Technology Breaks Distance Education Barriers in Nephi

Math is notoriously known as a difficult subject for a majority of college students. For many it requires working with a tutor, asking the professor a lot of questions, and doing group work for more practice. But what do you do when the professor and your classmates are scattered throughout Utah, hundreds of miles apart?

Utah State University math professor Piotr Runge has implemented new technology that eliminates these barriers. Runge received an internal grant to purchase tablets to send to students enrolled in math classes who are attending at regional campuses. With the tablets students use a whiteboard application called RealtimeBoard where they can work on math problems live with professor Runge and other students throughout Utah. Runge is able to oversee all of the different groups of students to see how they are solving problems and give input where needed.

“My main goal has always been to make the class for the regional campus students as effective as meeting in person, all while keeping costs extremely low,” said professor Runge. “Thanks to the grant we were able to buy enough tablets to share with centers throughout the state, and the applications we are running on the tablets are free.”

RealtimeBoard makes it so all students can work on math problems together in real-time, despite their location. The students and professor Runge are able to communicate through an application called Acano.

Acano is similar to Skype, but works with its own dedicated servers to provide a good connection for students in remote locations. Students are able to be hundreds of miles apart without running into connection and streaming issues.

“For us students who are loners at our smaller USU sites, Acana comes in handy because we can work together through the video feed,” said Brian Park, a USU-Nephi student.

Since tablets aren’t yet available for all students, Brian Park and Julie Hatfield, another USU-Nephi student, aren’t able to use RealtimeBoard. In the meantime, the campus has supplied them with an easel to work math problems on and is easily broadcasted using Acano.

“Professor Runge likes us to work in groups, and through Acano we are still able to collaborate with each other even though we are miles apart,” said Julie.

In the future, professor Runge is hoping to receive another grant to get more tablets for students statewide. Technology plays a major role in providing students throughout the state with the same quality education that students attending Logan’s main campus receive. USU staff and faculty are constantly looking for ways to improve the learning experience for the students.

Related links:

USU Contact: Dana Rhoades, 435.722.1788, dana.rhoades@usu.edu