Professors at Cornell University have found a way to teach their courses without even being in the classroom.

Using the Cisco program “WebEx,” professors temporarily out of the office can continue teaching their classes through an online server. WebEx allows professors to interact with their students using the Internet, allowing them to upload Powerpoints or videos, said Michael Haflett, the classroom technologies coordinator at Cornell. Haflett said WebEx has various platforms including “simple desktop sharing, sharing with audio or video and training videos.”

While WebEx doesn’t allow the students to see his or her professor’s face, it avoids the issues of poor video connections, which Haflett acknowledged as a problem with some Skype video lectures.

Haflett said he hasn’t seen any issues in the functionality of the program so far.

Students use the microphones on their computer to respond to the professor’s questions, said Angela Gonzales, an associate professor of sociology at Cornell. The program mimics the classroom experience of raising their hand for a question by allowing students to click a hand button on WebEx, which notifies the professor that they have a comment or question, she said.

Gonzales taught through WebEx for three classes when she was away for a week and a half, she said.

“For me, it was an incredibly positive experience,” Gonzales said. “In the past I’d schedule a film or have a guest speaker or the TA fill in, but now I have complete control with how I wanted the class to go and could stick with my semester plan.”

Though the program is online, professors still have the ability to monitor attendance, she said.

“I was pleasantly surprised because as host of what I refer to as my webinar, I am able to see exactly who is logged in and what the class count is,” Gonzales said. “My first time using it only one student was missing, the second time only two were, which isn’t too different from lecture because on any given day three could be gone.”

While WebEx allows professors to continue running their own classroom from afar, Haflett said his department hasn’t seen a large switch to WebEx.

But for Gonzales, WebEx was her best option. Although the lecture experience through the Internet was quite different, Gonzales said she maintained engagement with her students.

“The classroom setting is much more interactive. The students can see me and I can read their body language when waiting for responses,” Gonzales said. “I don’t have this ability now.”

Published on October 17, 2013 at 12:55 am

Contact Meghan: mqmistry@syr.edu