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Case Study
Classroom Recordings Augment Lectures at U of Alabama
4/4/2007
For training on using the product, Brommer attended one or two Web seminars and a session with a Tegrity trainer on product details. All in all, he spent perhaps four hours understanding the product and becoming familiar with it.
Impact and future plans
Student reaction has been generally positive, although the product took some time to catch on. As the semester has progressed, Brommer has shown examples of Tegrity in class, along with how to use it; he thinks word of mouth has pushed its use forward. Two student polls taken at different points in the semester indicate use has jumped from 30 percent after the first exam, to 60 percent after the second. "Most of the students I've talked to said it has helped them in studying, because they can jump around within the lectures if they need to," he says. "They can listen, and watch what's going on."
Brommer also says he finds Tegrity useful for assessing his own performance. Once he got past the discomfort of listening to himself, he said, he's found that the recordings have "allowed me to evaluate how I teach, and the speed at which I present things, [including] my diction… It's been very useful to me."
In the near future, Brommer is planning to use Tegrity to record and then present a prepared lecture to students while he's away at an upcoming conference. He also plans to add podcasting of his lectures, though he's chosen not to make that feature available to students during this first semester of use.
Eventually, Brommer says, he would like to create "virtual field trips" for his geology students. He sometimes chases storms, and by using Tegrity to record his experiences--both audio and video--he can share those experiences with students.
"This is an opportunity for 173 students to join me in the field, without really having the logistical problems of having them there."
Linda L. Briggs is a freelance writer based in San Diego, Calif.
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