March 1, 2013

Arnold (Arnie) Berger: Saving students rush-hour headaches

Dr. Berger, an associate professor in the Science and Technology program at UW Bothell, is the degree coordinator of Bothell’s new Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. The program’s capstone courses (BEE 495 and 496) are partially conducted online and are designed to simulate real-world consulting projects. Dr. Berger uses the meeting software WebEx “to do some teaching online, to give lectures. I use it with several of my capstone teams who cannot come to campus for our regular project status meetings.”

Benefits for students: “In terms of educational outcomes, online has a lot to offer. Particularly, I think, for the non-traditional students. Many of our courses here at Bothell are taught late afternoon, early evening, to accommodate adults. But where we are located (the intersection of SR-522 and I-405) is just a rush hour nightmare. Students are trying to get here from their jobs at the worst possible time of day. So anything we can do to make it easier for them to manage their lives and attend classes has got to be good.”

Student performance: Once when he taught both online and face-to-face sections of a computer architecture course, he was surprised by the results. ”The online students did slightly better overall than the students who were in the classroom with me. I found that to be really depressing!” In the capstone courses, he says, “They go from being a student to an engineer over the course of two quarters.”

Efficiency: “For certain kinds of classes, such as lectures and project status meetings, there’s really no difference between sitting in a room and discussing a project and doing it online. In fact, in some ways online is more convenient. Industry learned this years ago, when airline travel became very expensive and physically taxing.”

Flexibility: He says that when using this technology it’s important “not to have any rigidity, to use it as is appropriate. At different phases of a project, it makes sense to meet in person. Once it’s going, meeting online is quite simple. At the beginning, face-to-face is more effective.”

Advice: “You need people to help faculty bridge from traditional methods to technology, because you can’t do it alone unless you’re really, really savvy. Also, there needs to be a strong commitment from the university to support the effort. Without that commitment, you’re on your own, and you’re the one with the arrows in your back.”

Learn More

Read the full Provost report on how UW faculty are enhancing teaching with technology.