UNH’s new technology-enabled classrooms will allow classes to be more interactive, geared towards student participation and away from the traditional one-dimensional learning of the past.
Currently there are 89 of the scheduled 100 technology-enable classrooms installed, according to the Director for Academic Technology Terri Winters.
A “technology-enabled classroom” has the ability to use devices such as live video, podcasts, projection screens, and einstruction, more commonly known as clickers.
The extent of technology varies from class to class. However, many professors are using electronics to further enhance their classes as well as to prepare students to keep up-to-date in a technological world.
In addition to the 89 classrooms, there are also three classrooms with a computer- per-seat, also referred to as “hands-on” classrooms, because they are specifically for classes where students need to use a computer.
The business department is leading the technology expansion in classrooms around campus. Ross Gittell, professor of an Intro to Business class, uses live stream video, blackboard, and podcasts to relay information to students and is the only classroom on campus that uses iTunes University, a program that allows students to access lectures from iTunes.
This new technology is inexpensive, as students in Gittell’s class are able to download the lecture right to their iPods for future viewing for free and are not required to buy the $80 textbook. The “etextbook” enables them to view course material online free of charge.
“I believe the technology used in my classroom is very effective for students as they can have access to the information at any time,” Gittell said. “Each year we take advantage of the new technology that comes out and we apply it to education of the business world.”
The importance of technology and the ability to use it properly is undeniable in today’s age. If a student is looking for more face-to-face learning, there are also recitation classes, which allow students have questions answered, incorporating what Gittell refers to as the “innovative hybrid model.”
WSBE now has its own server, allowing professors, like Gittell, to design their own videos for classes.
Though it is a work in progress, technology-enabled classrooms are taking hold across campus at many different levels and students are impressed at what they’ve seen so far.
“I like using clickers because it’s nice to be involved in class and to have your grade boosted for answering a few questions,” said sophomore Gretchen Sjulander. “It’s nice because it keeps me from getting bored.”
Senior Jenna Vadala agrees that clickers help her be more productive in a classroom.
“Having technology such as the clicker really makes me pay attention and think about what I am learning,” Vadala said.
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