Equitable Access to Course Content Requires Tech Integration and Flexibility | FLEXspace
By Rebecca V. Frazee and Lisa Stephens of FLEXspace.org, with several guest contributors (By Lisa Stephens and Rebecca V. Frazee of FLEXspace.org, featuring guest contributor Andrea Mayer of WolfVision, Inc., a founding FLEXspace.org partner.
The University of Tennessee Knoxville Classrooms On-site & Online Tech Upgrades
Classroom technology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), creates flexible learning environments where many classes can be taught in person and online simultaneously and students can review course content on-demand – frequently referred to as HyFlex – where students choose to attend in person (or not) synchronously, or via a recorded class asynchronously.
“No matter where a student is living or studying, we want them to be able to participate in the instruction, so that means having appropriate spaces, updated technology, and robust Internet access,” said UTK Libraries Associate Dean Teresa Walker, who helped lead the efforts.
A committee of employees from the Office of Information Technology, the UTK Libraries, Facilities Services, the Haslam College of Business, and the Tickle College of Engineering began planning, ordering, and installing classroom audio and video technology. Their goal was to improve the in-person and online experience, especially with the prevalence of COVID-19.
“We wanted to make sure that those instructors who were teaching a combination of in-person and online students could do everything they needed to do,” said Walker, who chairs the committee. “We also wanted to ensure that the experience would be good for everyone involved—the sound is right, the video looks good, the communication between the instructor and students as well as among the students – is solid.”
The team has worked to integrate Zoom with a collaboration and presentation system, Cynap (by Wolfvision), to give instructors maximum flexibility in teaching HyFlex courses with a portion of students in the classroom with the rest of the class participating online. Cynap allows instructors and students to connect wirelessly to the classroom’s technology and to display multiple inputs on one screen.
“One of the things we heard in UTK’s Re-Imagining Task Force survey was that students and faculty wanted better integration of Zoom and Canvas, since those were the two tools we used the most when we shifted to remote instruction in the spring,” Walker said. OIT created documentation and videos to help instructors connect Zoom and Canvas—UTK’s online learning management system—to deliver course content in a more seamless manner. “We want to make sure students can get to what they need.”
Not all students will be able to join a class discussion live, either in person or remotely, Walker said, so the committee has emphasized flexibility. Wireless connectivity across campus is being expanded this summer, she said, “We understand that with so much uncertainty, there are going to be times when students may need to miss a class, so they can watch the recorded class meetings by logging in to Canvas.”
Equitable access to instructional content is very important.
“With so much instruction being delivered online, the university continues to provide laptops and hotspots for students who have demonstrated a hardship in staying connected,” said Joel Reeves, associate vice chancellor, and chief information officer. “We have helped students continue their studies by distributing approximately 600 hotspots and 400 laptops.”
UTK students agreed – flexibility is key!
“I will definitely use my time studying or being in class virtually, knowing that being on my computer for class is the same thing as being in class and allotting those times during the day,” said Grace Bosworth, a senior in communication studies from Memphis.
Maddy Knoth, a junior in pre-pharmacy from Cleveland, Ohio, said UTK students are good at adapting and adjusting to change. “Going into every new class presents the challenge of what it’s going to be like,” Knoth said. “So, at least we already have the mindset and the desire to take on that challenge. I think I’m going to personally get used to it just by getting comfortable with my teachers, even if we’re not always in person; by creating some connection with them…using my resources, my notes, (and) my computer – to be as involved and in touch as possible with all my classes.”
To browse details, images, floor plans and more from spaces featured in this column, plus hundreds more, login to FLEXspace.org and visit the Gallery “FEATURED IN HIGHER ED AV MAGAZINE”
Andrea Mayer, Wolfvision
Inside Sales Manager, CTS, CompTIA IT-Fundamentals
Andrea Mayer has been with WolfVision for over 25 years, working in close contact with higher education institutions across the US, and she understands the needs and challenges these institutions are facing. www.wolfvision.com
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BIOS
The FLEXspace Team
LISA STEPHENS, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean, Digital & Online Education
School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, The University at Buffalo
Project Director, FLEXspace.org
Lisa serves as Assistant Dean at the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences leading the Office of Digital & Online Education, and also serves as Senior Strategist for Academic Innovation in the Office of the SUNY Provost. She enjoys an appointment in the UB Department of Communication as an Adjunct Associate Professor. Her SUNY portfolio includes leadership of FLEXspace.org™ and serves as the SUNY Partner Manager for Coursera.
REBECCA V. FRAZEE, EdD
Faculty, Learning Design & Technology Program
San Diego State University
Associate Director, FLEXspace.org
Rebecca teaches in the Learning Design and Technology program at San Diego State University and is the FLEXspace.org Manager. She enjoys experimenting with new technology tools and techniques to support active learning and team collaboration in higher ed and the workplace. Rebecca is a singer and songwriter and has been having fun with asynchronous ‘socially distanced’ recording projects this year. Contact Rebecca at rfrazee@sdsu.edu, and Twitter at @rebeccafrazee.
The Flexible Learning Environments eXchange (FLEXspace.org) is an award winning community and open digital repository for higher ed that houses a growing collection of user-contributed content “by campuses for campuses,” with detailed examples of formal and informal learning spaces ranging from multimedia studios, makerspaces, computer labs, hybrid/flexible classrooms, and huddle spaces to large exhibit spaces, simulation labs and renovated lecture halls. FLEXspace was launched in 2012 as a collaboration between SUNY, the CSU Cal State University system, and Foothill-DeAnza Community College District and has since grown to include over 5000 members from 1400 campuses around the world, with PennState joining the partnership in 2019. FLEXspace won the Campus Technology Innovators Award in 2016, and the California Higher Education (CHEC) Collaborative Conference Focus on Efficiency Award in 2018.
FLEXspace users include practitioners, experts and decision makers in higher education, K-12, libraries, and museums who are focused on campus planning and facilities, learning technology, A/V systems integration, instructional design, teaching, and research. The FLEXspace portal provides a sophisticated suite of features that enables users to document and showcase their own campus learning spaces, share research, best practices and tools for planning.