High-Tech Workshop Trains Ohio Educators

The University of Cincinnati will host a workshop for 50 educators from 20 Ohio colleges and universities Saturday, March 24 on how to use technology to strengthen teaching. The workshop, "Using Internet Videoconferencing to Enhance Instruction," is funded by an Ohio Learning Network (OLN) grant of $50,000 and takes place from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in Lindner Hall, second floor.

Registration is filled for the free workshop, which is part of an Ohio Board of Regents information technology initiative. Howard Tolley Jr., UC professor of political science, and Dan Wheeler, associate professor of educational foundations, organized and will lead the workshop. The two UC educators developed a project, Teaching Human Rights Online (THRO), that uses Internet videoconferencing to connect with students around the world as they explore, discuss and debate actual cases involving human rights issues.

The workshop will feature an online debate between students in remote classrooms, using a THRO case and a video guest lecture by keynote speaker Robert Dixon, a senior systems engineer at Ohio State University. Conference participants will interact with Dixon by an online question-and-answer session following the lecture.

Separate workgroups for faculty in the social sciences, education, business and instructional technology will then provide focused hands-on training. For follow-up videoconferences throughout Ohio, several participants will receive special cameras funded by the OLN.

"We're building a network of faculty who interact online and engage their students in active learning online," explains Wheeler. "Our high-speed networks within the UC community make this possible." The Internet 2 infrastructure provides high-performance connections for videoconferencing that includes audio, video, color images and virtual reality.

Tolley notes that "bringing additional Ohio faculty into the Internet conferencing network helps realize our vision for THRO as a vehicle to promote critical thinking and cross cultural communication." Tolley says he's grateful that "new, affordable technology now enables us to circumvent the expensive ISDN and telephone connections that were needed for distance learning classrooms."