In the futuristic classroom, housed in a television studio 2 miles from campus, class plays out like a giant video conference.
Thursday, September 03, 2015
Harvard launches 'virtual classroom' for students anywhere
In the futuristic classroom, housed in a television studio 2 miles from campus, class plays out like a giant video conference.
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7 comments:
The idea of having a virtual classroom has been floating around in my mind recently. To be able to dissolve the physical factor of a classroom means that students (and professors, for that matter) can now be anywhere in the world and still continue their studies. For people like me who enjoy traveling and see it as an essential piece of their life (extending upon that idea: meeting new people, connecting with a different culture, discovering new ideals, etc.), this is incredibly exciting. I especially enjoy the aspect that there's a legitimate film crew on hand who are changing angles and really expanding the possibility of what a "virtual classroom" can look like. If you're like most people, the virtual course at CMU (Computing @ CMU) was tedious and pretty horrible. That was in fact a type of virtual classroom since it was a virtual course, but it sucked because there was a lack of human touch.
I'm thrilled about this because it has almost everything that I think makes a traditional classroom work: face-to-face communication and real time feedback/ability to ask questions+respond without the thing that makes a classroom the most strapping- geographical location.
When I first saw the title of the article, I wasn’t a fan of the idea at all. Personally, my experience with virtual classrooms (I took 2 virtual classes in high school and c@cmu over the summer) was not very pleasant. Although the course materials were significantly easier than my other courses taught in a classroom setting, I found the virtual classes to be actually harder to get through. If you shut off your computer, the class is pretty much out of sight and out of mind. But the virtual classroom in this article is not exactly the same - instead of just posting a ton of materials online and expecting students to learn it on their own, the professor actually teaches through live video feeds. I’m really curious to see if this will make the difference and make virtual classes work.
I have normally been against virtual classrooms because it tends to not have the energy that most discussion classes posses. Being together in a classroom, students are able to play off of each other and discuss and there will never be an issue with technical difficulties. But one part of this article changed my mind about these classrooms. It's when they brought up people from different states and countries being able to take Harvard level courses. There are so many articles in the news about students and young people from poorer countries inventing and creating such amazing things, but not having the proper access to higher education to continue their studies. Giving students who are unable to or cannot afford to leave home the access and ability to take some higher educational courses which can allow them to recognize their full potential while still staying near family and possibly earning money for and supporting them. So many doors can open for young people with potential and this can help universities with their terrible socioeconomic disparity bring in brilliant people from less common backgrounds. I am all for this approach when it is used an a positivite way.
While the idea of a digital class room has been in the works ever since online colleges began to pop up. Harvard has created a classroom lab that has allowed for a more interactive and classroom like atmosphere for both the students and the teacher that lacks in other online education settings. I think this may be a great way to help satellite students, yet I really can’t think that is will ever be able to replace being in an actual class room. I would love to be able to sit on my couch while in class, but I worry about the trend of continuing to cut out all real human interaction. Yes, students can speak to the teacher and ask questions in time, but if we keep putting everyone behind a screen, we loose the ability to interact in person. I have already seen a child been given a book and touch the bottom of the page expecting it to turn, which broke my heart. will we loose knowing how to greet people in person next?
I was having the same thoughts as Rachael after I read to the end of the article. While I feel like wanting to salute that we finally came to the stage where we can have virtual real-time online classes which makes our world becoming even smaller and maybe in the very near future, if this idea become a thing for universities, someone like me, international students, will not have to fly have way across the world to settle in the other planet and re-establish our lives ever again..........
But then where's the fun? Where's the point of life? How can we ever actually grow up as a mature human being without major life crisis and travelling? There is so many other things out there that got effected indirectly by having virtual classroom. Will the kids in the next generation know how to read people gestures? How to communicate face to face? will they enjoy and embrace the joy of travelling? Will they know how to read books? This is my main concern about having virtual classroom.
Yes you can get information and receive education online, and now much better since you can interact through monitors and not only watching re-run video tapes, but those interactions are still fake, in some ways. there's no actual touch, there's no real excitement and stress happening before presentation or worry if I dressed properly or where should I hide my speech cards because you are watching everything from the screen. And what if the electricity shuts down or wi-fi fails you during important exams?
I'm not saying this idea is horrible. It's great, and I support it. The world will change, and to find the balance of technology and life, that is something that I leave to those smart people out there to figure this out technology wise. But we, as a user, needs be aware of the downside of it and to find the balance between those two. And it believe if we could it would be really fantastic.
I don't disagree with what Attira wrote, however I think it is important to note the specificity of this for Business classes. People in those departments will spend much of their lives traveling to other countries for 3 days at a time to sit in a meeting and come home. Time is wasted, families have to spend time apart, and all kinds of money and other resources are spent in the process. For Business students to have the experience of communicating through high-technology screens, it will certainly be an asset to their field.
Now, when I think about this from a Drama perspective, I don't see any reason that we would use this technology in our work. The basis of theatrical art is human connection, and to put a screen between that is impossible and simply will not be done. That is not to say that media interaction with stage is of no merit, but that the human to human energy is the most important thing.
Perhaps, thinking futuristic-ly, there may be something to a live stream of a production happening in the moment that could be presented well, from different perspectives, and broaden the audience for seeing a theatrical production. For me, this raises questions about the involvement of the imagination in the audience and full experience of a night of theatre separate from a film, however the potential for it cannot be ignored.
The only other thing that is coming to mind has to do with an unintended effect of something that Attira talked about. If the world, outside of Drama, begins to rely on technology such as this,it will certainly lose some of its ability to connect and will become starved for human connection. And effect of this may draw more people into the theatre, from multiple ages, to "get their fix" of human to human contact, which will ultimately lead to a growth in the popularity of theatre in our modern world.
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