case study The University of Washington Upgrades their eLearning with Zoom and Kubi University of Washington The Informa琀椀on School (iSchool) at the University of Challenges: Introduce Washington is no stranger to online educa琀椀on. In fact, their synchronous ac琀椀vi琀椀es into graduate degree program in Library and Informa琀椀on Science eLearning programs to build has been hos琀椀ng asynchronous online programs for the past stronger rela琀椀onships and 15 years. be琀琀er learning experiences for students and professors. Randy Orwin joined the iSchool in 2011 as the Online Solu琀椀on: Deploy the 琀椀ghtly- Learning Administrator and currently works remotely integrated combina琀椀on of Zoom from Australia. Orwin’s job was to introduce synchronous and Kubi in their classrooms. ac琀椀vi琀椀es such as virtual o昀케ce hours into their eLearning Business Bene昀椀ts: Quick programs to, as Orwin said, “Build rela琀椀onships among adop琀椀on and high usage of the students, between students and their professors, and new video solu琀椀on, especially between students and content”. for small elec琀椀ve courses. At 昀椀rst, they just used Adobe Connect to build out asynchronous and synchronous o昀昀erings. Then, in April 2015, Orwin encountered a Kubi, the telepresence robo琀椀c stand that pans and 琀椀lts a tablet for more engaging face- to-face interac琀椀on on video calls. “I knew it would provide a be琀琀er feeling of presence for remote and local a琀琀endees. We started using them for program mee琀椀ngs and received a lot of posi琀椀ve feedback about how the online person on the Kubi wasn’t feeling forgo琀琀en by local a琀琀endees,” explained Orwin. “It was an ‘a ha’ moment. We started using Kubi for our synchronous hybrid courses where online and in-person cohorts were sharing a class.” As the iSchool was 昀椀nding success with the Kubis, Orwin was also searching for a be琀琀er virtual mee琀椀ng pla琀昀orm. “Being on the other side of the planet with a slow Internet connec琀椀on, I was having problems with

dropouts and loosing connec琀椀ons on Adobe Connect and Skype for Business,” said Orwin. He found Zoom on the recommenda琀椀on of another university and started using it with a free license. “It was easy. It worked on limited bandwidth. I was hooked,” he said Orwin purchased more Kubis and realized that they came with 1-year Zoom Pro licenses. He then worked with Kubi, Zoom, and his peers from other schools including the University of Arizona and Michigan State University, to streamline the Kubi-Zoom integra琀椀on. In using Zoom and Kubi together, “It clicked. I realized that I needed to get Zoom for the iSchool. Of all the mee琀椀ng tech we’ve used, Zoom is the best. It has the best video quality and connec琀椀on status. It just works.” They rolled out Zoom and it was quickly “A huge success,” said Orwin. “We have incredible usage on Zoom. At least double that of Adobe Connect. It’s very simple to use, whereas Connect was extremely complex to use.” The Kubi integra琀椀on is another factor in the success of Zoom at UW: “The 琀椀ght integra琀椀on with Kubi is awesome. With Adobe Connect, it took working with a couple di昀昀erent apps to have both systems running, whereas with the Kubi-Zoom solu琀椀on, you only need to have the Kubi app open.” Orwin has seen usage of Kubi and Zoom blossom, par琀椀cularly in streaming campus events to online students. It is also used heavily for elec琀椀ve courses. “Elec琀椀ve courses o昀琀en don’t have enough students either online or in person, so we put them together into one hybrid course. We set up Kubis in the classroom and bring in online students virtually.” The best part? The students and professors love their Zoom helps businesses and organiza琀椀ons bring their teams new technology – it truly brings them together. Explained together in a fric琀椀onless cloud environment to get more done. Orwin, “The 昀椀rst 琀椀me the Kubi running Zoom moved, the Our easy, reliable, video- 昀椀rst uni昀椀ed communica琀椀ons pla琀昀orm for video, voice, content sharing, and chat runs across mobile devices, professor was like ‘Whoa, I actually know someone is there.’ desktops, telephones, and room systems. Founded in 2011, It provides a real presence for the person on the remote Zoom is a publicly traded company on Nasdaq (琀椀cker: ZM) and headquartered in San Jose, California. end and the person in the room.” Visit zoom.com and follow @zoom_us. University of Washington | October 2019