Forget the Slow Boat: Chinese Students Take the qUICk Route to the Future with QUBE

A riddle for you: Prof Eddie Obeng ran a session on “Leadership and organisation in a complex world” for 33 students at the United International College (UIC) in China … while working at a desk in the UK. How?

10 points if you said “QUBE”.

A joint venture between Beijing Normal University and Hong Kong Baptist University, UIC’s vision is to create a new innovative international education model in China. In the spirit of this vision, Dr Vincent Leung asked Pentacle to show his Human Resource Development students how they could learn without boundaries using virtual environments.

Each of the students logged on at a computer and transformed into a colourful “qubot” on QUBE. They were met by Eddie and Toby Scott, who introduced them to the New World way of working. The students were able to move around the qubicle as if it was a real room, put sticky notes up with their thoughts, and chat to each other and the Pentacle tutors. Some of them even discovered how to jump on to the roof – but they did need our help to get back down again!

The two-hour demonstration included Orientation, a brief tour of QUBE’s features, explanations on the World After Midnight and smart failure, and a Q&A session. With this vision of the effectiveness of virtual working and learning, the future now looks even brighter for these undergraduates, although that may just be due to the vivid colours on QUBE.

If you would like Pentacle to run a demonstration of QUBE for you, please get in touch at http://PentacleTheVBS.com/QUBE_TryIt.htm