Dr. Jocelyn Widmer, Assistant Provost for Academic Innovation at Texas A&M, had experience using Zoom before joining the Texas A&M team, and she was impressed by how easy the solution was for faculty to use and the way Zoom enhances the educational experience of students. So Widmer championed the implementation of Zoom across A&M through the Office for Academic Innovation.
While Widmer’s role is focused on distance and hybrid delivery at TAMU, Zoom also has the potential to impact and innovate face-to-face delivery given how the feature enhancements align with active learning strategies.
“Many of the students attending Texas A&M right now were born around the year 2000,” Widmer said. “These are individuals who grew up as digital natives, and presenting information in a way that is familiar to them spurs student engagement in the classroom.”
It was for this reason that Widmer advocated for enough Zoom licenses for faculty, staff, and students at TAMU … 79,000 in total. The prevailing logic was that putting Zoom in the hands of everyone would help drive adoption. Widmer says that evidence of this comes when a student sends a professor a Zoom link to connect (rather than the other way around).
“Democratizing the learning channels is evidence we have adoption,” Widmer said, “and from there, innovations to transformational teaching and learning follow.”