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BCNETwork News
June, 2005
Beaming in Examiners for Thesis Defense
How can you get the most relevant and expert examiners for your thesis defense when your budgets are lean?
These were some of the challenges faced by Richard Smith, Associate Professor at the School of Communication, SFU, when he adopted videoconferencing technology for thesis defense. Videoconferencing enables him to get high-quality expert examiners at no cost, minimal time commitments and improved interactivity in meetings.
Challenge One: Bringing-in the Examiner
As a supervisor of thesis defense, Richard prepares by coordinating meetings dates and locations for committee members and external examiners. It is crucial that the external examiners have expertise in the thesis defense topic; so the search for examiners can be extensive. To get the right fit, Richard often has to look beyond the borders of British Columbia and may even explore countries as far away as England.
When Richard considered using videoconferencing technology for a thesis defense, he was faced with budgetary travel constraints. He needed to find a fast solution to bringing in examiners, and often going locally was difficult to get someone with the right expertise. Turning to teleconferencing as a solution, as an alternative to flying in examiners had its challenges. For committee meetings, teleconferencing was a less than perfect communication. Not only do you have the expense of a long-distance call, but you have limited communication because of the lack of visual cues to the conversation.
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“Videoconferencing enables us to bring in higher-quality expert examiners for our thesis defense and eliminates travel expenses. This is a huge cost saving for the university every year.”
Richard Smith, Associate Professor, School of Communications, SFU
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The Solution: Virtual Committee Meetings
Meaningful Results
As a technology enthusiast, Richard was an early adopter of videoconferencing at Simon Fraser University. With a videoconferencing unit in his office, using the equipment is as easy for him as pressing a button. For Richard, bringing videoconferencing into thesis defense meetings made sense and it was simple. For the price of one unit, he could buy four roundtrip tickets to Calgary. So the videoconferencing unit pays for itself, over and over again. As well, at SFU video conferencing is connected over BCNET’s advanced networks, so all connections are free to distant universities.
For outside examiners, they can easily attend meetings without taking away time from their daily activities.
“We had an examiner in Calgary that was able to virtually attend our thesis defense committee meeting between classes,” said Smith. “Even if we could afford to fly someone in, getting a time commitment from outside professors to travel is a challenge.”
Effective, Interactive Thesis Defense
Another great advantage of videoconferencing for thesis defense meetings was the improved interaction amongst the student, committee members and examiners __ it’s almost like being there. The visual connection and interaction among participants enhances communication and understanding and helps everyone feel more connected. Everyone can collaborate in real time; the student can more effectively make their presentation and each committee member can interact fully with other participants.
“Everyone was pleasantly surprised about the improved interactivity of the meetings and they were very impressed with the video and audio quality,” says Smith.
Richard's Advice for Using Videoconferencing for Thesis Defense
- Have equipment that is easily accessible.
- Make sure the equipment is mobile. Place equipment on a mobile cart so that you can move it around to different meeting rooms.
- Contact BCNET about costs and equipment.
For more information about videoconferencing, contact us at info@bc.net.
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