Web-based virtual classroom meets needs of campus

Sacramento State is meeting the future of hybrid and online teaching through a program called Elluminate Live.

Elluminate Live is a web-based group conferencing software featuring an online chat room with live audio, video and interactive white boards. Sacramento State has offered the program since 2008.

“We’ve used Elluminate Live in nursing, engineering and communication classes, as well as student conferences and workshops through a limited licensing agreement,” says Jean-Pierre Bayard, director of Academic Technology and Creative Services.

Bayard says Elluminate Live has been so successful, Sacramento State has expanded its user license so an unlimited number of people can use the program simultaneously. He calls the virtual classroom one of the most effective teaching tools available and says the program’s expansion “is a big deal for us.”

“This has amazing interactivity,” he says. “Students interact with the instructor and each other as if they’re in the same room. They can ask questions and draw on the same white board as the instructor.” Students who can’t make a live session can log on later and view a recording of the session.

Bayard says that with the expanded licensing, more instructors can offer hybrid courses where students get the best of both worlds -- the dynamics of face-to-face teaching and the convenience and interactivity of online instruction.

Bayard says Elluminate Live has other uses as well, from student advising to long-distance interviews and administrative meetings. The unlimited license will remain in effect until June 2010 when the online programs will be evaluated and a new licensing agreement determined.
     
For more information on Elluminate Live, call 278-3370 or send an e-mail to web-courses@csus.edu. Information is also available at http://www.csus.edu/atcs/tools/imeet/imeet-sacct.stm
    
A form to use Elluminate Live for a SacCT course is available at http://www.csus.edu/atcs/tools/imeet/sacct-imeet-request-form.stm
 

To use Elluminate Live for non-academic uses, visit http://www.csus.edu/atcs/tools/imeet/request-form.stm.