One of the challenges of distance education is to provide immediacy to the learning experience. How does a student feel connected to the instructor and fellow students when there is no classroom or common meeting time? A "virtual classroom" is a fairly simple software based solution for bringing remote students into a real-time class with audio and visual content. Students can raise a hand to speak, work in small groups or talk with each other using only a headset and microphone. This presentation will review a recent pilot of Elluminate Live Classroom by Red River College and make recommendations about how this technology can enhance existing distance education tools.

About the speaker: Michael Farris

Michael Farris, PhD, manages the Learning Technologies Group at Red River College. His degrees in Arts, Education and Theology are a non-typical preparation for technology but do provide another perspective in a field occasionally needing insight into how people, not just systems, work and communicate. His diverse team includes video producers, educational designers, media designers, programmers and highly forbearing support specialists. They have a special interest in distributed learning.

Before RRC, Farris navigated the dotcom bubble in Seattle working as VP and Product Evangelist for the former Infopop Corporation.