STUDENT EVALUATION OF THE SOFTWARE IN THE AT&T TEACHING THEATER

Abstract

The AT&T Teaching Theater is a highly interactive, multimedia electronic classroom at the University of Maryland offering instructors many new and creative teaching opportunities. Although this technology may hold many exciting possibilities, it is important to not lose sight of the main objective of any teaching facility - the students. Therefore, the important questions are: "How do students rate the AT&T Teaching Theater? What are their opinions of the various types of software programs currently offered? Do they facilitate or interfere with the learning process?" This paper discusses the results from a survey of students who attended classes in the AT&T Teaching Theater, Fall semester, 1992. A comparison among the different types of software used by the various instructors is the focus for this evaluation. In particular, HyperCourseware, a program providing an "electronic infrastructure" for computer based education will be at the center of this comparison. HyperCourseware is a "work in progress" and is one of the few software packages used in the electronic classroom designed with the Teaching Theater in mind. The findings from this paper will be used to determine where improvements need to be made in order to benefit the students and to make the most of the technology offered in the AT&T Teaching Theater in the future.