Affiliations: School of Communication and Information, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Sharon Stoerger, School of Communication and Information, Rutgers, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 4 Huntington Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1071, USA. E-mail:sharon.stoerger@rutgers.edu
Abstract: Traditionally, a large lecture hall course follows a
teacher-centered approach to instruction. This was the case for the
``gateway'' course in the undergraduate Information Technology and
Informatics (ITI) major in the School of Communication and Information at
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. This paper describes the
journey and collaboration between the course instructor and the
instructional design/technology specialist to transform a large lecture hall
course (with up to 450 students) into an active, collaborative learning
experience - one that engages students in learning, emphasizes higher-order
thinking skills, and creates a sense of community that can be lacking in
such a format. This transformation was realized when the boundaries of the
classroom extended into the ``online'' environment.
