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University of Tennessee

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Newsletter: Spring 2006

Breaking Down Boundaries in Large General Education Courses

by: Kathy Bennett

How do you hear the individual voices of 250 students, gathered in a high-tech auditorium for a gen ed course such as Geography 101? How do you bring to life a subject such as geography, which may not have the high profile of other disciplines? Dr. Lydia Pulsipher, professor in the Department of Geography, committed herself to finding new strategies to achieve her teaching goals and, in the process, broke down some of the boundaries preventing her students from engaging as learners with her rich material.

After receiving an ITC Faculty First Grant, which provides customized develop ment services, Dr. Pulsipher worked with ITC experts to master and then utilize the sophisticated technology in the auditorium setting. The room is equipped with a SMART podium and state-of-the-art projector and speakers—perfect for incorporating multimedia elements.
When students enter the auditorium for their 75-minute class, the sights and sounds of other cultures and regions greet them. A slide show featuring images from the area being studied that week runs on the huge projection screen at the front of the room. Ethnic music pours out of the speakers in the front of the auditorium. Images and sound bring these areas to life for the students and shift their mental space from the campus to a distant land.

Creating teams within a class of 250 students is another strategy for reducing the impersonal feel of a large lecture course. The team strategy was facili-tated in several ways. Trained graduate assistants monitored individual teams, keeping track of attendance as well as contributions to in-class discussions. These in-class discussions were integrated into the scope and sequence of each 75-minute session. In addition, the teams developed an online presence through the use of Online@UT’s groups feature. Each team possessed Web space in which they could exchange files, hold private discussions, and even engage in synchronous chats, if that tool met their learning needs.

What was the evidence that these new strategies were making a difference for her students? Asked to reflect upon their experience with Geography 101 in January of 2005, one of her students noted, “When I heard about the tsunami, I grabbed my atlas right away and showed my dad where all these places were. I felt so much more sensitive to the lifestyles of the victims. I had read the vignettes and seen the pictures and this just sticks with you. Before I took this course I would not have had a clue about where the tsunami hit or where all these places were that were affected. Nor would I have been that sympathetic, or understood the personal angle.”

With a committed instructor, a grant from the ITC, and a Technology Enhanced Classroom, boundaries can fall within Gen Ed courses from all disciplines.