Interacting with Columbia Interactive

Your Wish List:

1. A class on America and the Muslim world
2. An interactive network dedicated to international affairs
3. A complete history of New York Architecture
4. Links to all of Columbia’s publications from the Fed to Columbia’s Journal of Law and Social Problems
5. A class on the wonders of Nano-science

You’re in luck. You can reach all this and more from your desk with Columbia Interactive, Columbia University’s online learning site. The site combines online resources such as websites and webcasts, e-seminars, online e-courses for credit, and new media initiatives. By pooling a wide-range of online resources in one accessible site members of the Columbia community have a world of information at their finger-tips.

Its online e-seminars are short courses that cover a wide range of topics in the arts, sciences, business, and journalism. The free e-seminars focus on diverse issues from "America and the Muslim World" to "Biography of the AIDS Epidemic."

By utilizing current technology the site connects scholars, educators, and students that may otherwise be separated by geography or time. With a computer and internet connection Columbia students or staff could hear "The Future of English" a seminar taught by David Crystal, leading language expert and resident of Holyhead, United Kingdom. In addition, the classes have found meaningful ways to engage their learners wherever they may be. The course, "News Reporting: A Fire Scenario" takes students through a two-hour journalism simulation to cover a five-alarm raging fire.

Find out how you would cover this....

Columbia Interactive also focuses on connecting the Columbia community to many resources that are already on the web. Faculty interviews, articles, and databases are just a click away from their website. Their listing of Columbia’s journals and newsletters means that students and alumni can keep in touch with new findings no matter where they may travel.
 

One problem that arises in using the website is that many of the links or resources are outdated. Excitedly clicking on links often led me to warnings of “Page No Longer Exists.” Perhaps the site is awaiting a spring cleaning. In 2003 the website received a Web Award for Outstanding Achievement in Website Development from the Web Marketing Association. The competition was sponsored by Google, Internet World, and Advertising Week, and featured entries from 19 countries. An update could make it equally useful in the new decade.