For Isaac Sweeney, an assistant professor of English at Richard Bland College in Virginia, a simple revision of his syllabus proved to illustrate an important change of direction for his classroom. The change from having two separate policies about cellphones and e-mail, to just having one “Technology” policy, showed an acceptance and honesty about how his classroom, similar to many classrooms around the country, needs to “catch up” to the present trend in education: technology as an educational tool in the classroom.
Writing for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Sweeney talks about his firsthand experience letting students use their cellphones for class activities. Even though this may seem like blasphemy, the change in policy allows students to be empowered to use their cellphones as a tool for their own learning.
The New York Times reported last Tuesday that San Jose State University and online course creation company Udacity have announced a partnership. SJSU and Udacity hope to build for-credit online courses that could eventually save thousands of students in California the costs of traditional college courses.
What will make an online SJSU course so different from a traditional face-to-face course? Students will carry out lessons, quizzes and other classroom activity solely online. Students will also be connected with an online mentor for support during the course. Additionally, each of the three-unit pilot courses will cost only $150–far less than a traditional course at SJSU.
The program is partly in response to the alarming fact that over 50 percent of SJSU students don’t meet basic requirements upon entering the institution. The pilot program will feature remedial and college-level algebra, as well as basic statistics. Students from both SJSU and surrounding community colleges are eligible to enroll in the courses.
Hopefully, this pilot program will push support for online courses in both San Jose and eventually the state of California.
In a recent report written by the University of Washington’s Office of the Provost, President Michael Young expressed his vision for the University to become “Tomorrow’s University Today”, not only by adapting and responding to an ever-present change in education, but also by leading the change to explore new and exciting methods of teaching and learning that have yet to be discovered. This “change” has come in the form of online and hybrid class formats that have been adopted and utilized in an effort to provide a more digital, convenient, and innovative alternative for students to pursue their education at the University of Washington.
The University of Washington Bothell prides itself on being forward-thinking by integrating multimedia production education into a wide range of course curricula. Hands-on media production at UWB strengthens the connection between students and media to prepare them for the rising of demand in these fields, especially production and analysis of contemporary and future media.
Here are some examples of student work coming from Professor Jill Freidberg’s class in Post Production and Professor Sam Yum’s Advanced Media Production class. To see the projects, click the links below!
Professor Jill Freidberg’s Post Production Course:
Professor Sam Yum’s Advanced Media Production: “Our work in production is informed by theoretical and practical readings, as well as a review of a variety of visual texts – from still photography to digital video.” – Sam Yum