Embracing Technology in the Humanities - Linking the Classroom with the World

- By Elizabeth Birge

Last year during his Literary Analysis class, Professor Hector Vila shared a brief interpretation about William Shakespeare with his students - just one of those critical comments English professors have made to their students since the dawn of teaching.

The dawn of teaching was, of course, B.C., Before Computers, and if Vila had any doubt that times had changed, those doubts were erased 20 minutes later when a student's hand popped up to share a comment he'd gleaned from a quick surf on the Internet while in class:

"Professor Vila," called the student, "Stanley Fish says..." and proceeded to offer a point of view by the renowned Duke University English professor, one of the foremost theoreticians of literary criticism in the country.

"You're not alone in the classroom anymore," says Vila, an assistant professor of English who integrates computers with traditional lectures in his courses. "Teaching with a computeris like working collaboratively with other teachers, a partnership. The teacher is definitely not alone."

"O brave new world" Shakespeare wrote of another time, and yet perhaps of this time and this place, as well. For in the last two years, William Paterson has not only become a university, but has joined a universe that embraces technology and literally builds on the possibilities it allows in the classroom and out.

Cast your eyes across the campus. Rising against the horizon is a building that houses the future of education and the University's commitment to it: the Atrium. Opened just last year, the building is home to both the technology center and the humanities program. It is not by coincidence that they share the same address.

As in many disciplines, those in the humanities have come to understand that technology can enhance the learning experience by expanding the walls of the classroom; by removing the barriers between students and faculty. Increasingly, texts and commentaries that were once only available by physically going to a library - and not necessarily a close one - may now be downloaded from the Internet, making research more convenient, less expensive and, as Vila found out, more immediate.

More importantly, the integration of technology into the classroom changes the entire learning process. "The myth is that computers mean less intimacy and communication," says Vila, who uses computers in all his classes. "In fact, it creates more. It allows you to tailor the course to each student's needs while moving the entire class in a specific direction, and assess each student as they develop."

The end result is more individualized instruction. In addition to one-on-one discussions in class, Vila's students can correspond with him through e-mail. They also post their works in progress on a Web site (for critique by their professor and peers), and participate in computer forums on course topics. "It provides a means for constant assessment of their work," Vila explains.

The world has evolved in such a way that being computer literate is an absolute necessity for today's graduates. "One of the reasons history became involved was because we have a lot of majors who are also majors in education," says Terence Finnegan, assistant professor of history.

"We know that schools want people who are comfortable with desktop computing technology and who use the Internet in terms of teaching students how to learn in a less formal, less structured way," he explains. "That seems to be what the computer is good at fostering - autonomy - a creative sort of learning experience where an instructor and a student form a partnership, a cooperative learning relationship, rather than the traditional lecture."

Indeed, the construction of the Atrium, coupled with the development of the history lab has brought something to the History Department it did not always have in its previous location: traffic.

"The Atrium is the heart of the campus computing network so students are always in here," notes Finnegan. "We find we get a lot more students wanting to use the lab."

So the department staffs the lab with faculty who help students with their projects. "We've found that to be a very productive way to increase the way faculty and students interact. That, perhaps more than anything else, has been the biggest success story of the Atrium because students and faculty are now meeting outside of their classes," he continues. "We're getting to know our majors in a way that we certainly were not prior to the computer lab."

With 11 computer laboratory environments - including one dedicated to history, another devoted to languages and four set aside for classrooms - the building is, to use a word that graces the covers of magazines and has passed into the lexicon of contemporary pop culture, wired. And so is most of the campus.

In the last two years, the University has "changed dramatically. Now every station on campus has access to the Internet and all students have access to e-mail accounts, all students and student clubs can have Web pages and student clubs can start their own list serves," says Robert Alan Harris, coordinator of the Student Technology Consultant (STC) program.

As a result, teachers have the opportunity to teach in "smart" classrooms, adds Harris, and students have an opportunity to travel. Harris and 100 students in the STC program keep the computer labs on campus operating and offer workshops on everything from how to write HTML, the language of the Internet, to how to use a statistics program.

