“My professor is a hologram!” Tec gives its first class à la Star Wars

 Using a technology popularized by science fiction movies such as Star Wars, Tecnológico de Monterrey gave its first formal class via two-dimensional hologram to more than 160 students at 5 different campuses.

Although the Tec is a pioneer in telepresence classes, it had not yet formally held one in which teachers were holograms and students could see a whole-body projection of them from miles away.

On Tuesday 21, the holographic image of Professor Alfonso Serrano Heredia was projected to each classroom for groups taking the Physics 1 class.

Students in Monterrey, Saltillo, Chihuahua, Laguna, and Tampico were able to take the class together at the same time.

 We’ve been testing telepresence with holography for several months, but it’s been years in the making, commented Beatriz Palacios, head of Educational Innovation and Remote Learning, to CONECTA.

Technology has been applied to classes in an even more innovative way thanks to implementation of the Tec’s new education model, the TEC21 Model.

“The experience [...] is accompanied by pedagogical training and we share it not only with students, but with professors too. That’s how we’re strengthening things at the academic level”, said Professor Serrano.

“It was something new and I liked it! It was interesting [...] the professor doesn’t have to be there and can give classes to lots of classrooms at the same time”, said Marcelo González, a student at the Monterrey campus.

TELEPRESENCE TECHNOLOGY

• The Tec has been a pioneer in giving telepresence classes for many years.
• For example, it has used robots with screens that allow professors to appear on them and control their movements (video of Salvador Alva, President of the Tec, interacting with one).

HOLOGRAMS

• This is a technology that has made great strides in recent years.
• Only this summer, Belgian television attracted attention for interviewing the footballer Eden Hazard this way.
• At the Tec, the MOSTLA emerging technologies center and the CEDDIE educational innovation center have collaborated to bring about the best option for educational purposes.

IN SCIENCE FICTION

• In the seventies, Star Wars was one of the first movies to show the potential use of holograms.
• Afterwards, due to series such as Star Trek, as well as other movies from Back to the Future to Minority Report and Avatar they have become quite common in popular culture.

PRESENT AND FUTURE

• This semester, another 5 professors will take part in giving these classes to campuses in the Tec’s Northern Region.
• Currently, the Schools of Engineering and Medicine are also gradually integrating the use of partial holographic telepresence into their courses.
• Telepresence with holography can be adapted to different course models to create unique experiences, including those without a distance-learning component.

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