencing which creates a central link for a conference call.  These tools are all much better than the commonly used Skype or telephone.  They look better, sound better, work more reliably, and have more features.

One of the great values of conferencing is its ability to save travel money, time, and of course, travel-related carbon emissions!

ASU is currently in the process of developing the conferencing program more to make it even easier for everyone to use and to acquire even better technologies for conferencing rooms and for web conferencing, which you will hear about when it is finished.

Some of the many ways that you can use conferencing to suit your needs and create opportunities:

- Allow student organizations to connect, collaborate, and share club events between ASU campuses, other universities, or host a speaker without paying to fly them here.

- Allow you to have meetings with people at other ASU campuses and around the world, even multiple people, without needing to drive or fly to them.  For example, I was in a meeting where one attendee did not have time to get here from a different ASU campus, and another person had a cold.  We used a Meet-Me line so that they could call in and participate in the meeting without having to use up time driving and without spreading their contagious cold.

- Allow ASU researchers to connect and exchange thoughts with other researchers around the world.

- Allow teachers and researchers to hold webinars (with great interactive capabilities) to teach about their work and to hold virtual classrooms or virtual office hours.  For example, my chemistry teacher is six months pregnant and is holding the class and her office hours online, with recorded lectures (which could even be streamed live) and web conferencing during her office hours. Also, this is great way to hold a seminar series, like the Ted lecture series.

- Allow conferences to be streamed live so that people can watch without flying to the conference and recorded for future viewers.  The Engineering Grand Challenges conference that ASU hosted in 2010 created a website to stream video of the conference.

By Beth Magerman

Resources:

]http://help.asu.edu/node/1950 to learn about the types of conferencing options at ASU, some of the different ways you can employ them, and where to find video-capable rooms.

http://help.asu.edu/node/2035 to learn about ASU’s conferencing program and to contact support to reserve a video conferencing room or get all your questions answered.

https://sols.asu.edu/sites/default/files/undergraduate/pdf/global_classroom_2010.pdf to learn about some of the exciting ways ASU is using web conferencing to host new and creative classes.

http://libguides.asu.edu/content.php?pid=16129&sid=119493 and http://digital.films.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/featuredvideos.aspx to explore ASU’s online Digital Music Collection, a compilation of recordings and videos, and ASU’s Films on Demand, a collection of academic videos.