It Is All About People
Back in October 2023, I had the opportunity to visit the 香港理工大学 and experience the Hybrid Immersive Virtual Environment (HiVE), which is a full-sized classroom converted into a virtual environment – walls, ceiling, floor, surround sound, all in a unique patented design. It was so cool, I invited 4 of the key players involved in the design and use of the HiVE to come on my Education Innovators Podcast and talk about what they have been doing on campus.
But I’m not here to write about the technological achievement, or all the amazing things they are doing with the space. You can listen to the podcast episode for that. I want to share a revelation that came out of the discussion. Their success is in large part due to cross-discipline and interdepartmental collaboration.
The Hype
We live in a world of hype and grand statements by EdTech vendors claiming to have the product that changes everything – that disrupts traditional education. “AI will change the world!” Okay, I believe that one, but let’s not get distracted. I want to talk about the fact that change is not about technology. Change is about people and behaviors.
What was fascinating about the story of the HiVE at the PolyU is that the team that came together are extremely diverse, in their backgrounds, their expertise, and their interests in the virtual environment. Yet, they all seem to understand that they each had a role to play and that none of them could be very successful without the others.
Diversity
The project was initiated from the technical and engineering side by Dr. Jacky Chung. He had some experience on campus with smaller, more common CAVE (Cave Automated Virtual Environment) implementations, but Jacky had a vision for a much larger facility that would circumvent many of the limitations of CAVE technology. But this was not a “if we build it, they will come” project. As you can imagine, universities have pretty stringent budget approval processes and, although the PolyU is rather progressive in their openness to innovation, the project still needed to target a clear academic outcome in order to get funded.
A surprise partner comes from the Department of Applied Social Sciences, with a Doctorate in Philosophy, Dr. Rodney Chu, also had a vision. He did not want the faculty and students to go back to the way things were before COVID. He wanted to move forward and experiment with new approaches to teaching and learning in a virtual environment. Dr. Kai Pan Mark, a Senior Digital Learning Specialist from the Educational Development Centre, had a similar vision and so, they collaborated to make the case for a $1.5M USD investment to build something that had never been done before, at least not in the way they wanted to do it.
Students and Faculty
But getting approval is not the measure of success. Success is in the academic outcomes. In just a year since the facility became operational, they have had a bunch of wins. The work Shara Lee from the Radiation Therapy Programme, that was discussed on the podcast, is just one incredible example of the uses of this virtual environment. Because students can quickly create content, recording 360-degree videos that are easily uploaded and presented in the HiVE, both students and faculty have found many learning experiences that are enhanced in the facility. Because the facility is large enough for 40 students to experience at one time, it is also big enough to do mixed reality, with real physical elements added into the virtual surroundings.
What I’m pointing out here is that they achieved so much more because of the diverse interests and perspectives that all came together with overlapping visions. Yet, they didn’t get bogged down in rivalries or politics or worrying about who was going to get credit or receive awards. Just listen to the podcast. These folks couldn’t stop praising each other for their contributions to the success of the project.
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Sharing
So how do we replicate this across campuses all over Hong Kong and the rest of the world. I’m not saying such things aren’t happening anywhere else, but I know what has happened at the PolyU is magical. I’ve taught in 5 different universities. I’ve consulting with many more schools. I haven’t witnessed this degree of collaboration towards innovation in education anywhere else.
If you’ve got similar stories, I want to hear them. If you want to meet the folks from the PolyU and find out more about the HiVE and how to launch a similar initiative on your campus, I will be thrilled to make connections. The team at the PolyU wants to share. They want to help other schools create virtual environments like this and deliver unique learning experiences that can only be achieved through collaboration, vision, and the willingness to take some risk.
Just do it.
So, if you want to disrupt education, or you want to bring about change in your school or your district, don’t focus solely on the technology solutions. It is all about people. Encourage collaboration. Share your vision and find the people who share a similar vision. Then go and make it happen. We all have to move beyond talking, and analyzing, and doing peer-reviewed academic research. Change isn’t really change without action, without changed behaviors and attitudes. Be fearless. Our children and our grandchildren need us to be courageous enough to be disruptive. To not accept that because change is hard, we can sit back and wait.
There are lots of stories like the HiVE. It is my privilege to share them on The Education Innovators Podcast. Become part of the community and share your stories of disruption and change.
The Education Innovators Podcast Episode: The HiVE
HiVE Introduction Video
*This article was written entirely by me without the aid of AI. I do use AI, and advocate for its use, but, in this case, I let this one just sort of pour out of me. Maybe I should have used AI. Let me know what your thoughts are on that.