Someday the typical classroom may look a lot like two new ones in CU-Boulder聮s Eaton Humanities Building, with rows of computers all linked to each other and the day聮s coursework displayed on several large projection screens.
The classrooms, one equipped with 18 Macintosh G4 computers and one with 23 Dell Pentium III聮s, have state-of-the-art equipment throughout and an interactive network design linking the instructor and students as never before. The high-tech equipment has created strong demand among faculty who are finding new ways to use computers in the classroom.
According to Mark Werner, one of several Information Technology support staff assigned to help instructors use technology in their teaching, those with basic computer skills are learning how to manipulate the technology to enhance their coursework, along with more computer-savvy faculty who are making their presentations more sophisticated.
"A common request of our training service is for help in building course Web pages where the faculty member can have an online discussion group, links with related Web sites, the course syllabus and other course materials," Werner said.
"Some instructors also are posting slides and other visual images for use in their classes, or they might need help using PowerPoint software for class presentations," he said. And using Web pages and PowerPoint presentations in class can be done from many other classrooms on campus, not only in the high-tech Humanities classrooms.
"Right now most of the requests we聮re getting are for pretty basic uses of the software," Werner said. "But over time I think people will begin to say 聭aha!聮 and the ideas for more sophisticated presentations will come in, like using video on the Web."
The classrooms give maximum flexibility to faculty by offering different ways to communicate and interact with their classes. Teachers can broadcast their computer聮s audio, video or just their voice to the whole class, or to teams of students or to individuals. They can intersperse VHS tape (including foreign tape formats), DVD, or audio content from a CD or cassette, or call up Web sites in their presentations. The workstations feature two-way headsets, so audio content or instruction can be paired with visual lesson material shown on the main overhead screens or the students聮 own displays.
Werner assists arts and humanities faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences, many of whom are still learning about the Technology Experimentation Center. Nine other IT coordinators are assigned to help faculty campuswide.
"Typically faculty will call or drop in if they have a specific idea about how they might use technology in a class," Werner said. "So we set up an appointment, figure out their needs and see how we can best achieve their goals for the class."
Since February, Werner has advised 14 academic departments at CU-Boulder and about 60 individual faculty members. He has presented nine classes on Web page development and this fall began offering a series of classes on using multimedia to assist in classroom instruction.
Jenifer Martin, technology coordinator for the social sciences, also assists faculty with technology questions, such as the classics professor who needed help setting up QuickTime VR software to show his class a Roman coin on the large overhead screen. Students were able to see the coin from all angles as they watched the video demonstration.
"That聮s the sort of use of this facility that we know we will be doing more of as people become comfortable with the technology and learn more about what it can do," Werner said.
CU-Boulder faculty members are exploring new ways of using computers in the classroom and of using CU聮s new high-tech classrooms. The following describes two approaches to the use of computers as teaching aides.
Luis Valdovino, assistant professor of fine arts, (303) 492-3580
One faculty member who is pushing the envelope on classroom computer technology and use of the Internet is Assistant Professor Luis Valdovino of fine arts. For his video classes, Valdovino is collaborating with Dan Boord, a faculty member at Ohio State University, to bring video conferencing and live performances via the Internet into the classroom in "real-time."
Valdovino is using Internet 2, available only for use at major research universities, to show video artworks simultaneously to students at Ohio State and at the University of California, Berkeley. "The big issue is doing it on a full computer screen," he said. "For a lower quality presentation, we could use streaming video on the Internet. But when you do that, you use one quarter of the screen or less, so you have a rectangle on one side of the screen instead of seeing the full frame."
Once it聮s up and running, Valdovino will schedule a class in one of the new Humanities computer rooms so that his real-time video presentations can be linked with other universities for special assignments. The video technology will be used when visiting artists are lecturing, and students will be able to discuss class projects "live" with peers in other states, broadening their access to ideas and to the resources of other campuses.
Martha Hanna, associate professor of history, (303) 492-8373
Many faculty members are newcomers to computer technology. Martha Hanna, an associate professor of history who is just beginning to use computers and the Internet in her courses, has been a regular client of CU聮s Technology Experimentation Center over the past year.
"Mark (Werner) taught me everything. I knew nothing," Hanna said. Now she is incorporating digital photos of Paris taken during a recent trip into a PowerPoint presentation for her spring semester course "Revolution in History: France," a core curriculum course for non-history majors.
The photographs of sites important in the French Revolution will improve students聮 understanding of the events. "I want the students to be able to visualize the places I聮m talking about," she said. Many students travel to Paris and will have a better understanding of the city and the history of France through the photos, she said. Hanna hopes to later provide links from the course syllabus, which will be posted on her Web site, to PowerPoint displays so that students can click on the Enlightenment lecture and see the photographs that accompany the lecture.
The modern-day photographs also will be juxtaposed with art dating from the French Revolution to compare and contrast the way the city was at the time of the revolution and how it looks today.
"The technology of the 21st century will help students understand the richness, and the reality, of late 18th century Paris," said Hanna.