Vive la technologie!
October 15, 2007
Evelyn Christoph (l), French instructor, uses new technology to integrate multimedia into Harkness discussions
Modern language, English, and theater classes have been enriching the classroom experience, integrating multimedia into Harkness discussions. They're using new technology classrooms, built last spring in the basement of Phillips Hall. These classrooms incorporate a tablet PC, large screens used to display various media, DVD and video equipment, a document/object viewer to project colored text and three-dimensional objects, sound system, student computer stations, and centralized control systems.
For Evelyn Christoph, French instructor, who has used the classrooms extensively, the new technology is a wonderful addition. "'Aha!' moments happen when you can use the technology to broaden the students' understanding." Christoph's classes watch real-time French news broadcasts, listen to French music, watch videos of French classrooms in action, and use Google Earth to view Parisian landmarks.
"I really like watching news clips in French," says Amanda '08, who enjoys the use of multimedia in her Contemporary France class. "I'm getting a stronger sense of contemporary French culture, and I learn what's happening the day it happens. Plus, my French is improving because the broadcaster speaks fast and uses hard vocabulary."
"Harkness is about cooperative efforts," explains Christoph. "The technology classrooms let students move around. Even if clustered around the projector or white board, students are working together. Their focus may move to a video display or audio temporarily, then you continue the conversation." The tablet PC operates as a remote control, letting teachers shift seamlessly among the various media sources without interrupting the flow of Harkness discussion.
For students, the excitement of the technology extends beyond the classroom. Christoph's French classes worked outside class time to cooperatively populate a Wiki website, adding vocabulary, definitions, music clips, video and photos relevant to their French studies and interests. They also use a PEA blog, set up for the French classes, to discuss and comment on class readings and assignments. The Wiki site and blogs can then become another resource available to students in and out of class.
The new classrooms have also become indispensable in preparing advanced students in Chinese and Japanese for AP tests, which are administered online. Ming Fontaine, who teaches Chinese, notes that success on these tests depends on a great deal of practice using an American keyboard to enter Chinese characters. Students also benefit from listening to recorded dialogues and responding to questions, using the capabilities of the technology classrooms and their computer workstations.
Fontaine has found that students particularly enjoy working at their computer stations when studying Chinese. "Students today are so confident having grown up as part of the digital generation," says Fontaine. "For them, the computer represents a world of interaction and gives them a fun feeling. Even something as simple as a quiz is more enjoyable. I've asked them if they like to take their tests online, and they respond, 'Sure. This is a fun way to do it.' "
Planning for the technology classrooms in Phillips Hall was a collaborative effort involving faculty, Exeter IT staff and outside experts. Key to the project is integrating technology effectively into the discussion-based Harkness method. Vi Richter, academic technology coordinator and one of the IT staff supporting the pilot classrooms, notes, "There is not a model out there for us to follow. We have to reinvent it here so that it strengthens Harkness teaching."
As experience with the technology grows, faculty members are sharing their ideas and techniques. PEA technical staff are always on-hand to assist. This has sped adoption of the new technology while making sure classroom time remains productive. Richter explains, "Teachers ask us, 'What technology can I use to achieve my teaching goal?' This way, the curriculum drives the need, not the technology driving the curriculum." Student members of the tech programs (TECHs and Computer Lab Proctors) sometimes help out in the technology classrooms as well.
Another technology classroom is under development in the Academy Building, designed specifically to meet the needs of math, history, religion and classical languages. Exeter IT is working with faculty from those disciplines to design the technology classroom's configuration.
Interested in learning more?
Read about Phelps Science Center, where some of these technologies were first introduced to campus…
Find out about Exeter's modern languages offerings...
Learn about Exeter's English department...
Read about Exeter's theater and dance department offerings...
Learn about the technology and media mentioned in this story, including Google Earth, Wikis and Blogs.
