Online classes are in existence to help students who want to avoid sitting in a classroom and for those who want to have more time in their schedule. However, sometimes, online classes can make life more difficult than easy.
The lecture audio is sometimes muddy, the lighting is often poor and keeping up with the camera changes can be complicated. These are the reasons why the School of Management has decided to create a classroom in Jacobs Management Center specifically designed to meet the needs of online lecturing.
With the help of Distance Education and Video Conference Operations (DEVO), which currently operates the online video capture, improved video, sound and light quality is no longer out of reach.
"Students are used to watching DVDs on high-definition screens," said David Shurtleff, Videoconference Support Specialist. "They don't want to watch a lecture that looks like a home movie."
Resolution is not the only qualm students may have.
"I hate when I am watching a lecture online and a student in the room asks a question I cannot hear," said Stephen Izard, a junior in the School of Management. "Usually the teacher has to repeat the question for the online students, but sometimes they don't and all you hear is the teacher's response."
The digital-access lectures allow students to register for what are known as live or online lectures. The variable usually isn't the teacher teaching the class, but the maximum capacity of the classroom. Some professors lecture from Knox 109, which can seat up to 288 students.
Other professors such as Natalie Simpson, who teaches operations management, holds lectures in Baldy 200G which only seats up to 50 people.
"One down side to teaching out of Baldy is that I am confined to the podium during the lecture," Simpson said. "Also, the lighting could be better."
Simpson may be tied to a podium by a microphone, but some professors such as John Boot, who teaches a management statistics class out of Knox, are difficult to keep up with. Boot who is known for his fast-paced chatter, can often be found hopping around the classroom leaving the cameraman dizzy trying to keep up.
"Professor Boot is definitely one of our more difficult lecturers to keep up with," said Shurtleff. "But with the new classroom we will have two cameras that way one can focus on the blackboard or visualizer and the other can concentrate on the professor."
The new online classroom will be equipped with studio lighting and sound. The dual camera component will allow for split screen images where students can view the professor and the blackboard at the same time.
The School of Management will not be the only department able to use the new studio classroom. There are many departments currently utilizing online classes and all will be welcomed to use the new facility.
"Engineering was actually the first department to use online lectures here at UB," said Shurtleff. "Now the pharmacy school is looking into it."
Simpson said the success of online classes was best represented in the words of her colleague, digital access professor Ray Orrange.
" 'This works for the same reason television works,' said Orrange. 'People choose to believe they are in class,' " Simpson said.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
