Interaction takes place from miles away

by Brittany Yingling
THE POST

Some Ohio University students who sleep through classes now can use the Internet to read about upcoming assignments, communicate with classmates and post messages on a discussion board, all thanks to the Blackboard program.

The Blackboard program is a Web-based tool available to OU faculty who are interested in providing online supplements to their courses.

Online office hours provide students a specific time to chat with

professors about class. This tool also allows professors to maintain communication with students while on a leave of absence, said Joy Bi, OU instructional design consultant.

An online assessment tool allows the faculty to administer tests, which are then graded automatically by the computer and returned immediately to students.

Each Web site also can include the following options:

N a virtual chat area where students can discuss class,

N course information,

N a digital drop box to turn in class assignments,

N a discussion board that allows students to post responses to instructor-assigned topics, and/or

N an option for students to check their grades at any time.

But most faculty use a few of these options for their Web site, Bi said.

Mara Holt, professor of English, said she and fellow English professor Albert Rouzie teamed up to make a discussion board available to 10 students from their English 151 classes.

"We're just sticking our toes in with it," she said.

Holt said the program can be confusing but does have benefits. For example, students can express their opinions more freely, without fearing classmates' criticisms.

"It's kind of hard to use at times, but I think it's a really good idea because you can interact with people who aren't necessarily in your class," freshman Aimee Komlos said.

But it is difficult to find specific threads, and clicking a wrong button leads you back to the main page, she said.

"I think it's more convenient because you can do a lot more work in the dorm," freshman Raymond Felton said. "It's a more compact way of doing things."

In the past year, about 1,300 faculty and students have used the Blackboard program from the Athens, Lancaster, Chillicothe, Easton and Zanesville campuses, Bi said.

About 150 courses currently offer a Web site for Fall Quarter 2000, she said.

But the program still needs improvement, Bi said. Faculty must manually enter and remove their students’ names into the computer. And passwords, which are initially the students' social security numbers, are easy to forget when students change them.

"Even faculty forget their (new) passwords," she said.

OU's Center for Innovations in Technology for Learning is planning to upgrade the Blackboard program by January 2001, said Doug Mann, associate provost for information technology.

If completed, the upgrade will make aspects of the system, such as the input of course rosters, automatic, he said. CITL also hopes to make the Web sites more interactive. "We've made a giant leap forward," he said.