Including Distance Technology in the Traditional Classroom

The author has been working for several years toward developing a cost effective way to bring distance education technology into the regular classroom.Two methods have been studied.For the first method a high quality digital tablet and a noise canceling microphone were installed on the podium in a regular classroom.The total cost was about $2500.00 per classroom.This system allows faculty to transmit and record their lectures.Faculty have found this system to be easy to use and very reliable.The second method was to have faculty bring a tablet PC and wireless microphone to the classroom and use the system to transmit and record the lecture.The wireless microphone gives faculty freedom to move around the classroom while lecturing.The added complexity of hooking up the hardware and linking the microphone made this system less reliable than the first method.