The Environmental Sustainability Committee is adopting technology for its future meetings to link the Barrie, Owen Sound, Orillia and Midland campuses while reducing the College’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“With the College’s sustainability through innovation strategic priority in mind, Microsoft Live Meeting can eliminate travel between campuses for meetings. Microsoft Live Meeting, a tool available in Microsoft Outlook, safely and efficiently brings colleagues together from remote locations for real-time meetings,” explains David Yole, Instructional Design Technologist, Centre for Teaching and Learning.

The college has purchased Microsoft RoundTable, a conference phone with a 360-degree camera, which uses speech identification to follow the conversation. The person speaking is shown on a screen for everyone to see.

“Attendees can share applications such as PowerPoint presentations, desktops and whiteboard tools with both audio and visual capabilities. The Environmental Sustainability Committee will be adopting this technology for its future meetings to link the Barrie, Owen Sound, Orillia and Midland campuses. Adopting this technology will effectively reduce the College’s ecological footprint and save both time and money,” Dave adds.

The system worked very well at a recent meeting, says Dianne Corrigan, Environmental Sustainability Committee Chair.

“It can bring attendees together from a number of locations with audio and visual capabilities which reduces the need to travel, saving the environment and travel costs for the College. The technology can also be used to display electronic meeting files, such as agendas and PowerPoint presentations.”