Several years ago I was approached by a very experienced and excellent faculty member.  He was spearheading a doctoral program that had a mix of online and broadcast type courses.  He wanted to brainstorm ideas for changing the way his course worked.  You see, it was a once a week 2+ hour course.  It was using Blackboard and Adobe Connect to deliver content to the students. He was worried his course had too much of him, and not enough of the students. He was looking for something to spice it up and take it too the next level.

I asked to see the syllabus and we discussed the topics and nature of the course, the type of students who are in the course, and their background. I soon realized that students in this course were experienced working professionals.  There were chapters in the book, and case studies to discuss.  All kinds of things.  "How about letting the students teach the class," I inquired.  I received a bit of a surprised facial reaction.  Not fully teach the class, but with their experience why not let them take turns leading the discussion, both in the live Adobe Connect, and online in the discussion forums.  Soon an idea was formalized and a plan put into place.  This faculty member was eager to give it a try. 

Students were broken into teams of two and each team was assigned a chapter. They were to present the material from the chapter, present their take on it, entertain comments and thoughts from the other students live, and lead/moderate the online discussion in Blackboard.  The faculty member gave his experiences, and insight as well.  

Together everyone was engaged in the content, discussion, and had a chance to take the lead.

Success.  The real measure of success and capstone was the student course evaluations.  They went up over previous semesters.  This faculty member was excited, and really enjoyed the class. So did the students.

I had forgotten about this class, until the instructor contacted me about updating it and receiving some training in the new live classroom tool we implemented called Wimba.  

One evening I logged into the Bb course to join in and observe one of the live sessions. Wow was I impressed.  I saw this model in action. Students were leading the presentation of chapter content, and asking other students for input and comments, and obviously the students were engaged.  Not only were they learning the material from their instructor, they were teaching each other, being able to relate the material to real work examples from their own current and past work experience.

I was amazed at how really well it worked. 

Kevin