TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

In recent years the technological and information revolutions have created new and often effective ways of presenting and organizing information. The computer, Internet and multimedia presentation supplement the chalkboard, slide projector, overhead and VCR in today's classrooms. We discuss, in the following section, the uses of technology when teaching. New technologies make it possible to integrate visual, audio and written material and to bring information to your students in exciting ways that-studies suggest-may be more effective than the traditional lecture or discussion.

But there is one caveat: students are seldom impressed when technology is only a gimmick. Technological teaching aids are most effective when they are part of the course and closely related to your teaching objectives. Always ask yourself "How does this approach improve my teaching? Is this the best method of communicating the material?"

USES

How might computer and media technology be used to enhance your class? Here are some suggestions: Course Web Site. A course web site can offer students easy access to the course syllabus, readings, online resources, notes, bulletin boards or assignments. Also, it allows faculty and teaching assistants to customize course materials. Web sites can include animation, images, sounds, links to other Internet sites, and supplemental readings. A well-constructed site can encourage students to explore in-depth topics that were not addressed in class or it can reinforce your lectures with enhanced course notes and self-tests.

Most of the University of Pittsburgh faculty who have developed online web sites use them to archive class outlines, notes, handouts and other materials. Surveys indicate that not only do students appreciate these online course sites, they want more. A Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education (CIDDE) survey of 1,800 undergraduates at the University of Pittsburgh found that students who used online course sites felt that they learned more and had an easier time communicating with the instructor. Students especially appreciated online lecture notes. (Despite faculty fears to the contrary, the study found that providing lecture notes online did not decrease course attendance in well-taught classes.)

To facilitate course web sites, the University of Pittsburgh offers CourseInfo/Courseweb, a course management software program that makes it comparatively easy to upload course materials, to link to journal articles and other web pages, to manage discussion groups and chats, to collect student papers, to offer online quizzes, and even to store and calculate grades. Basic training on CourseInfo/Courseweb takes about one day and is offered by the Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education (CIDDE) at the University of Pittsburgh. A fuller description of CourseInfo/Courseweb can be found in this handbook in Chapter 10 on "Teaching Your Own Class," but teaching assistants should be aware that the number of professors using online web sites is rising dramatically and as a result teaching assistants will increasingly find that they are leading discussions, grading papers and locating class readings online.

Enhanced Presentations. Images and sounds can help to make sense of even the most confusing issues. How high were the pyramids? What does a human cell look like? What distinguished Beethoven's music from Mozart's? A judicious use of multimedia, outlines and web pages can help students to understand complex ideas and actually increases students' retention of the material presented (see graphic). Once you have mastered the programs, presentation software (such as PowerPoint or Harvard Graphics) can make it easy to customize class material, organize outlines and add case studies to lectures and discussions. And the benefits accrue to the instructor as well as the student. Teachers who use presentation software to produce outlines for students often report that the act of creating an outline forces them to think about the organization of their lectures and ultimately produces a better class experience.


Presentation software allows you to develop visual materials on a computer, but that material can be displayed in a number of formats. Presentations can be displayed as computer images, printed and given to the students, or made into overheads or slides. They also can be easily archived online for student reference.

Communications. One-to-one communications between students and instructors is often improved by offering students an electronic mail address. Instead of trudging into your office, students can e-mail you with their concerns as they arise or during previously arranged "email office hours." In addition, many instructors have set up discussion groups and chats so that students can communicate with each other outside of class. With a little organization, an online discussion group can spark or continue an in-class discussion or serve as a virtual "workshop" where students can collaborate on homework and reading assignments.

Modeling and Analysis. Math, engineering and laboratory courses often employ specialized programs (AutoCAD, Chem 3D, MatLab, MINITAB, SPSS, etc.) that allow students to manipulate data and model the results. These programs may also be used by teaching assistants to demonstrate theory and practice in the classroom.

 Teaching assistants also use technology behind the scenes. Increasingly, spreadsheet programs and specialized grading databases are used for keeping student information and grades as well as producing statistics on student performance. Similarly, word processors and presentation software are used for preparing handouts, course notes and lesson plans.

ACQUIRING TRADITIONAL MEDIA

New technologies have not completely replaced the last generation of teaching aids. Although not all classrooms at the University of Pittsburgh are equipped with digital ports and projectors, many classrooms have a television/video monitor, a VCR or laser disc player, and an overhead projector. Even when this equipment is not available in the classroom, it can usually be borrowed from the Instructional Media office and quickly set up. Additionally, slide projectors and sound recording devices are available free to instructors and teaching assistants.