"I like to say the Web helps to break down physical boundaries in classrooms," he notes. "Instead of being stuck in a 25- by 25-foot room, students go anywhere. They can go to Japan, they can go to ancient Greece - very quickly. And, of course, they could always do that in a book. But here they get the sights, the sounds. They are able to hear a survivor of Hiroshima talking about what she went through days after the bomb - and in her own voice."

Once upon a time, before computers, before the Internet, before technology, there were books. And books were good. They still are. But in a world where even public libraries have come to accept that books are one-dimensional, colleges and universities with their mandate to help students become critical thinkers and effective communicators have come to accept computers as an ally.

Perhaps nowhere is that more clear than in the Atrium's language lab. Listening to audio tapes as a way to learn a foreign language has long been an accepted part of any curriculum.

(Play)

"Excuse me, do you know what

time it is?

Perdóneme. ¿Qué hora es?

(Stop)

(Rewind)

(Play)

"Excuse me, do you know what

time it is?"

Perdóneme. ¿Qué hora es?

It works, but it's not very exciting, not very interactive. And it's only one way of learning. If educators have learned anything about learning, it's that students do it differently and that's a philosophy the language lab embraces.

"Some students learn better by reading, others prefer to listen, others prefer to view and actually others prefer...a variety of means to understand," says Mohamed Tazari, director of the Multimedia Language Learning and Teaching Center.

Like all disciplines, languages require that you practice in order to acquire proficiency. But it's not always easy to find someone outside of class who speaks French or Spanish or is able talk about something other than the time.

The magic of modern technology has changed all that. In the language lab, students watch and listen to foreign news from their computer stations "on a daily basis so the content is always changing," explains Tazari. "It's very relevant to them."

In addition, students video conference with students across the world or work on their written skills by searching the Internet, finding people who are logged-on in foreign countries and corresponding with them in real-time exchanges.

The lab "creates the kind of environment where students not only develop communication skills, but research skills, critical thinking skills, communication skills and language skills. These are basic skills that whatever we teach we want our student to have," adds Tazari. "It's a challenging environment because it provides more input, but it's an environment in which they control the learning process not only in terms of pace, but in terms of content, in terms of the skills they need to improve."

If it seems like the University is trying to stretch its boundaries, or perhaps lower them, few would object to the characterization. Coupled with its push toward integrating technology in the classroom is an effort to use technology to expand the definition of the classroom.

"The president, Arnold Speert, has been a champion for technology, and William Paterson University is a leader in the state when it comes to incorporating information technology and instruction learning," says John Gaboury, assistant vice president for library services and information technology.

"Recently we have been involved with dealing with the virtual classroom, or the electronic classroom," he continues. "Using the Internet, we're looking at virtual, live one-on-one remote learning. So by using video cameras and computer equipment, it allows you to videotape what is going on in the classroom and have live questions back and forth," he explains. "This is our next step and that is for both courses that are offered on campus and also distance learning."

Distance learning. At one time it might have meant going away to college, rather than to one close by. Today it can mean going to college without ever leaving home. Well, almost.

The students in Vila's Twentieth- Century American Poetry graduate class did meet for one week in June, before taking the rest of the course via a Web site. The course ended in October.

"I created threads based on the themes and the subject area of twentieth- century American poetry, and we continued the conversations throughout the summer as if we were in the classroom. But the classroom was on the Web," says Vila.

He ran a forum on the Web site with different subject headings and students could talk about and respond to what was being said. In addition, he had another spot where students posted their written work so others could critique it, a structure that allowed students to analyze and synthesize a vast pool of material.

"From a teacher's point of view, it is some of the best work I've seen here at the graduate level. Two students came out of that course with thesis subjects for their master's degrees."

As it turns out, many of the students are teachers in public schools that are pushing technology in the classroom, said Vila, "so the experience was practical to them and they were able to get over a lot of phobias about technology. I'm still getting e-mail from them even though the course is over."

Furthermore, as technology assumes a bigger role in how students are taught, the students' experience changes. And many think for the better.

"It gives a student a different perspective in that it's just not about reading and taking a test and this-is-what-I-know," says Vila. "It gives students a greater sense that what they are experiencing is actually a vital part of the way culture has evolved and because we're talking about the way Western civilization evolved, really link it to movements that are visible for the first time."

"It's a different world." WP

Elizabeth Birge is a freelance writer who teaches journalism at William Paterson.