Work in progress - instant distance learning course development using Silicon Chalk/spl trade/

Abstract

The two greatest disincentives to offering engineering courses in "distance" mode are the additional effort required for faculty to prepare and deliver the materials and the concurrent loss of the immediate feedback the instructor receives in a typical classroom environment. An "online" offering of a course typically increases the faculty effort by a factor of four to six and, without costly broadband communications equipment and operating personnel, it is difficult for students to ask questions of the instructor or the instructor to poll or quiz the students. Without these features, much of what is called "distance-learning" today can be distilled to nothing more than watching recorded video and definitely not the desired "learning community" experience of the contemporary engineering classroom. Silicon Chalktrade is collaborative software designed to enhance the face-to-face experience, allow for and encourage participation of remote students, record the entire process, and make it available to students involved synchronously and asynchronously while eliminating, almost entirely, the additional staff and equipment overhead traditionally required. This paper discusses a Silicon Chalktrade pilot project in progress at Virginia Tech