Classroom Focus
Engineering Collaboration at Virginia Tech
An interview with Alumni Distinguished Professor Charles Bostian
What does it take to convert a soon-to-retire engineering professor enamored of the chalkboard into someone who loves a technology tool? For
Virginia Tech
Alumni Distinguished Professor Charles Bostian, it took
DyKnow Vision
, a collaborative teaching tool that he is using in engineering classes as large as 180 students.
Bostian, who works in the
department of electrical and computer engineering
and usually teaches just one class a semester because he is heavily involved in research, calls himself "an old guy and a blackboard-and-chalk teacher." He said he has disliked educational media in the past and hasn't been particularly interested in collaborative tools. "But this one has made a believer out of me," Bostian said.
DyKnow is instructional software whose collaborative note-taking capabilities can deliver course materials to students on individual computer screens as the instructor teaches, allowing students to view and save the instructor's notes as they are made, and add their own notes as well. The product works with either traditional keyboard computers or tablets. Notes from students can be shared with the rest of the class, allowing collaborative groups. Students can save the files to their own computers, and also can access the class files later via Virginia Tech's Blackboard system.
DyKnow's capabilities allow Bostian to display complex circuit diagrams to his large engineering classes on two large screens in class, using his tablet PC, then make notes right on the circuit diagrams. The course teaches circuit analysis--understanding the flow of power and information through a circuit, including voltage and currents. Bostian's notes from class are saved and uploaded for student review later. Students, also using wireless tablet computers, can view the diagrams and notes on the classroom screens or their tablets, where they can add their own notes, as well as viewing and saving Bostian's notes all at once, or at intervals if they choose.
Using DyKnow's interactive capabilities, Bostian can also allow any student to write on the public screen. He's used that feature sparingly, however, since with 100-plus students in class, he's found it too confusing to allow all students to write at once. Instead, one student can be called on at once to participate from his or her seat, using the student's log-in ID.