As McMurry responds to the COVID-19 epidemic by delivering instruction using video conferencing and other online technologies, our academic community is getting up to speed with some new tools!

Dr. Wilson begins his classes with a welfare check–where are you?  how are you?  do you need anything?  Before our students are students, they are people!  After a discussion of logistics and where they are in the semester, new content is introduced.

Many of the science faculty are using Microsoft Teams to hold synchronous meetings where instructors and students can interact, the lecture can be recorded, and screens shared.

Dr. Boyle’s students are saying that they appreciate being able to get together, even if it is virtual!  Coping with the COVID-19 restrictions is tough on everyone.  Attending lectures with familiar faces, both instructor and classmates, helps.  Some students attend with their own children in their laps, so we think we are training another generation of scientists at the same time!

Since McMurry is a Microsoft campus, tools such as Teams, Stream, Microsoft Office, etc. are available to every member of the campus.  After the lecture is completed, instructors post a link to the recording for delayed viewing.  Microsoft Teams has proven to be very useful as a tool to bridge the traditional and online classrooms.  Plus you get to see your instructor’s décor.  LOL