Community College On Cutting Edge Of Technology-Driven Instruction
Vance-Granville Community College is all fired up.
What has the college’s faculty and staff so excited is the expanded use of technology in instruction through recent advances and plans for even more.
Vance-Granville has seen installation of wireless computer accessibility and data projectors and TV monitors in classrooms, videoconferencing via satellite in the auditorium, access to worlds of information through technology in the library. Also, the college will offer two new technology-driven programs of study this fall, and online classes will be increased.
And the college has managed to increase its technology capabilities within some strict budget constraints. In fact, President Robert A. Miller said, “These initiatives in technology have increased efficiency at the college at minimal cost. At this time of budgets being tightened across the state and in our local counties, Vance-Granville is finding better, more effective ways to do things.”
Technology in the Classroom
“Over the last three years, we have strived to equip every classroom with the latest technology for the benefit of our instructors and our students,” said Marsha Nelson, VGCC dean of curriculum. All classrooms have, or are getting, 25-inch TV monitors equipped with VCRs, as well as pull-down screens and overhead projectors.
All computer-teaching classrooms have data projectors mounted overhead, and Nelson said the college’s goal is to have all classrooms – on the main campus in Vance County and at the satellite campuses in Warren, Franklin and Granville counties – equipped with the data projectors.
“The advantage is that audio-visuals make lectures more interesting,” the dean said. “Before, if an instructor wanted to show a video, he or she would have to check out a VCR and monitor from the Learning Resources Center, and roll them on a cart to the classroom. With the built-in units, they just pop in the video, and they’re on their way,” she said.
With the data projectors, instructors can use PowerPoint presentations with notebook, or laptop, computers. “They just walk in, connect the computer and turn it on,” Nelson said.
Wireless Access
This is made easier by installation of wireless access in five classroom buildings on the main campus. Wireless access points are mounted in the ceilings of the buildings, and they give coverage to 95 percent of Buildings 5 and 6, the two largest classroom buildings, according to Ken Lewis, VGCC director of Information Technology.
Vance-Granville has created two “mobile computer labs.” One of these lockable storage carts hold 24 notebook computers, and the other holds 16. This makes it possible for instructors to move from classroom to classroom and log on to the college network and have access to files that were created on their office computers or home computers. And they can project information from those computers onto the screen in the classroom.
Or they can pull up NC-LIVE, the web-based research source shared by community colleges, state universities, the State Library and local public and numerous private academic institutions. Information from NC-LIVE can then be projected onto the classroom screen.
“New technology is really catching on with our instructors,” Nelson said. “They are really excited about it.” All instructors have been provided with upgraded computer equipment in their offices, and they are getting training in the use of the new classroom equipment.
“Our goal is to have the technology available that our instructors and students need to be more efficient,” Nelson said. “Our students are provided with an opportunity to use the newest and greatest technology – technology they haven’t seen before but technology that will open doors to success for them in the future.”
Not only do College Transfer and General College and Commerce program classrooms have the new technology, but Vance-Granville’s Vocational classrooms also have data projectors and notebook computers.
All programs also have digital cameras, Nelson pointed out, and they are being used every day in classes. As an example, Nelson said: “Suppose you’re studying troubleshooting in an Electrical/Electronics Technology class. You can take a picture in the junction box and project it greatly enlarged onto the screen. The students can instantly see things that are not visible to the naked eye. This and other technology is opening areas not previously available for instructors.”
Downloading from Satellite
Because of a shortage of classrooms on campus, the 100-seat auditorium in Building 2 on the main campus is used for classes. It has recently been equipped with two 32-inch TV monitors, one mounted one each side at the front of the room.
There is also a large pull-down screen at the front of the hall, and there is a 3400 lumens, heavy-duty projector in the control room for showing videos, and instructors can also project PowerPoint presentations onto the screen using laptop computers, Lewis pointed out.
Frequently, Vance-Granville Community College is the site for video teleconferences, which can be of interest to the college or to agencies and organizations within the community. Programs on education and safety, for example, can be downloaded from satellite and projected on the large monitors in the auditorium. This new technology will permit VGCC to host large numbers of guests for these events and provide excellent facilities for the reception of materials.
Not Your Same Old Library
Vance-Granville’s Learning Resources Center (what used to be called a library) is also loaded with technology. There are 20 electronic database workstations available for student use. “These provide access to accredited academic information on multiple subjects,” said Stephanie Carter, LRC technician.
In addition to NC-LIVE, which contains an “enormous amount” of data on numerous subjects, there are databases on literature, health reference, career and technical fields, criminal justice and one called SIRS NetSelect. “The advantage of all of these is their remote access, meaning they can be accessed from home by students,” Carter said.
The traditional card catalog has been replaced at VGCC by four online catalogs. VGCC is affiliated in a consortium with 40 other community colleges and, if the local library does not have a book a student there needs, VGCC can request it through interlibrary loan from one of the 40 that has it in their collection.
The LRC also has a data projector for checkout by instructors until all classrooms are equipped, and there is one mounted in the library that is used to give students orientation into how to best use the LRC’s resources.
