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: TTYL, Professor!(2)
(U-Wire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)
UWIRE-02/22/2008-: TTYL, Professor!(2) (C) 2008 via UWIRE
By Olivia Waxman, ()
-- Â Â Â Â Universities across the country are giving students more
reason to stay glued to their computers. Professors at state and Ivy
League schools have started instituting office hours online, using AOL
Instant Messenger, Skype, and video conferencing applications like
Elluminate to make themselves more accessible to students outside of
the classroom.    According to The National Survey of Student
Engagement, the increased use of information technologies stimulates
student interest and enhances student-teacher communication. With
this fact in mind, David Malan of Harvard's Computer Science department
launched virtual office hours last fall to supplement his traditional
face-to-face office hours, the first program of its kind at the
university. Students taking "Introduction to Computer Science" can
interact with Malan's teaching fellows through live, online help forums
powered by the communications software Elluminate. Participants pose
questions by typing them out or talking through their computer's
microphone. Elluminate is especially effective for digitally-oriented
classes, as T.A.s can manipulate a student's computer in order to
explain an answer. Â Â Â A dozen undergraduate teaching assistants for
Cornell's "Introduction to Web Design and Programming" class organized
a similar program this year using AOL Instant Messenger. The T.A.s
field students' instant messages under a joint screen name, a process
that they find faster and less plodding than email correspondences.Â
"It's certainly less personally intrusive than me getting their cell
phone number and calling them back with an answer," former professor of
the class David Williamson told Wendy Wang of The Cornell Daily Sun in
"Office Hours Get New Online Look." Â Â Â But now even phone
conversations can be conducted on the Web. Accounting Lecturer Richard
Lillie of California State University-San Bernardino chats with pupils
through Skype, a free calling application that enables users to talk
online through their computers, though students must have headsets,
microphones, and webcams to use this program. "Even though we're
using technology, we can talk and work with each other as if we're
sitting in the same office," Lillie told USA Today's Angela Haupt in
"Professors help students virtually." Â Â Â In fact, Hamilton students
would find such technology helpful for minor questions that come up
outside of the classroom, especially at night.     "I think
[online office hours] would make a large difference in the amount of
student-professor interaction, particularly for small things, such as
tiny questions or misunderstandings," Rouvan Mahmud '11 said. "I would
not right now leave the comfort of my dorm and walk in this cold just
to ask a tiny question." Â Â Â Sophie Vershbow '11, a graduate of
Friends Seminary in New York City, told The Spectator that her high
school teachers would set up chatrooms the night before a big test.Â
Vershbow remembers those online sessions being "so helpful because not
only did you get help from the teacher, but you got help from everyone
else in the class." Â Â Â These online communication programs are
especially helpful to students studying abroad, like Eric Kuhn '09, who
is spending the year at the London School of Economics. Kuhn
corresponds with his advisor, Government Professor Frank Anechiarico,
via Skype. "He sits in his office and I sit in London and he advises
me," Kuhn said. "The technology is amazing in my situation because of
that pond between us!" Â Â Â However, students and administrators,
including Dean of Faculty Joseph Urgo, do not think online office hours
should replace traditional tete-a-tetes entirely, arguing that there is
no substitute for face-to-face meetings that are hallmarks of the
college experience.    "Professors use e-mail, web sites, instant
messaging, and other technologies to increase their accessibility to
students," said Urgo. "But at Hamilton, where personal interaction is
among our core values, these technologies are all additive; they cannot
replace the standard, which we continue to find valuable and incapable
of simulation, of the face-to-face, sit-down experience between the
student and the professor, talking." Â Â Â In addition, multi-part
questions are too difficult to type out, according to Arielle Cutler
'11. "I feel like the few times I have met with professors
face-to-face, it was essential that we were in fact face-to-face,"
Cutler said. "These times generally consisted of further explanation of
a concept, clarification of an assignment, things where it would be
awkward and too complicated to communicate virtually."Â Chemistry major
Katie Donahue '08 concurs, pointing out that "explaining Chemistry over
an e-mail is hard. Also there is something nice about sitting down and
talking face-to-face with a professor. Feels like you know them a
little more." Â Â Â Looking ahead, Nora Goddard '11 observes that
these live-action, mini mentoring sessions are preparation for the
world beyond academia: "Talking to older, more experienced people is a
skill necessary for most professions, so students should begin now,
while in school, instead of afterwards, where the lack of knowing how
to have a conversation with a superior could be detrimental."
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((Distributed on bahalf of U-Wire via M2 Communications Ltd -
http://www.m2.com))
((U-Wire - http://www.uwire.com))
Copyright ? 2009 U-Wire
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