Technology Drives New Learning Tools
Media-rich classrooms, distance learning classes, and other technology are helping students learn in new ways.
This year Walla Walla College introduced the first of several new “Smart Classrooms” to be developed across campus. The classroom, located in Smith Hall, has a custom-built lectern from which a professor can easily control a computer, DVD player, and Zip drive as well as a television and video cassette recorder.
The Smart Classroom also features personal response devices—dubbed “phasers” by students—which can be used for real-time quizzes. Results are immediately available on the professor’s computer monitor and can be projected on the classroom screen.
“Professors can, at the push of a button, switch effortlessly and seamlessly between PowerPoint presentations, video, the Internet, and personal response devices,” says Mark Haynal, assistant professor of education. For example, in one class period, students could see a video clip, scan Web sites on the same topic, and participate in an instant class opinion poll.
Technology is also driving the development of WWC’s Internet-based distance education program which will primarily serve graduate and other nontraditional students. “Distance education will help us reach groups of learners we haven’t fully served in the past,” says David Bullock, WWC Webmaster and professor of communications. “Adult learners often have difficulty moving to an on-campus program. Distance education offers a viable alternative for those learners.”
All coursework and material traditionally presented in a face-to-face classroom setting will be available from the WWC Web site through Blackboard courseware, an education software program. Blackboard allows students to submit and track assignments via the Internet and access progress reports and grades. In addition, Blackboard gives teachers tools to coordinate online courses and translate traditional teaching materials into Web-based formats.
The first of the new distance learning classes, developed for students at the Portland nursing campus, debuted winter quarter. Education courses will be offered summer quarter, and more graduate level courses will be added over the next year.
Besides media classrooms and Web classes, new wireless technology is making computer access more convenient than ever. A new outdoor wireless network infrastructure allows students with computer laptops or those who live off-campus to access campus network resources and the Internet from off-campus locations. Peterson Memorial Library is the first building equipped with indoor wireless technology. Students may check out the library’s wireless access cards and from anywhere in the library, they can print to campus printers, browse library databases, and save notes to their network accounts.
