The Stanford Graduate School of Education hosted its first-ever Education Data Science (EDS) Capstone Symposium on June 15, 2023. Organized by Sanne Smith, director of the EDS program, this event brought the EDS cohort together to showcase their final research projects to the GSE and Stanford community as well as family and friends.
Obstacle
In order to accommodate students' remote family and friends, GSE IT created a virtual version of the EDS Capstone Symposium presentation hall. This site allowed students to display their final projects along with prerecorded pitches for those who could not attend the in-person event. The platform featured a variety of content, including presentations, posters, and videos.
Program director Sanne Smith requested support from GSE IT well in advance of the end of the term. Together, they partnered to map out a schedule and scope for production. As students submitted their final projects, they were asked to self record video presentations explaining their work. This served both as useful practice for their in-person pitches at the event as well as media to be attached to the virtual capstone symposium. Once all the necessary files were submitted, GSE IT used the virtual tour platform Pano2VR to embed each student’s poster and explanatory recording into a 360º photo of the GSE CERAS lobby for an immersive experience. Finally, the Pano2VR-based virtual hall was embedded onto the EDS Capstone Symposium event webpage, which allowed access for users from around the globe.
Tool Used:
Pano2VR
The symposium was a success, with many people attending from around the world. Students and faculty alike praised the event for providing a valuable opportunity to showcase student research. There were a number of benefits to hosting the symposium virtually.
This virtual hall allowed friends and family of program participants, particularly international students, to view the EDS Capstone projects. Those remote users were provided an experience far more engaging than a spreadsheet of names and PDF files. Also, the virtual symposium remains on the event page, which allows users to revisit at any time, unlike the single occurrence of the in-person event.
Future of the Virtual Symposium
The success of the virtual EDS Capstone Symposium has paved the way for future virtual symposia. The GSE IT department is currently planning to host virtual symposia in 2024 and beyond.
The Pano2VR platform has the potential to make the symposium more globally accessible. It also allows for a more interactive and engaging experience for all participants.
The virtual EDS Capstone Symposium is a valuable platform for sharing student research. Students were happy to showcase their work and connect with GSE peers, faculty, and others in the field. GSE IT is excited to see how the symposium continues to evolve in the future.
Some testimonials from users exemplify their satisfaction with the work from GSE IT:
“I couldn’t attend the in-person Capstone because I wasn’t on campus, but I wanted to say that I really enjoyed and appreciated the virtual presentations (and it was really nice to see some familiar names). The projects were so impressive and informative, and I don’t think I’ve seen a virtual hall like this before.”
“It is really user-friendly to see the presentations like this. Just by browsing you can see quite a lot!”
View and explore the EDS Capstone Symposium Virtual Hall!
