Dr. Kara Kockelman
Learning is not a passive activity in Dr. Kara Kockelman’s transportation engineering classes. By combining instructional technology with an interactive style of regular questioning and traditional teaching methods, she expects her students to respond to questions, work in groups, and be constantly involved in the learning process. “Interaction is the key to student classroom learning,” believes Dr. Kockelman.
That concept has played a central role in Dr. Kockelman’s educational style since she first came to the University of Texas four and half years ago. She began teaching using only the chalkboard and overhead transparencies—just as professors did when she was a student—but relying only on these presentation tools prevented her from providing more realistic views of essential concepts to her students.
Over time, Kockelman transitioned to an electronic delivery approach that has enabled her to sequence and visually enrich her presentations. With the assistance of the FIC’s animator, for example, Kara has incorporated a variety of 2D and 3D simulations into her lectures
(see an example).
Both students and Dr. Kockelman also benefit from PowerPoint presentations. “The quality control of my teaching materials is better,” explains Kockelman. The students are given handouts of the lectures which provide a rich coverage of classroom topics, and not being tethered to the chalkboard has helped Kara cover material more efficiently and enabled her to easily reuse and revise her lecture materials.