Zerbe’s award combines a VAIO multi-media laptop computer, Bravia LCD television, Sony Reader and a Webbie camera. It is one of four such packages that will be given annually for five years under California State University’s Sony Electronics Faculty Award for Innovative Instruction. Intel Corp. is a partner.
“The creation and expansion of interactive online learning environments represents the future direction of pedagogy in the social sciences,” Zerbe said. “To reach new generations of students, we need new ways of teaching.”
The political science professor plans to organize further interactive teleconferences with universities overseas (including Egypt, South Africa and Zimbabwe), which have the added advantage of teaching skills in cross-cultural communication. He is developing an online simulation for his third world politics course that places students at the helm of a developing country and asks them to make the difficult tradeoffs faced by African political leaders.
For example, Zerbe explains, “Will you seek economic growth first, even if that means greater inequality for a while? Forcing students to make such decisions in an interactive, online exercise brings to life abstract discussions—such as the tradeoff between poverty alleviation and rapid economic growth—that traditional lectures often do not.”
In his American politics class, Zerbe is planning a new assignment in which students create short video political advertisements. “Many students already possess basic video skills, as the proliferation of YouTube and other video sharing sites illustrates,” he notes. “For the assignment, students would be asked to select a political issue, consider the message they want to deliver, the target audience, and how the message would be communicated. They would then create a short, 30 second commercial to make their pitch.”
Zerbe says online instruction saves students money. “We now have more affordable educational opportunities. Gone are the days of paying for printing; students can instead email papers and receive feedback electronically from faculty. Readings are no longer provided in printed course packs; students can download materials from course Moodle sites, reading them electronically.”
HSU Vice Provost Jena Burges says many kinds of online learning are engaging and effective, and the university is making more of them available to students. This fall, 13 class sections will offer online options. “And our Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching is currently working with groups of faculty members to transform their courses into partly-online or fully-online formats, with support provided by the Office of the President,” she said. “Other faculty members interested in joining this Course Transformation Project will have the opportunity to submit proposals this fall.”