Elluminate + Tablet PC = Virtual Office Hours

I like using Adobe Connect for virtual office hours, but I came across this blog posting at Elluminate.edublogs.org featuring how Dr. Ricky J Cox at Murray State used both a Tablet and Elluminate to teach / tutor chemistry. The video on the link is very instructive, at least to me who has used Adobe Connect. One thing is clear, in economics (as in chemistry) there are plenty of questions that can not be answered without resorting to the pen and drawing the graphs and equations of the answer. I was intirgued with the Illuminate product as explained by Dr. Cox and think it is a great tool for distance lerning.

In a separate post here are some examples of how Elluminate is used for virtual classrooms.

Product website elluminate.com.

Synchronous Digital Ink in MSN Messenger

It's always nice to be cited and Birgit Loch and Christine McDonald have done so in "Synchronous Chat and Electronic Ink for Distance Support in Mathematics," Innovate, Feb/March 2007. They cite my 2004 work on Virtual Office Hours for students at a distance which pointed out that economists, statistician and mathematicians can't effectively communicate at a distance with the normal tools of a computer, with type and the mouse. They show the use of digital ink in MSN Messenger and show examples of mouse drawings. I would like to see this used with Tablet PCs where the precision of writing could improve with the use a pen. I am going to have to install MSN and give it a try. The advantage of this over Adobe Connect? It's free!

Is there a radical change coming in academia thanks to instructional technology?

This topic has long been a passion of mine and hence this blog is just one outlet for various ideas. In San Diego at the AEA meetings I presented "Six Uses of Technology to Improve Teaching and Learning," (pdf file) January 2004. The fundamental conclusion is that technology should only be used if it meets two conditions: (1) "professor time should be reduced of the repetitive and mundane chores that a computer can do so well or professor time should be used more efficiently" and (2) "student learning should not be harmed and if possible significantly advanced. The six uses are (I) electronic grading, (ii) interactive presentations, (iii) electronic CATS (classroom assessment techniques), (iv) mastery learning testing, (v) electronic portfolios, and (vi) active engagement activities.

Another paper in this mold is by Kim Sosin and Bill Goffe "Teaching with Technology: May You Live in Interesting Times," (pdf file) July 2004. {this paper is no longer there --- Please find it in the Journal of Economic Education. William Goffe and Kim Sosin, "Teaching with Technology: May you Live in Interesting Times" invited paper, Journal of Economic Education, 36(3), Summer, 2005, 278-291.} In my first read through of that paper I am reminded that in my paper, I take the communication enhancement function of computers and the internet for granted and thank them for that reminder. I am also reminded that I marveled when I first discovered that I could prepare overheads on a laser printer in the early 90s. These two papers are an expression of how far we have come. and both point to a future of even more possibilities. Still my two requirements should always be the yardstick by which these technologies should be measured.

I have dabbled in online office hours ("Virtual Office Hours: Tutoring Distance Students in Mathematics, Statistics and Economics" presentation to the Ohio Commons for Digital Education 2004 Conference. March 8-9, 2004), synchronous video distance learning ("The U of Akron Distance Lerning Systems", 1997), asynchronous distance learning, ("Do On-Line Students in a Mastery Based Principles Course Analyze, Synthesize and Evaluate Better Than Face-To-Face Students? pdf file, Presentation to NAEE/CSEE sessions, ASSA meetings, San Diego, January 5, 2004 ), tests of learning styles, (VARK web site), games (Aplia web site), digital ink technology ("Digital Pen Technology in Lecture Presentations," Good Practice Showcase, The Economics Centre of the Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN), Universtiy of Bristol, UK, January 2004.), electronic white boards ("SMART Sympoduim: Interactive Lectern Integration Module - Various uses of the Sympodium in teaching," Educause, Atlanta, October 2002 ) and Tablet PCs (see elsewhere in this blog), all mentioned in the concluding section of Sosin and Goffe, but their last sentence is a challenge to all of us, is there a "radical change further down the road that may fundamentally change academia (Sosin and Goffe, p. 22)"?

Lets hear your comments on this question. How will it happen, what is the future? How can instructional technology help us in our mission of enhancing economic literacy? -- Steve