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Profiles: Shapers of Our Future: 2000
Christa Ehmann: Smart Thoughts

By: Jessica Sandham - Converge 8/00

LEADING AND INNOVATING

• Vice president of education, SMARTHINKING, an Internet-based tutoring service for college students since November 1999.
• Lived abroad for past five years, worked as an English tutor in the Czech Republic.
• Began work toward Ph.D. in education, Oxford University, 1996-99.
• Master of science in educational studies, Oxford University, 1996.

As vice president of education at SMARTHINKING, Christa Ehmann has found a way to bring her interest and training in individualized instruction to a much wider audience. The company's mission is to make tutoring in basic college subjects such as writing, math, statistics, accounting and economics available to students anytime. No more trying to squeeze into a professor's limited office hours to get help.

Ehmann believes that technology will make higher education more accessible to a wider range of students. "It's an opportunity to meet their diverse needs in a way we might not be able to within the four walls of a classroom," Ehmann said. "It's also an opportunity for us, as educators, to step back and think about redefining our assumptions about what effective learning really is."

While it's becoming more routine for college students to have computer and Internet access, Ehmann said higher-education institutions have a long way to go in ensuring that students have the high-speed access and other tools they need to incorporate the Internet fully into their learning experiences. "My vision for education and for what we're doing is that students will be able to receive support for their learning 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Ehmann said. "The nature of education, and the nature of the way people approach their higher-education endeavors, is changing."

"One-on-one instruction can be tailored to meet the unique needs of education and student learning," Ehmann said. "There's also extreme value in traditional instruction. People learn in a variety of ways. It's our job as educators to try to get to students as many ways as we can." Through her work, Ehmann said she's been able to implement her vision for education -- her proudest professional accomplishment.

After its pilot launch this past spring in 30 different higher-education institutions in the United States, her company will make its services available starting this fall to any students, teachers or universities that wish to subscribe. It wasn't long ago that Ehmann was watching an E-structor, or tutor, work with a student online for the first time. "It was as if, like the Brits say, pennies dropped," Ehmann recalled. "Up until then, there was a lot of skepticism about whether it would work. It was a very pivotal moment. It became real."

Inspirations

INDIVIDUAL: Hazel Hagger, academic adviser at Oxford University.
"Her dedication to improving the student experience through initial teacher education and development really inspired me. She has taught me the value of rigorous academic research."

QUOTE: "To teach is to learn twice." Joseph Joubert, French philosopher.

BOOK: "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" by Paulo Freire. "His vision of student-centered education has a lot of relevance to tutoring and individualized instruction."

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(Copyright 2000 Converge)