Medium Matters

Using three auto-ethnographies, in this chapter we have explored the experiences of teaching organizational behavior in an online environment. Before presenting the three auto-ethnographies, we have attempted to situate auto-ethnography as a tool in the domain of qualitative research. The analysis of these auto-ethnographies highlights the strengths and limitations of online medium in teaching organizational behavior. Our analysis shows that medium of teaching impacts the teaching style instructors adopt, poses challenges of mastering new technology, forces them to choose some content types over others, has an impact on their satisfaction with delivery and on their overall experience.

Higher Education in a Virtual World

Following years of discussion surrounding the characteristics, both positive and negative, of generations X and Y, we are seeing the emergence of what is referred to as the virtual generation, the net generation, or Generation V. To some, the virtual generation includes 15 to 24 year olds who spend significant amounts of time playing video games, browsing the Web, and communicating over the Internet (Proserpio & Gioia, 2007). Tapscott (2009) defines the net generation as the first generation to have grown up in the digital age. To others, Generation V is a generation that transcends age, gender, social demographic, and geography, and encompasses everyone who participates in a virtual environment (Sarner, 2008). Regardless of the exact parameters of the generation in use, as the virtual generation enters our academic institutions en masse, we need to ensure that we are providing educational environments that encompass the technological world in which they live, that defines who they are. Rather than requiring them to be confined solely to traditional lecture-based pedagogy, let the virtual generation learn in a virtual world.

Utilitarian and Hedonic Motivations in the Acceptance of Web Casts in Higher Education

Today, many universities offer e-learning programs to reach new student markets and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of learning. A key component in e-learning programs are webcasts: condensed, live- and studio-recorded lectures made available, by streaming video technology, via the Web as multimedia presentations that combine videos, audio, lecture slides, and a table of contents (Day, 2008). Web lectures have the potential to become a vital technology in higher education as they enable students to take courses in a convenient and flexible way, at a time and place they prefer. The success of Web lectures in higher education depends to a large extent on the acceptance of the technology by students. To investigate these influencing factors we use the technology acceptance model (TAM), which has originally been developed by Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw (1992) and Davis and Venkatesh (1996) to explain the intention to make use of Information Technology. In this study, we are interested in the question what motivates students to use webcast? Most technology acceptance studies have focused on extrinsic (utilitarian) motives (increase in efficiency, ease of use and effectiveness, etc.) to explain the use of e-learning systems. However, recent research suggests that intrinsic (hedonic) motivations, like attractiveness and enjoyment play an important role as well.

Effective Online Courses in Business Administration

Technologies used to enhance, augment, or replace traditional course content have been widely examined. With few exceptions, study of these technologies focuses on the effects of the technologies in isolation. Only a few discussions have attempted to evaluate multi-technologies and their contribution to effective learning for online students. This chapter looks at the traditional learning styles and creates a model for robust, multi-technology, student learning-centered approach to optimize student learning in online classes in a business school. It finds that a well-designed, multi-technology approach results in better student performance, more satisfied students, and greater cost-benefit for the business school. The results have been adapted into course design to create a new kind of resource for online course deployment.

Unleashing Dormant Diversity

The chapter will begin with a discussion of the increasing diversity in today’s classrooms and the current pedagogies in higher education, and then move to the challenges of a diverse student audience, followed by the benefits of using video to meet these challenges, finally offering some practice-based suggestions on using video in the cross-cultural classroom.

The Link in the Lesson

Video is generally seen as a passive, primarily didactic teaching method; an approach at odds with contemporary cross-cultural training which tends to emphasize highly interactive ”experiential” methods. In this chapter we draw on contemporary theories of learning to argue that video-based cross-cultural training is, in fact, more flexible than it is given credit for, and can play an important role in developing learners’ cultural intelligence. In doing this, we outline several practical and creative ways in which video can be used to develop cultural intelligence.

Using Digital Stories Effectively to Engage Students

Teachers in higher education interested in making use of streaming media can access more sources of video than ever before: news sites, popular media sites, YouTube, and Cornell eClips, the world’s largest collection of short videos for educators (more than 14,000). Miller (2008) provides an impressive list of sources, along with a discussion of pedagogical rationale for using rich media. However, while supplies are numerous and demand from students is high, many educators lack the experience to integrate rich media effectively in their teaching. In this chapter, the author draws from her experience of building a library of digital video since the mid-90s with her eClips team and using it in the classroom. The chapter will focus on: 1) strategies and practical tips for using video inside and outside the classroom to engage learners and respond to short attention spans and 2) guidelines for educators who wish to create their own rich media collections because they need content that has a very specific focus and/or mirrors their learner population more appropriately in terms of demographics.

iPod Enhancement for Field Visits in Religious Studies

This chapter reports on a project to explore the potential of a mobile learning device (Apple iTouch iPod) to enhance student field visits to local places of worship, which are part of the Religious Studies degree programme. Places of worship are a valuable resource for student learning, but often the value of the visit is linked to the quality of information and the style of presentation by the faith informant. In addition, there is a particular problem for university students who need to go beyond basic information about history and artifacts to explore key concepts in situ. The project is a collaboration between staff and second year students to develop podcasts on local places of worship, which have been trialed by first year students. These podcasts include a range of media: video, audio, images, text, and hyperlinks to offer a rich learning experience. The podcasts link to theoretical issues in the study of religion to enhance the development of appropriate literacies for the discipline of Religious Studies. The chapter reports on the range of technical and other issues encounters, the way we responded to them, and our overall assessment of the potential applications for mobile learning during field visits.

In the Current or Swimming Upstream?

In the not too distant future, university students will have trouble recalling a pre-You Tube or pre-podcast world. While streaming media in those formats has become ubiquitous in many areas of their lives through ease of use and dissemination, how does it factor into their learning? Should instructors in higher education utilize students’ engagement with streaming media as teachable opportunities? Or, in lieu of instructors intentionally choosing to use streaming media, what about the potential for it to be imposed on them for logistical or operational reasons and the effects of that on student learning and teaching? Building upon prior work that has been done on the use of streaming media in higher education (Chang, 2007; Phillips et al., 2007; Shepherd, 2003; Foertsch et al., 2002; Brahler et al., 1999), this chapter will examine it from several instructors’ perspectives with a focus on their decision-making processes, implementations, challenges, and opportunities. From their experiences, a set of grounded guidelines for using streaming media in higher education will be developed and offered as starting points for others interested in trying this in their teaching.

The Effectiveness of Streaming Media Clips in Skills Teaching

In this chapter, we present a small-scale comparative study into the use of streaming media Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs) in skills teaching. We consider the use of streaming digital video clips in the teaching of complex technical skills to Fashion Design students in large class sizes, drawing a comparison with the face-to-face demonstration model in widespread use in our curriculum.