Professor Julie Cromer, who got her undergraduate degree at the University of Alabama, is teaching a class at her alma mater without setting foot on its campus.

It’s done through the magic of television of course. Video-conferencing to be exact. Via the video-conferencing hook-up, Professor Cromer (on right) can teach her students at Thomas Jefferson and simultaneously teach the class in Alabama to a group of undergraduate students more than two-thousand miles away.

“In many ways, it is no different from having the students live in class,” says Professor Cromer. “The discussions are just as lively, and the students are engaged. It seems a little more difficult to get to know the students, but that can happen in any class.”

“It’s almost like having a teacher right here,” said one of the Alabama students via the video hook-up. “In fact, we’d like to meet her.”

The students in San Diego and the students in Alabama could see and hear each other on a recent Wednesday afternoon, as Professor Cromer’s guest instructor Richard Weisberg used a powerful clip from the movie “Judgment at Nuremberg” for her class Lawyers & American Film to stimulate discussion.

Both groups of students watched it at the same time – and both groups of students were able to offer their feelings and insights on the clip – as though they were in the same room at the same time.

“It’s like they are right in the next room,” said Thomas Jefferson third-year student Steven Weber. “It’s like you can reach out and shake their hands.”

To third year student Brenda Foster the Alabama students are even closer than that: “It seems like they are right here in the room.”

“It’s very seamless,” said third year student Andrew Poplin.

“Generally it works well – there are few technical difficulties, and the interaction is real-time,” said Professor Cromer. “Occasionally we will lose a connection, almost always as someone is making a brilliant point. But we laugh about it and start again. The students are very willing to work with me, since this is the first time any of us have used this technology.”

Both groups of students think the video-conferencing works as well as it does because the teleconferencing is in real time.

“That’s the only way it would work,” according to third year Thomas Jefferson student Jonathan Mraunac.

Shelley Baldwin, another third year TJSL student, says “It really enhances the class to get the perspective of younger students.”

“The diversity of opinion between students in Alabama and California is very interesting,” said Steven Weber. “I wish more classes were taught like this.

Hearing comments like that makes Professor Cromer aware that not only is the teaching format working well, but that she can give something back to her alma mater as well.

“As a graduate of the University of Alabama, I was eager to contribute to the University somehow, said Professor Cromer. “When I was approached about doing this class for the Honors College, I was enthusiastic to give it a try, though obviously I can’t be in two places at once. The videoconference technology was the perfect solution, and Dean Hasl has been very supportive.”

The class itself lends itself perfectly to the video conferencing format, since it is dealing with a topic that is media-related,

According to Professor Cromer’s class synopsis:

“In the twentieth century, film developed first as a novelty, then as a staple of American entertainment and information. As the century progressed, the line between entertainment and information began to blur. As a result, much of the public's information about the American legal system, lawyers, and laws came from the entertainment industry and its portrayals of the law through the movies. Through this course, we will be examining what messages the public is receiving through movies about the law and lawyers and what, if anything, the legal profession should do to support or counteract those messages.”

As for the practice of “virtual” teaching via video-conferencing -- the message is coming through loud and clear that it is the wave of the future and that Thomas Jefferson School of Law is on the cutting edge.