ATLANTA— Georgia State University was recently recognized by the Technology Association of Georgia with a TAG Technology Award in the category of Tech Evolution for exploration of simulcast classroom technologies.
Since 2018, Perimeter College has been at the forefront of simulcast classes—and in fact, pioneered the concept at the university, said Lee Webster, Georgia State’s director of Learning and Production Environments with Instructional Innovation and Technology.
Simulcast/multicast classrooms allow students to attend class from a mix of in-person and remote locations at the same time, using technologies such as video conferences, multiple in-room screens and course tools meant to encourage active participation among virtual and in-person participants.
“The first simulcast courses started at Perimeter under (former vice provost) Peter Lyons around 2018,” Webster said. “The main goal initially was to allow classes that are usually only hosted at one campus to be offered to students across all Perimeter sites. Now we are doing that and helping keep students in-person for classes at Newton by allowing enough students to register for the course.”
The simulcast/multicast classes gained traction across the university during the COVID-19 pandemic, as additional scenarios for remote and hybrid learning were increasingly adapted, he said.
About 40 percent of all Perimeter College rooms are now simulcast/multicast eligible, Webster said.
Dr. Scott Ross teaches a simulcast business course on the Newton Campus and is one of four Newton Campus instructors who teach a simulcast course. He has about a dozen “in-person” students in his classroom, with another six students taking the course remotely.
Scott talked about the benefits of the technology during a special presentation at Faculty Development Day.
“Simulcast courses allow students who are unable to travel to campus be part of a face-to-face class with direct contact and engagement with the professor and their classmates; and engage in class activities and feel like they are part of the ‘team,” he said.
Currently, Perimeter faculty teaching at least one simulcast course this semester are: Scott Ross, Business, Stephanie Garofalo, Math, Hosanna Fletcher, Sociology, Tami Thomas, Criminal Justice, Wayne Bennett, Music, Sarah Callaghan, Kinesiology and Health, Anant Honkan, Engineering, Todd Hendricks, Math, and Deepa Muralidhar, Computer Science.