If I was hired by Baruch college to use new media to improve the College, a suggestion I would make related to new media is for the College to have video recorded lectures or live streaming of lectures. These videos, that can be viewed at a later time, are great for students that have to miss class due to an emergency. It is also beneficial for those students that have trouble understanding the material and would like to go over it on their free time. Many professors don't like students voice recording the lectures, so if the College implements this it would be very beneficial. Professors should also have pre-recorded lectures for students to view at home and come into class to practice problems. I have experienced this in a couple of my past classes where the professor has pre-recorded powerpoint slides and then in class we practice the concepts by doing problems. In another class the professor created a web conference to help students review material before an exam. These video recordings can also be used by clubs for professional events because many clubs have the same time for club meetings and it is hard to go from one event to another.
Another thing is for the College to use freeware and shareware to provide free books for students. Books tend to be very expensive and unnecessary when the professor doesn't use it. Also I would recommend an integration of CunyFirst and CunyPortal should take place to create a more centralized website for students.
Hi! I agree with your point on recorded lectures. Their Youtube page actually has a small amount, but it's by no means complete and useable. I'm not sure why they stopped uploading them, but it would definitely become an amazing resource if we were able to get that running.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the downside is that it provides justification for students to not attend class - why attend class if you can just listen to the lecture at home?
Hi, I agree on the video lectures part. It's so convenience especially as you get older and have more responsibilities, distance learning becomes more important. I think some professors are adopting it more and more. For example, my psy 1001 professor, incorporates a video blog every week in response to that week's activities. She also posts videos we can watch as a supplement to the weekly sessions. I think to make it more effective is to have a tracking mechanism to know who's looking at the videos if at all.
ReplyDeleteRegarding book prices, they will have to come down. More and more the material covered in these very expensive books are readily available on the Internet in some form and the justification for some of these books is not warranted.