As Sacramento State professors strive to be innovative both in and out of the classroom, they’ve introduced something new to the equation – the Internet.

Although the school offers resources through the use of such programs as WebCT and My Sac State, instructors are finding that sometimes those sites just don’t do the job.

Philosophy professor Randolph Mayes said he has used WebCT in the past on a smaller level but thought it was too structured and didn’t provide the interaction and flexibility he wanted in an online forum. As a result, he’s turned to wikispaces.com.

The site allows the leader, in this case the professor, to set permissions for the group, or “space.” Permissions can vary, from deciding who can post and comment on topics to restricting viewing and membership.

While it is experimental, Mayes said he’s trying to merge the social and intellectual sides of students together to promote engaged conversation outside of the classroom.

“Essentially students…really have an existence online that’s separate from their physical existence,” Mayes said. “The interesting thing is to see if you can channel their Internet personality.”

Another advantage is students can initiate discussion or ask questions about concepts or ideas that confuse them. For whatever reason, Mayes said some people are afraid to ask questions in the classroom.

“There is a certain intimidation factor with students,” he said.

With the face-to-face aspect gone, students can get around that fear by being more open and inquisitive on the class’ wikispace, knowing that in addition to the professor, their peers will be reading and responding to what is posted.

Philosophy professor Matt McCormick has found this to be the case in his classes as well.

“One thing that I am noticing is that there is a new, different format forum to students to express themselves in,” he said.

Although it is supplemental to the course, McCormick acknowledged that there are disadvantages.

“There is just no substitute for face-to-face contact with other humans,” he said.

Other instructors use the Internet in slightly different ways.

Journalism professor Michael Fitzgerald said he started using blogs in the classroom a couple years ago. What began as him writing course-relevant things for his students to read evolved into each student maintaining a personal blog and posting writing assignments online.

“I think (blogs) are different because the audience is different, and I think they are better,” he said. “Better in the sense that I think people try a little harder knowing that it’s not just the professor that they have to please.”

Fitzgerald believes another advantage comes from students reading their peers’ work and offering suggestions on how to make it more relevant and interesting.

“One of the things that I have found in writing classes that works…is to have students critique each other’s work,” he said.

Senior Spanish major Heather Edwards said Professor Fitzgerald’s class is the first course she’s had that uses the Internet as a focal point.

“It’s been good because I think we get more feedback more quickly from the teacher,” she said.

Fitzgerald said the realization that the rest of the class, and potentially the rest of the world, can read what students write encourages them to become more involved in the class and in turn, produce better products.

He also endorses the Internet for reasons similar to Mayes’.

“In a normal academic classroom situation you basically have an audience of one,” Fitzgerald said. “People write quite differently when (they) think the audience is going to be more than the professor.”

In addition to the interaction the Internet provides, it also allows students to call upon information other than their textbooks.

“The Internet has such an incredible depth of resources for academics,” Mayes said.

He believes that too often, professors insist on using texts in the classroom, justifying it because students learn better from reading books.

Instead, Mayes sees what works and what doesn’t through a variety of learning methods.

“You just need to be really willing to experiment,” he said.

Natalye Childress Smith can be reached at [email protected].