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When Dr. Omid Bagheri, assistant professor of economics, came to the ����Թ� State Columbiana County campuses in 2017, he helped launch a “new” way of teaching that helped strengthen the connection between the Regional Campuses.

“I was among a few faculty members who started the Zoom technology/classrooms in my courses,” said Bagheri, who teaches courses like the principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics to students throughout Northeast Ohio — from the East Liverpool Campus, along the Ohio River, to the Ashtabula Campus on the shores of Lake Erie.

Bagheri has been teaching all of his face-to-face classes in this setup since then. Thanks to top-of-the-line Zoom classroom technology, he explained that all faculty can teach students across the Regional Campus System — no matter where they call home. 

Zoom is a web-based technology platform used for audio and/or video communication among individuals at separate locations. At ����Թ� State, the platform also is used to deliver instruction to students on multiple campuses via specially equipped Zoom classrooms.

Through his Zoom classes, Bagheri has taught on every regional campus in the ����Թ� State system. 

‘A game changer’

Thanks to his IT and network knowledge, Bagheri was an early adopter of Zoom technology, and he began to use as many of its features as possible to help students.

“From Day One, I recorded my lectures and shared the recordings with my students afterward. Students find it extremely helpful,” he explained. “(But) soon after starting to teach in Zoom classrooms, I realized that the technology can be a barrier for some students, so I started to travel to every single receiving campus at least twice per semester and teach from their classrooms to the other locations. That was a game changer.”

The result: Fostering a personal connection with students, right in their hometowns. This is what ����Թ� State’s Regional Campus System strives to provide — the essential individualized support needed to take students from where they are to where they want to be.  

“After meeting with my students, the ice between us got broken,” he said, “and the students of the other locations (are) more connected to class and participate more in discussions.”

Linking local communities to ����Թ� State 

Bagheri shared these experiences with other faculty members teaching Zoom classes and many are now following his practice of traveling to various campuses, where they are discovering anything is possible. 

Using technology and highlighting the one-to-one collaborative relationships that can develop between peers and their professors demonstrates the advantages of being a student on a regional campus. 

As Bagheri pointed out, Regional Campuses are close to students’ homes and workplaces, allowing them to commute and continue working while going to school. Students can remotely attend classes offered on other campuses — saving time and money. Plus, there are additional advantages.

“Regional Campuses are actually the link between the local community and ����Թ� State,” Bagheri explained. “Students can always start at Regional Campuses and, whenever they think it will be more beneficial to them, transfer to the ����Թ� Campus — or to another Regional Campus in the system. Regional Campuses are like liberal arts colleges: they have high-quality faculty members who provide students with a very high-quality education tailored for their future.”

Contact:
Tina Smith, tsmit170@kent.edu
����Թ� State Columbiana