CMeSki Pushes the Boundaries of the Virtual Classroom

Written by Daphne Splitair Tuesday, 11 November 2008

In an ongoing effort to be on the cutting edge of education, local college CMeSki has implemented a plan to go beyond the use of the World Wide Web as a classroom tool. Led by Media Technician Winter MacVista, the college is implementing a plan to allow students to submit homework, not only via the Internet, but also via text message or IM next semester.

CMeSki student Bunny Snow texts her PtL answers into class while waiting for her bros to come grab her.

"It's all part of a larger plan to more directly address the needs of our student body," says MacVista. "Taking our inspiration from the Lowell Whiteman School's philosophy of experiential education, we are moving away from classroom-based education with such new offerings as 'Physics through Longboarding (PtL)' and 'the Calculus of Snowboard Design,' a class offered jointly through the Ski and Snowboard Business and Mathematics departments." English professor Ima Alsoawriterinski adds, "In an effort to combat my classroom attendance problem once the mountain opens, I will also be giving quizzes via text."

A beta program was introduced to three freshman comp classes last semester, including Professor Alsoawriterinski's, who says that overall attendance in her classes did improve although she received the following text, "hit a gpr. gonna b l8." When asked for feedback students in her classes raved, "no more spll chk!" and "luv doin hw on line @ bshr."

Enthusiastic posts regarding the upcoming changes were also to be found on student blogs. "its rad I cn pst my hw frm the gndy n not miss a gnrly pow day" says skichamppow2007, while air2fakie commented simply, "LOL :)."