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NSO 2006

Academic Computing Center > ACC in the News > Tech Times

Tech Times

Source: MainGate Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 4

Times are definitely changing at AUB. Medical students are learning medical procedures from the comfort of their home computers. Political studies majors are engaging in lively face-to-face debates with students in the United States. And with wireless access now readily available, web research is taking place on the lawn of the Green Oval as well as in the library.The virtual classroom has made its way to AUB!

In the year 2000, hand in hand with the University’s pursuit of excellence in teaching, information technology (IT) began making strides into the classroom. That same year, the Academic Computing Center (ACC) was established on campus under the direction of Rosangela Silva to promote the integration of technology into teaching at AUB. ACC was soon followed by the formation of the Information Services Department of the University Libraries in 2002; and in 2004, the Center for Teaching and Learning was set up to monitor and enhance excellence in teaching at AUB.

Over the past five years, ACC has introduced a number of programs, lectures, and facilities to help integrate IT into the classroom. The new center—practical, user-friendly, and always ready to help those who want to embrace the new technologies—has been encouraging the creation of faculty web pages, for instance, as well as educating students, faculty, and staff in the uses of computer technology in the classroom and on the job.

In 2002, stimulating lectures on the issues and challenges of on-line discussions, as well as on the establishment of the classroom environment and the use of computer graphics in WebCT, were given by philosophy Professor Muhammad Ali Khalidi, agriculture Professor Rami Zurayk, and mathematics Professor Ahmad Nasri, while engineering Professors Nesreen Ghaddar and Farqad Al Khal discussed WebCT as an organizational tool in managing large classes.

Every year, ACC offers workshops on selected tools such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Eudora, Outlook, FrontPage, Turnitin (for plagiarism detection), and WebCT. One-on-one and group sessions are available on the ACC premises in College Hall, as well as in individual offices, and even by phone and e-mail. No request is turned away. “The staff are extremely helpful and patient,” commented Civilization Sequence Professor Karen Pinto. “AUB faculty should not miss out on these amazing benefits.”

Perhaps the electronic aid most significant in changing teaching methodologies at AUB is WebCT, the course management system application adopted by ACC in 2001. WebCT is a software program designed to create entire courses on-line or to create materials to complement classroom-based courses. It is very versatile in its capabilities—it permits the application of many file types, such as text, audio, video, and PowerPoint, and its course tools include discussion boards, live chat rooms, and on-line assignment submission.

From fall 2001 to spring 2005, the number of course sections using a WebCT component soared from 27 to 384. In spring 2005, 25 percent of all AUB course sections used some WebCT component; and by then over 4,000 students had taken one or more WebCT-based courses. Many professors find that WebCT enriches communication with students and offers new teaching strategies through the innovative use of a variety of digital materials, graphics, and images.

WebCT courses are increasingly popular among students. One declared, “They said on-line learning would ruin the class experience. I think it did wonders.” Much praise goes to the discussion board tool: “It was an unbelievably productive way of continuing class discussion outside the classroom,” reported one professor. “This was the best class I ever taught, thanks in large part to the on-line discussion.”

WebCT is not only used in the classroom. In 2004–05 some 25 administrative committees used WebCT in handling organization and management tasks.

Professors have also been honing their IT skills in the workshops held during the past two summers. Entitled “Creative Use of Resources in Course Design” and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the summer training exercise is conducted in part in the new Antoun Ghattas Karam Electronic Classroom in Jafet Library.

During the 2005 spring semester, for the first time, WebCT was used to administer on-line mid-term and final examinations in a multi-section course made up of more than 400 students—Economics 211, coordinated by Professor Marcus Marktanner. The results of the exams, administered at the same time in several computer labs, showed high levels of security and efficiency.

In its summer session this year, the English Communication Skills Program experimented with the use of WebCT in multi-sectioned English 204. According to May Mikati, designer of the shared content of the course, most students are enthusiastic about the WebCT component of this required English language course.

“Perspectives on United States Foreign Policy in the Middle East,” an IT-enhanced course offered in the fall semester of 2004–05 in the Department of Political Studies and Public Administration (PSPA) in coordination with ACC, was so popular among students that they begged for a repeat in the second semester. The team-taught course, led by PSPA Acting Chairperson Roman Kulchitsky, offered a number of PSPA lecturers, plus President John Waterbury and Rami Khouri, journalist and former editor of The Daily Star.

In the electronic classroom, AUB students interacted through video conferencing with international students from the American University in Cairo, the University of Maine, and Tufts, Clark, and Harvard Universities. Wrestling with immediate questions of the day, such as the 2004 American presidential elections, the war in Iraq, and the Palestinian/Israeli issue, the course won high praise for stimulating energetic student involvement. Zahra Hankir, a senior PSPA major, wrote, “I believe the sessions helped me improve my public speaking, my critical analysis of the topics at hand, and my understanding of American-Middle East relations.”

In September 2005 the large nine-credit course, “Introduction to Medicine,” which involves ten divisions in the Department of Internal Medicine, began using WebCT. Dr. Kamal Badr, chairperson of Internal Medicine, looks forward to the new clinical teaching programs. Simulations, he explained, will provide medical students with near hands-on experience, as the software will enable them to hear as well as see the virtual patient. “Even heart murmurs can be heard,” he said. “The most important message,” he continued, “is that it will introduce radical changes to the teaching of medicine through new methodologies and tools.”

Yet, in the midst of all the enthusiasm for information technology in the classroom, a note of caution is necessary. Last year Provost Peter Heath offered this reminder: technology is, after all, only a tool. And Professor Kulchitsky warned, “If we’re not creating new kinds of information because of IT, than we shouldn’t be using it. We have to be constantly evaluating. What kind of information system did we create? How has that information system improved the pedagogical experience?”