[Air-l] Technology Transforming Education

[Alex -Vipowernet]

I teach Communication on two islands at once. 
Using video teleconferencing systems, I hold class on St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands with a video teleconference link to our St Croix campus which is 50 miles away over open ocean.  This is extraordinary. 

While most of the class experience is easily transmitted over the Video link, and I make extensive use of the e-Blackboard - there are oddities. 

I had a class this semester with 12 students on the distant campus and none on my local campus. So I taught a full semester to an EMPTY ROOM, talking to a camera and watching my students on the distant campus on a video screen.  Odd, but entirely workable. I did feel odd waving my arms and gesticulating in an empty room. 

The only really serious limitation has been when teaching a class that is software intensive... I had a class on video editing and really felt the difficulty trying to show students the software.  I could go to my local students and look over their shoulders and point to things on the screen, but the distant students had to do that using NetMeeting - decidedly inferior.  Also it is a lot harder to demo and showcase software using the VTC system. The scan rates of NetMeeting prevent live demos of some video features.  

Other than that, if one is able to use Blackboard and LISTSERV software, the distant learning is a breeze... 

My classes are all E-classes. No paper. and I am moving toward no books. My CMC class this fall will be entirely electronic with no paper or books. 


Alex Randall
Professor of Communication
University of the Virgin Islands. 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Michael Baron 
  To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 12:41 AM
  Subject: Re: [Air-l] Technology Transforming Education


  I think the core teaching skills remain the same. It is only the delivery
  methods that evolve over the time. I see evolution of the classrooms as
  normal. The world is changing and the education industry is chaging with it.