Names: Larry J. Easley and Steven Hoffman Type of Session: Lecture/Presentation Track: Track 3: Pedagogy and Technology Abstract: For better or worse, faculty across the nation are being urged to introduce computer-mediated instruction into their classrooms. This session will be a practical guide to the technological, institutional, and pedagogical challenges in making this move. The facilitators of this session are uniquely qualified to discuss this topic and offer suggestions to others hoping to make the journey. Over the past two years, professors Easley and Hoffman have created the virtual classroom first with a laptop computer, LCD projector, and other equipment and then in a technology-enhanced lassroom. Description: In the fall semester of 1997, the Department of History began the process of reinventing the American History survey to meet the needs of non-majors. For the past decade the department has taught a more generic course in the "Development of a Major Civilization" category of our "University Studies" program. While the standard surveys were taught primarily for majors, the need to develop these courses for a new clientele forced members of the department to rethink the goals and objectives of the traditional survey. Increased access to technology provided an added incentive to redesign more than just course content. In the fall of 1998, the Department of History began teaching in a newly remodeled building featuring sophisticated classroom technology in every classroom. Two Southeast professors piloted the new program. It was our intention to fully computerize American History II from highly interactive course web pages and on-line dialoguing with students to computer-mediated presentations in the classroom. The second semester of the "reinvention" even required each student to develop a web site instead of the standard research paper. In the fall of 1998, a permanent web site will be created featuring a juried selection of the student web projects. This transition has not been without problems and the second half of the presentation will explore the possible challenges to implementation and some remedies to counter those roadblocks. Hopefully this will be a very interactive session as we share ideas and experiences with the audience. Though Dr. Hoffman is somewhat new to computer-mediated teaching, he has already given a presentation at a national conference dealing with computers in history. Hoffman is on the editorial board of the American Association for Computers in History. Professor Easley has been working in the area of instructional technology for nearly a decade and serves as a technology associate in the Center for Scholarship in Teaching and Learning. Besides workshops to faculty interested in teaching, he has given presentations at a number of conferences, including the Mid-South, dedicated to instructional technology and history. He has also published, "The Enhanced Lecture: A Bridge to Interactive Teaching," in Writing, Teaching, and Researching History in the Electronic Age: Historians and the Computer.
Length: 1 hour Audience: Faculty Audience Level: All Equipment: LCD Projector, Transparency Projector, Slide Projector
Contact Information: Larry J. Easley, Department of History MS2960 Southeast Missouri State University Cape Girardeau, MO 63701 E-Mail leasley@semovm.semo.edu Phone 573-651-2717 Steven Hoffman Department of History MS2960 Southeast Missouri State University Cape Girardeau, MO 63701 E-Mail shoffman@semovm.semo.edu Phone 573-651-2180
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