Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/55957
Technology Lehigh's blog format incorporates video footage, text, and an interactive map powered by Google Maps. Global Learning Goes Live Lehigh's video blog turns its students' global study into experiences the entire cam- pus community can share. Reflection has become a part of experiential learning at many business schools, but most often, such introspec- tion occurs after projects are com- pleted. But what if students were given the time and tools to record their reactions to experiences moments after they happened— and share them online? Undergraduates at Lehigh Uni- versity in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, are using video blogs to create just such introspective opportuni- ties while they're overseas. Before departing for their respective destinations, each group—which comprises students from business, engineering, and the arts and scienc- 66 BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010 es—is equipped with two $120 Flip Video camcorders and given guide- lines on the types of videos that would be most blog-appropriate. Faculty and staff at Lehigh's College of Business and Economics and its Martindale Center for the Study of Private Enterprise worked with the school's Internet and design services team to integrate a Google Map page into the blog. On the left side of the page are links to video footage; on the right, an interactive Google Map with marks at each stop on the tour. When visitors click on a marker, a box with video and text about that activity pops up. An early concern was whether stu- dents would take quality video, but that concern was unfounded, says Jill Brown, assistant professor of manage- ment. Brown accompanied a group to Singapore in March, and she says that students immediately "took the responsibility for filming into their own hands." They filmed their reac- tions to everything from learning how to use Singapore's public transit system to hearing how a Singapore- born entrepreneur and an American expatriate each experience the city. In May, Sharon Bernstein, pro- gram director at the Martindale Center, accompanied 12 students to Iceland. Each day, students and faculty downloaded foot- age from the previous day to a laptop, reviewed it, and uploaded the best material to the blog via their hotels' wireless connections. This would not have been pos- sible a few years ago, says Bernstein. "Back then, we didn't travel with a laptop—we were at the mercy of the computer kiosk in the hotel lobby." Today, students can share video each day not just on the blog, but on their Twitter and Facebook accounts. Lehigh faculty knew the blog would help include the entire school community in these global experienc- es. But they didn't realize how much richer it would make students' learn- ing experiences, says Todd Watkins, professor of economics and a mentor in the Martindale Center. Before traveling to Iceland, each student chose a particular subject on which to base a future research project, such as fishing, banking, or geothermal power. The video helped them more quickly home in on ideas central to their projects, says Watkins.