KU School of Medicine professors have mastered the art of being in three places at once. Or at least teaching in three places at once.

Thanks to the latest video technology, first- and second-year students on the Wichita and Salina campuses experience most of their morning lectures beamed to them live from classrooms on the school's Kansas City campus.

It's a two-way street, with cameras and microphones picking up students as they interact with instructors who are more than 100 miles away. Some presentations originate on the Wichita and Salina campuses as well.

"It's a little different to teach in this format," said Penni Smith, IT director for the KU School of Medicine–Wichita. "But they've all adapted to it and they know this is how the program works. That's the expectation now."

The 2010 expansion of the Wichita campus from a two- to four-year program would have been prohibitively expensive without this technology. So-called "distance learning" reduces the need for the Wichita campus to duplicate faculty already in place in Kansas City.

Distance learning has come a long way from the days when taped lectures or a one-way video feed were considered cutting-edge.

Presenters are viewed on a high-definition screen by their remote audience, who they in turn see on a monitor. The presenter works at a smart lectern that can be used to post additional content on a second, smaller screen. Students who want to ask or answer questions activate a microphone on their desk.

KU School of Medicine–Wichita has five classrooms equipped for distance learning. The control room for all five is manned by a member of the IT staff, who initiates the audio-visual hookup and ensures the class goes smoothly once it's underway.

Distance learning doesn't entirely replace in-person instruction. First- and second-year students attend lectures in the morning, then break into small groups for classes with Wichita-based faculty during the afternoon.  Instructors are also available for one-on-one video conferences with students upon request.

The school's faculty has seen that distance learning is as effective for lectures as the more traditional classroom model.

The Wichita campus' use of technology is among the most extensive of any similar institution in the country. It was singled out as a unique strength in a recent visit by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), which accredits medical schools in the U.S. and Canada. The LCME report suggested Wichita's use of IT could become a model for programs at other schools.

"There are probably 10 or fewer schools that do this much," said Dennis Paul Valenzeno, associate dean for the Wichita campus.

Staff from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine will visit the KU School of Medicine–Wichita in April to learn about the system for use on its own campus.

Smith notes some of the additional benefits students have realized from distance learning. Lectures are recorded, so students who miss a class can easily catch up. And Smith smiles as she shares a well-used student technique ... students can speed through lectures the same way people use a TiVo to skip TV commercials.

"I've heard students say a presenter is a 2x or 3x playback speed."