Volume 4

Volume 4, Number 74

September 13, 2006

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10 pages558 K bytes

Global Media: Incorporating Videocams and Blogs in a Global IS Management Class


Catherine M. Beise
Salisbury University
Salisbury, MD 21801 USA

Abstract: This paper reports on the results and lessons learned from a pilot project to incorporate blogs and desktop video into a course on Global IS Management. The main purpose of the project was for students to have a simulated experience of working together on distributed, or “virtual,” global teams. The paper discusses the pedagogical goals of the class and how the two technologies were intended to support those goals. It provides brief overviews of the technologies, and then discusses the outcomes of incorporating them into the class. Blogs are web logs that can serve as on-line learning journals, and as vehicles for student reflection as well as interaction. The blogs did not engage the students as much as expected, perhaps because they used free blog sites and were hesitant to post their thoughts for the entire world to see. The students incorporated remotely located team members via video into team presentations to their classmates. They encountered some technical challenges and bandwidth limitations, but this technology did engage the students as well as provided them with valuable technical experience and helped them develop on-line communication skills. The videocams should prove particularly useful for distance learning courses, in providing students with visual interaction with their instructor and each other that they might not otherwise have.

Keywords: blog, weblog, learning journal, global IS, videoconferencing

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Recommended Citation: Beise (2006). Global Media: Incorporating Videocams and Blogs in a Global IS Management Class. Information Systems Education Journal, 4 (74). http://isedj.org/4/74/. ISSN: 1545-679X. (A preliminary version appears in The Proceedings of ISECON 2005: §2143. ISSN: 1542-7382.)