NSU Horizons Winter 2008 - 2009

3 horizons academic notes Law Center Welcomes New Dean Holographic Professors: NSU Designs Distance education of the Future A lthough practical uses for holograms may seem like something out of a science fiction movie of the week, this advanced technology is being used by Nova Southeastern University’s Innovation Zone (IZone) in an online learning approach known as the Holographic Professor. The approach involves broadcasting a recording of a “virtual instructor” through an online course. It is also one of the many advances being made at NSU involving student engagement in distance education. According to educational literature, active and participatory learning models directly affect student engagement and learning outcomes in dis- tance education. The Holographic Professor motivates learners by providing both instructional content and a simu- lated instructor facilitation that has been previously unavailable. It is being used at NSU as a communi- cation tool and even as a guide through an entire online doctoral student orientation program. Through the resources of NSU Digital Media Production, producing the Holographic Professor involves creating a recording of an instructor in front of a “green screen.” The recording is then edited and incorporated in an online course in a similar way to methods used by television news studios to project weather patterns behind reporters. The Holographic Professor recently generated academic buzz at the Blackboard World Conference attended by representatives from leading academic institutions. Alex Strzyzewski and Loy Campbell of IZone were invited to present the Holographic Professor for “Best of Client Innovation” in online course development at the conference. More than 300 participants attended the session and gave IZone two standing ovations. IZone, a unit of NSU’s Office of Information Technologies and Digital Media, is also a fairly unique concept in higher educa- tion, acting as an all-in-one resource for faculty teaching online since its creation in 2000. With faculty-provided content, and by using industry-standard integrated learning systems, IZone produced more than 9,000 online courses last year. For more information, please visit www.nova.edu/izone . ■ F or the first time in more than a decade, the Shepard Broad Law Center at NSU is under new leadership. Athornia Steele started in August 2008 as dean at the Law Center, replacing Joseph Harbaugh, who stepped down from the position after 13 years as NSU’s distinguished law school dean. A former assistant attorney general for Ohio from 1977 to 1980, Steele came to NSU from Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio, where he was a member of the faculty since 1980. He had three stints as an associate dean (1993–1994, 1998–2003, and 2004–2005) and served as interim dean from 2003–2004. He was also a visiting associate professor of law at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia, from 1984–1986. Steele is active in the legal education community and currently serves on the American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar Committee on Law School Administration. He also served on both national and regional planning committees for the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) Academic Support Workshops from 1993–2001, chaired the Minority Affairs Committee of LSAC, and is a current member of the LSAC Board of Trustees. Steele has also been involved with the Association of American Law Schools. “The Law Center is ideally situated to continue to build its reputation and take its place among the nation’s top law schools,” said Ray Ferrero, Jr., NSU president. “I am confident that Dean Steele will provide the leadership needed to achieve these goals.” ■