One often-overlooked device deserves special attention: the copy stand. The copy stand is a small projector that allows you to display images directly out of a book or periodical. Using the copy stand, maps, pictures and graphs can be displayed for an entire classroom. And since the material is not "reproduced," it can be used without special copyright permission. Copy stands and other media devices can be reserved for classroom use by contacting Instructional Media.

You can check online to see what media equipment is available in your classroom. If the equipment you need is not available, you can make arrangements to have Instructional Media deliver the equipment to your classroom and provide you with a quick tutorial. Delivery requires advance notice; therefore, contact Instructional Media as soon as you know you are going to need the equipment.

Instructional Media also maintains a film and video library with over 4,000 titles. A complete list of titles is available at the CIDDE web site. These films and videos can be borrowed for in-class use or can be reserved for students to view as homework.

ACQUIRING NEW MEDIA

Overhead transparencies are cumbersome and laser disc players are impossible to customize. Multimedia presentations, in contrast, offer instructors the chance to combine outlines, images, sounds, 3D models, film clips and maps in a single, preorganized presentation. Using presentation software (software that helps to organize text, images and other material and helps to project in a classroom), you can harness an array of teaching materials available on the Internet or create original materials. While visual and audio materials can help students to develop a fuller understanding of difficult theories and concepts, even a simple outline can enhance the classroom experience. Lecture outlines force instructors to think about how the course is organized, and they help students to follow the larger themes of the class.

Some media-enhanced classrooms are equipped to display onscreen presentations, but Instructional Media can provide laptops and digital projectors (used to project a computer screen) in any classroom. A complete list of media-enhanced rooms can be obtained at the Instructional Media web site. Alternatively, visuals produced in presentation software can be made into overheads or slides. As for the presentation software itself, programs like PowerPoint and Harvard Graphics are available at the University of Pittsburgh's computer labs.

PUTTING TECHNOLOGY TO USE

The Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education (CIDDE) provides support for instructors and teaching assistants who are interested in using technology in the classroom. The following "rules" may offer some basic guidelines for getting the most of out of some common forms of class-related electronic media.

FILM AND VIDEO

Film and video can be effective teaching tools. They demonstrate things we cannot see and offer views of dangerous processes, complex events (such as the workings of the heart), the historical past, multimodal productions (such as a Shakespearean play) and, by combining images and sounds, can invoke an emotional response often more powerful than mere words.

When selecting a film or video for class, consider your learning objectives. If the film is closely linked to the course content, students will get more from the presentation. You might also consider whether a brief clip might be as useful as showing an entire film.

Introduce the film or video explaining what the film is, how it illustrates the course objectives and what the students should be looking for as they watch it. When showing a full-length film have students complete an assignment as they watch. For example, you might ask them to produce a three-point summary of the film or determine the specific motivations of one of the characters. Then set aside time for a discussion of the film following its showing.

When possible, provide sufficient light during a film presentation so that students can take notes and when showing short film or video clips, have the film cued in advance (and make a note of the film counter readings).

VISUALS

Slides, overhead transparencies and on-screen presentations are not intended to replace your verbal presentation, but they can enhance it. Visuals can serve as brief outlines to assist students in following your lecture. In addition, like film, visuals can be used to illustrate difficult to imagine events.

Visuals should not be merely slipped into a presentation. The visuals you choose should outline and illustrate central themes in your lecture or discussion in order to meet your course objectives. Given their importance, you may want to make copies available online or as paper handouts so that students will be able to include your visual outlines and illustrations in their notes. There are some strict rules that should be followed when creating visuals:

WEB SITES

As we have noted, web sites can perform a number of functions for a class. Web sites can integrate visual and written material, serve as an archive for handouts and slides, work as message boards, discussion lists or chat services, and can allow multiple instructors (a course instructor and his or her teaching assistants) to have equal access to students' grade books.

CourseInfo/Courseweb, administered by the Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education (CIDDE), provides a single software package that manages all of your online course materials. For more information on using it to organize your course, consult Chapter 10 ("Teaching Your Own Class") in this handbook or contact CIDDE.

CourseInfo/Courseweb is perhaps the best and easiest way to put course material on the web. But for those who decide to brave HTML and web page design, we offer the following advice:

For more information on web page design and software, consider taking a web-based course offered by Computer Services and Systems Development at the University of Pittsburgh.

DISCUSSION LISTS

Discussion lists are group e-mail exchanges. A student writes to the discussion and that message is then shared with the entire class (including, usually, the instructor). Discussion lists can draw in students who are quiet or reflective and do not always participate during class discussions and these lists can be easily integrated into an online or classroom activity. For example, after an in-class small-group discussion, you might ask students to summarize their major points online and then respond to what other groups have written. Or, you might integrate the discussion with an online activity. Try asking students to visit three web sites with opposing views and then debate the various positions using the discussion list.

