Today's students are well acquainted with the Internet. The information superhighway makes it possible to do research, leave away messages on Instant Messenger, and communicate long-distance for free. But it has done a lot more than that - classes themselves, as well as the interactions between professors and students, are also evolving due to this rapidly changing technology.
Tufts provides its professors with the option of creating Course Info websites to supplement their classes. Many professors have taken advantage of this, particularly in the science and language departments, to post grades, class notes, practice exams, and other information pertinent to class.
For sophomore Rachel Messer, Course Info has been a vital part of her academic experience. "It's really helpful, especially if you want to know about an assignment or look at a class list," she said.
In her freshman English course, students were required to log onto Course Info to view questions, posted by the professor, based on current readings. They would then post their answers for the rest of their classmates to read before coming to class.
Sophomore Katie McGinigle uses Course Info for her organic chemistry and Italian classes. While McGinigle sees the benefits of Course Info, she is sometimes frustrated at the amount of material she has to print off of the site.
"I like using Course Info, but sometimes it gets out of hand when I need to print out pages and pages of assignments," McGinigle said.
Astronomy Professor Ken Lang uses Course Info to post practice midterms and finals for his Wanderers in Space course, since the site automatically grades practice exams. Lang also uses a separate website for his class. This site allows him to include more information than Course Info does, providing for overviews that highlight the main points of each lecture, supporting images, links to other websites, online access to satellites currently in space, and class notes, which are a favorite of many of Lang's students.
"Students now listen instead of taking notes [in class]," Lang said, noting one advantage of posting notes.
In her time at Tufts, sophomore Rachel Gutter has had very little exposure to Course Info. Her Computing on the Internet professor posted class notes on a separate website, which she said was "very helpful" but, other than that, her experience has been limited. "None of my professors have ever used Course Info," she said. "In one of my classes, we actually suggested it to the professor and she just said no."
Lang pointed out that the subject of astronomy is perfect for a website because its study is highly visual, and the discipline is current and fluid in nature.
"Something like astronomy is ideally suited to a website because it's rapidly changing," Lang said.
With the use of the Internet in the classroom, Lang is able, for example, to bring images of the current NEAR spacecraft landing directly to the students.
"Tomorrow's lecture could have images of the historic NEAR spacecraft landing on an asteroid yesterday," Lang said.
Professors in several fields are beginning to use the Internet during class time to show students real-life examples or diagrams to further their understanding of the subject. However, problems may arise when technology is used in class under time constraints. In two different classes during a single week, sophomore Brian Tarmey's professors had difficulty bringing up the images they had hoped to show their students.
"They don't have it set up right or something else goes wrong, and they always seem to be playing around with the thing for ten minutes before they get the image they wanted on the screen," Tarmey said of the disruption.
Despite technical problems, the Internet enables students to communicate with their professors through e-mail. "It can be easier to send an e-mail than to get a hold of professors in person," Tarmey explained. "In bigger classes I can e-mail the TA's or professors, but in small classes when I know the professors, I usually feel comfortable talking to them."
Professors also benefit from e-mail communication, especially in larger classes. "I have a large class of 365 students, and there is rarely face-to-face communication," Lang said. "The class time is spent in lectures, centered around the website. Students sometimes ask questions in class, but there are many more questions by e-mail."
This may occur because some students may simply feel more comfortable asking questions over e-mail. Also, time limits the amount of discussion during class.
"That's not the only reason - it's also because you can't answer questions to a 365-person class - there's no time," Lang said.
Students say most professors are reliable at answering their e-mail. Lang, for instance, checks his e-mail at least once a day. Sophomore Alissa Schecter finds it convenient to e-mail her professors.
"They only have office hours a few times a week," Schecter explained. "It's not enough. You might have other classes during those times. But they check their e-mail several times a day."
Schecter said that simpler questions tend to be better suited to e-mail, while more complicated ones might require face-to-face interactions. The specific professor's preference also plays a role.
"Some of my professors love arranging appointments, but some of my other professors make me feel hurried, so I prefer to e-mail them," McGinigle said.
