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Fanfare for new ways of teaching

15 October 2008

Anthony Pope and Monash Brass Ensemble.
Conductor Anthony Pope leads the Monash Brass Ensemble via video link.

Academics and students from the Monash School of Music participated in a musical master class with a difference as part of Educate08 activities last week.

In an experiment organised by the Monash e-Research Centre (MeRC) the Monash Brass Ensemble, on stage at the Robert Blackwood Hall, was led by conductor Anthony Pope from another building at Clayton through the use of high definition video technology (HDV). The ensemble performed the 'Fanfare', especially composed to celebrate the University’s 50th anniversary.

MeRC Director Professor Paul Bonnington said the technology had the potential to transform research and classroom teaching.

"We have previously implemented an innovative seminar program in the Faculty of Information Technology that delivered seminars from world experts based at the University of California, San Diego, to our undergraduate and graduate students," Professor Bonnington said.

"The video quality of HDV is so good that audience members often comment that it is just like having the presenter in the room.

"The concepts applied in this musical presentation went one step further, demonstrating how HDV and e-Research technology could be invaluable to the arts/humanities disciplines."

MeRC also unveiled a new 40 megapixel OptiPortal -- a tiled LCD wall that displays complete microscope images at a high resolution.

The screen, the result of an ARC collaborative grant between Monash and Leica Microsystems, allows the user to focus on details at maximum resolution while also allowing them to view the entire image.

Separate and related images can be shown on all or on some screens, or a single image can be displayed across the entire OptiPortal wall.

"A growing world-wide 'OptiPortal collaboratory' could revolutionise cancer research by connecting experts from across the world, enabling them to work together on a single project," Professor Bonnington said.

Visiting Professor Larry Smarr, founding director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, San Diego, said high-performance internet connectivity in Australia was necessary to ensure a robust public research sector.