As I was driving home from campus this evening, I heard weather reports about a storm that is moving into our area tomorrow. By tomorrow afternoon, roads might be impassible.

“What should I do about classes,” I asked myself. Because I have course materials available on-line, I could comfortably decide to cancel tomorrow’s classes knowing I would not harm students. Although I would have presented the information differently during class, the learning outcomes from the on-line resources and my class presentation are identical.

By canceling classes early, students will not have to worry about what tomorrow’s weather might bring. More importantly, they will be able to make plans with their families about how to handle various issues that arise when a storm descends. For example, last week when area schools closed, I had students who missed class because they had to watch younger brothers and sisters.

In addition to my teaching web site, because of BlackBoard, I was able to send e-mail to my students to let them know about my decision. Then, I used by cell phone to call them.

Because of technology, my classes are not held hostage to the weather. This is not a benefit I foresaw when I decided to design my teaching web site. But it is a benefit I am willing to take.

–Steven L. Berg, PhD

Responses

February 26, 2007

When I was playing hockey in high school, we would work out after every practice. Some times, the location of the type of workout would change. When that happened, our couch would let us know through e-mail which was the easiest and most effective way of getting information to a lot of people quickly. In doing this, everybody know ahead of time that there was a change in plans. Also, kids on the team could come better prepared because they knew what to expect.

–Brandon Glossop