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News Koko takes a 'virtual field trip' to Stanford University  On Friday, March 29, 1999, Koko used the Gorilla Foundation's new Polycom videoconferencing equipment to take a "virtual field trip" to Stanford University from the Gorilla Foundation's Woodside, California headquarters. As part of an event organized by the Stanford Institute for Educational Leadership Through Technology, Dr. Penny Patterson and Dr. Ron Cohn used the videoconferencing system to enable them to demonstrate Koko's ability to sign and communicate with humans to educators who were on-site at the Stanford campus.Because Koko does not travel outside of the Gorilla Foundation's facilities in order to preserve her comfort and safety, the Gorilla Foundation recently installed the multipoint videoconferencing system at the Foundation's Woodside headquarters, enabling Koko to communicate with the world at-large. "Because we do not receive visitors at the Foundation in order to protect the gorillas, videoconferencing is crucial for us in communicating and demonstrating the Foundation's work to people around the world," said Dr. Patterson. Michael Baker, Polycom's director of corporate training and education markets, commented, "I'm tempted to say that with Koko using Polycom's videoconferencing equipment, it shows that ViewStation is so simple that even a gorilla can use it. But there's a serious message here. This 'virtual field trip' with Koko is just an example of the kind of distance learning applications that are possible with high-performance videoconferencing." Koko's "virtual field trip" was hosted at The Gorilla Foundation site by Dr. Patterson and Dr. Cohn, and at Stanford University by Holly Brady of Stanford and Linda Uhrenholt of Pacific Bell's "Education First" project to wire California's schools with telecommunications infrastructure, which sponsored the event. Attendees were more than 200 educators gathered at Stanford to study ways the Internet and related telecommunications technologies can improve education. The Gorilla Foundation is exploring the possibility of "virtual field trips" for Koko by utilizing the Polycom videoconferencing equipment. Related web sites: Pacific Bell Education First Knowledge Network Polycom's Web Site |
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