Blending Online and Classroom Instruction: At the Same Time

Last night, Scott came to my class to talk about “Polished Presentations” usually he drives up to Bloomsburg for the presentation but last night, due to a mix up on my part, he was unable to make the 120 mile trip. Scott has a theatre background and a great deal of experience presenting in front of groups and he provides great advice and ideas to students as they prepare for their major presentation to our Corporate Advisory Council.

Due the the distance, this semester we leveraged technology and Scott gave an online presentation…so far pretty normal stuff. However, Scott’s presentations are typically highly interactive with a lot of physical activity required of the audience. I was curious to see how the combination of online and required classroom movement would work. Would the students choose to participate or ignore his requests for interactivity since their was a large distance?

So first, here is the set up. We used Adobe Connect, two computers and a web cam in the classroom. On Scott’s end, one computer and a web cam. In the classroom, I projected my screen showing both cameras to the audience of students.

Notice the small web cam on the podium.

Scott then proceeded to provide his presentation. It worked pretty well, although we did have some lag a couple of times. Scott provided his content and interacted with the students through the classroom mic (students came up and asked questions) and from time-to-time Scott would ask them to raise their hands in agreement or to check understanding. Then he really got them moving and put the students through their paces by having them do some breathing and speaking exercises.

Screen shot of the presentation where the students practice the famous Buh, Duh, Guh exercise.

Then Scott got the students on their feet and had them do even more breathing exercises. He really interacted well with the students over a distance and was a great example of how a person can present to an audience via distance and still engage and keep the attention of the learners.

Everybody stand up.

The class was a great example of how an online presentation to a group of students can be engaging and interactive. Scott stood up to illustrate hand placement and aids like a pen to assist with speaking and breathing and we could still see him on the web cam. He could see if students were raising their hands and he could direct them through exercises. The set up worked well and while the interaction wasn’t ideal, it still showed a great deal of interaction and promise. This is especially interesting since Scott provides such movement and physical activity in his talk. Overall I’d say it was a great example of the impact and potential of distance learning.

To top off the class, Robyn from the Dishing Design blog made a guest appearance and spoke to the students about networking which they will need next week when the meet the corporate professionals at the Corporate Advisory Council Event… I’m sure they’d be glad to get any advice…so if you have some, please comment.

Robyn providing valuable networking tips and techniques.

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5 Comments

  1. classroommng September 10, 2009

    Teachers should deliver instructions and interact with students to get their agreement or review their understanding. Online presentations keep the students better engaged and let them work with enthusiasm.classroom instruction A versatile website brings out valuable information about providing classroom instructions through online presentations.

  2. Anonymous May 22, 2009

    Nice blog~
    http://www.asia006.com

  3. Eric W December 1, 2008

    As I was in that class, it might have been one of the funnier classes I’ve had the pleasure of being in. I really would like to see Adobe Connect replace the current Centra solution we use. The class was 100% more interactive with the simple video addition. It allowed for that missing component, interactivity to make the class very interesting and tolerable.

    Overall one of the more interesting experiences I’ve had in our semi-online class that night.

  4. Karl Kapp November 12, 2008

    Joe,

    Absolutely, blended learning is multiplicative (great insight).

    I’d be interested in hearing your blended approach for your courses. Please feel free to share your experience (post on your blog and I’ll link to it) and feel free to share this posting.

    Thanks for the comment,
    Karl

  5. Joe Mendrzycki November 11, 2008

    Karl, this was a great post to read. Here at HACC I am developing a Blended Learning Program for our Faculty, and the focus I want to share with them is that good blended learning is the multiplicative (not additive) integration of classroom and online learning. Your class in this post is a different situation than how we approach a blended environment for an entire course, but the interactivity made possible by the students together in the classroom and the thoughtful approach to using available technology made it a successful time for your students. I would like to share your class’s experience in this instance as a another great way to leverage technology to help students learn.

Karl Kapp
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