Ducks @ Oregon - University of Oregon

Education of the Future

Korrin B.

May 24, 2009 - 4:24 PM

Last Monday, I met with my introduction to nonprofit management class in Willamette 110 instead of in Gerlinger like we normally would. In this class, we have a different speaker once each week who comes in and talks about his or her involvement in the nonprofit sector. We have had speakers come in from Committed Partners for Youth, Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts, Peace Corps, and many others. On Monday, we had Mark Holloway, Executive Director of Social Venture Partners Portland (SVPP), speak to us about social venture philanthropy. The way he came to speak to us, however, was not the normal way a speaker might stop by. It was a day that gave a glimpse into the future of education.

The reason we met for class in Willamette 110 was so that we could use the technology located in that room to have a videoconference with Mr. Holloway. Mark Holloway works in the University of Oregon White Stag Building in Portland and spoke to us from a room there. All of us sat in the classroom as Mr. Holloway popped up on a large screen in front of us. His PowerPoint presentation appeared on another screen in front of us and he was in control of its every move, despite being all the way up in Portland! He could also see us and we were able to ask questions to him. The camera in the room would automatically focus in on the student speaking. It was crazy! It was basically like a normal presentation by a speaker only this speaker happened to be a digital image on a large television screen.

It was a little awkward at first and I think that a lot of the students struggled more with coming up with questions and such because it was such a new way of going about learning for us. However, it was pretty amazing too and I could see how students could get used to the medium more and more as an excellent compliment to classroom learning. This tool allows students access to a wide variety of speakers from all over the world. It helps to expand the realm of learning and gives students better access to cutting edge information and research.

I never knew that the University of Oregon had this kind of technology until just Monday. The UO continues to amaze me with its many resources. I watched the future of education happen right before my eyes on Monday. Technology just continues to advance and there is so much you can do with it. I'm glad that the UO keeps up with these new tools and provides students with the opportunity to broaden their horizons more and more. It's going to be very interesting some day when I have children of my own go to college. I wonder exactly how much learning will just become digitized. It will be fun saying, "When I was your age, you know, we had real people come teach us about these things, not just these screen people!"