Spring Break
Video conferencing system blurs boundaries
Husain Sumra
Issue date: 10/13/09 Section: News
SJSU students are going to class without coming to San Jose.
Students are using web conferencing to attend classes and professors' office hours without even being on campus, said a school of library and information science official.
"More than half of the faculty in the department use Elluminate," said Debbie Faires, assistant director for distance learning at the school of library and information science.
Elluminate is the web conferencing client the university has licensed, she said.
She said the conferencing service allows students to chat with each other online and listen to lectures from professors.
Faires said lectures can be recorded.
"Students can look at the lecture online whenever they want," she said.
Anurag Damle, a senior software engineering major, said students in other departments should be able to test out the service.
"I would like to try it out," he said.
Faires said the technology is licensed by the university and that other departments have also used web conferencing.
She said the business and nursing departments have used web conferencing, but not as much as the department of library and information science.
"We're among the biggest users of Elluminate," she said.
Faires said the department has students in 40 states and in 12 countries using web conferencing to attend classes.
"Geography doesn't make a difference," she said.
She said students aren't the only ones who can attend class from a distance.
"We can have a guest lecturer from New York," she said.
Faires said any potential guest lecturer would just need to go to Elluminate's Web site and log on to the classroom.
Christopher Vu, a freshman mechanical engineering major, said web conferencing would allow students to see different points of view.
"Students would be more open to other suggestions and find out about people from other nations," he said.
Sophomore psychology major Ruhi Walia said students shouldn't abuse the ability to chat.
Students are using web conferencing to attend classes and professors' office hours without even being on campus, said a school of library and information science official.
"More than half of the faculty in the department use Elluminate," said Debbie Faires, assistant director for distance learning at the school of library and information science.
Elluminate is the web conferencing client the university has licensed, she said.
She said the conferencing service allows students to chat with each other online and listen to lectures from professors.
Faires said lectures can be recorded.
"Students can look at the lecture online whenever they want," she said.
Anurag Damle, a senior software engineering major, said students in other departments should be able to test out the service.
"I would like to try it out," he said.
Faires said the technology is licensed by the university and that other departments have also used web conferencing.
She said the business and nursing departments have used web conferencing, but not as much as the department of library and information science.
"We're among the biggest users of Elluminate," she said.
Faires said the department has students in 40 states and in 12 countries using web conferencing to attend classes.
"Geography doesn't make a difference," she said.
She said students aren't the only ones who can attend class from a distance.
"We can have a guest lecturer from New York," she said.
Faires said any potential guest lecturer would just need to go to Elluminate's Web site and log on to the classroom.
Christopher Vu, a freshman mechanical engineering major, said web conferencing would allow students to see different points of view.
"Students would be more open to other suggestions and find out about people from other nations," he said.
Sophomore psychology major Ruhi Walia said students shouldn't abuse the ability to chat.
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