Sunday, May 6, 2012

Canada: ‘Plaid Avenger’ geography prof brings the world to his students — with the help of Skype

From the Star.com: ‘Plaid Avenger’ geography prof brings the world to his students — with the help of Skype
Geography professor John Boyer has nabbed Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen and Aung San Suu Kyi as guest lecturers and plans to try for Barack Obama next.

It’s one of the reasons his Virginia Tech classes have ballooned to 2,700 students — and students still get turned away.

Boyer’s interactive, unorthodox “World Regions” geography class unnerves some educators but its popularity is unquestionable.

“His class is amazing,” student Austin Larrowe posted on The Chronicle, a higher education journal. “He proves higher education can adapt with changing times.”

“This class is truly revolutionary. If students get a poor grade they only have themselves to blame,” wrote student Zach Daniel.

“I learned more about the world in this class than all my other history/geography classes combined,” wrote student Clare Smith.

That, Boyer told the Star, is his point.

“Most Americans don’t follow international news. We don’t have a globally literate group of folks. In a global world, that’s not good enough.”

Estevez and his dad came to class at Boyer’s invitation to talk about their movie “The Way.” A class segment on oppression in Burma inspired students to ask if Suu Kyi would speak.

“At first, I laughed. The students used their social networking connections and it worked,” says Boyer, 42.

The long-imprisoned democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner spoke for a half-hour from Burma via Skype on Dec. 5 to Boyer’s dazzled class.

Far more often, though, the class Skypes with young people around the world who talk about their cultures and lives.

Social networking is a hallmark of making metacourses work, he says. His Plaid Avenger website, named for his trademark loud jackets, aggregates hundreds of videos, biographies and sketches of leaders and country profiles.

Boyer’s instantly recognizable sketch of Moammar Gadhafi turned up on protest posters in Libya.

Students choose their own tests from the website and have to achieve a certain number of points. Pop quizzes are announced via a Twitter blast from Boyer’s technical assistant Katie Pritchard. His office hours are online and he answers questions as long as it takes.

“I never would have attempted a class this size without her.”

Boyer’s route to university lecturer is as unorthodox as his methods. A stint in the U.S. Coast Guard took him around the world. The G.I. Bill paid his way to Virginia Tech, where he studied the state’s wine industry. Through luck and chance, he was offered the World Regions teaching job.

“It’s a pretty standard course and at first I taught it a pretty standard way. But things evolved as technology evolved.

“This is experimental. We’re figuring out how these things work. This is a terribly exciting time in education.”

As word of his high-energy style spread, the course moved from a regular classroom to one that fit 575 students. With a waiting list of 2,000, it moved to a 2,700-seat campus theatre, where it remains for the fall semester. The spring semester is the smaller 575 crowd.

“I still use Boyer’s ‘plaidcasts’ on his website to keep up with world news,” student Nick Enzinna wrote. “But if you think that’s unorthodox, you should see the textbook.”

Boyer writes his own textbooks, which are graphic novels full of data, bios, pictures, charts and history that have been adopted by 20 other universities and colleges in the U.S.

“This is the kind of stuff I think is important,” Boyer says. “In a democracy, it’s a moral imperative that future leaders understand what their government is doing in the world in their name.”

Does that mean his Virginia Tech students know a lot about Canada?

When he stops laughing, Boyer replies, “They know slightly more than the average American and that’s not much.”

But ...

“I will say that every one of my students can identify Stephen Harper by sight and they understand his political position.”

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