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The Convergence
of Teaching and Design in WebCT
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The Convergence
of Teaching and Design in WebCT
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© Copyright 2000 by Sharon Widmayer. The right to make additional exact copies, including this notice, for personal and classroom use, is hereby granted. All other forms of distribution and copying require permission of the author. |
Teaching with Technology in a "Wired" Classroom At George Mason, many of the traditional classrooms have been wired so that they are connected to the campus computer network. However, in order to use the internet in such a classroom, it is necessary to request a laptop and projector, which faculty may set up themselves. Many faculty who are adopting WebCT for their courses find themselves teaching in such classrooms, as I did.
I had a problem with the computer set up last week, and had to wing the first part of class, which was OK because I had a paper assignment for them. However, the experience gave me a better insight into the frustrations of faculty. I am getting a little frustrated myself. First of all, I HATE lugging the laptop and projector to class. Just the laptop would be no problem, but the projector weighs a ton and I am schlepping it to another building. At least I have my own laptop and can use the IRC [Instructional Resources Center] projector (don't have to get one from A/V). But I can see now why faculty don't often take advantage of the wired classrooms. It is just a big pain. It seems clear to me from this experience that if faculty are expected to use technology to enhance their face-to-face instruction, universities must make it easier to bring that technology into classrooms. It is not enough to simply wire classrooms, for example. There also needs to be easy access to sufficient computers and projectors, or perhaps field technicians who can set up such equipment in traditional classrooms. Lack of easy access to technology is certainly a barrier to technology integration that needs to be overcome. Transporting and setting up equipment, not to mention configuring it correctly, can be difficult even for proficient computer users. On the other hand, universities such as George Mason possess only limited IT resources. One question still to be answered is how a small Instructional Technology staff can support an entire campus in such a way as to overcome such access barriers.
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