Not every day a Vice President visits your class…so today we rolled out the red carpet for Debra Betty, Contact North’s Vice-President, Program Development.
Also, joining us for today’s session was David Himmelman, Dean of Canadore College’s School of Recreation, and Professor Bill Ramore.
Our three guests wanted to observe first-hand how things were unfolding with the Rec 130 e-learning course pilot project...students were given no advance notice that we would have company in today's class...nothing special was planned...just a typical class.
As students assembled for class, things got rocking with a two-minute Beatles music video downloaded from You Tube. Once the Fab Four’s opening act was over...it was time for the main event...a lecture on sport safety and risk management...hint: never ever, ever, ever...try to compete with the Beatles.
After patiently sitting through 45 minutes of a riveting and life transforming class, David and Debra were finally successful in wrenching the microphone from my hands and seized the opportunity to have a town hall conversation with the 78 in-class students and the 26 e-class students.
On the up side…students expressed enthusiastic support for the new course delivery model using Contact North technology…and were especially pleased with having the option to choose how and when to take each class.
On the down side…a number of students shared experiences relating to difficulties with audio and problems viewing You Tube videos. Debra promised to follow-up on these concerns with her Contact North technical experts.
Debra graciously offered these excellent suggestions:
• improve classroom lighting for better screen viewing
• encourage e-students to communicate using microphones rather than text chat
• utilize in-class students to assist with computer operations
• increase professor’s salary (ok...maybe, Debra didn’t use those exact words…but it certainly is another excellent idea)
Debra and David thanked the class for their participation in this unique pilot project and wished everyone success in their studies...they promised to keep in touch. Recreation students responded with thunderous applause...bid our guests adieu and rolled up the red carpet.
No Rec 130 class this Fri Mar 13...students write Mid Term (cancelled last week due to inclement weather)...next class is scheduled for Wed Mar 19.
Been a long days night...
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