“Teaching Tangier” is an initiative where Eastern Shore Community College utilizes innovative technology to deliver college instruction to Tangier Island high school seniors. This fall, ESCC will offer a dual enrollment college composition course in a hybrid format. The “face to face” portions of the class will be taught using “I-MYO”, a telepresence teaching robot. Dr. Kimberly Britt will interact with the students in one on one conferences and small group discussions involving critical thinking activities, writing reviews, peer critiques and other synchronous learning activities. Dr. Britt can control the robot from the college campus in Melfa and meet with her students anytime they need assistance with their work, ensuring student success, and bypassing the logistical challenges of the past.
Dr. Linda Thomas-Glover, Dr. Britt, and career coach Suzanne Henderson, traveled to Tangier Island to introduce the technology, not only to students and faculty of Tangier Combined Schools, but also to the Accomack School Board. The board had scheduled a special meeting on the island, to hear input from students, parents, and faculty. This made for a perfect opportunity for ESCC to introduce this new technology to a wide and captivated audience.
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