How Access Grid Changes Your Teaching

There are several ways in which teaching via Access Grid differs from the traditional classroom environment. The most obvious difference is of course that the students and instructors can all be located locally or remotely, with many combination's possible. The locations of participants may even change at each meeting as instructors travel to conferences or students that usually attend remotely occasionally happen to be on campus to attend class. Such flexibility is often not found in traditional distance education. Also unlike more traditional distance education, AG offers the possibility of real-time interaction between participants at different locations. Students no longer have to wait until after watching a lecture recording to email the instructor their questions. And instructors no longer have to wait days to discover whether remote students are understanding
material. Instead, both groups can interact and collaboratively change the pacing or depth of material presented in class.

It is important to note that although the AG technology allows an interactive teaching process, it does not enforce it. Certainly traditional classroom lectures have allowed such interaction for a long time, but instructors (and students) have often ignored this and opted for a non-interactive lecture format. The problems that can occur in a traditional lecture setting (such as poor attendance or lack of engagement) can also occur in an AG setting. Indeed, the case studies demonstrate that these problems can be more pronounced in a distance lecture setting, as students note their increased tendency towards becoming bored, and their ability to "easily hide" to avoid answering questions.
Fortunately, the Access Grid provides additional advantages that can help overcome these potential limitations. For example, a wider range of activities can take place, such as live demos from local or remote sites, guest lectures with experts, or group discussions involving a wide variety of viewpoints. Some of these activities are difficult to provide in a single classroom or with a small class size, and others are virtually impossible with other forms of distance education. Even activities that may be possible with other formats, such as guest instructors, can often be done via AG in a way that is more time efficient and less expensive. These activities not only get students more engaged in the class, they provide educational material that often cannot be presented in a traditional lecture, resulting in a better experience for both students and instructors. It is critical that instructors using AG explore these possible additions to their course. Use of some non traditional teaching methods such as demonstrations may require additional
preparation time. Also, any use of media such as DVDs or movie files will likely require additional testing time before class begins to ensure that all sites have the ability to display the media. However, if the course is being offered with multiple instructors, each instructor will need to prepare fewer sessions than they would for a traditional course. Thus, these requirements may tend to balance out so that instructors offering courses via AG are not faced with a much greater workload than teachers offering more traditional courses.

Finally, there are a few procedural changes that instructors should keep in mind when using AG technology. These generally appear straightforward but are often forgotten once an instructor becomes involved in presenting the class. For example, before each class, all the cameras and microphones should be checked. Be sure they have power, are turned on, and are pointed the correct direction. A check should be done on audio levels coming from the microphones, and camera images should be tested with the room lighting set to the same level as will be used during class. Having an operator at the site can relieve much of this burden from the instructor. During the course, the instructor needs to remember that non-local students can only see her from the camera feeds and hear her through the microphones. She must speak clearly and towards the
microphone, and she should look at the camera so that it appears to remote students that she is looking "at" them. Sometimes, the remote students will be displayed on a projection screen located behind the instructor or to her side, so she must turn to actually see them. In the process of turning, she may actually appear to the remote students to be looking away from them, and her audio may be lost. These issues can often be resolved by proper setup of the room, but this requires advance planning. Because remote viewers have only a limited view of the classroom, some things may be easily missed, such as gestures. Stretching her arm and pointing at a feature of a PowerPoint slide may
result in her arm being cut out of the frame so that remote students can't see where she is pointing. Using a laser pointer on the projected slides will likely not be picked up by the camera either. Until resolution increases, facial details or small objects will be difficult for students to see. Writing on a chalkboard or whiteboard may not be feasible, unless there is a well-aimed camera present in such a way that the instructor does not block the camera's view of the board. Even with a camera focused on the board, the resolution may be insufficient to make out details of words or pictures. Tools such as electronic whiteboards can be good solutions to these problems. Finally, instructors should remember that there is a delay in the audio feed. When greeted by silence following a request for comments, questions, or discussion, the instructor must remember that it is necessary to wait a bit longer than usual for responses. Anxiously jumping in the fill the silence will often result in talking over the top of a student that is attempting to
respond.

Excerpts taken from Access Grid in Collaboarate Education: Case Studies. Introductory material by Jennifer Teig von Hoffman , Edee Wiziecki and Laura Arns