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March 21, 2024

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Spring Housing Guide

MyBGSU poses problems

The introduction of My BGSU into the University’s classroom environment shows how fast technology is moving .

Professors are able to post homework assignments, notes and even carry out discussions within their classes. Radhika Gajjala, who has her PhD in communication with the focus in new media, covered the topic on both sides, giving pros and cons to using online teaching methods to help aid the teaching the students.

“The effectiveness of the online materials depends on how it is used and whether or not the course requires it,” Gajjala said. She said that some courses lose their initial focus of the material that is being presented when they start using the online resources, because the class starts to rely more on the technologies and there is less emphasis on what the real topic of the class seems to be.

Nolan Hensel, a student at the University, said that he does not prefer to use the online materials and that they are more of a hassle then anything.

“Sometimes it is not good because if the Internet is down or if you don’t have access to a computer, then you can’t always get your assignments in on time if you have a deadline to meet,” Hensel said.

Remi Bowers, another student, also had pros and cons with the system being used in the classes she has taken.

“Last semester I took two courses that both used My BGSU and the only problem for me was that in my one class we had a certain number of online discussions we had to fill out, which made me concentrate more on how many assignments I had to do rather than the quality of them,” Bowers said.

Bowers said that it was easier to have an assignment where you would do a weekly discussion board posting.

“I have no problem with the weekly discussions because then you actually concentrate on what you are writing versus how many postings you have to have,” Bowers said.

“It also depends on how much time the professor is willing to look into the technologies and how much time they are willing to spend on updating and designing the material on online for their classes,” Gajjala said.

She said if the professor is not familiar with the system and they are just trying to incorporate it into the course then there is no real use for it and the class is better off not using it.

Victoria Ekstrand, a professor in journalism, actually hands out hard copies of the things she posts online, but also keeps them there as a reference.

“I want students to come to class, but if they can’t make it for some reason or if they lose some of their papers then it is available for them to print off-line,” Ekstrand said.

Ekstrand does not like to overwhelm her students with too many e-mails either.

“I use the pull method versus the push method; rather than push the information to my students and cluttering their e-mail boxes I allow them to pull it off-line as they need to,” Ekstrand said.

Many students as well as professors have different views when it comes to using the My BGSU system, it can be beneficial to some and to others it proves to be a pain.

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