Discussion lists require clear support and direction from the instructor and that can be time consuming. Thirty or forty active student participants can produce reams of responses if they are motivated. Therefore, if you are supervising a discussion list, you should instruct students to keep their responses short and topical.

As the list supervisor (and grader), you need to consider how your involvement might affect the discussion. Students will often write to you instead of to each other. Many instructors choose to bow out of the list early on or limit their comments to gentle coaching. Yet at the same time, you must assure students that their discussions matter and are being read or they will feel that there is no reward and they will quickly lose interest.

Here are some hints for organizing an effective online forum:

If you are interested in setting up a class discussion list, CourseInfo/Courseweb provides the easiest method on campus. Even if you are not using CourseInfo/Courseweb for your syllabus and class materials, you can use it to manage discussions. For more information on CourseInfo/Courseweb, see Chapter 10 in this handbook or contact the Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education (CIDDE) at the University of Pittsburgh.

Computing Services and Systems Development (CSSD) also offers an alternative approach to setting up a discussion list using MajorDomo, a program that runs on the Unix platform. For more information, contact the CSSD Help Desk.

ONLINE CHATS

Online chats, synchronous typed discussions, are great resources for student collaboration on projects or as an alternative to office hours. Chats allow students to communicate freely with each other or the instructor, and to get immediate feedback (something that students always appreciate). An online chat can also be a wonderful way to bring a guest speaker to a class when the guest speaker does not have time to attend the usual class meeting.

Chats work best for small groups of two to five participants and when short responses will suffice. Although it is easy for chats to go awry because of the spontaneous nature of the communication, they can also capture the naturalness of a class discussion that is sometimes missing on a discussion list.

For more information on using chats, contact the Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education (CIDDE) at the University of Pittsburgh. CIDDE offers instruction on using CourseWeb, a class management program that includes a chat function. Although there are popular "chat programs" available (many, such as ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger or Microsoft Chat are very popular with students and free of charge), it is often difficult to get every student to download and install the same software. CourseInfo/Courseweb offers a web-based chat program that solves many of the compatibility problems that instructors have faced in the past.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

Software Versions. When preparing material for electronic distribution, remember that not all of your students will necessarily have access to the same software or the same version of the software that you are using. A Word 97 document cannot, for example, be easily accessed from older versions of Microsoft Word (although readers are available). When possible, consider using Adobe's PDF format, rich text format (RTF) or plain text for distributing text documents, and consider using comma-delineated files for distributing data.

Instructions. When providing students with instructions on using computers and software, establish clear conventions for notations. For example, the Control Key on a PC might be consistently referred to as <CTRL> and the Space key might be referred to as <SPACE>. This will make it easier for students to interpret your instructions and to get the most out of the software they are using.

TWO WARNINGS

Although all students at the University of Pittsburgh have access to computers through the computer labs, access is still often governed by financial and time considerations. Some students may have to commute an hour to school before they can use their e-mail account while others may not be able to afford costly computer CDs from the bookstore. Furthermore, age, socioeconomic background and cultural differences may result in significant disparities among your students with regard to their knowledge of computers.

These are not new considerations. When assigning library reserve readings or expensive textbooks, course instructors often take into consideration access and cost. However, since computer media often appears to be "free" and ubiquitous, we sometimes forget the hidden costs and the significant amount of learning required to use a computer. An instructor should take into account both the advantages and disadvantages of using technology when planning a course, and should be prepared to assist students who need additional training. Computer Services and Systems Development offers Quickstart classes on email and the Internet as well common platforms (Windows 95, Unix) and programs (Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop). Or, for a more tailored introduction to your course software, consider holding a class in one of the computer labs where you will be able to show students how to access and make the most of the computer technology you are using. (To book a computer lab or to get a complete list of Quickstart classes (including web-based training), contact Computing Services and Systems Development (CSSD). Their telephone number and web address are listed in the resource guide at the end of the handbook.)

The Internet has raised a second concern for instructors. Although every year the number of scholarly sites on the Internet increases, the low cost of placing material on the web has encouraged quickly assembled and sometimes inaccurate information. If students in your classes are using Internet sources, teach them to use them responsibly. Internet scholarship should be cited and students should consider the source of the material they are using. The University Library web site contains information on citing and evaluating sources. Plagiarism, whether from a web site or a paper text, is a violation of the University's Academic Integrity Policy. (For more information on plagiarism and preventing cybercheating, see Chapter 8.)

 
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