Kicking the Tires Experimenting with Distance Education Technologies at the University of Michigan...
-
Upload
elaine-loren-lane -
Category
Documents
-
view
217 -
download
0
Transcript of Kicking the Tires Experimenting with Distance Education Technologies at the University of Michigan...
Kicking the Tires
Experimenting with Distance Education Technologies at the
University of Michigan School of Information
School of Information
http://www.si.umich.edu/
Alliance for Community Technology
http://www.communitytechnology.org/
Act 1: Winter 1998
• Course: first-year, master-level, required
• Lecturers: Maurita Holland and Thomas Finholt
• Enrolled students: 65
• Main rationale: to accommodate 5 commuting students
Tools used:
• Placeware Auditorium 1.2
• WebBoard 2.0
• Web site
Challenges:
• Hybrid environment– separate but equal?– logistical nightmare
• Bandwidth problems
• Sound
The classroom setup
slides
PWmicrophones
black boxfloor
mixing board
internet
capture
Remote students
• Were variably engaged with lecture
• Had diminished opportunities for “face time”
• Had concerns about visibility
• Attended office hours normally
• Could not easily contribute to in-class discussions
Classroom students
• Had a slightly better sense of what happened during lecture
• Approved of the experiment
• Disliked the disruptive effect of the technology in the classroom
Faculty members
• Felt the remote students were “invisible”
• Were dissatisfied with turnout to office hours
• Agreed that microphones were bothersome
• Could not easily involve remote students in the lecture
Major results and analysis
• Hybrid environment negatively affects the professor-student relationship
• Participating students report overall satisfaction with the experiment
Conjecture
• Totally distributed environment would not have this negative effect– closer to original intent of software– would allow other benefits to be more fully
realized
Act 2: Winter 1999
• Course: advanced, master-level, elective
• Lecturer: Derrick L. Cogburn
• Enrolled students: 7 from SI, 10 from Wits, 18 from AU
• Main rationale: to deliver a course via the Internet while giving students the chance to practice international collaboration
Tools used:
• Placeware Conference Center 3.0
• WebBoard 3.5
• DocuShare 1.5
• Web site (VSC)
• Lotus ScreenCam
• RealMedia G2
Training movie Recorded session
Challenges:
• Technological gaps
• Bandwidth problems
• Time zones
• Cultural differences
Research team:
• Derrick Cogburn (CSIR)
• Daniel Atkins (SI)
• Mary Mulvihill (AU)
• Vlad Wielbut (SI)
Do’s and Don’t’s:
• Learn to sleep fast
• Win lottery
• Test, test, test!
• Get help
• Become a control freak
• Never put all your eggs in one basket
• Hire someone from Eastern Europe
Do’s and Don’t’s (contd.):
• Raise the bar
• Keep crybabies out
URLs:
http://www.communitytechnology.org/
http://www.communitytechnology.org/placeware/
http://www.communitytechnology.org/courses/globalization
http://docushare.si.umich.edu/
http://www.netopia.geocities.com/vladwiel