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| Matt Redinger, Montana State University Billings’ vice provost for academic Affairs, shows the new TEAL classroom, now under construction in the university’s College of Education. Photo:The Billings Gazette |
It will represent a shift in the way some classes operate, and officials believe it could be a glimpse into the future of education.
“We’re doing stuff here at Montana State University Billings that is, if not cutting-edge, is riding that wave at the very front,” said Matt Redinger, MSUB’s vice provost for academic affairs.The university hopes to have construction completed by the fall for the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year on its first Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL) classroom, which uses a teaching method designed to encourage active and group learning and collaboration with the help of technology and a decentralized instructional approach.
Developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, TEAL uses lectures, hands-on work and practice scenarios in a high-tech setting to get students working together.
“The whole thing is about flexibility, technology and that group learning environment,” said Jason McGimpsey, MSUB’s facilities services director.The TEAL classroom at MSUB — it’s just the second school in Montana to build one, after Montana State University in Bozeman — will take up a 1,350-square-foot classroom on the third floor of the College of Education.
The classroom will also be available for more traditionally structured classes. Officials at MSUB hope that construction will wrap up in time for the start of the fall semester, but if not, it’ll likely be up and running before the Christmas break.
And they hope that once that happens, it’ll start a classroom trend that continues.
“This is our pilot and, depending on how our faculty and students react, we’d like to replicate it elsewhere here on campus,” Redinger said.Read more...
Source: The Billings Gazette
