LINKing it All Together
Every Monday afternoon I take a class with students from the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort, NC. One of my professors is in Washington, D.C. and the other professor is in Durham. Does that sound impossible? It's not, thanks to the LINK Teaching and Learning Center.
The LINK Center is located on the lower level of the Perkins Library. I was lucky to discover the LINK lab during my first week at Duke University during my search for a computer lab. With bright, colorful furniture, a mac laboratory, and the technological capabilities to accomplish any project, the LINK Center has become one of my favorite places to work on campus. As I alluded to earlier in the post, I also take a class in one of the LINK Center classrooms.
On Mondays, the majority of the Ocean and Coastal Law and Policy students meet in Perkins 2-071 for a media adventure. As you can see in the photo below, we have several desks and three large video screens. Professor Roady is an attorney at EarthJustice in Washington, D.C. and teaches the course from his office. Thanks to video conferencing technology, we are able to see and hear him every week, and he sees us as well via the cameras and microphones placed in our classroom. Professor Nowlin co-lectures from our classroom in Durham. The third dimension is the Duke Marine Lab, where several student conference in. We also watch PowerPoint presentations and movies together using our three big screens.
Class in the LINK Learning Center - photo credit
My Ocean and Coastal Law and Policy class is certainly a non-traditional learning experience, but it is one of the future. The time, money, and carbon emissions saved by video conferencing instead of having a professor and several students commute to class is significant! It is a smart choice for the earth and specifically, the oceans that we have spent so much time learning about. Our aqueous carbon sink is increasingly less able to endure human exploitation and it is our responsibility to turn that disaster around.
