Dr. Ruth Reynard

Yes, many faculty use the SmartBoard as a segment of their online classroom, John. My suggestion is to contact the vendor directly to explore the current technolgy available to make this happen. Smart Boards can bring a real sense of collaboration and immediacy to the synchronous sections of an online course. Good luck with your efforts and let us know how it goes in the Instructor Exchange forum in the Faculty Lounge :)

John, the challenge for hybrid teachers is to find the effective balance between group and self study opportunities. Assignments should be created to be group-oriented in class and self-orientated online. Also, the use of asynchronous and synchronous keeps both learner autonomy and learning community alive for the student. What ideas do you have yourself regarding strategies...?

The benefit, Katherine...? I would suggest synthesis and summary - two very important skills which are difficult to develop in students. The technology that brings information down to the smallest items (bytes)help with that process...

Katherine, the problems you're having with the white board is more to do with the make and version. That is the problem with technology - newer versions are always coming out and are better than what went before. Our problem is we don't have endless technology budgets to keep up :) Keep practising so that you can deal with the issues quickly as the purpose of the technology is still valid. Yes, clickers do stimulate great interest in students and immediate response. They engage and help build ideas...

Yes, Kenny, rigor must be maintained for students. Often that is the criticism of using new technology - that it lowers the standard of the course and the expectations of the students. Do you agree? How do you work to maintain the academic rigor while using new technology...?

How does that differ and expand the benefits of original boards, Kenny? What do the interactive aspect and distributive capabilities add to the learning environment?

Yes, Kenny, the immediacy and connectivity are of huge benefit to students. Can you think of specific ways in which the instructional process benefits?

I like your comments, Katherine, as instructor intervention and facilitation are key in the use of the Internet with students. One thought - while things are certainly faster with new technology, some of the challenges for instructors remain the same - helping students know and use good information as welll as taking the time to process and understand information :)

Great, Carla...do you have actual stats on the imrpoved attendance and how you use the technology to support that?