News: Southscapes Fall 2008

Teaching

Technology in the Classroom

By April Sorrow

Laptops open. Cell phones ringing. iPods downloading. Blackberrys scrolling. Technology is all around us and it's taking over today's classroom. University of Georgia professors are using cutting-edge technology to captivate an otherwise electronically engaged student body.

 

Personal Response Clickers

In the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Jeffrey Dorfman says 20 percent of his students bring their laptops to class. To keep up with the times, the agricultural economics professor searches for ways to incorporate modern technology into his lectures. His solution: personal response clickers.

"It is an easy way to get feedback from the students and they like the idea of letting you know what they are learning," Dorfman said. "I can spend more time on an area where students are struggling. I'd rather find out right then that a student doesn't understand than a week later when they turn in their homework."

Clickers, which are similar to remote controls, are used to engage students in class lectures and gauge their understanding of the subject matter. Students use the handheld radio-frequency clickers to answer questions projected on PowerPoint slides. The teacher then receives instant information on the percentage of students who answer correctly.

Dorfman uses the interactive tool other ways, too. When teaching supply and demand, Dorfman has students participate in markets and make business decisions based on information provided in real time. Decisions made buying and selling are put into the clicker and the results are displayed to the class. "The clickers engage and help students assess their understanding of the material," Dorfman said.

The Virtual Roach

CAES entomologist Joe McHugh brings bugs to life for his students with the help of a computer program he cocreated: The Virtual Roach. The program makes the dry subject matter of insect systematics engaging.

"It is a dense field with a whole new vocabulary," McHugh said.

The software program incorporates 360 terms for anatomical features with scientific drawings, photographs and electron micrograph slides. Dorsal, ventral and lateral views of the insect are available at all levels of dissection to give the students some perspective when viewing the roach's internal anatomy.

""I can tell (my students) there is a hole in the head, or I can blow through the head and actually show them," he said.

Morphology is a static field of study where diagrams from 100 years ago are still used today. McHugh said taxonomy courses are generally taught using flat, technical drawings.

"The subject is difficult to teach and is not visually stimulating," he said.

Students can apply what they learn about the American cockroach in the program to almost all insects, he said. The program is used occasionally in lecture, but McHugh said he uses the tool a lot when students come to his office with questions.

"The class gets excited when I show it to them and I hear them say 'wow' and 'woo'," he said.

Tandberg Video Conferencing

Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication professor Dennis Duncan uses technology to encourage his students to engage in international conversation and debate topics. In his Issues in International Agriculture class (Global Seminar), students in Athens, Griffin and Tifton are connected twice a week through the Tandberg video conferencing system.

Six times a semester, the class links up globally with students from other countries. "They have the opportunity to connect with other cultures and they don't have to leave Georgia to do it," Duncan said. "Some students can't study abroad and they have the opportunity to reach out and educate each other through this seminar."

Students interact with global classmates and professors using the Internet and video, satellite and telephone technologies to create a global classroom spread across six institutions around the world. Agricultural and environmental issues are debated through case studies of real events and discussions with classmates around the world using videoconferences and email. The class also utilizes YouTube for video clips and Skype to facilitate directed discussions every month.

Studying topics like organic food, genetically modified crops and Golden Rice, students have an opportunity to learn how agriculture is viewed in other countries.

More than 40 institutions on six continents participate in the global seminar. The course came to UGA in 2004. UGA's partners include the University of BOKU, Austria, Universita di Udine, Italy, Florida A & M University, University of Minnesota and Virginia Tech.

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