Distance learning at the University of Hawaii reached a whole new level last week as a faculty member giving a lecture in Manoa appeared simultaneously in three-dimensional hologram form in a classroom at American Samoa Community College.

Yes, it was a hologram not unlike Princess Leia in the original “Star Wars” movie. But instead of appealing for help from Ob-Wan Kenobi — “you’re my only hope” — UH researcher Chris Shuler was lecturing about his study of water contamination in American Samoa.

The lecture was the first of what officials of the two island educational institutions hope are many more as the community college in Pago Pago christened its HoloCampus, the first of its kind in the Pacific.

“The work we’ve been doing since January has all come to fruition today,” UH President David Lassner told an American Samoa classroom filled with educators, dignitaries and students.

He stood before them in life-size 3D holographic form while speaking in a studio on the Manoa campus.

The project came about after Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP, a New Zealand company, deployed an undersea cable connecting American Samoa to Hawaii last year.

The 9,320-mile-long, 67-terabit fiber optic cable connects New Zealand, Australia, American Samoa, Hawaii and Oregon. It is also designed to connect Tonga, Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

The HoloCampus was developed in partnership with the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority and Toronto-based firm ARHT (Augmented Reality Holographic Telepresence) Media.

In November ARHT helped London’s Imperial College to become the world’s first academic institution to offer live holographic lectures, the company said.

Hawaiki provided the ARHT equipment to the University of Hawaii free of charge, and the college and UH are expected to work together to create HoloCampus course programs that will eventually allow students in American Samoa to earn credits and grades toward UH degrees.

The HoloCampus would enable “a remarkable new approach to distance learning,” Lassner said. “We expect that our work with ASCC will spark new ideas and approaches for academic collaborations across the Pacific and beyond.”

A lecturer in the new Manoa studio can see the room in American Samoa via video signal and can speak to students responding to their questions and reactions with virtually no delay.

Garret Yoshimi, UH vice president for information technology, said there are many educational opportunities that lie ahead with the new technology.

“It’s the new thing now. It’s really up to us to figure out how to utilize it with different classes, different delivery. This is literally the first lecture, other than some testing that happened last week,” Yoshimi said.

“This is super cool. But now comes the hard part: How to operationalize it in the classroom,” he said. “It’s our opportunity now to look at partnerships on both sides (of the Pacific) to make it happen. Now we’ve got to figure out what else we can do now that it’s here.”

Instructors on both sides may be able to use the new technology. “The more we could deliver and reach wider audiences the better,” Yoshimi said.