Issue
25(2)
Interactive
Learning: Vignettes from America 's Most Wired Campuses.
(2000). David G. Brown. Bolton, MA : Anker Publishing Company.
282 pp. (paperback), $37.95. ISBN: 1-882982-29-0.
Review
By: Jennifer
Joslin
Academic
Advising Center
The University
of Iowa.
Students
often ask, "Why do they make us buy the PowerPoint® slides if
they're just going to go over them in class?" or "What does it
mean when the course description states 'students will use course
management software?'" If you have had these or similar experiences
concerning technology in the classroom, I recommend David Brown's
Interactive Learning for you and your office library.
Brown,
a Vice President at Wake Forest
University
and Dean of the International
Center
for Computer-Enhanced Learning,
has compiled 93 examples from instructors nation-wide that demonstrate
the many types and uses of computer-intensive technology. Each
example or 'vignette', as he terms them, outlines the course philosophy
and design, the technology involved, and what the students and
instructors learned from the class (refreshingly, instructors
include the weaknesses as well as the strengths of their efforts).
Following this standard format, the vignettes are easy to read
and understand. Another plus of the text is that the wide variety
of disciplines represented-from the Mathematical Sciences to Fine
Arts- makes Interactive Learning of interest to a wide
audience within the academe.
One
example illustrates the creativity instructors bring to teaching
today as well as the ease of using this book. Vignette #40 (Brown,
pp. 129-132) focuses on a 'Native American History and Culture'
course taught on-line to students at two schools-LeMoyne
College
in the U.S., and an institution
in Bilbao,
Spain .
The instructors use classroom management software to post readings
and scanned images, have students share papers, create discussion
groups, take exams and even host real-time chat groups between
students and instructors in both locations. The LeMoyne instructor
freely highlights the good-opportunities for international communication,
technology skill development-and the bad-slow servers, computer
malfunctions-to give the reader the tools to evaluate the success
of the course.
I
enjoyed " Interactive Learning: Vignettes from America's Most-Wired
Campuses" in light of the
"Results of a National Survey on Technology in Academic Advising"
where Michael Leonard identified
areas in which advisors felt uncomfortable with technology in
their day-to-day work. While Interactive Learning does
not address advising technology per se, the book cannot help but
assist advisors become more informed about technology in today's
educational environment.
Even
advisors not working on one of 'America's
Most Wired Campuses,' need a working knowledge of courses that
are computer-intensive. This book can help fill that knowledge
gap. Advisors who teach courses will
find the examples of how other instructors use electronic lists,
e-mail, CD-Roms, Web-based sites, and course management software,
instructive and energizing.
Reference
Leonard,
Michael J., "Results of a National Survey on Technology in
Academic Advising," 24(1&2): 24-33.
