MPAACT is the University of British Columbia’s multi-year, innovative, distributed medical education program with support of the Government of British Columbia, the University of Northern British Columbia, the University of Victoria and six provincial regional health authorities.
The goal of the project is to create new opportunities for medical education across the province, increasing undergraduate class sizes through remote classroom training and ultimately increasing the number of doctors servicing outlying areas of British Columbia. The audio, video and control system that allows students to attend and actively participate in classes from remote areas of the province was designed with input from the Faculty of Medicine. Overall project management for MPAACT was provided by AMBiT Consulting Inc. who worked with various vendors including Visual Defence, responsible for system integration. The audio-video system operates over an IP network to deliver high quality live video and audio to students at multiple clinical sites, allowing instructors and students to interact seamlessly in real-time.
“The successful launch of the MPAACT facilities is a significant achievement,” said Dr. Kristin Sivertz, Senior Associate Dean, Education for the Faculty of Medicine. “Without support from Visual Defence, it is unlikely the Faculty of Medicine would have achieved this significant milestone in the expansion of our medical program. The system not only allows off-campus students to see and hear class lectures, but also to interact with instructors and peers alike. The solution has helped position our school as a feasible and attractive option for doctors-in-training hundreds of miles away.”
The IP Audio Video system has been designed to be extremely easy to use and ultra reliable. The Visual Defence software seamlessly integrates video conferencing codecs, high resolution video switching, digital audio signal processing, machine control and system processing over an IP network with ISDN connectivity.
“In order to be successful, the medical school instructors must see the technology as an aid, not an obstacle, to their teaching,” said Dagan Sadeh, CEO, Visual Defence Inc. “Medical teaching is highly reliant on visual information. The system for the UBC Medical School ensures that students in remote areas are receiving a comparable quality of instruction as their peers.”
The project was completed on time and on budget, and has been in operation since September 2006.
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