Paper Presented at the 1998 Syllabus Conference in Sonoma, CA
Dawn Rodrigues
University of Texas at Brownsville
Some preliminary comments to provide a backdrop for my current work: teachers need to work within their local contexts, and my university wanted to use video conferencing (specifically, two-way interactive compressed digital video).
The pedagogy I developed for the interactive audio/video courses I taught this year. A streaming video sample of my course provides a sense of the limitations and possibilities of this kind of course.
Moving On: Integrating Video Conferencing and Web Design
My next steps: the integration of web and audio/video delivery in courses I am designing for Fall 98.
The importance of balance in teaching with technology. As campuses begin offering more distance education courses, they need to be sure that some are dialogic, interactive courses and, quite possibly, that some of these courses offer an interactive audio and video component.
If you were asked to recommend the best model for an Online English course offered at a distance, what would you suggest? Since most English courses currently offered rely largely on asynchronous delivery, you would probably design a course that used threaded conferencing software, e-mail, and listservs to complement whatever series of assignments you design. Or, you might also include, as some courses do, either required or optional synchronous visits to a MOO or a chat room.
As Edward Spodick notes, "the trend is very much towards combining synchronous and asynchronous media in an attempt to capitalize on the evident benefits of both modes ("The Evolution of Distance Learning"). Written conversations have become standard fare in English courses that use collaborative writing software; thus, the move to a combination of conferencing software and chat rooms or MOOs has been an exciting one for computers and composition specialists. The use of videoconferencing, however, has not interested the computers and writing community. Computers and writing specialists privilege written conversation over face-to-face interactions, and thus are not likely to consider using a technology that has become a common feature in education courses designed for K-12/college collaboration--whole classroom interactive video conferencing. Nor are computers and composition specialists likely to think of using what is becoming standard in business and industry--interactive desktop video conferencing. (For a sample of how video conferencing is being used in corporate training, see "Intranet training tool gets a road test," an article on Chrysler Corporation's use of desktop video conferencing software (Wilkinson ). But some students seem to thrive on face-to-face interaction, and interactive video provides a semblance of physical togetherness. We need to explore each medium and different combinations of media as we develop distance learning courses for our students. It may be possible to determine that, in some contexts, for some students, low-end interactivity may be acceptable. On the other hand, high-interactivity--including some face-to-face instruction--may be important for specific groups of students. Ultimately, each distance learning program and the mix of courses offered must be designed to meet the needs of the students the different courses serve.
As scholars search for the best combinations of software and writing tasks, they need to continually re-envision their teaching, asking, "What mix of technology and pedagogy is appropriate for my context?" As the technology changes, so the answer changes. And as the context shifts, so different solutions emerge. All elements of a teaching situation must be taken into account--not just the primary delivery media, but also the students, the curriculum, and the institution. Although face-to-face learning proved less effective than virtual learning for Jerald Schutte's students in parallel sections of a social statistics class, his teaching situation was unique to his environment (Shutte). Different contexts demand different combinations of technology and pedagogy.
When interactive video conferencing can be combined with the kinds of collaborative writing tools that computers and writing scholars have been using for years (and several current products have been marketed recently which do just that), two-way desktop video and audio will become a formidable medium. Whole class video conferencing may not be the best technology for teaching writing (the inherent problems in the medium have been noted by many faculty who have experienced it), but it provides a window into the possibilities of desktop videoconferencing sytems. Only by actively working with a technology can we fully understand its potential.
In my presentation, I will focus on how teachers can develop powerful ways of teaching that fit their local situations using whatever technology is available to them at the time. I will take readers into my planning process and behind the scenes of my courses, classes that depended primarily on interactive, two-way audio and video conferencing during Fall 1997 and Spring 1998. I will stress the importance of using opportunities that arise on our individual campuses to create workable solutions to our teaching situations. My intent is not to suggest that the delivery mode I used in my courses was optimal; rather, my point is that the experience of using a technology new to me enabled me to grow as a course designer and as an instructor. I will demonstrate how, when the technology changes (and as student access to different technologies changes) new possibilities emerge. I immediately began re-envisioning my teaching when I discovered that in Fall, 1998 students in my Distance Learning courses would have easy access to both e-mail and the World Wide Web.. My own distance learning situation thus serves as an example of how teachers in any discipline can use available equipment to create locally viable pedagogies. It also reinforces the most important point faculty should keep in mind about teaching with technology: the teaching must continually be re-envisioned as new technologies emerge.
By starting with a theoretical approach to teaching, not with the technology, a teacher can modify and re-think possibilities as he or she becomes familiar with the potential of the technology in relationship to the teaching situation. I do not have the kind of equipment that you would drool over, the kind of equipment used in a parallel teaching situation described in a recent issue of THE Journal: "Each of the new distance learning facilities includes . .. specially designed microphones. . . [and] automated tracking camera systems. . . ." Nor do I need this equipment to create powerful learning situations.