Description

Vic (Ruthvick) Hemant Divecha
Informatics and Computing Services
University of Michigan School of Public Health United States

Abstract: The demise of many highly visible distance learning initiatives (Harcourt Higher Education, Virtual Temple, NYU Online, etc.) at the beginning of the decade curtailed appetites for grand projects of this kind. Wary of costly conversions of entire programs, many universities chose more cautious approaches. One of such hybrid approaches that extend a regular residential class online, i.e. “simulteaching”, poses many challenges. The Summer Session in Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, University of Michigan, adopted simulteaching for two high demand courses. The solution designed for this need involved the use of a regular classroom retrofitted with highly economical software and elegant Audio-Visual equipment. Simulteaching involved the use of digital ink and designing online participation protocols. Two successful iterations revealed important issues based on which best practice guidelines were created for the third iteration in the summer of 2008.