The class I taught in here is an introduction
to GiS and Anthropology. And it's an introductory
course, students have no prior knowledge of
the tool or the theoretical concepts behind
GIS. And what I'm trying to achieve is to
give them a mix of hands-on lab experience
with the tools and a connection as closely
as possible to the theoretical concepts that
are relevant for Archeology and Anthropology.
I came into this classroom as one of the first
instructors to use this class. The way I have
designed this class is I have a very heavy
lab component which happens during the class
and with this central lab component in mind,
what struck me in this room was these large
panels and these group work stations that
allow students to sit together and work on
a problem together. So I tried to break away
from the traditional lab setting where everybody
works on their own computer and it's typically
rather silent. So I wanted to break this up
and make it much more messy and much more
engaging. I did this in Wallenberg to a limited
extent before but I had never access to these…if
you will these lab workstations, to these
settings, to these stations that were set
up particularly to do these kind of group
work. I put a lot of lab work in the class
but that's not the only thing we did in class.
We also discussed papers. We also had lectures.
I also did give some presentations. The students
gave some presentations. We tried to push
the possibilities of the room and look after
different directions. Breaking up…so bringing
in those dynamics to the classroom. The students
are really excited about this class. I looked
at some of the questions that asked something
like, you know,"Do you feel this engaged you
more than other classes you usually take?"
and they had a range of answers. None of them
ever said "No" or "I disagree" or "Nothing.
It doesn't make a difference." So either it's
all toward the "Agree", "Strongly Agree" the
positive side. They're questions like "Is
this classroom appropriate for the course?"
"Did the room enhance the in-class exercises?"
"Was the instructor effective in using the
technology, in using the room?" And they were
all…100% either agreed or strongly agreed…which
actually a great majority actually strongly
agreed on this. I think from the students'
perspective, this is something highly successful
and highly desirable.
