UC Clermont Professor Uses Online Teaching Tools to Enhance Student Engagement

“The purpose of a hybrid course is to take advantage of the best features of both face-to-face and online learning,” Patty Goedl, Clermont College accounting professor, said.  “A hybrid course is designed to integrate face-to-face and online activities so that they reinforce, complement, and elaborate one another, instead of treating the online component as an add-on or duplicate of what is taught in the classroom.”

Goedl teaches financial accounting and managerial accounting. Both courses meet in person once per week and have an online component that students can complete another day of the week.

The newest addition to Goedl’s teaching toolbox is a light board, which she writes on as she records introduction lectures for each new course topic. The lecture capture tool allows her to face the camera while writing on a transparent surface. Light board technology also reverses whatever is written on the board during recording, so viewers do not see the content backwards.

The result is an innovative video lecture in which instructors appear to be writing in midair. The polished look keeps students interested and allows them to view the board and the instructor’s face during the entire lecture. During the traditional lecture format, instructors turn their backs to students in order to write on the board. In this process they may even block students’ view by standing in front of the board.

Technology enhances content to make it more timely and convenient for both the instructor and learner. Goedl loves the challenge of finding new tools to make the delivery of content more efficient and accessible to as many students as possible.

“Technology is a part of everyday life, so I can’t imagine not incorporating technology into learning,” Goedl said.  “It’s the way that we are going as a society and there’s so many tools that enhance learning.”

Goedl also uses Echo360 and Kaltura to record lectures and document camera to capture high-quality recordings of her solving problems. Students can download note templates through Blackboard in order to work through lectures and problems with her. The note sheet includes data, supplemental resources, and formatted space to work through each step of the process. 

The hybrid model has enhanced the success rate of the diverse student population at Clermont College—especially students who experience challenges in learning. Students are always directly involved in the instructional process and have access to all course lectures and note templates online, including those from in-person meetings. Students who are unable to attend class or have difficulties grasping a subject can view lectures on demand and review concepts in-depth with the note sheets.

While the flipped classroom is convenient for students, it is also convenient for colleges. The online course meetings save classroom space by allowing the college to schedule two courses in a block that would normally serve only one course. For example, Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting can both be offered from 3-4:30 p.m., with Financial Accounting meeting in-person on Tuesday and Managerial Accounting meeting in-person on Thursday.