September 2001 — Applications
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Chattahoochee Technical College Links Students and Teachers
Multiplying Classroom Efficiency
The heart of the system is the Instructor Console, which features an easy touch-screen with basic commands, such as transmit, blank/receive, keyboard control and clear. The signal is transmitted off the display computer, to the receiver/transmitter at the instructor's console and then out to each student's station in a daisy-chain configuration.
From the Instructor Console, teachers can display directly onto all student monitors by simply touching the transmit icon. This disconnects all student workstations from their PCs and displays what is on the instructor's screen. Using the scan function, instructors can see students' workstations and intervene to demonstrate a task. Instructors can also freeze the keyboard and mouse, stopping all input. To gain students' full attention, the instructor can completely blank-out their screens. Also, a trainee call function alerts the instructor to a student having difficulty. "I really don't like using a classroom without it now," says Giberson. "I have to completely change my way of teaching when I instruct in a classroom that d'es not have this system. I become much more of a policeman and less of a teacher."
Because teachers can take control of a student's computer and assist them without having to walk around the classroom, the system multiplies classroom efficiency. "At Chattahoochee we are finding this increases the instructors' use of time by 30 percent, so they accomplish a lot more in a given period of instruction," says Giberson. Students are also able to grasp the material more quickly because they can see exactly what is being demonstrated. And with the instructor watching their progress onscreen, anything students do not understand is immediately resolved. Chattahoochee instructors say the system is particularly useful when teaching a step-by-step procedure.
The system is hardware driven and can run on any operating system. It has a host of features, including true/false or 1-5 multiple-choice quizzes, which can be set up ahead of time allowing the instructor to continue working on his or her PC. Results are saved in a spreadsheet-compatible format and immediately displayed onscreen.
"The system is very popular with the teaching faculty, the administration and the students, so each time we have the funds we buy another system," says Giberson. "We intend to have all our labs on the system as soon as we can. Instructors are assigned to teach in the LinkNet classrooms on a rotational basis, but it is starting to get a little contentious."
Contact Info
Applied Computer Systems, Inc.
Johnstown, OH
(800) 237-5465
http://www.acs-linksystems.com/