Stephanie Carter plans to conduct NC-LIVE workshops in the fall to show students how to use the library without being in the library. “The Internet is changing the traditional concept of education,” she said.
New Curriculum Programs
To prepare students for careers in the computer-driven economy, Vance-Granville is also offering two new curriculum programs in this area this fall. Internet Technologies will be a two-year program, leading to an Associate in Applied Science Degree, and it is designed to prepare graduates for employment with organizations that use computers to disseminate information via the Internet.
The second new program is Electronic Commerce, which is a concentration in the Business Administration program. Graduates will earn an Associate in Applied Science Degree, and they will prepare for a career in the Internet economy.
These new programs follow the graduation in May of the first five students from the Network Administration and Support concentration in the Information Systems program. These graduates are not only able to process and manage information, but they are able to install and support computer networks.
And the Cisco Academy conducted at the main and Franklin County campuses to train individuals to maintain and operate the routers that control computer networks are doing quite well, Nelson said.
Learning Online
Another growing instructional area related to technology is Distance Learning, in which students take regular curriculum courses at home via the computer. The college will offer 22 courses online this Fall Semester, up from 14 in the spring.
“We’re adding more online courses each semester,” Nelson said. “Students want them. As fast as we put classes on the Web, they fill up.”
The dean said the college hopes to have several complete programs online in the near future. More than one-half of the classes in the College Transfer are online, and all but three of the 15 hours of general education classes required in technical programs are available on the Web. “Each semester, we have instructors from virtually every department working on new courses for the next semester,” Nelson said.
To make sure those instructors are prepared to design online courses is the job of Jennifer Meeks, who formerly taught Office Systems Technology at the South Campus in Granville County and who has been reassigned as Distance Education coordinator.
Meeks is teaching instructors “Principles and Techniques of Online Instruction,” using the Blackboard computer program. In it, they will learn the best way to handle on-line instruction and also will have an opportunity to build a course while learning.
Meeks herself completed the majority of her master’s degree courses online from East Carolina University so she should know when she says, “Distance Education students need to be disciplined and self-motivated, and they have to be able to meet deadlines and guide themselves through a course.” She will be available to help students if they have difficulties with their online classes.
On the Cutting Edge
Ken Lewis points out that the Computer Center lab, where continuing education and occupational extension computer classes are held, is state-of-the-art. “The entire infrastructure in that lab is Cisco-based, which allows for future growth and different applications in the future,” he said. “I can’t imagine any other community college in the state being any more modern.”
Another thoroughly modern situation exists in the VGCC Information Highway classroom. In this room, VGCC students can “attend” classes being conducted on other campuses in the state through satellite feeds. The students see the instructor on TV monitors, and there are microphones at each student station so there can be two-way communication.
“These are not easy to arrange because our schedules have to mesh with other schools,” Nelson said, but it is another way the college is looking at overcoming inadequate classroom space and tight budget times that prevent hiring of new instructors to meet increasing demands for classes.
Ken Lewis points out some of the not-so-obvious technology advances made at Vance-Granville in recent years. “We’re sending voice and data over the same phone lines to the Warren County and South campuses, saving considerable money,” he said. “We plan to do this with the Franklin County Campus next year.”
There are fiber optics connecting all buildings on the main campus, running at gigabyte speed. “That’s fast,” Lewis said. There are new fiber optics at the Warren County Campus, and the lab at the year-old Biotechnology Center at the Franklin County Campus is wireless.
Why the great concentration on new technology at Vance-Granville Community College?
Nelson explains: “We have to lead the way for commerce in our area; we have to provide the training our students need. It is amazing how advanced we are (at Vance-Granville Community College) considering the rural nature of our service area.”
An excited Marsha Nelson said, “Vance-Granville Community College has gone as far on the cutting edge of technology as you can get.”
In the first photo above, Ken Lewis, left, director of Information Technology at Vance-Granville Community College, and Roy Bush, a computer technician, run a check on a network problem in the college’s Technology Center. Lewis said the network’s servers are the very latest, state-of-the-art equipment available.
In the second photo, studentsuse several of the 20 computer workstations available for research and class projects in the Learning Resources Center (library) at Vance-Granville Community College. Although the LRC does have encyclopedias and other traditional reference books, the computers afford students almost infinite access to information.
The third photo shows Frances Rogers of Henderson working out a problem on a Cisco router in the Network Administration & Support program in which she is enrolled at Vance-Granville Community College. A concentration in the Information Systems program, Network Administration & Support trains students to install and maintain computer networks, including the Cisco routers most used in networks. The first five students graduated from this program in May.
In the fourth photo, students in an economics class at Vance-Granville Community College use wireless notebook computers to tap into the college’s network and research a project. The notebook computers are kept in a locked cart and can be checked out by an instructor and taken to the classroom for use by students. Ninety-five percent of classrooms on the main campus are equipped with wireless access.
The fifth photo shows
Ginnie Jones of Stovall using a wireless notebook computer to work on a classroom project in an economics class at Vance-Granville Community College. Instructors at the college may check out a mobile cart containing 14 of the notebook computers for use in a classroom, and 95 percent of VGCC’s classrooms have wireless access.
