Inspace: Conflict of Interest

The spring semester at Champlain College started fully remote. The Queen City streets remained quiet as students hunkered in dorms and continued learning from their rooms.

The start of the semester presented challenges for some students using InSpace. Many were having connection problems with InSpace that other platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet did not present. Some professors at Champlain have made the switch back to other video conferencing programs such as Zoom that the school already pays thousands of dollars in licenses to use.

The structure of contemporary education has many pitfalls that could present a conflict of interest for professors and institutions. The American Association of University Professors defines a conflict of interest as “A circumstance in which a person’s primary interests and responsibilities (such as the responsibility to analyze research results as dispassionately as possible) may be compromised by a secondary interest (such as financial gain).”

Whether or not using InSpace on campus is a conflict of interest remains an open question.

Some students on campus started a petition to discontinue the use of InSpace in academic classes, but it failed to gain popular attention. “Though we think it is very unique that a Champlain faculty member has developed a web service that is capable of hosting video telecommunication services, we find that the service is very unreliable and is causing harm to some students standing in courses.

We feel that the service should be debugged, tested, and released with a more finalized and reliable version.”

Bjarne Holmes, a Psychology professor and faculty member at Champlain College, is a supporter of using InSpace in the classroom, "We asked students at Champlain what it is they love about InSpace in comparison to other platforms. Here is what they said the most: InSpace creates an atmosphere similar to the authentic classroom environment; It feels more natural; It gives more freedom and flexibility; InSpace makes online learning more enjoyable; It's more interactive and engaging; It's better for group discussions; InSpace is easier to communicate with; You can move around and proximity audio enables private conversations."

The Burly Beaver has reached out to the co-founder of InSpace, Champlain faculty member Narine Hall, but at press time had not yet received a reply. The discussion continues amongst the students and faculty at Champlain College on implementing InSpace as a platform for learning.

Back to Homepage