Introduction
The first worldwide virtual degree ceremony took place at 16:00 BST on March 31st 2000. This ceremony was the first in the Open University calendar for 2000, and therefore the first in the new millennium.
The Vice Chancellor presided in the Berrill lecture theatre of the Open University campus in Milton Keynes, whilst the event was webcast to the world. The ceremony was aimed at the worldwide body of students who graduated from the Masters Programme in Open and Distance Education. Given that this was a small body of students (the graduating cohort was only 26) and that as they were from as far afield as Taiwan, the US, Iceland and Hong Kong, this was felt to be a most appropriate vehicle for their graduation.A web based ceremony was also felt to be a suitable venue for the presentation of an honorary degree to Tim Berners-Lee.
Our ideas to support this ceremony included using a student-generated yearbook, and phone-in audio notes to add a personalized flavour to the proceedings.
A limited number of virtual tickets were issued to faculty and invited guests.
A KMi Stadium Project
