U-class 시스템은 무엇인지, 현재 U-class 시스템의 현황은 어떻게 되고 있는지, U-class의 지속에 대한 찬/반 의견과 앞으로 나아가야 할 방향에 대해 살펴 본 기사입니다. |
“I took the U-class lecture this semester. Isn’t this just a class with an automatic attendance checking machine where I put my student ID card?” said a student of lecture ‘Eastern Mythologies, Western Mythologies’. You might have heard once about U-class if you are a student of Kyung Hee University (KHU). However, the majority does not know much about U-class, and indeed it seems the system is not operating properly though the administration is investing much money on it. Let’s find out what U-class really are, and what needs to be done to make U-class better.
What is the U-class?
U-class, interactive teaching support system, needs active participation from both professors and students. When students put their student ID cards into the card reader on the desk, all the information about their attendance and seating, etc, is delivered to a monitor the professor is using in real time. Professors can check students’ responses about the contents of the lecture and give a quick quiz to many students. Due to these features of U-class, students may be able to participate actively in class and professors can also check attendance in a convenient way and make a number of students more focused on the lecture.
U-class has been conducted with the goal of two-way communication between professors and students since 2006. Kim, Young-rak, Assistant Manager of Administration of Humanitas College said, “Lecturers can lighten the burden of lecture in a large classroom with this system. We hope that students will be content with the enhanced quality of lectures via such a high tech system.”
Present State of U-class in KHU
There are four and five U-class lecture rooms at Chungungwan and Obis hall in Seoul campus respectively, and two lecture rooms at Multimedia Hall in Global campus. There were about 185 lectures assigned in last semester. However, despite many students being assigned to U-class lectures, the numbers using the system were few. According to statistics from last year, the ratio of log-ons for checking attendance was about 75%. However, the ratio of other functions used was barely 15% except for checking attendance.
In addition, there is no proper managing department in our university. The Humanitas College, where U-class lecture rooms are located, is compelled to administer this system. As this department assigns U-class to professors without considering the unique features of every lecture, professors have to give lectures that are titled ‘U-class’ against their will. Therefore, the department cannot force them to use the U-class system. Although a professor does not use the U-class system, lectures conducted in U-class lecture rooms are regarded as ‘U-class’ on-line.
Besides, the breakdown of some card readers makes the U-class system hard to run, though the college has spent five million won per semester for repair and management.
Two points of view about U-class
1. Shin, Myoung-hee, lecturer of Modern Society and Advertisement
While using the U-class system, some functions such as automatic attendance checking, giving quick quizzes, etc, are helpful to me. But, I have to doubt the cost-effectiveness of this system. At first, I used this system for checking attendance in order to reduce the burden of managing many students. At the beginning, the function of the U-class was effective with students to focus on class. Over time, however, the effect declined.
2. Kim, Ju-kyong, lecturer of ‘Analysis of Quantitative Reasoning’
The functions I usually used were automatic attendance checking through student ID card and adding or subtracting grade points immediately depending on the attitudes and participation of students. In addition, ‘Attention’, cautioning students who don’t concentrate on class, was special to me. I also gave a lecture at Doowon Technical College last semester, in which the number of students was about 80. Lecturing at both schools, I could be aware of the effect of the U-class system. The U-class system helped make up for the weak points of lectures for many students, for example, communication with students and checking students’ attitudes in real time, etc.”
There is a diversity of opinion about U-class. Meanwhile, U-class lecture rooms will be expanded on the Global Campus. “We decided to spend one hundred million won every year for four years in total. It is planned to enlarge four more U-class lecture rooms every year, and now we are considering about the details,” said Park, Eun-kyu, Section Chief, Office of Academic Affairs of Global Campus at KHU. Kim at Humanitas College added, “The U-class system can not only supplement the weaknesses of lectures for many students, but it can represent the teaching system of KHU.”
But, it’s never a solution to increase the number of U-class classrooms. It seems that the U-class system has many weaknesses even though it has been conducted for six years.
Then, what should the U-class system be like? First of all, KHU should reorganize the U-class homepage in a practical way and invigorate the site. Online administration for U-class is rarely used except when you want to check whether you took any classes using U-class classrooms (surely you may not). There are now manuals on how to use U-class machines on the homepage but the site needs to show more personal histories like what kinds of functions are used in classes students are taking.
Above all, for better use of the U-class system, KHU has to try to promote U-class lectures. There is almost no lecture on how to utilize U-class system for professors. Students have no chance to learn what U-class is. “Professors and students are inexperienced in using the U-class system, thus the effect of U-class falls short of expectations,” said an anonymous professor. KHU is supposed to create lectures or education programs of U-class for professors. And for students’ understanding of and interest in using U-class, they have to give notice about U-class lectures in advance before registering for classes.
The system needs to be complemented both in function and system for drawing students’ active participation and professors’ steady use. The U-class system needs to improve in order to contribute to the advancement of grand scale lecture.