Teaching on VCN

Richard D. Shortridge, GCC
From a student's point of view, one of the principal advantages of an interactive video course is that the students have an opportunity to participate in group discussions with students from other colleges. This last semester, I taught a legal environment course which originated at GCC and was received at both SMCC and CGCC. One of the students at CGCC was employed as a risk manager for a city located in southeastern Maricopa County. Because of his day-to-day familiarity with tort law, I would often refer questions from GCC and SMCC students to him. The students from all three campuses would then discuss the problem among themselves with, in many cases, minimal input from me.

The most common problem with VCN was the failure of some students to speak loudly enough. The microphones simply did not pick up students remarks which were made at normal levels. Even though I was never quite able to solve the problem, I had some success at getting students to speak louder by using a peculiar technique.

Early in the semester, I originated the class at CGCC rather than GCC. Before class, I arranged with one of the CGCC students to mumble a question to me in a low voice. Naturally none of the students at GCC heard the question. I then remarked in a clear, loud voice: "that is a very good point Bob Ñ certainly if you do not understand it, there is little chance of getting any grade higher than a 'C' on the next exam." I then started in on the lecture before anyone had a chance to say anything further. The response from the students at GCC was predictable.

This leads me to the last point Ñ and it is an important one. If you teach a VCN course, be sure to originate at least one class at each of of the remote sites early in the semester. The students at the remote site will appreciate the visit and the students at the originating site will have a chance to see what its like on the other end of the microwave and telephone links.

Maricopa Center for Learning & Instruction (MCLI)
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