The American Samoa Community College is today switching on a ground-breaking new digital platform that will stream 3D holograms of UH academics to deliver classes and engage with ASCC students in real-time.
Running on Hawaiki Transpacific submarine cable, which directly connects American Samoa and Hawaii, and using technology from Canadian techfirm ARHT Media, the Holo Campus solution is the first of its kind in the Pacific.
A press release states that it is expected to spur new thinking and approaches to education throughout the Pacific Islands region and the world.
Governor Lolo Moliga says, “HoloCampus is a culmination of the vision and hard work of many people inspired by the challenge of harnessing technology to provide American Samoa’s young people with access to the best opportunities for advancing their education, and creating a better future for them and their communities.
“The partnership between Hawaiki and American Samoa has delivered on its promises to bridge the digital divide in our Territory. Having ready access to high speed internet is already helping high school and college students with their learning, but the ability to have academics from around the world literally beamed into ASCC classrooms offers an exciting glimpse into what education and learning will look like in the future.”
ASCC President, Dr.Rosevonne Makaiwi Pato noted that HoloCampus will also spur new opportunities for American Samoa to more effectively share knowledge and insights from Americna Samoa with University of Hawaii students and academics, and potentially more academic institutions in the region and throughout the world as the technology is deployed more widely.
“This technology has the potential to completely reshape how we in American Samoa – especially our young students – interact with and share perspectives and experiences with other students, teachers and schools throughout the region and the world,” Makaiwi Pato added.
The college and University of Hawaii are working together to create specific course programs running on HoloCampus, which could lead to students in American Samoa being able to earn credits and grades towards UH degrees.
“HoloCampus enables a remarkable new approach to distance learning,” said UH president Dr David Lassner, adding: “We expect that our work with ASCC will spark new ideas and approaches for academic collaborations across the Pacific and beyond.”
The launch of HoloCampus comes just 13 months after the Hawaiki cable went live in American Samoa.
CEO of the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority Lewis Wolman said, “Deployment of the Hawaiki Cable in July 2018 has provided the businesses, communities and people of American Samoa with previously undreamt-of connectivity, speeds and reliability.
“Today’s launch of HoloCampus is a great example of the sorts of applications we’re now capable of delivering, to drive improvements in everything from education, to healthcare, government services, business, and academic research collaboration.”
Holograms are created using ARHT’s patented ‘capture studios’, which allow people and 3D ‘content’ to be broadcast live, virtually anywhere, in HD or 4K, on myriad devices, with virtually zero latency.
A speaker can see the room via a video signal back to the capture studio and speak to students responding to their questions and reactions in real-time.
Streaming on platforms like Facebook and YouTube is quick and easy, while broadcasts are also able to be recorded to the cloud and shared after the event.
