Multimedia

I'm interested in multimedia approaches to building social capital online. The classes I've taken in the OTL program are all text-based, an arena in which I'm very comfortable, but I also realize that isn't as preferred a method for everyone who is ever going to take an online class. Also, I'm always acutely aware of the limitations of text -- of how there is so much information that it leaves out or is simple really, really hard to include, and of the possibilities that technology now gives us for including other dimensions of human expression and experience.

One thing I have found interesting is a very different form of online class that my wife is involved in. This past year, she decided to finish her B.A. (she left school as a junior years ago due to financial circumstances) and after a lot of research enrolled in a distance learning program at CSU Chico. In most ways it is much more traditional than what we're used to here, but it's also much more high-tech and multimedia. What that university has done is to give certain major tracks an online option, but the classes are the same as for those who choose to do it online in-person in the traditional way. They have webcams and large flat screen monitors in the classrooms so that they class meetings are broadcast to the online students, who can either watch it later from an archive or watch it live and participate in the class via their own webcam/microphone setup. The professor can interact with the distance students during class just as he or she can with the in-person students. These classes also feature online discussion boards and activities in which all the students (in-person and distance) can participate. It seems to work really well for everyone (though some of the professors are more deft in its implementation than others), maybe because it's such a familiar format.