Virtual World Collaboration: Real or Science Fiction?

"We determined that Elluminate Live! was the best way to go, especially when faced with the possibility of rolling it out campus-wide. In addition, cost was pretty important to us. When you look at the features versus the cost of Elluminate Live! it's hard to be convinced that there's anything out there better to use." Sandy Bennett – Online Teaching and Support Program Manager, Baylor University (Elluminate Testimonials)


Business Techology in Healthcare

Healthcare technology is advancing dramatically. However, is the same advancement evident on the business side of healthcare? More than even before, there exists a need to find a marriage between clinical care and business care within the healthcare setting. As the healthcare industry moves forward into the electronic medical record system, it’s connection to billing and the patient’s account registration process, there are many disconnects. When you throw in nurses and other health care providers who have worked for years in a paper world, the disconnects become more apparent. As a result of all the new technology, departments who once were independent of one another are now interconnected. Different service lines no longer exist as an isolated world when providing services to patients. Often times, to resolve today’s issues which are inner-connected, we must develop collaborative solutions. This has become increasingly difficult due to our ever growing health care systems. Attempts are made to “teleconference in”; however, this becomes problematic if all participants aren’t looking at the same data and are simply sitting in front of a speaker phone trying to problem solve.

Technology in Education

Within the realm of online education, we have seen the difficulties of collaboration and communication as is takes place in threaded discussions and group projects. Recently, I was attempting to help a fellow online classmate with the process of posting a blog. At the time, I wished for the capability of Elluminate Live. Elluminate is the classroom/meeting room whiteboard capability utilized by my daughter’s virtual school, Colorado Virtual Academy. Had this technology been available versus our threaded discussion, more effective problem solving could have taken place through the ability to meet in a live online room. This would have provided the ability to post screen shots and write instructions on the whiteboard.

Solution: Science Fiction or Technology Today

I have witnessed the benefits of Elluminate Live during my daughter’s algebra courses provided by the Colorado Virtual Academy. Often she has met with her teachers and they have worked one on one while learning the more difficult problems. In other classes, she and fellow students meet each week with the teacher in a live classroom where power points are presented and class discussions take place. Referring to the healthcare setting, I searched the web for technology which would greatly improve the collaborative process within this industry. I found an amazing demo on You Tube about Cisco’s WebEx product line. Please see the clip below. Cisco appears to be moving in the right direction in this virtual world. This is supported by a PC World article entitled Cisco’s Moment of Truth. In this article, Jeff Caruso states, “Cisco achieved a milestone in the most recent fiscal quarter, one with profound implications for the future of the company. Cisco made more money from its new products and services than it did from routers and switches.” (Caruso, 2011). It’s amazing what this company is accomplishing and it almost seems like science fiction. However, it is an example of the possible collaboration between people that exists with the technology at our disposal.




References:

Caruso, J. (2011, February 21) Cisco’s moment of truth. PC World. Retrieved February 2011 from the World Wide Web: http://tinyurl.com/4cmymep

Bennett, S., Elluminate. Retrieved February 21, 2011 from the World Wide Web: www.elluminate.com

Cisco, www.cisco.com

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