4/30/14 Learning, long distance at Wayne College Holmes Campus

  • By Nick Sabo
  • April 30, 2014
  • 362
                        
SUMMARY: Long distance learning a work skill in itself More than just a new way of learning, video conferencing may soon be a necessary career skill. With an effort underway to expand its course offerings via distance learning, the University of Akron, Wayne College Holmes Campus will give students a chance to begin using video conferencing before they enter the working world. John Lorson, Holmes Campus coordinator, said students who learn in the virtual classroom today will go on to use similar technology for conferencing and work training. “Distance learning is face to face, and it employs other media (such as ) spreadsheets and powerpoint,” Lorson said. “Students in the digitally enhanced classroom learn that method of delivery. They don’t use paper anymore; homework is turned in in a digital drop box. Similar to this in the business community is a safe online drop box for reports. “Larger businesses are already using it, and many small businesses are going the same way.” The Holmes Campus is in a push to improve enrollment with distance learning technology. To teach a class at the Holmes Campus, Lorson said, requires 10 or 12 students to justify the expense of an instructor. Distance learning allows the campus, via video conferencing, to tap into courses in real time as they are being taught at any one of the University of Akron’s classrooms, making larger enrollment numbers moot. For example, in the distance learning classroom, two or three students can participate in a language arts class that is already being taught at Akron’s Medina campus. The lecturer is able to reach more students without actually having to be present, in person, in the classroom. Distance learning allows multiple classrooms to participate in a single lecture, with free-flowing interaction between students and the teacher. The lectures can be recorded and downloaded later. University of Akron manager of distance learning services Jeanette Carson said students in the distance learning classroom have to observe certain skills to successfully participate in a lecture. In addition to using multiple media within the lecture, they must learn to speak clearly and plainly. For example, a student who mumbles while asking a question will have to repeat themselves more coherently if the lecturer is to understand them. “For the 16 to 18 age group, it gives exposure to video conferencing that maybe they won’t get until much later,” Carson said. “They can learn to present themselves in a much more mature way.” The Holmes Campus will test distance learning by participating in a leadership seminar led by former OSU coach and University of Akron executive VP for student success Jim Tressel May 20-21 and May 27-28. Titled “The Winner’s Manual for Leadership and Coaching”, the seminar will run in four, four hour blocks with multiple classrooms tuned in. Former Akron and Walsh University football coach Jim Dennison will join Tressel in the seminar, along with seven other collegiate football coaches. Carson and Tressel spoke via video conferencing to the Wayne College Holmes Campus Advisory Group in the Holmes Campus distance learning classroom April 25. Tressel said it is his hope that word will get out about what distance learning has to offer at the Holmes Campus. “What you’re doing for the young people of your county is, they are going to know they can get (the courses they want) here,” Tressel said.


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