Dr. Leigh McCue, an assistant professor in the Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Department at Virginia Tech, teaches an undergraduate and a graduate distance learning course in ship dynamics and a new undergraduate, senior level technical elective distance learning course in dynamics of high-speed marine craft, beginning spring 2009. These courses have enriched and expanded her classroom experience. She has also been known to hold office hours from time to time at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock for interested off-campus students. Dr. McCue’s teaching and research interests include naval architecture, ship dynamics and advanced ship dynamics.
In leading both traditional in-class instruction and distance learning courses during her four years at Virginia Tech, Dr. McCue believes various instructional technologies allow her to reach beyond the classrooms on the Blacksburg campus. Dr. McCue also feels that “the technology that is out there is allowing a whole lot of flexibility to do whatever is conducive to how you teach. Personally I am more comfortable when I can have a visual feedback, which can be through live participation and interactive tools offered in Dyknow and Centra.” She added that the technologies available now allow her to teach class from anywhere.
Dr. McCue manages these instructional opportunities by incorporating twenty-first century technology like Centra and DyKnow into her teaching. She uses Centra’s support to teach synchronous online courses with real time interaction between students and faculty. Centra also records each class and archives the file for working professionals and full-time students to access at their convenience. She also uses tablet PC’s and DyKnow software to teach sophomore level courses on campus. Utilizing the interactive, real time electronic inking features provided by tablets, DyKnow and Centra allows Dr. McCue to reach a broader set of students and increase their participation in the learning process. Dr. McCue already sees some of the benefits of a collaborative teaching style trying to draw from the expertise of those students in the working world and encouraging class projects that enable full-time students and working professionals alike to make valuable connections between work and class.
Without distance learning course offerings, many of the distance-learning students, typically busy engineers with full-time employment, would miss quality professional development opportunities. Mixing experienced professionals with full-time students also creates a dynamic classroom with a diverse knowledge base that allows more student driven discussions. Because of this changing classroom profile, Dr. McCue’s students are also able to ask and answer more of each other’s questions.
The AOE department is currently experimenting with various distance learning course delivery methods thanks in part to Dr. McCue’s efforts. Faculty members are exploring blended synchronous-asynchronous instruction using the technologies described above. Camtasia is another tool currently used by the department to allow professors to record and archive both the audio and tablet inking created during class discussions and lectures.
Dr. McCue’s distance learning instructional experiences provides an encouraging case study for the College of Engineering’s efforts to leverage current teaching expertise with innovative technologies to expand the classroom and better serve the Virginia Tech and global community.
To learn more about the technology described above, please visit Software for eLearning Instruction .