Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Features
Video Classroom on a Shoestring
12/11/2001
Video conferencing, Web casting, and course management applications are valuable tools for teaching in a distance-learning format. But many of these require hardware, software, funding, and the expertise of an information technology professional or technology-proficient instructor. Is it possible to teach an online course using audio and video without adopting a lot of expensive technology? For one instructor, the answer is yes. In fact, for him, bare bones has become an art form.
Kent Meyer, professor of accounting at California State University, Sacramento, teaches two upper-division distance-learning courses—international accounting and corporate partnerships and estate tax. Each of the courses enrolls up to two dozen students, some located hundreds of miles away. Meyer and project coordinator Rolando Cabiles have developed an inexpensive strategy for using live audio and video lectures in the courses.
The solution involves capturing one-way video, transmitting it via the Internet, and simultaneously using instant messaging to communicate with their students. Meyer and Cabiles use a Logitech QuickCam Web camera to broadcast real-time video and audio of Meyer’s lectures via SpotLife Inc.’s Personal Video Broadcasting service. Enrolled students access the course via a SpotLife password, a standard PC with an Internet connection, a modem, and a free instant messaging ID. Meyer simply sits in front of the camera and lectures. If he wants to display a diagram or photo, he holds it up to the camera. Alternatively, he can send complicated figures to his students via e-mail before or after the lectures.
Meyer has taken technology down to the bare bones for his distance-learning courses. He d'esn’t even use a course Web site. Anything he or his students want to say to one another travels via e-mail. But making sure his students could see him was critical.
“Students want that personal interaction,” Meyer says. “They respond to voice intonation, body language, and seeing a face much better than they do reading text off a screen.” Meyer sought a solution that would be inexpensive—the whole setup cost him less than $100—and easy. Using the lowest technological denominator ensures that all of his students, no matter what their resource level, can access the course.
During the lecture, students can communicate with Meyer directly, or with one other, via instant messaging. Meyer scans the questions and comments as they come in during the lecture and responds to them on the fly. Cabiles assists Meyer by troubleshooting the technology, answering asides from students, and monitoring connections.
Both note that in this format, students are more interactive and more communicative than in a standard course. “This format plays right into the multitasking that we already do in our daily lives,” Cabiles says. “Being able to ask questions via instant messaging takes away the fear and intimidation factor, and we find that students contribute to class much more than they otherwise would.”
Recommended Reading
- Cedarville U Sets Up SonicWall Firewalls
Cedarville University in southwestern Ohio has implemented SonicWALL firewalls to provide high-speed gateway firewall protection for its 3,000 students.
- Data Breach Strikes U North Dakota Alumni Association
The alumni association for the University of North Dakota has gone public with a data breach that occurred when a laptop belonging to a software vendor was stolen from a vehicle. The computer contained the names of 84,000 university alumni, donors, and others, according to coverage by the Grand Forks Herald.
- Tips for Selecting a Campus CRM tool
As competition for students increases, colleges and universities are looking more and more to customer (or constituent) relationship management software for help in remaining competitive.
- Intercast Networks Goes into Beta with Kazam Video Service at Internet2 Universities
Intercast Networks has redesigned Kazam, its student Internet TV and video service based on the company's VideoXpress platform. Following a spring semester alpha trial at Columbia and Purdue University, the company redesigned Kazam's interface based on student feedback and added additional content that caters to a student audience.
- Michigan State Managing MRI Images from Africa with Acuo Tech DICOM Services Grid
Doctors at Michigan State University have begun using the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) Services Grid from Acuo Technologies to transport and manage magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results from a hospital in Malawi, Africa in order to monitor the impact of malaria on children.
- IIT Delhi Delivers Services with Ingres Open Source
Administrators at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) have gone public with their installation of open source database management software from Ingres. IIT Delhi, one of seven leading institutes of technology in India, adopted Ingres Database to support administration functions such as grading, finance, human resources, procurement, and hospital administration.
