Increased technology shifts classroom dynamic
The rise of technology has made its way into college classrooms in the past years. With laptops, smart phones and tablets, both students and professors are finding access to information easier. Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion Jonathan Evans said that he has noticed this in his own work and that of his students, and he recognizes both the advantages and disadvantages of ever-changing technology.
Evans says that is it important to multitask, but some ways can be ineffective. Some of the advantages include information being readily available to students and having additional resources at their finger tips.
Evans teaches both hybrid and traditional courses. Evans said that for his hybrid classes, access to technology is crucial.
“There’s a big need to deliver content that way [via technology], whether it’s through a narrated PowerPoint, a blog, an online documentary or a podcast,” he said.
The Academic Collaboration Environment is an online program that facilitates communication between professors and students. ACE is a part of the technological advances made at UIndy for the purpose of enhancing learning. Junior international relations and French major Yaa Akyaa Opoku has found the program useful.
“I think it is a good alternative to having to call or email your professors,” she said. “And it’s also a way to interact with other students in your class.”
Evans said that he is pleased that technology has made its way into academic settings.
“In the last six or seven years, it’s been easy to tell students to go online and watch a documentary; whereas 10 years ago, watching something outside of class would have been problematic,” he said. “These things that we have taken for granted have become extraordinarily useful.”
Evans has been teaching for 15 years and has seen various changes in technology over his tenure as a professor.
“The main change I’ve seen is in the quality of the web and in mobile technology,” he said. “Websites used to be only text, and there were no smart phones. Electronic resources were unavailable. But now information is easier to access.”
Opoku who is from Accra, Ghana, said that the technology she has encountered at UIndy has impressed her.
“I went to secondary school back home [in Ghana], and so I’ve found that the resources here are more vast, and learning is more easily facilitated,” she said.
Evans said that there is a training professors must go through to teach an online course. He said that he was once opposed to online courses, but he praised the assistance that Information Technology has offered him.
“It is required for online teachers to go through training, and we’re getting great instructional help,” he said. “I used to think that online courses could be ineffective, and I’m still experimenting.”
