November 2003 — Features
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On-Demand Lectures Create an Effective Distributed Education Experience
Expanding the Teaching Horizon
The students who were taught using some or all of these approaches have given very favorable responses to my class. I have taught steel design three times - twice by conventional methods and once this last semester using Tegrity, the tablet PC and course management software. My last class covered more material than the previous two, and students performed better overall. Their performance this last semester has convinced me of the merits of my approach.
To gather student reactions to the problem-based class, an assessment form was devised. The following are some of the results and comments from the final student survey:
- Five out of six students said that the online lectures' anytime availability was somewhat more or much more convenient than a scheduled lecture. The same number of students also agreed that the Tegrity lectures helped them be better prepared for class.
- Half of the students agreed that using Tegrity lectures to prepare for class allowed time with the teacher to be used more effectively.
- As far as the course management software g'es, on a scale of 1(not at all useful) to 5 (very useful), the drop box received an average rating of 4.83. The availability of the lectures' PowerPoint files for download also received a high rating of 4.5.
- All of the students said that the amount and quality of interaction with other students increased. The amount of time the students spent preparing for class increased as well.
This is only the beginning of DE using this methodology. I am currently planning new courses that will take advantage of Tegrity's ability to deliver lectures live via the Internet. Students will log on to the lectures as they are being given and ask questions that will be heard by those using voice-over IP and chat functions. These live lectures will be automatically recorded and stored on the server for on-demand access by remote students located anywhere with an Internet connection. I also plan to deliver Tegrity live lectures to classrooms and place the automatic recordings in the course management software for the students to view again if they wish, which requires no additional work.
In conclusion, by using Tegrity and the tablet PC, I have been given the tools to develop on-demand lectures quickly and easily. This ability allows me to focus on the needs of individual students in class, rather than spending all my class time "chalking and talking." My experience to date indicates that we can do a better job educating and reaching our students with this methodology. It can only get better as new technical innovations become available and as more teachers are willing to expand the horizon of teaching using these innovations.
Click here to view a sample of a Tegrity-powered lecture created by Dr. Lindsey.
