gu, INNOVATION ABSTRACTS i"

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With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation

 

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EXTENSION TEACHING: NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND OLD INSIGHTS

Just over one year ago, | returned from sabbatical to find that my role now included a hefty dose of
extension teaching—specifically, a plane trip each Tuesday into a community some 350 miles away. | would
prepare for class for part of the morning, leave to catch the plane at 2:30, arrive at 6:00 to teach three hours,
and arrive home between 12:00 and 1:00 a.m. The assignment took all of one day and sapped my energy for
the next. My efforts at using the travel time effectively, by grading papers or writing, were only marginally
successful. The compensation was the interest and appreciation of the class. When a teleconference course
delivery alternative appeared, | was an enthusiastic volunteer.

The COMNET System

Last night, I finished teaching my first course on the COMNET system. I taught a class of 29 students, all
but three of them at one of five remote locations in Utah and Wyoming. As presently configured, our
campus system includes two-way audio communication, an electronic blackboard, and a slow scan video
camera. All communication is carried over two dedicated telephone lines, a feature mandated by the high
costs. of current satellite video technology. An instructor can teach simultaneously from any one of the
cleven sites to students at the other ten. Instead of requiring 12 to 15 students at any one location betore a
class can be offered, this system allows a class to be composed of as few as three students per location.
From an institutional cost standpoint, the system is less expensive than the airplane delivery, although to
date the planes still fly to three major rural teaching centers. The new system pays an extra third in
honorarium to the instructor, without requiring that he or she leave campus.

From an instructor standpoint, you teach as usual, but with some adaptation. When you ask a question
in class, you do so by name or by location, asking that people identify themselves as they respond. When
students have a question, they push their press-to-talk switch to signal you, the instructor, to acknowledge
the question at an appropriate stopping point. When the instructor writes on the chalkboard, students see
the message immediately on a video monitor at their site. A second television monitor is used for the
slowsean video, which takes a still picture but requires 32 seconds for the digitized image to be transmitted.
Generally, these images are of the instructor, and are changed every 2-3 minutes; but they can also transmit
a transparency, a cartoon, or pictures of class members from a particular site. If you as instructor can
overcome a certain self-consciousness at seeing still images of yourself and can time the jokes on your
transparencies with a 32-second delay in the punchline, you can probably succeed.

Crucial Features of the System

Some crucial features of this system are not readily apparent, but are highly important. For one thing, the
system is interactive, allowing question and answer interchange, sharing and probing. If the class becomes a
monologue, with a straight lecture, it can become very boring. The technician at each site has a vital role—
ensuring that the equipment functions properly, collecting and distributing assignments, tests and the like.
At first, these technicians were recruited with minimal skills and paid minimum wage. A couple of quarters
of operating experience with COMNET showed that this person needed maturity and if possible, training in
teaching. Now, whenever possible, a certified teacher is employed. Because the instructor cannot monitor
the nonverbal cues of class members and the technician can, a working relationship with this person is vital.
A final feature of teaching involves group dynamics with the on-campus class to ensure that they receive no
special advantages over students at remote sites. Because the on-campus group has visual contact in a way
that the other sites do not, care must be taken to keep them from dominating discussions, receiving, more
immediate feedback on assignments, and so forth.

The technology of the COMNET system has some "special effects" worth mentioning. A special thermal
printer at the university classroom allows .apid printing of the still video image, for example allowing an
instructor to receive individual photos of the student in the class. All class sessions are recorded and the
tapes maintained for 2-3 weeks before erasing. When played back, the tapes show all video images, all
writing on the blackboard, virtually everything that happened in class. A student who misses class can

 

 

NF Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712