Anne Kaplan
by Joe King
NIU is working to improve the reception of its distance education courses – both literally and figuratively.
Newly purchased equipment will catapult the system forward multiple generations (in technological terms) resulting in clearer pictures, crisper sound and an overall improved experience for both faculty and students.
Among the upgrades:
The equipment, purchased at a cost of $170,000, is scheduled for installation between the end of the spring semester and the start of the summer session. New systems will be installed in NIU Outreach Centers in Rockford, Hoffman Estates and Naperville and two of the systems will be installed in the Gable Hall Learning Center.
Perhaps best of all, the new equipment should all but eliminate the frequent “drops” of the signal that had become an all-too-frequent part of distance education classes utilizing the present systems.
“The drops are terribly frustrating,” said Cliff Mirman, chair of the Department of Technology in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, whose department uses the existing system to teach three or four classes per semester. “It’s gotten to the point where it is unbearable. Both students and faculty are complaining about it.”
Those complaints were a major factor in the decision to replace the equipment and to pay for a portion of the upgrade using funds from the technology fees paid by students who take classes at NIU Outreach Centers, said Anne Kaplan, vice president for Administration and University Outreach. “This is an investment in the quality of the classes we can deliver to those students,” she said.
Benefits from the upgrade will not be limited to an enhanced distance education experience. The state-of-the-art video conferencing facilities also will make the outreach centers more attractive to the many businesses that rent them during off hours, Kaplan explained. The more compact nature of the new equipment means that the distance education rooms at the centers will also be able to accommodate regular classes, which will generate additional revenue.
Rich Casey, who oversees operations of the Learning Center in Gable Hall, where most of the current distant education equipment on the main campus is housed, hopes that the new gear will stimulate increased use of the technology.
“I think video conferencing for education is seriously underutilized. It’s a resource that should be used more,” said Casey, who sees the technology as a useful middle ground between live instruction and courses taught online.
With the new, easier-to-operate equipment in place, Casey believes the possibilities are endless. “The only limitation on this technology is people’s imaginations, and we will do whatever we can to help people explore its limits,” he said.
Paul Bauer, director of the School of Music, shares Casey’s excitement over the possibilities created by the new technology. His college was able to purchase two of the systems this year (paying for them in part with a Venture Grant from the NIU Foundation), and faculty have been extremely impressed by the quality of both the sound and picture.
Other music schools use the technology extensively, Bauer said.
The Cleveland Institute of Music, for instance, has used similar equipment for eight years to teach music lessons to K-12 students in 20 states. The Manhattan School of Music has harnessed the power of the technology to enable professors to keep up with their classroom teaching commitments while on the road performing. The system could also be used to allow students to observe master teachers at remote locations, he said.
“Once people see the quality of the picture and hear the quality of the sound this system can deliver,” Bauer said, “I think the possibilities are endless.”