Teaching Interactively Using Web-Conferencing: The Student Perspective

The Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Department (EMSE) of Old Dominion University (ODU) Batten College of Engineering and Technology (BCET) has employed distance-learning technologies for well over three decades. Although the current technologies provide a valuable service for many geographically dispersed students, the faculty continues to explore additional distance learning tools, technologies and methods to promote more student participation and active learning. The goal of this paper is to describe and evaluate an innovative instructional approach using interactive web conferencing in hybrid courses. This paper will explore the use of web conferencing to teach graduate-level courses and explore the impact of this type of web-based instruction on student engagement and participation in hybrid courses. In particular, the paper will report the results of a mixed methods exploratory study of student perceptions about the effectiveness of the new technology as a teaching tool. Finally, lessons learned from several semesters of practice will be presented