Dave Dulany was an information technology executive in the corporate world before he started teaching IT at Aurora University about two years ago.
“In corporate life you stay on top of [new information] because you have to for business reasons,” Dulany said. “In the academic world, you stay on top of things because of scholarly reasons. I’ve always found myself drawn to that.”
It’s not surprising that Dulany, who teaches a variety of IT courses as well as an introductory business class, relies so heavily on technology to get his point across to students.
More than any other tool, Dulany relies on a Web-based “classroom management system” called Blackboard.
When students log in to Blackboard, which runs on an Aurora University server, they see an opening screen that lists their courses and any announcements (“Don’t forget our quiz on Wednesday”) their professors want to communicate.
There’s also a fully loaded personal information manager, letting students track their calendar and task list.
When students click on a class, a full-blown digital textbook supplement appears, complete with chapter review questions, quizzes, flash cards and PowerPoint presentations.
“That makes it look like I did a lot of work, doesn’t it?” Dulany asked. “I didn’t.”
In fact, all of the supplements are provided by textbook publishers like McGraw-Hill and are e-mailed to professors, who populate their Blackboard course materials accordingly.
The beauty, Dulany said, is that it makes the information available to students on any computer with an Internet connection.
Blackboard is such an integrated part of his classes that Dulany incorporates students’ use of the tool into their final grade.
More Top Picks Best Super Automatic Espresso Machines For Families
How does he know when a student has or hasn’t been using it?
“The reporting tool tells me who has been using Blackboard,” he said, “when and for how long. I can see if they’ve tried the quizzes and what they’re doing.”
And how does Dulany think the tool helps students learn?
“That’s easy,” he said. “It has taken a lot of the paperwork out of their day. Instead of walking around with big binders full of paper, they just go to Blackboard from wherever they happen to be.”
———-
Contact [email protected].