Ball State University students staying home for the summer can now take classes as if they were still on campus thanks to new technology. The School of Extended Education, the Teleplex and the Office of Teaching and Learning Advancement have joined to offer a different form of Internet classes using Mediasite.
Mediasite is a recording tool that gives students the opportunity to view what's going on in a classroom without actually being there. Professors instructing classes that incorporate the technology teach a local class while the Mediasite technology transmits the lecture. Distance students taking one of the eight courses using this technology can watch the classes in real time or download the videos at their convenience.
Greg Siering, faculty development coordinator for the Office of Teaching and Learning Advancement, said offering these courses helps keep students enrolled at Ball State year-round.
"Our target audience is students who have gone home for the summer who would typically go elsewhere," he said.
With these courses, students are less likely to attend colleges and universities closer to their hometowns during the summer.
The classes being offered are mainly core curriculum courses, which some students try to get out of the way during summers, Siering said.
The classes currently offered using this technology are introductory astronomy, business statistics, the west in the world, American history, fundamentals in human health, general psychology and principles of sociology.
More than 140 students are enrolled in the eight classes being offered, which is a good number considering this is the first time this type of course is being offered, Siering said.
Assistant professor Kristin Ritchey, who is teaching general psychology, said she chose to teach a Mediasite course because it allows more students to take psychology courses.
"I know that general psychology is a popular course and guessed that there must be many students who would like access to the course but who can't be on campus to take it," she said. "I think every student should be exposed to psychology, and this is one way to accomplish that."
Ritchey said some professors might have to adapt the way they teach when using this technology. Although Ritchey hasn't had to change her teaching style much, she has had to adapt to the way she interacts with her students.
"I had already asked my on-campus students to take exams through InQsit, presented class notes on PowerPoint, and posted assignments on Blackboard, so those practices work for distant students as well," she said. "The main difference now is that I spend much more time communicating with students through e-mail, trying to make a personal connection with distance students, even though I never see them in person."
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