2018 ASHS Annual Conference

TPSS 654 Communications in the Sciences is a required one credit, two hours a week graduate course covering various aspects of scientific communications. In fall 2017, a student asked the instructor if an online Zoom option might be available. As a parent of several young children and an hour and a half commute to the university, getting to school was not an easy task. The objective is to share the experiences of this course from the perspectives of the instructor, the distance learning student (DLS), and a fellow student in the class (FS). The instructor conferred with an academic support person in our college on how to use the communications software Zoom and a webcam. Participating online would allowed the DLS to be included in lectures, presentations, and class discussions. The instructor considered that this distance learning experience went reasonably well. He had problems setting up the Zoom link so the DLS set it up for each class. With a Macintosh laptop, external speakers were not needed. The laptop screen was projected onto the room screen only when the DLS gave a PowerPoint presentation. The DSL felt that being an online student while the rest of the class was present in class was a challenge to feeling included. Once acclimated to the class environment, interacting and asking questions were natural. As the only online student, sometimes knowing that her face was being projected on a screen and was dominating the room made her feel self-conscious. After getting to know the other students, she interacted naturally with the rest of the class. The FS mentioned that it might have been nice to have a larger image of the DLS's face at times. Since it was a small class, less than ten students, she felt that the class was all able to surround themselves at an angle to see the DSL. In conclusion, the instructor reflected that this first-time distance learning experience opened the possibility of using hybrid distance learning in his course(s) in the future. The DSL remarked that she was fortunate to have an open-minded professor who was willing to try new technology to keep his students in school. The student's experience online in this class was uniquely fulfilling. The FS believed that the hybrid class style provided great opportunity for off campus students, was a unique experience, and added diversity to the class.