Communication professor honored for POLIS project

A UA professor traveled to Ohio last week after being chosen as a finalist in a national contest for technological innovation in education.

The contest was sponsored by the Center for Advanced Study in Telecommunication at Ohio State University and finalists were announced June 9.

Sally Jackson, acting head of the communication department, was chosen as a finalist for her Project for Online Instructional Support, an interactive web page designed to give additional help to students outside the classroom.

"We are very proud of the project and very happy to be recognized," Jackson said.

Jackson and the 11 other finalists attended the Learning with Technology Conference, held June 18-20 at OSU, and worked with a variety of innovative educational technologies.

The technology included interactive video and new resources on the World Wide Web.

Communication Professor David Williams said Jackson is one of very few people in the country who are on the cutting edge of developing technology for learning.

Jackson said POLIS makes it easier for faculty to place their course materials on the web and makes them more interactive. For example, a listserv allows students to communicate with one another and to compare homework answers.

Scott Jacobs, communication professor, said Jackson's work on POLIS is very original.

"I've been using it in Communication 325. Lots of people are using it, and other universities have links there," Jacobs said. "It's really taken off, especially in the past six months."

About 30 to 40 classes used POLIS as an additional teaching resource last year, and this number increased to 80 classes this year, Jackson said.

Jackson said POLIS courses include writing exercises, discussion groups and group project support.

The program allows students to access course resources at all times.

"The original intent was for on-campus instruction," Jackson said.

"But for the future, we will use it for distance communication."

A system similar to POLIS was incorporated in Alaska, where getting to a classroom is not always easy, Jackson said.

But she does not see her creation as replacing the classroom.

"POLIS can build stand-alone classes, but our intent has always been to improve lecture classes."