he Virtual Classroom project consisted of two phases:
Phase 1
Initially, the Virtual Classroom was used in education with a BARCO WeConnect setup. The initiative aligned well with several leading principles from Utrecht University’s strategic plan. From the pillar “Collaborating across boundaries: an international university with multidisciplinary education and research,” the idea was that the Virtual Classroom concept could make a valuable contribution.
Users of the Virtual Classroom were generally positive about its possibilities and user experience. As described in the case study, Van Dam, Kasch & Rebel (2022) concluded that “a setup such as the VC adds value for inter-university or international programs, particularly during plenary lectures with frequent interaction and discussion.” Users were therefore mainly found among national and international alliances, as well as in programs where students work from different locations.
Phase 2
In 2024, Barco announced that it would discontinue WeConnect licenses by the end of 2025. The project then shifted its focus toward creating an affordable and scalable space that would make distance learning and teaching as comfortable and lifelike as possible, enriched with various forms of interaction. By developing this concept within the Microsoft Teams environment used at Utrecht University, the aim was to make the educational concept more accessible, user-friendly, and cost-effective.
Based on defined requirements, two test setups were created, the first of which was tested with participants joining online. During this session, several didactic scenarios were tested. Following these test sessions, it was decided to merge both spaces in which the tests had been conducted into a single new test setup.
Conclusion
Despite positive experiences from teachers and students, and the potential identified by the project team itself (including Utrecht University’s ambition to further stimulate international, interdisciplinary, and education-for-professionals programs), requests to use the Virtual Classroom declined sharply. Various promotional activities undertaken as part of the project also did not lead to increased usage.
In April 2024, the Future Learning Spaces steering group therefore decided to put the Virtual Classroom project on hold in order to free up time for more urgent projects. Lessons learned have been documented and archived, so that the concept can be easily revived in the future.
