Strengthening the pipeline from High School to Community College to University in rural underserved communities through a collaborative videoconferencing infrastructure

Abstract

The project presented in this paper focuses on providing a collaborative distance learning infrastructure to high schools and community colleges in rural and underserved regions that align with the funding provided by a US Department of Agriculture Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) grant. In order to meet the challenges facing rural schools and colleges and to create a pipeline of Applied Associate of Science and Bachelor of Science graduates in STEM fields for regional workforce development, an infrastructure of video conferencing capabilities is being developed. The project will connect nine high schools, two community colleges, and East Carolina University (ECU) to the Cisco WebEx cloud infrastructure to facilitate collaborative distance learning, engagement, and outreach. This infrastructure relies on the existing IP networks at the school locations and is based on Cisco WebEx Boards, which are interconnected through the WebEx cloud, and Cisco WebEx licenses allocated to each institution. Challenges in project implementation are discussed including training for high school and community college staff and faculty, credential and support management for each location, the need for compliance and auditing for state and federal privacy laws, ongoing WebEx licensing requirements, collection and logging of utilization statistics, and the integration of existing authentication services to reduce resistance to adoption and increase utilization. Several use cases are shown as examples of how the infrastructure can be utilized. Future plans and goals are also discussed.