Since the palm-top computers are also capable of configurations, Unger said they work nicely in physics classes as well. A professor can get an anonymous opinion about what the class thinks about something. K-State students aren't all going to class every day, either. The classes are going to them. Combining video and computer technology allows professors to teach students in class, but also permits a distance learning environment that enables a professor to simultaneously teach 40 or 50 students across the state of Kansas, Unger said.
Professors can videotape class live or digitally store it for later use.
The increased bandwidth, which allows more information to travel faster at longer distances, allowed the professors and the students to have a three-way conversation without breaks and pauses during the transmission of sounds and visual images. We had three of the world's experts teaching our students, which has got to be some of the finest education they could get in the world. We want to do more and more of that. Unger said Internet 2 classes are currently being planned for master's and doctoral classes in agriculture and engineering. We have students in China, Cambodia, Costa Rica, South Africa and western Kansas.